Saturday, February 19, 2022

#314 Sterling Slaughter - Chicago Cubs


Sterling Feore Slaughter
Chicago Cubs
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'11"  Weight:  165
Born:  November 18, 1941, Danville, IL
Signed:  Signed by the Chicago Cubs as an amateur free agent before 1963 season
Major League Teams:  Chicago Cubs 1964

Sterling Slaughter had a solid first professional season with the Double-A Amarillo Gold Sox in the Texas League, appearing in 24 games and going 10-7 with a 3.00 ERA.  I'm assuming he was a bonus baby, as he was then on the Cubs' major league roster for the entire 1964 season.  Slaughter was used infrequently throughout the season, ultimately appearing in 20 games and earning a record of 2-4 with a 5.75 ERA.  He made five starts for the eighth place Cubs, with his best two appearances coming back-to-back on May 30th and June 5th.  Slaughter threw seven shutout innings against the Braves to earn his first win, then pitched a complete game against the same Braves team in his next start to notch his second and final win.  He'd make his last big league appearance on September 13, 1964.  Slaughter would pitch in the Cubs system for three more seasons before retiring.

Building the Set
December 4, 2021 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards, Babylon, NY) - Card #413
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.

1964 Topps #469
After securing Doug's Jim Thome autograph, I returned to Uncle Dick's and their neon green shirts, pulled up a chair, and settled in.  Over the course of 45 minutes or so, I found 79 cards needed for our set, including this Slaughter card which was a little less than $2 after the dealer discount.  I was surrounded by six or seven other seated collectors, all who looked similar to me, with a touch of gray, focused on their individual quests.  I wiped out Uncle Dick's two 1965 Topps commons binders, paid for my haul and then retreated to a table with Doug to update our checklist.

The Card / Cubs Team Set
Perhaps one of the coolest and most under appreciated names in the entire 1965 Topps set?  Having not heard of Slaughter before, I did a double take when I came upon his card in the 1965 Topps binder at the Uncle Dick's table.  

The back of the card discusses his successful college career at Arizona State University.  There's also an uncorrected error on the back as the heading for the statistics is for a hitter, and not a pitcher.  This is Slaughter's last mainstream card, and his only other card can be found in the 1964 Topps set as he shared a Rookie Stars card with Fred Norman (#386).

1965 Season
Pitching mostly for the Double-A Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs, but also seeing some action with the Triple-A Salt Lake City Bees, Slaughter went a combined 15-10 in 29 minor league games with a 3.02 ERA.  He threw 197 innings, which would be his top output professionally.

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1964 Topps #469
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (2):  1964-1965
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #314

5 - Slaughter non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 1/7/22.

 Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database
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