#530 Jim Maloney - Cincinnati Reds

James William Maloney
Cincinnati Reds
Pitcher

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'2"  Weight:  190
Born:  June 2, 1940, Fresno, CA
Signed:  Signed by the Cincinnati Reds as an amateur free agent, April 1, 1959
Major League Teams:  Cincinnati Reds 1960-1970; California Angels 1971

All but one season of Jim Maloney's 12-year major league career was spent pitching for the Reds, where he was a 20-game winner twice and the owner of two no-hitters thrown in 1965 and 1969.  After three unspectacular seasons as a swingman on the Reds' pitching staff, Maloney joined the starting rotation for good in 1963, going 23-7 with a 2.77 ERA in 250 1/3 innings pitched and striking out a career-high 265.  It was the first of four consecutive seasons (and five overall) in which he'd cross the 200 innings pitched threshold.  Maloney came down to earth somewhat in 1964, winning only 15 games, but then he enjoyed another 20-win season in 1965 while being named to the National League All-Star team.  On June 14, 1965 against the Mets, Maloney threw ten hitless inning but allowed a home run to Johnny Lewis (#277) to lead off the 11th.  The Reds lost the game, 1-0.

He was credited with an actual no-hitter on August 19, 1965 against the Cubs, which also went ten innings.  Maloney gave up ten walks and hit a batter in the game, throwing 187 total pitches.  His second no-hitter came on April 30, 1969 against the Astros, with the Astros' Don Wilson no-hitting the Reds on the following night.  A ruptured Achilles tendon shortened Maloney's career, and he'd pitch briefly for the Angels in 1971 in his final big league action.  Maloney earned a lifetime record of 134-84 with a 3.19 ERA in 302 games pitched, accumulating 1,605 strikeouts.  He was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 1973.

Building the Set
March 6, 2022 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards - Babylon, NY) - Card #528

This is the 44th 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 Maloney card was $8 and was one of 49 commons and semi-stars 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 / Reds Team Set
That looks to be a spring training ballpark in the photo?  I've mentioned this before, but I wish I had more knowledge of historic ballparks from the 1950s and 1960s in order to better identify some of the stadiums featured on these cards.  The back of the card mentions his single-season franchise strikeout record of 265 in 1964, which was broken in 1982 when Mario Soto struck out 274.

Maloney's final Topps flagship appearance comes in the 1972 set and features him with the Cardinals.  He had signed with St. Louis on January 4, 1972, but was released on April 9, 1972, having never appeared in a game for the club.

1965 Season
As mentioned above, this was one of Maloney's best seasons and he was 20-9 with a 2.54 ERA in 33 starts.  As arguably the team's MVP, he threw one unofficial no-hitter and one official no-hitter.  He was hit hard in the All-Star Game, relieving Juan Marichal (#50) in the fourth inning and allowing five runs on five hits and two walks.  He surrendered home runs to Dick McAuliffe (#53) and Harmon Killebrew (#400).

1961 Topps #436

1963 Topps #444

1964 Topps #420

1969 Topps #362

1972 Topps #645

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1961 Topps #436
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (11):  1961, 1963-1972
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2001 Topps Archives #130

102 - Maloney non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 6/21/22.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

Previous Card:  #529 Jerry Fosnow - Minnesota Twins

Next Card:  #531 Chuck Hiller - San Francisco Giants