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Wallace Edward Bunker
Baltimore Orioles
Pitcher
Born: January 25, 1945, Seattle, WA
Signed: Signed by the Baltimore Orioles as an amateur free agent before 1963 season
Major League Teams: Baltimore Orioles 1963-1968; Kansas City Royals 1969-1971
Wally Bunker made his debut as an 18-year-old in 1963 and a year later he'd be a 19-game winner and Topps All-Star Rookie. Bunker's career year in 1964 saw him compile a 19-5 record with a 2.69 ERA, 12 complete games and a shutout. He finished as runner-up in the Rookie of the Year voting behind the Twins' Tony Oliva (#340). Bunker's arm betrayed him following that year and frequent injuries meant he never repeated the success of his rookie season. In 1966 he went 10-6 with a 4.29 ERA for the pennant-winning Orioles, and recaptured some of his rookie glory with a complete game shutout against the Dodgers in Game 3 of the World Series. Baltimore would sweep Los Angeles in four games.
Building the Set
March 6, 2022 from The Philly Show (Sports Cards Plus - Cooper City, FL) - Card #551
This is the 67th 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. After our 51 card haul from Uncle Dick's, and with more card spending budget still in place, I set out to find another dealer with a binder of 1965 Topps cards with reasonable prices. I had purchased cards from Sports Cards Plus before, finding the last few cards needed for our 1971 Topps set from this dealer back in December 2019.
Settling in, we found 37 commons, semi-stars and team cards needed for our set, including this Bunker card, with the average price per card working out to around $6 a piece. After paying for this mini haul, we were officially 13 cards away from a complete set, with one more purchase coming to end the day.
The Card / Orioles Team Set
Bunker's rookie card can be found in the 1964 Topps set, on a Rookie Stars card shared with Sam Bowens (#188). This is his first solo card, and the Topps 1964 All-Star Rookie trophy is displayed prominently. In a nice touch, the trophy is shown sticking out his back pocket in the cartoon on the back of the card. Bunker also appeared earlier in the set on the American League pitching leaders card (#9) given his 19 wins in 1964. The back of the card credits Orioles' manager Hank Bauer (#323) with giving Bunker a spot in the team's starting pitching rotation. But his SABR biography notes the club was essentially forced to keep him on the roster, or risk losing him via waivers due to the day's bonus baby rules.
1965 Season
Bunker began the season in the Orioles' pitching rotation behind Steve Barber (#113), Milt Pappas (#270) and Robin Roberts (#15). He made 34 appearances, including 27 starts, and was 10-8 with a 3.38 ERA in 189 innings pitched. His SABR biography notes he pitched through pain the entire season, alternating successful runs on the mound with periods where he seemingly couldn't get anyone out.
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First Mainstream Card: 1964 Topps #201
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (8): 1964-1971
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1981 TCMA The 1960s II #408
56 - Bunker non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 8/6/22.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
Previous Card: #289 Gordy Coleman - Cincinnati Reds
Previous Card: #289 Gordy Coleman - Cincinnati Reds
Next Card: #291 Jerry Lynch - Pittsburgh Pirates
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