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Jose Rafael Santiago
Kansas City Athletics
Pitcher
Born: August 15, 1940, Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico
Signed: Signed by the Kansas City Athletics as an amateur free agent before 1959 season
Major League Teams: Kansas City Athletics 1963-1965; Boston Red Sox 1966-1970
Jose "Palillo" Santiago was an American League pitcher who spent eight seasons with the Athletics and Red Sox. Santiago made his debut as a September call-up in 1963, and then became a frequently used member of the Athletics pitching staff in 1964. He was 0-6 that season for the 10th place club, with a 4.73 ERA in 34 appearances and 83 2/3 inning pitched. That would represent the most action Santiago had in the majors until he was sold to the Red Sox following the 1965 season. In Boston, Santiago enjoyed solid seasons in 1966 and 1967, winning 12 games each year and throwing a career high 172 innings in 1966. He didn't fare well in the 1967 World Series, coming out as the losing pitcher in Games 1 and 4. His Game 1 performance was solid though, as he allowed only two runs over his seven innings of work, but unfortunately his opponent for the Cardinals was Bob Gibson (#320). The Cardinals won that first game 2-1, with the Red Sox sole run coming on a home run from Santiago. The Cardinals would win the Series in seven games.
Santiago was named to the American League All-Star team in 1968, but he would not appear in the game. An elbow injury ultimately led to an early end to his career and he pitched in only 18 games for the Red Sox in 1969 and 1970. In 163 big league games, Santiago was 34-29 with a 3.74 ERA and 404 strikeouts over 556 innings pitched.
Building the Set
December 4, 2021 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards, Babylon, NY) - Card #473
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 / Athletics Team Set
This is Santiago's rookie card and by the time this card was issued, Santiago's career with the Athletics was essentially over. The back of the card mentions his option to the Triple-A Vancouver Mounties on May 6th, which is the latest date I've seen on the back of a 1965 Topps card so far. It also appears as if our version of this card has been trimmed at some point. I didn't notice until I scanned the card in and realized the dimensions were much smaller than the typical sizes I see after scanning cards. I then held the card up against other cards from the set, and sure enough it's slightly smaller all the way around.
1965 Season
Santiago began the season with the Athletics, but appeared in only four games before his May demotion. With the Athletics, he had no record and a 9.00 ERA in five innings pitched. With the Mounties, he was 6-3 with a 2.19 ERA in 28 games and 119 innings pitched. On October 15th, Santiago was sold to the Red Sox.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1965 Topps #557
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (6): 1965-1970
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1970 Topps #708
33 - Santiago non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 3/5/22.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
December 4, 2021 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards, Babylon, NY) - Card #473
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 Santiago card which was 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 / Athletics Team Set
This is Santiago's rookie card and by the time this card was issued, Santiago's career with the Athletics was essentially over. The back of the card mentions his option to the Triple-A Vancouver Mounties on May 6th, which is the latest date I've seen on the back of a 1965 Topps card so far. It also appears as if our version of this card has been trimmed at some point. I didn't notice until I scanned the card in and realized the dimensions were much smaller than the typical sizes I see after scanning cards. I then held the card up against other cards from the set, and sure enough it's slightly smaller all the way around.
1965 Season
Santiago began the season with the Athletics, but appeared in only four games before his May demotion. With the Athletics, he had no record and a 9.00 ERA in five innings pitched. With the Mounties, he was 6-3 with a 2.19 ERA in 28 games and 119 innings pitched. On October 15th, Santiago was sold to the Red Sox.
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First Mainstream Card: 1965 Topps #557
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (6): 1965-1970
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1970 Topps #708
33 - Santiago non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 3/5/22.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
Previous Card: #556 Red Schoendienst MG - St. Louis Cardinals
Previous Card: #556 Red Schoendienst MG - St. Louis Cardinals
Next Card: #558 Tommie Sisk - Pittsburgh Pirates
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