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Jesse Lemar Gonder
New York Mets
Catcher
Born: January 20, 1936, Monticello, AR
Signed: Signed by the Cincinnati Redlegs as an amateur free agent before 1955 season
Major League Teams: New York Yankees 1960-1961; Cincinnati Reds 1962-1963; New York Mets 1963-1965; Milwaukee Braves 1965; Pittsburgh Pirates 1966-1967
Died: November 14, 2004, Oakland, CA (age 68)
Originally drafted by the Reds, Jesse Gonder began his big league career with the Yankees after a March 1960 trade sent him to the Bronx. He'd appear in 22 games for the Yankees in 1960 and 1961 before being traded back to Cincinnati in December 1961. In 1962, Gonder would enjoy the best season of his professional career, as a member of the Triple-A San Diego Padres, then the Reds' top farm team. He led the Pacific Coast League in batting (.342) and RBIs (116) and was named the league's most valuable player. He'd spend the next four seasons exclusively in the majors, serving as a back-up catcher and pinch-hitter for the Mets, Braves and Pirates. Gonder appeared in a career-high 131 games in 1964 for the Mets, starting 82 games behind the plate and entering 47 games as a pinch-hitter. He hit .270 that season, reaching major league career high totals with seven home runs and 35 RBIs.
Gonder last appeared in the majors in 1967 with the Pirates, but he'd play two more seasons after that in the Braves, Angels and Giants organizations before retiring. In 1969, he made the opening day roster of the expansion Padres, but was released by the club before appearing in a game. In 395 games, Gonder batted .251 with 26 home runs and 94 RBIs.
Building the Set
December 4, 2021 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards, Babylon, NY) - Card #437
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.
The Card / Mets Team Set
You can barely see the number two in Gonder's uniform #12 on the back of his jersey. On the back of the card, his fantastic season in 1962 is justifiably highlighted with a cartoon. It's mentioned he had served as a back-up to both Elston Howard (#450) with the Yankees and Johnny Edwards (#418) with the Reds. Gonder's weight is shown at 195, which is 15 pounds more than his Baseball Reference weight of 180 and perhaps explains the use by Topps of the adjective "husky" to describe the catcher.
1965 Season
Gonder began the season with the Mets, appearing in 53 games and batting .238. Only 13 of those 53 appearances were starts as Gonder was mostly used as a pinch-hitter by Mets manager Casey Stengel (#187). On July 21st, Gonder was dealt to the Braves for Gary Kolb (#287). He'd serve as a third catcher behind Joe Torre (#200) and Gene Oliver (#106), while making 21 pinch-hitting appearances in 31 games. In total, Gonder batted .209 for the season with five home runs and 14 RBIs. Left unprotected by the Braves following the season, he was drafted by the Pirates on November 29th in the annual rule 5 draft.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1963 Topps #29
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (6): 1963-1967, 1969
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1978 TCMA The 1960s I #238
44 - Gonder non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 2/10/22.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
December 4, 2021 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards, Babylon, NY) - Card #437
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 Gonder 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
You can barely see the number two in Gonder's uniform #12 on the back of his jersey. On the back of the card, his fantastic season in 1962 is justifiably highlighted with a cartoon. It's mentioned he had served as a back-up to both Elston Howard (#450) with the Yankees and Johnny Edwards (#418) with the Reds. Gonder's weight is shown at 195, which is 15 pounds more than his Baseball Reference weight of 180 and perhaps explains the use by Topps of the adjective "husky" to describe the catcher.
1965 Season
Gonder began the season with the Mets, appearing in 53 games and batting .238. Only 13 of those 53 appearances were starts as Gonder was mostly used as a pinch-hitter by Mets manager Casey Stengel (#187). On July 21st, Gonder was dealt to the Braves for Gary Kolb (#287). He'd serve as a third catcher behind Joe Torre (#200) and Gene Oliver (#106), while making 21 pinch-hitting appearances in 31 games. In total, Gonder batted .209 for the season with five home runs and 14 RBIs. Left unprotected by the Braves following the season, he was drafted by the Pirates on November 29th in the annual rule 5 draft.
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First Mainstream Card: 1963 Topps #29
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (6): 1963-1967, 1969
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1978 TCMA The 1960s I #238
44 - Gonder non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 2/10/22.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
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