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James Ray Hart
San Francisco Giants
Third Base
Born: October 30, 1941, Hookerton, NC
Signed: Signed by the San Francisco Giants as an amateur free agent before 1960 season
Major League Teams: San Francisco Giants 1963-1973; New York Yankees 1973-1974
Died: May 19, 2016, Acampo, CA (age 74)
Slugger Jim Ray Hart spent a decade playing for the Giants, hitting at least 23 home runs five consecutive seasons between 1964 and 1968. Hart finished as the Rookie of the Year ruuner-up (tied with Rico Carty - #305) behind Dick Allen (#460) in 1964, when as the Giants' everyday third baseman he batted .286 with 31 home runs and 81 RBIs. His numbers would improve in 1965 and in 1966 Hart was named to his only All-Star team. That was to be his career year as he batted .285 with a career-high 33 home runs and 93 RBIs. He'd drive in 99 runs in 1967, splitting time between third base and left field. Hart struggled defensively and he'd move to a reserve role with the Giants in 1969. After a few more seasons with the club, which included multiple stints in the minor leagues, Hart was sold to the Yankees before the 1973 season. He'd DH for the Yankees in his last full season in the majors, batting .254 with 13 home runs and 52 RBIs.
Hart would play parts of three seasons in the Mexican League before retiring in 1976. For his big league career, Hart batted .278 with 1,052 hits, 170 home runs and 578 RBIs. He was one of several inaugural inductees into the San Francisco Giants Wall of Fame in 2008.
Building the Set
March 6, 2022 from The Philly Show (Sports Cards Plus - Cooper City, FL) - Card #563
Settling in, we found 37 cards needed for our set with an average price per card working out to around $6. The lot, including this Hart card, consisted mostly of semi-stars and team cards. 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 / Giants Team Set
Hart's rookie card is found in the 1964 Topps set, on a Rookie Stars card shared with Gil Garrido. He shows up early in this set on the Home Run Leaders (#4) card. His Topps flagship set cards don't acknowledge his middle name on the front of his cards until his very last appearance in 1974. Strangely enough, his 1965 Topps Embossed card lists him as "Jim Ray Hart" on the front. His Baseball Reference page confirms the .418 average against the Braves in 1964, as Hart went 23 for 55, including two doubles, a triple and five home runs.
1965 Season
The Giants would finish in second place behind the Dodgers, with Hart as the regular third baseman. He appeared in 160 games, with only Willie McCovey (#176) appearing in that many games with him. Hart batted .299 with 23 home runs and 96 RBIs, behind Willie Mays (#250) in both categories. Mays gave Hart $500 out of his own pocket at the end of the season for playing in all but two of the team's games. While his bat was sound, his glove was not, and Hart led all National League third baseman with 32 errors.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1964 Topps #452
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (11): 1964-1974
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1978 TCMA The 1960s I #269
44 - Hart non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 8/16/22.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Building the Set
March 6, 2022 from The Philly Show (Sports Cards Plus - Cooper City, FL) - Card #563
This is the 79th 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.
Hart's rookie card is found in the 1964 Topps set, on a Rookie Stars card shared with Gil Garrido. He shows up early in this set on the Home Run Leaders (#4) card. His Topps flagship set cards don't acknowledge his middle name on the front of his cards until his very last appearance in 1974. Strangely enough, his 1965 Topps Embossed card lists him as "Jim Ray Hart" on the front. His Baseball Reference page confirms the .418 average against the Braves in 1964, as Hart went 23 for 55, including two doubles, a triple and five home runs.
1965 Season
The Giants would finish in second place behind the Dodgers, with Hart as the regular third baseman. He appeared in 160 games, with only Willie McCovey (#176) appearing in that many games with him. Hart batted .299 with 23 home runs and 96 RBIs, behind Willie Mays (#250) in both categories. Mays gave Hart $500 out of his own pocket at the end of the season for playing in all but two of the team's games. While his bat was sound, his glove was not, and Hart led all National League third baseman with 32 errors.
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First Mainstream Card: 1964 Topps #452
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (11): 1964-1974
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1978 TCMA The 1960s I #269
44 - Hart non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 8/16/22.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
Previous Card: #394 Jim Hannan - Washington Senators
Previous Card: #394 Jim Hannan - Washington Senators
Next Card: #396 Frank Bertaina - Baltimore Orioles
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