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Carlton Francis Willey
New York Mets
Pitcher
Born: June 6, 1931, Cherryfield, ME
Signed: Signed by the Boston Braves as an amateur free agent before 1950 season
Major League Teams: Milwaukee Braves 1958-1962; New York Mets 1963-1965
Died: July 21, 2009, Ellsworth, ME (age 78)
Carl Willey spent five seasons in the Braves' minor league system and missed two years to military service, before finally making his big league debut in April 1958. He was a solid contributor to the eventual National League Champions, going 9-7 with a 2.70 ERA in 19 starts, while throwing four shutouts. With Warren Spahn (#205) and Lew Burdette (#64) atop the Braves' rotation, Willey was one of several pitchers used by Milwaukee to keep the team in contention until Spahn's and Burdette's turns came up again. The Braves would fall to the Yankees in seven games in the 1958 World Series, and Willey made one appearance, pitching an inning of scoreless relief in Game 5. Willey would swing between the starting rotation and the bullpen for the Braves for the next four seasons.
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| From the 1977 Phillies Yearbook |
Building the Set
December 4, 2021 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards, Babylon, NY) - Card #434
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.
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 Willey card which was a little under $4 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 / Mets Team Set
This is Willey's eighth and final appearance in a Topps set. The back of the card highlights his four shutouts for the Mets in 1963, and also describes the injury in 1964 that would ultimately lead to the end of his playing career.
1965 Season
Willey made 13 appearances with the Mets, mostly in September after rosters expanded. In his final big league game, on September 25th, he threw a complete game victory against the Phillies at Connie Mack Stadium. Willey was 1-2 for the season with a 4.18 ERA over 28 innings pitched. In his first minor league action since 1958, he'd appear in 23 games for the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons, making 19 starts and going 2-9 with a 3.96 ERA in 100 innings pitched.
Phillies Connection
I went through old Phillies Yearbooks from the mid to late 1960s, and into 1970s, looking for Willey's name in the scout section. Sure enough, he shows up in the Phillies Yearbooks from the 1970s, with his last appearance coming in the 1977 Phillies Yearbook, as shown above. Willey is right below Elmer Valo on the far left of the second to last row.
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First Mainstream Card: 1958 Topps #407
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (8): 1958-1965
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1965 Topps #401
34 - Willey non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 2/7/22.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
Previous Card: #400 Harmon Killebrew - Minnesota Twins
Previous Card: #400 Harmon Killebrew - Minnesota Twins
Next Card: #402 Joe Amalfitano - Chicago Cubs
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