Wednesday, June 29, 2022

#353 Jerry Lumpe - Detroit Tigers


Jerry Dean Lumpe
Detroit Tigers
Second Base

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'2"  Weight:  185
Born:  June 2, 1933, Lincoln, MO
Signed:  Signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent before 1951 season
Major League Teams:  New York Yankees 1956-1959; Kansas City Athletics 1959-1963; Detroit Tigers 1964-1967
Died:  August 15, 2014, Springfield, MO (age 81)

Jerry Lumpe, pronounced lump-ee and not lump as I had assumed, played for a dozen years in the majors, winning a World Series ring with the Yankees in 1958 and earning a spot on the American League All-Star team in 1964.  Lumpe spent his early years as back-up infielder for the Yankees, occasionally filling in for regular infielders Bobby Richardson (#115), Gil McDougald or Tony Kubek (#65).  He started three games at third base for the Yankees in the 1957 World Series, but his team fell to the Braves in seven games.  In the 1958 rematch, Lumpe again started three games, with the Yankees prevailing in seven games.  Dealt to the Athletics in May 1959, Lumpe settled in as the regular second baseman for the club.  He enjoyed his best seasons in 1961 and 1962, batting .293 and .301 respectively with career highs in home runs (10) and RBIs (83) in 1962.

Lumpe finished his playing career with four seasons in Detroit, where he was named to the All-Star team in 1964.  He collected 1,314 career hits and batted .268 in 1,371 games.  Lumpe served as the first base coach for the Oakland Athletics in 1971 before leaving the game for good.

Building the Set

March 6, 2022 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards - Babylon, NY) - Card #506
This is the 22nd of 102 cards acquired for our set from the Baseball Card Sports Memorabilia Show, affectionately known as The Philly Show, held in the basement of the Valley Forge Casino Resort in King of Prussia in early March.  We went nuts and left the show needing only 12 more cards to complete our 1965 Topps set, and I wrote about the show in detail over at The Phillies Room.  Having wandered aimlessly among the dealer tables looking for binders with vintage commons, I decided to check to see if Uncle Dick's had refreshed their inventory following the December show, during which I had wiped out both their 1965 Topps binders.  Much to my pleasant surprise, they had.  This Lumpe card was $2 and was one of 49 commons purchased in my triumphant return to Uncle Dick's and his replenished neon green binders.

Depending on my ability to compose five posts a week on the cards acquired at this show, I should be completely caught up on this blog by mid-October.  It's entirely feasible we complete our 1965 Topps set by the end of 2022, although nine of the remaining 12 cards needed are fairly expensive.

The Card / Tigers Team Set
This is Lumpe's second Topps flagship appearance with the Tigers, but the first Topps card in which he's actually wearing a Tigers uniform.  His 1964 Topps card showed him in the gold and green of an Athletics uniform.  The cartoon highlight on the back celebrates his 1,000th career base hit, which Topps says was collected against the Indians.  Double checking Baseball Reference though, Lumpe's 1,000th career hit came on August 4, 1964 against the White Sox and pitcher Gary Peters (#430).

1965 Season
In his final season as an every day player, Lumpe was the opening day second baseman for the Tigers and he'd start 130 games at that position for the club.  In 145 games total, he batted .257 with four home runs and 39 RBIs.  The most frequently used infield for the Tigers in 1965 consisted of Lumpe, Norm Cash (#153) at first base, Dick McAuliffe (#53) at shortstop and Don Wert (#271) at third base.

1958 Topps #193
1962 Topps #305
1963 Topps #256
1964 Topps #165
1967 Topps #247

Other Notable Baseball Cards

First Mainstream Card:  1958 Topps #193
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (10):  1958-1967
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2003 Upper Deck Yankee Signature Series #39

75 - Lumpe non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 5/2/22.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database

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