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Alvin Neill Jackson
New York Mets
Pitcher
Born: December 26, 1935, Waco, TX
Signed: Signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates as an amateur free agent before 1955 season
Major League Teams: Pittsburgh Pirates 1959, 1961; New York Mets 1962-1965; St. Louis Cardinals 1966-1967; New York Mets 1968-1969; Cincinnati Reds 1969
Died: August 19, 2019, Port St. Lucie, FL (age 83)
Pitcher Al Jackson appeared in 11 games for the Pirates in 1959 and 1961, but he'd get his first regular taste of the big leagues with the expansion Mets in 1962. Taken as the 22nd pick in the 1961 expansion draft, Jackson was the third starting pitcher for the Mets to start their inaugural 1962 season behind Roger Craig (#411) and Sherman Jones. He'd lost 20 games, but had a respectable 4.40 ERA in 36 appearances, including 33 starts. Jackson would be a mainstay in those early Mets pitching rotations, starting at least 31 games in each of the franchise's first four seasons. His best season statistically came after leaving the Mets, when he went 13-15 for the Cardinals in 1966, pitching to a 2.51 ERA in 36 appearances. He'd return to the Mets for the 1968 season and was briefly a member of the Amazing 1969 team before being sold to the Reds that June.
Building the Set
March 6, 2022 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards - Babylon, NY) - Card #509
This is the 25th 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 Jackson card was $4 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 / Mets Team Set
The one-hitter referenced in the cartoon on the back came on June 22, 1962 against the Colt .45s. Other than a first inning hit from Joey Amalfitano (#402), Houston was held hitless by Jackson for the rest of the game. Topps acknowledges in its write-up that Jackson was a very good pitcher on a very bad team, receiving little to no run support from the expansion club.
1965 Season
In their fourth consecutive season of losing well over 100 games, Al Jackson went 8-20 with a 4.34 ERA for the Mets, and only Jack Fisher (#93), with 36, made more starts than Jackson's 31. On July 21st, Jackson took a no-hitter into the eighth inning against the Pirates, but Willie Stargell (#377) singled to left with one out to end the bid. On October 20th, Jackson along with Charley Smith (#22) were traded to the Cardinals for former National League MVP Ken Boyer (#100).
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First Mainstream Card: 1962 Topps #464
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (9): 1962-1970
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2008 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-AJ
47 - Jackson non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 5/7/22.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
Previous Card: #380 Rocky Colavito - Cleveland Indians
Previous Card: #380 Rocky Colavito - Cleveland Indians
Next Card: #382 J.C. Martin - Chicago White Sox
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