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Denver Clayton Lemaster
Milwaukee Braves
Pitcher
Born: February 25, 1939, Corona, CA
Signed: Signed by the Milwaukee Braves as an amateur free agent, June 16, 1958
Major League Teams: Milwaukee Braves 1962-1965; Atlanta Braves 1966-1967; Houston Astros 1968-1971; Montreal Expos 1972
Denny Lemaster made his major league debut on July 15, 1962, and joined the Braves' starting pitching rotation on a regular basis in 1963. Lemaster first exceeded the 200-innings pitched mark in 1963, and he'd reach that milestone in five different seasons. He attained his career highs in strikeouts with 190 in 1963 and in wins with 17 in 1964. Lemaster set a then Braves team record with 14 strikeouts in a game in 1966, and he was one of the team's representatives, along with Henry Aaron (#170) and Joe Torre (#200), at the 1967 All-Star Game. He was traded to the Astros following that 1967 season with Denis Menke (#327) for Chuck Harrison and Sonny Jackson (#16). In Houston, Lemaster solidified a young starting pitching rotation, winning 10 games in 1968 and 13 games in 1969. An excellent fielder, Lemaster was errorless in four different seasons between 1964 and 1969, leading all National League pitchers with a 1.000 fielding percentage. He pivoted to the bullpen in 1971 and pitched 42 games in relief as one of the Astros' better relievers.
Lemaster spent one last season in the majors with the Expos in 1972 before retiring. In 357 career games, including 249 starts, Lemaster was 90-105 with a 3.58 ERA and 1,305 strikeouts in 1,787 2/3 innings pitched.
Building the Set
December 4, 2021 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards, Babylon, NY) - Card #442
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 / Braves Team Set
The two in Lemaster's uniform number of 23 is peaking through on the front of his jersey. There's an uncorrected error here as Topps uses white for Lemaster's name, while every other Braves card in the set features the player's name in yellow.
December 4, 2021 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards, Babylon, NY) - Card #442
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 Lemaster card which was a little less than $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 / Braves Team Set
The two in Lemaster's uniform number of 23 is peaking through on the front of his jersey. There's an uncorrected error here as Topps uses white for Lemaster's name, while every other Braves card in the set features the player's name in yellow.
Flipping to the back of the card, his 11 straight strikeouts came in 1959 while he was a member of the Single-A Jacksonville Braves. Lemaster's 185 strikeouts were indeed tops among all Braves pitchers in 1964 with Tony Cloninger (#520) finishing second with 163 strikeouts. And if you're keeping score at home, Topps refers to the pitcher as Denver on six of his flagship cards, and the less formal Denny on his other four cards.
1965 Season
Although an arm injury caused him to slump early, Lemaster spent the entire season with the Braves as a solid fourth starter behind Cloninger, Wade Blasingame (#44) and Ken Johnson (#359). He was 7-13 with a 4.43 ERA in 32 games, including 23 starts.
1965 Season
Although an arm injury caused him to slump early, Lemaster spent the entire season with the Braves as a solid fourth starter behind Cloninger, Wade Blasingame (#44) and Ken Johnson (#359). He was 7-13 with a 4.43 ERA in 32 games, including 23 starts.
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First Mainstream Card: 1963 Topps #74
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (10): 1963-1972
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1978 TCMA The 1960s I #17
49 - Lemaster non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 2/11/22.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
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Next Card: #442 Vic Power - Los Angeles Angels
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