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Lawrence Curtis Jackson
Chicago Cubs
Pitcher
Born: June 2, 1931, Nampa, ID
Signed: Signed by the St. Louis Cardinals as an amateur free agent before 1951 season
Major League Teams: St. Louis Cardinals 1955-1962; Chicago Cubs 1963-1966; Philadelphia Phillies 1966-1968
Died: August 28, 1990, Boise, ID (age 59)
One of the most underrated National League starting pitchers for 14 seasons, Larry Jackson won 14 or more games 10 times, leading the league in wins with 24 in 1964. His 194 career wins are the most for any right-handed pitcher since 1900 who never played for a first place team and therefore never reached the postseason. A reliable workhorse, Jackson made the All-Star team in 1957, 1958, 1960 and 1963.
He led the league in games started (38) and innings pitched (282) in 1960 and topped the league in 1966 with five shutouts. He was also an outstanding fielder, as demonstrated by his perfect fielding percentages in 1957, 1964, 1965 and 1968. Pitching for mostly bad teams, Jackson nevertheless compiled a lifetime record of 194-183 with a 3.40 ERA. Drafted by the Expos in the 1968 expansion draft, Jackson chose to retire rather than report to Montreal. He'd later serve four terms in the Idaho House of Representatives and ran for governor of the state in 1978.
Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1956 Topps blog.
Building the Set
March 6, 2022 from The Philly Show (Sports Cards Plus - Cooper City, FL) - Card #573
The Card / Cubs Team Set
This is Jackson's second appearance in the set, as he's front and center on the 1964 Pitching Leaders card (#10) with Juan Marichal (#50) and Ray Sadecki (#230). The back of the card highlights his 28 wins while pitching for the Class C Fresno Cardinals in 1952. As mentioned above, and on the back of this card by Topps, Jackson was also one of the best fielding pitchers of his era.
1965 Season
Coming off his career-year and 24-win season, Jackson was again a workhorse in the Cubs' starting pitching rotation, making 39 starts and pitching at least 250 innings for the fourth season in a row. The Cubs were not a good team though, and his record of 14-21 reflected that. Jackson had a 3.85 ERA, pitching 12 complete games and throwing four shutouts.
Phillies Career
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1956 Topps #119
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (13): 1956-1968
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1978 TCMA The 1960s I #286
73 - Jackson non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 9/3/22.
Sources:
1956 Topps Blog
March 6, 2022 from The Philly Show (Sports Cards Plus - Cooper City, FL) - Card #573
This is the 89th 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 cards needed for our set with an average price per card working out to around $6. The lot, including this Jackson 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 / Cubs Team Set
This is Jackson's second appearance in the set, as he's front and center on the 1964 Pitching Leaders card (#10) with Juan Marichal (#50) and Ray Sadecki (#230). The back of the card highlights his 28 wins while pitching for the Class C Fresno Cardinals in 1952. As mentioned above, and on the back of this card by Topps, Jackson was also one of the best fielding pitchers of his era.
1965 Season
Coming off his career-year and 24-win season, Jackson was again a workhorse in the Cubs' starting pitching rotation, making 39 starts and pitching at least 250 innings for the fourth season in a row. The Cubs were not a good team though, and his record of 14-21 reflected that. Jackson had a 3.85 ERA, pitching 12 complete games and throwing four shutouts.
The Phillies acquired Jackson and Bob Buhl (#264) from the Chicago Cubs on April 21, 1966 for three questionable prospects - John Herrnstein (#534), Adolfo Phillips and Fergie Jenkins, who would go on to enjoy a Hall of Fame career. Jackson slid into the Phillies pitching rotation behind Jim Bunning (#20) and Chris Short, recording a 41-45 record over three seasons with a respectable 2.95 ERA. He led the Phillies staff with a 2.77 ERA in 1968, but the team decided to leave the 37-year-old veteran unprotected in that offseason's expansion draft. Selected by the Expos, Jackson held true to a promise he had made to retire unless he was playing for a west coast team. As compensation for losing Jackson, the Phillies sent infielder Bobby Wine (#36) to the Expos, who became the team's first regular shortstop.
Jackson appears with the Phillies in the 1966, 1967 and 1968 Topps sets and he also received a few Phillies photo cards and oddball cards from that era.
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First Mainstream Card: 1956 Topps #119
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (13): 1956-1968
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1978 TCMA The 1960s I #286
73 - Jackson non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 9/3/22.
Sources:
1956 Topps Blog
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