Wednesday, August 24, 2022

#593 Tigers Rookie Stars - Jackie Moore / John Sullivan


Jackie Spencer Moore
Detroit Tigers
Catcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'0"  Weight:  180
Born:  February 19, 1939, Jay, FL
Signed:  Signed by the Detroit Tigers as an amateur free agent before the 1957 season
Major League Teams:  Detroit Tigers 1965
As a Manager:  Oakland Athletics 1984-1986

John Peter Sullivan
Detroit Tigers
Catcher

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'0"  Weight:  195
Born:  January 3, 1941, Somerville, NJ
Signed:  Signed by the Detroit Tigers as an amateur free agent before the 1959 season
Major League Teams:  Detroit Tigers 1963-1965; New York Mets 1967; Philadelphia Phillies 1968

Jackie Moore played professionally for 11 seasons, but only saw big league action in 1965 with the Tigers, appearing in 21 games.  With Bill Freehan (#390) as the regular starting catcher, Moore and fellow back-up John Sullivan didn't see much action.  Moore batted .094 (5 for 53) in his limited stint with the Tigers, making 16 starts behind the plate.  Following his last year as a player in 1967, Moore began a lengthy second career as a minor and major league coach and manager.  His major league coaching tenure spanned 32 seasons with the Brewers (1970-1972), Rangers (1973-1976, 1980, 1993-1994, 2009-2013), Blue Jays (1977-1979), Athletics (1981-1984), Expos (1987-1989), Reds (1990-1992), Rockies (1996-1997) and Astros (2008).  In between all of that, and his four different stints as a Rangers coach, Moore managed the A's for 353 games between 1984 and 1986, compiling a record of 163-190.  As manager of the Double-A Round Rock Express, Moore won league or division titles every season between 2000 and 2004.

From the 1969 Phillies Yearbook
Sullivan appeared in 39 games for the Tigers between 1963 and 1965, seeing limited playing time as a back-up catcher, similar to Moore, and pinch-hitter.  After spending all of the 1966 season in the minors, he was left unprotected by the Tigers and selected by the Mets in the November 1966 rule 5 draft.  Sullivan appeared in a career-high 65 games with the Mets in 1967, backing up Jerry Grote (#504), and making 29 starts behind the plate.  He'd bat .218 with five doubles.  Dealt to the Phillies before the 1968 season, he'd play his final 12 major league games with Philadelphia.  Sullivan managed in the Royals' system between 1973 and 1978, compiling an impressive 725-434 record over six seasons.  He'd join the big league coaching staff of the Royals in 1979.  Sullivan would also coach with the Braves (1980-1981) and Blue Jays (1982-1993), and he caught Joe Carter's game-winning home run ball in the bullpen during Game 6 of the 1993 World Series.

Building the Set
March 6, 2022 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards - Babylon, NY) - Card #546
This is the 62nd 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 Tigers Rookie Stars card was $8 and was the last of 49 commons and semi-stars purchased in my triumphant return to Uncle Dick's and his replenished neon green binders.  Having reached the end of the binders, I asked if there were any star cards from the set available for my perusal, and of course there were.  I'd buy two major cards needed for our set to go along with the 49 commons and semi-stars and those two cards will be featured in the next posts.

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 the rookie card for both Moore and Sullivan, and it's unusual to see a multi-player rookie card from the same team with two catchers.  Moore was still with the club when this card was created, but as noted on the back Sullivan had been optioned down on May 11, 1965.

1965 Season - Moore
In his major league debut on April 18th, Moore started and caught 12 innings of a game ultimately won by the Tigers, 4-1, over the Angels in 13 innings.  His single helped spur the rally in the top of the 13th to give the Tigers the win.  He'd appear sparingly throughout the rest of the season, getting the most playing time in June when he appeared in 13 games, but batted just .108 (4 for 37).  Demoted briefly to the Syracuse Chiefs in the International League during the season, he appeared in 17 games and batted .180.
1965 Season - Sullivan
Sullivan was the Tigers' opening day catcher, and he'd make 25 more starts behind the plate as the primary back-up to Freehan following a brief demotion between May and June.  He batted .267 with a pair of home runs and 11 RBIs.  Sullivan played 29 games in Syracuse, batting .169 (13 for 77).

Phillies Career - Sullivan
The Mets sent Sullivan and Johnny Lewis (#277) to the Phillies on February 19, 1968 for a player to be named later, who turned out to be utility player Billy Sorrell.  With the Phillies, Sullivan began the season with their Triple-A team in 
San Diego, and he'd bat .246 overall for the Padres in 83 games.  He was recalled in mid-July for catching depth, playing behind Clay Dalrymple (#372) and Mike Ryan (#573).  Sullivan made it into just 12 games with the Phillies, batting .222 (4 for 18) and making three starts behind the plate.

On April 12, 1969, the Phillies traded him with Anthony Giresi to the Orioles for catcher Vic Roznovsky (#334), ending his short time with the club.  He's not on any Phillies baseball cards, but he received an entire page in the team's 1969 Yearbook.
1973 Topps #549
1974 Topps #379
1977 Topps #113
1985 Topps #38
1986 Topps #591

Other Notable Baseball Cards - Moore

First Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #593
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (7):  1965, 1973-1974, 1977, 1984-1986
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1986 Topps #591

36 - Moore non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 8/1/22.

Sources - Moore:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia

Other Notable Baseball Cards - Sullivan

First Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #593
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (3):  1965-1967
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2016 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-JSU

10 - Sullivan non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 8/1/22.

Sources - Sullivan:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
1966 Topps #597
1967 Topps #568

Previous Card:
  #592 Frank Bork - Pittsburgh Pirates

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