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Theodore Carl Wills
Cincinnati Reds
Pitcher
Born: February 9, 1934, Fresno, CA
Signed: Signed by the Boston Red Sox as an amateur free agent before 1955 season
Major League Teams: Boston Red Sox 1959-1962; Cincinnati Reds 1962; Chicago White Sox 1965
Ted Wills pitched professionally for 11 seasons, spending most of that time within the Red Sox organization. Used as a starter by the Red Sox for eight games during his rookie season in 1959, Wills threw two complete games and was 2-6 with a 5.27 ERA. He appeared in a career-high 27 games in 1962, including 26 with the Reds, who purchased his contract in May. He spent all of the 1963 and 1964 seasons in the minors pitching for the the Triple-A San Diego Padres, the Reds' top farm team at the time. He'd appear in his final 15 big league games with the White Sox in 1965, pitching respectively with a 2-0 record and a 2.84 ERA over 19 innings pitched. Wills earned a career record of 8-11 over 83 big league games with a 5.51 ERA.
December 4, 2021 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards, Babylon, NY) - Card #398
You'll be seeing this particular passage on my 1965 Topps blog for quite some time as we added a whopping 97 cards to our set during the December Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show. If I'm ambitious and compose posts for five cards a week, I should be completely caught up by the end of May. If I'm not as ambitious, I might still be going through this stack by the time we hit July. Either way, I'll enjoy the process and I'm looking forward to taking my time. I've posted a complete summary of this fantastic show over at The Phillies Room.
Looking to kill some time while we were waiting for our number to be called for Doug's autograph from Jim Thome, I found a bargain bin of 1965 Topps cards at Uncle Dick's and I texted Doug that I'd be standing at the table where the dealers were wearing neon green shirts. This Wills card was one of 15 from that first batch of purchases, totaling $40, and it was a little less than $3 after the dealer discount. After getting the Thome autograph, and grabbing a slice of pizza from the "food court" upstairs, I'd settle in at Uncle Dick's for my second and biggest haul of the show.
The Card / Reds Team Set
This is Wills' third and final appearance in a Topps set, and he'd sign reprints of this card for inclusion in the 2014 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs insert set. Rather than try to come up with a cartoon to highlight an aspect of Wills' career on the back of the card, Topps opted to display his entire minor league statistical history while dramatically increasing the font size for his name.
1965 Season
Wills began the season in the Reds' organization but was acquired by the White Sox on April 7th. As mentioned above, he pitched well out of the White Sox bullpen, but was sent down to the Triple-A Jacksonville Suns, the top farm team of the Cardinals. I'm not sure why he wouldn't have reported to the Indianapolis Indians, the White Sox top minor league team. In any event, Wills had a falling out with the Suns' manager, Grover Resinger, and he was shipped out to Oregon to play for the Portland Beavers, the top farm team of the Indians. Wills would finish out his career with the Beavers, and in total he appeared in 15 minor league games in 1965, making 12 starts, and going 4-3 with a 3.75 ERA over 72 innings pitched.
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First Mainstream Card: 1960 Leaf #56
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (3): 1961-1962, 1965
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2014 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-TW
12 - Wills non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 12/29/21.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
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