#321 Rusty Staub - Houston Astros

Daniel Joseph Staub
Houston Astros
Outfield

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'2"  Weight:  190
Born:  April 1, 1944, New Orleans, LA
Signed:  Signed by the Houston Colt .45s as an amateur free agent, September 11, 1961
Major League Teams:  Houson Colt .45s 1963-1964; Houston Astros 1965-1968; Montreal Expos 1969-1971; New York Mets 1972-1975; Detroit Tigers 1976-1979; Montreal Expos 1979; Texas Rangers 1980; New York Mets 1981-1985
Died:  March 29, 2018, West Palm Beach, FL (age 73)

A professional hitter, Rusty Staub played parts of 23 seasons in the major leagues, making six All-Star teams and collecting 2,716 hits.  Staub holds the distinction of being one of the first stars of two different franchises - the Colt .45s/Astros and Expos.  He made his first two All-Star Games in 1967 and 1968 with the Astros, and led the league in 1967 with 44 doubles.  Dealt to the expansion Expos before their inaugural 1969 season, Staub was about to embark on the best three years of his career.  He belted a career-high 30 home runs in 1970, and he batted .296 in his three-year stint in Montreal, earning the affectionate nickname "Le Grand Orange."  He was the centerpiece of a big trade with the Mets right before the start of the 1972 season, and in total he'd spend nine seasons in New York, in two different stints.

Staub collected over 100 RBIs in three different seasons - 1975 with the Mets, and then 1977 and 1978 with the Tigers - driving home a career-high 121 runs in 1978 as Detroit's full-time designated hitter.  He spent the last several seasons of his career back with the Mets in mainly a pinch-hitting role.  Staub played in 2,951 games, owned a .279 career batting average and his hit tally is currently 65th on the all-time list.  He retired as the only player in major league history to collect at least 500 hits with four different teams. Staub was inducted into the New York Mets Hall of Fame in 1986, and he became the first Expos player to have his number retired (#10) in 1993.

Building the Set
March 6, 2022 from The Philly Show (Sports Cards Plus - Cooper City, FL) - Card #555

This is the 71st 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.  This lot, including this Staub 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.

This Staub card completes the Astros team set, which can be viewed in all its (mostly) hatless glory here.

The Card / Astros Team Set
The Topps photographer who took this picture must have forgotten to ask Staub to remove his hat for a few photos, and as a result the .45s logo on the hat is simply colored over.  He joins Nellie Fox (#485), Ken Johnson (#359), Larry Yellen (#292) and Larry Dierker (#409) as Astros players sporting all black hats in the set.  The cartoon on the back of the card highlights Staub's high school basketball career in New Orleans.  Staub's first career home run, referenced in the write-up on the back, came on June 3, 1963.  It was a two-run shot off the Dodgers' Don Drysdale (#260) in the fourth inning, and the Colt .45s would go on to win the game, 2-1.

1965 Season
Staub was the most regularly used right fielder for the Astros, making 103 starts at the position and appearing in 131 games overall.  He batted .256 with 20 doubles, 14 home runs and 63 RBIs.

1963 Topps #544

1970 Topps #585

1975 Topps #90

1978 Topps #370

1986 Topps #570

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1963 Topps #544
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (22):  1963-1971, 1974-1986
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2012 Panini Golden Age #90

276 - Staub non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 8/11/22.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

Previous Card:  #320 Bob Gibson - St. Louis Cardinals

Next Card:  #322 Rick Wise - Philadelphia Phillies

#257 Jim Wynn - Houston Astros

James Sherman Wynn
Houston Astros
Outfield

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'10"  Weight:  160
Born:  March 12, 1942, Cincinnati, OH
Signed:  Signed by the Cincinnati Reds as an amateur free agent before 1962 season
Major League Teams:  Houson Colt .45s 1963-1964; Houston Astros 1965-1973; Los Angeles Dodgers 1974-1975; Atlanta Braves 1976; New York Yankees 1977; Milwaukee Brewers 1977
Died:  March 26, 2020, Houston, TX (age 78)

Affectionately nicknamed "The Toy Cannon," due to the unexpected pop in his bat from someone with such a small stature, Jimmy Wynn played in 15 big league seasons, primarily with the Astros.  Wynn was the Astros' opening day center fielder in 1965 and was one of the franchise's first stars.  His best season with Houston came in 1967 when he was named to his first All-Star squad.  Wynn batted .249 that season while reaching career highs in home runs (37) and RBIs (107).  Able to work a walk, he led the league in that category twice (1969 and 1976) and his 1,224 career bases on balls are currently 57th all-time.  Wynn finished in the top ten for on-base percentage in seven different seasons.

Dealt to the Dodgers following the 1973 season, Wynn won Comeback Player of the Year honors in 1974 when he batted .271 with 32 home runs and 108 RBIs.  He was named to the All-Star team two more times in 1974 and 1975.  Wynn retired following the 1977 season with a lifetime average of .250, 291 home runs and 964 RBIs.  He was the all-time franchise leader for the Astros in most offensive categories, including hits, home runs and RBIs until being surpassed by the likes of Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, Jose Cruz and Bob Watson.  Wynn's #24 was retired by the Astros in 2005, and he was inducted into the Houston Astros Hall of Fame in 2019.

Building the Set
March 6, 2022 from The Philly Show (America's Pastime - Fair Lawn, NJ) - Card #486
This is the second 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.  This Wynn card was a little over $4 and was one of 13 cards purchased from the dealer America's Pastime from Fair Lawn, New Jersey.

Depending on my ability to compose five posts a week on the cards acquired at this show, I should be completely caught up by mid-October.  So get used to seeing this passage on the blog!  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 / Astros Team Set
The photo used here is from the same session that yielded the photo used for Wynn's 1964 Topps rookie card.  I had originally thought the orange spot to the right of Wynn was a blemish on our copy of the card, but apparently it's visible on every card.  The cartoon on the back shows Wynn being drafted from the Reds, and the Colt. 45s stole him from Cincinnati in the November 1962 first-year draft.  The write-up on the back also mentions Wynn's ability to play the infield.  Originally a shortstop, Wynn's defense resulted in his conversion to a full-time outfielder in 1964.

1965 Season
Wynn started 150 of the Astros' 162 games in center field and was arguably the team's MVP.  He batted .275 with 22 home runs and 73 RBIs, winning the Astros' Triple Crown.  He walked 84 times and had 43 stolen bases in 47 attempts.  Along with fellow young stars Joe Morgan (#16) and Rusty Staub (#321), Wynn gave Houston fans a reason to be excited to come watch baseball in the newly opened Astrodome.

1964 Topps #38

1967 Topps #390

1972 Topps #770

1975 Topps #570

1977 Topps Burger King Yankees #20

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1964 Topps #38
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (14):  1964-1977
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2016 Donruss Signature Series #SGS-JI

157 - Wynn non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 4/2/22.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

Previous Card:  #256 Tito Francona - St. Louis Cardinals

Next Card:  #258 Larry Bearnarth - New York Mets

#594 Joe Gaines - Houston Astros

Arnesta Joe Gaines
Houston Astros
Outfield

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  190
Born:  November 22, 1936, Bryan, TX
Signed:  Signed by the Cincinnati Redlegs as an amateur free agent before 1956 season
Major League Teams:  Cincinnati Reds 1960-1962; Baltimore Orioles 1963-1964; Houston Colt .45s 1964; Houston Astros 1965-1966

Joe Gaines began his big league career as a back-up outfielder and pinch-hitter with the Reds, spending the entire 1962 season on the team's roster as a back-up to Wally Post and Frank Robinson (#120).  In December 1962, he was dealt to the Orioles and he'd spend the 1963 season as Boog Powell's (#560) back-up in left field.  Gaines wouldn't receive regular playing time until a June 1964 deal sent him to Houston.  With the Colt .45s, Gaines settled into their everyday right fielder role, batting .254 in 89 games during the second half of the 1964 season.  He was the club's opening day right fielder in 1965 during the Astros first ever game in the Astrodome.  Gaines struggled at the plate, batting just .227 while appearing in a career-high 100 games.  He'd play 11 more games for the Astros in 1966, spending most of that season with the team's Triple-A affiliate in Oklahoma City.  Gaines would play professionally for three more seasons, including a partial year in Japan, before retiring.

In 362 major league games, Gaines batted .241 with 21 home runs and 95 RBIs.

Building the Set
December 4, 2021 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards, Babylon, NY) - Card #482
We added a whopping 97 cards to our set during the December Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show.  

This is it!  This is the 94th and final card added from Uncle Dick's, and after this there's just one more major card to go before I'm completely caught up, at least with our December Philly Show purchases.  I was fairly ambitious documenting these purchases and I was able to compose posts for five cards a week, beginning way back on January 13th with the Tony Oliva (#340) card.  The ongoing MLB owner's lockout and the lack of any spring training games gave me a little more spare time than usual in February and March.  I've posted a complete summary of this fantastic show over at The Phillies Room.

After securing Doug's Jim Thome autograph, I returned to Uncle Dick's and their neon green shirts, pulled up a chair, and settled in.  Over the course of 45 minutes or so, I found another 79 cards needed for our set, including this Gaines card which was a little less than $4 after the dealer discount.  I was surrounded by six or seven other seated collectors, all who looked similar to me, with a touch of gray, focused on their individual quests.  I wiped out Uncle Dick's two 1965 Topps commons binders, paid for my haul and then retreated to a table with Doug to update our checklist.

The Card / Astros Team Set
Topps wasn't able to completely obscure the Oriole on the left sleeve of Gaines' jersey, and he'd need to wait until the 1966 Topps set to appear in an actual Astros uniform.  The cartoon on the back highlights a fairly obscure aspect of Gaines' career, referring to the fact he didn't commit any errors while playing in 26 games for the Wausau Lumberjacks in 1956.

1965 Season
As mentioned above, Gaines was the Astros' opening day right fielder and he'd start just 37 games at the position, losing playing time to Rusty Staub (#321) and Staub's more reliable bat.  He appeared in 100 games overall, with 36 appearances as a pinch-hitter.  In his pinch-hitting role, Gaines batted .250 (8 for 32) with three home runs.

1962 Topps #414

1963 Topps #319

1964 Topps #364

1966 Topps #122

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1962 Topps #414
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (5):  1962-1966
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2015 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-JG

21 - Gaines non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 3/12/22.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

Previous Card:  #593 Tigers Rookie Stars

Next Card:  #595 Don Lee - Los Angeles Angels

#553 Astros Rookie Stars - Dan Coombs / Jack McClure / Gene Ratliff

Daniel Bernard Coombs
Houston Astros
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Left  Height:  6'4"  Weight:  200
Born:  March 23, 1942, Lincoln, ME

Signed:  Signed by the Houston Colt .45s as an amateur free agent before 1963 season
Major League Teams:  Houston Colt .45s 1963-1964; Houston Astros 1965-1969;
San Diego Padres 1970-1971

Jack Hoyle McClure
Houston Astros
Infield

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'0"  Weight:  175
Born:  December 13, 1945, Asher, OK
Signed:  Signed by the Houston Colt .45s as an amateur free agent before 1964 season

Kelly Eugene Ratliff
Houston Astros
Outfield

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'5"  Weight:  185
Born:  September 28, 1945, Macon, GA
Signed:  Signed by the Houston Colt .45s as an amateur free agent before 1964 season
Major League Teams:  Houston Astros 1965

Danny Coombs appeared in nine seasons with the Colt. 45s/Astros and Padres.  His first regular big league action came in 1965 when he appeared in 26 games for the Astros.  He'd bounce back and forth between the minors and majors the next two years, before sticking with the club for all of 1968 as the club's most frequently used lefty out of the bullpen.  Coombs was 4-3 with a 3.28 ERA in 40 games that season.  His career year came during his penultimate season of 1970 after the Padres had converted him to a starting pitcher.  Combs was 10-14 that season with a 3.30 ERA in 188 1/3 innings pitched.  In 144 career games, Combs had a 19-27 record with a 4.08 ERA and he accumulated 249 strikeouts over 393 innings pitched.

Infielder Jack McClure played three seasons in the Colt .45s/Astros system for their Single-A and Double-A teams.  He never played in the majors.  McClure appeared in 176 minor league games between 1964 and 1966, batting .252 with three home runs and 65 RBIs.

Gene Ratliff played four seasons professionally in the Colt .45s/Astros and Braves organizations between 1964 and 1967.  He seemingly had two stints with the Astros during the 1965 season, receiving four at-bats, all as a pinch-hitter, and striking out all four times.  He was dealt to the Braves following the 1966 season as part of a six-player trade and he retired after playing 34 games for the Braves' Single-A team in West Palm Beach in 1967.

Building the Set
December 4, 2021 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards, Babylon, NY) - Card #472
You'll be seeing this particular passage on my 1965 Topps blog for quite some time as we added a whopping 97 cards to our set during the December Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show.  If I'm ambitious and compose posts for five cards a week, I should be completely caught up by the end of May.  If I'm not as ambitious, I might still be going through this stack by the time we hit July.  Either way, I'll enjoy the process and I'm looking forward to taking my time.  I've posted a complete summary of this fantastic show over at The Phillies Room.

After securing Doug's Jim Thome autograph, I returned to Uncle Dick's and their neon green shirts, pulled up a chair, and settled in.  Over the course of 45 minutes or so, I found 79 cards needed for our set, including this Rookie Stars card which was less than $4 after the dealer discount.  I was surrounded by six or seven other seated collectors, all who looked similar to me, with a touch of gray, focused on their individual quests.  I wiped out Uncle Dick's two 1965 Topps commons binders, paid for my haul and then retreated to a table with Doug to update our checklist.

The Card / Astros Team Set
This is the first card in the set, and therefore the first ever Topps flagship card, to feature Astros players with the actual Astros logo on their hats.  For the set's seventh and final series, Topps must have realized it needed to squeeze a bunch more players onto its Rookie Stars cards but it was quickly running out of room within the checklist.  This is one of six cards in the high series featuring three players on one Rookie Stars card.  There are also five Rookie Stars cards featuring four players in the set's seventh and final series.

While Coombs would go on to appear on five more Topps flagship cards, this is the first and last appearance in a Topps set for McClure and Ratliff.

1965 Season - Coombs
Coombs was 0-2 with a 4.79 ERA in 47 innings pitched for the Astros, his first full season in the majors.  He made three starts throughout the season, accounting for his 0-2 record, and his ERA as a starter was an even 9.00.

1966 Topps #414

1967 Topps #464

1968 Topps #547

1969 Topps #389

1971 Topps #126

Other Notable Baseball Cards - Coombs
First Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #553
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (6):  1965-1969, 1971
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2020 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-DCO

21 - Coombs non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 3/5/22.

Sources - Coombs:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

1965 Season - McClure
McClure played for both the Single-A Durham Bulls in the Carolina League and the Double-A Amarillo Sonics in the Texas League.  In 100 games at both levels, he batted .267 with a pair of home runs and 42 RBIs.  He'd play just ten more games professionally in 1966 before retiring from baseball at the age of 20.

1965 Season - Ratliff
Ratliff's 1965 season puzzles me.  His four pinch-hit at-bats, with two appearances in May and another two in August, are his only statistics listed for the entire season.  What did he do the rest of the year?  He appeared in 37 games for the Rookie Level Colts in 1964, and then in 35 games for the Single-A Salisbury Astors in 1966.  But in 1965 he had just the four games, striking out in four pinch-hitting appearances.

For the record, the four pitchers striking out Ratliff were the Giants' Bobby Bolin (#341), and then Wade Blasingame (#44), Tony Cloninger (#520) and Billy O'Dell (#476) from the Braves.

Other Notable Baseball Cards - McClure
First Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #553
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (1):  1965
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #553

2 - McClure non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 3/5/22.

Sources - McClure:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database

Other Notable Baseball Cards - Ratliff
First Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #553
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (1):  1965
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #553

2 - Ratliff non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 3/5/22.

Sources - Ratliff:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database

Previous Card:  #552 Julio Gotay - Los Angeles Angels

Next Card:  #554 Chico Ruiz - Cincinnati Reds

#485 Nellie Fox - Houston Astros

Jacob Nelson Fox
Houston Astros
Second Base-Coach

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'10"  Weight:  160
Born:  December 25, 1927, St. Thomas, PA
Signed:  Signed by the Philadelphia Athletics as an amateur free agent before the 1944 season
Major League Teams:  Philadelphia Athletics 1947-1949; Chicago White Sox 1950-1963; Houston Colt .45s 1964; Houston Astros 1965
Died:  December 1, 1975, Baltimore, MD (age 47)
Hall of Fame Induction:  1997

Hall of Famer Nellie Fox was a perennial All-Star for the White Sox throughout the 1950s, leading the American League in hits in four different seasons.  He never struck out more than 18 times a season and his 42.7 at bats per strikeout is tops all-time in the modern era.  Fox was named to the All-Star team 11 years in a row between 1951 and 1961 and went back in 1963 too.  A fantastic fielder, Fox won three Gold Gloves for his work at second base in 1957, 1959 and 1960.  He was the A.L. MVP in 1959 when he hit .306 with 70 RBIs, helping the Go-Go White Sox reach the World Series for the first time since 1919.

Fox played 19 seasons in the majors, hitting .288 with 2,663 hits, which is currently 75th on the all-time list.  He's also high on the all-time list for singles (2,161 for 28th place), runs scored (1,279 for 138th place) and triples (112 for 121st place).  Fox served as a player-coach for the Astros in 1965 and then a full-time coach with the team in 1966 and 1967.  He also coached with the Washington Senators/Texas Rangers between 1968 and 1972.  Sadly, skin cancer claimed Fox in 1975 at the way too young age of 47.  One of the greatest second baseman of his era, Fox had his #2 retired by the White Sox in 1976 and he was elected by the Veterans Committee into the Hall of Fame in 1997.

Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1956 Topps blog.

Building the Set
December 4, 2021 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards, Babylon, NY) - 

Card #456

You'll be seeing this particular passage on my 1965 Topps blog for quite some time as we added a whopping 97 cards to our set during the December Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show.  If I'm ambitious and compose posts for five cards a week, I should be completely caught up by the end of May.  If I'm not as ambitious, I might still be going through this stack by the time we hit July.  Either way, I'll enjoy the process and I'm looking forward to taking my time.  I've posted a complete summary of this fantastic show over at The Phillies Room.

After securing Doug's Jim Thome autograph, I returned to Uncle Dick's and their neon green shirts, pulled up a chair, and settled in.  Over the course of 45 minutes or so, I found 79 cards needed for our set, including this Fox card which was a little less than $9 after the dealer discount.  I was surrounded by six or seven other seated collectors, all who looked similar to me, with a touch of gray, focused on their individual quests.  I wiped out Uncle Dick's two 1965 Topps commons binders, paid for my haul and then retreated to a table with Doug to update our checklist.

The Card / Astros Team Set
This is the second player-coach/future Hall of Famer card we've added to the set, with Warren Spahn (#205) being the first.  We still have the Yogi Berra (#470) card to go for the trifecta.  This is Fox's final Topps flagship appearance as a player, and he's wearing a Colt .45s jersey and hat with the logo colored over on his hat.  There's barely room for 18 years of statistics on the back of the card, and only his 21 games played in 1965 are missing.  The card is reprinted in the 2001 Topps Archives set.

1965 Season
In his final season before becoming a full-time coach, Fox batted an impressive .268 (11 for 41), while making six starts for the Astros - four at third base, one at second base and one at first base - with all starts coming in May, June or July.  His other appearances were as a pinch-hitter.  He played in his last major league game on July 25th against the Reds, pinch-hitting for Astros' pitcher Mike Cuellar (#337) in the eighth inning.  With the Astros trailing 1-0, Fox grounded into a bases loaded fielder's choice with the runner out at home.

1951 Bowman #232

1954 Bowman #6

1956 Topps #118

1959 Topps #30

1963 Topps #525

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1951 Bowman #232
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (11):  1956-1965, 1975
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2018 Panini Diamond Kings #17

403 - Fox non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 2/23/22.

Sources:  
1956 Topps Blog

Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
National Baseball Hall of Fame
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

Previous Card:  #484 Ron Perranoski - Los Angeles Dodgers

Next Card:  #486 Angels Rookie Stars

#469 Don Nottebart - Houston Astros

Donald Edward Nottebart
Houston Astros
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  190
Born:  January 23, 1936, West Newton, MA
Signed:  Signed by the Milwaukee Braves as an amateur free agent, June 16, 1954
Major League Teams:  Milwaukee Braves 1960-1962; Houson Colt .45s 1963-1964; Houston Astros 1965; Cincinnati Reds 1966-1967; New York Yankees 1969; Chicago Cubs 1969
Died:  October 4, 2007, Cypress, TX (age 71)

Don Nottebart was primarily a reliever in his first three big league seasons with the Braves, but he's best remembered for his time as a starting pitcher in Houston.  Dealt to the Colt .45s following the 1962 season, Nottebart joined their starting pitching rotation and enjoyed his best professional season.  He was 11-8 with a 3.17 ERA in 27 starts for the Colt .45s, with only Ken Johnson (#359) starting more games for the team.  On May 17, 1963, Nottebart threw the first no-hitter in Houston franchise history, winning a 4-1 contest against the Phillies.  The Phillies had scored an unearned run in the fifth inning due to an error by shortstop J.C. Hartman.

Nottebart was acquired in the rule 5 draft by the Reds following the 1965 season.  He moved back to the bullpen with Cincinnati, appearing in a team-leading 59 games in 1966 while tallying an impressive 3.07 ERA and 11 saves over 111 1/3 innings pitched.  Nottebart would find success again in 1967 from the Reds' bullpen, pitching to a 2.84 ERA in 47 appearances.  A contract dispute in 1968 led to his pitching in the minors for the entire season, and he wrapped up his big league career in 1969, appearing in 20 games for the Yankees and Cubs.  Nottebart had a 36-51 lifetime record, with a 3.65 ERA in 296 games pitched, including 89 starts.

Building the Set
December 4, 2021 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards, Babylon, NY) - Card #451
You'll be seeing this particular passage on my 1965 Topps blog for quite some time as we added a whopping 97 cards to our set during the December Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show.  If I'm ambitious and compose posts for five cards a week, I should be completely caught up by the end of May.  If I'm not as ambitious, I might still be going through this stack by the time we hit July.  Either way, I'll enjoy the process and I'm looking forward to taking my time.  I've posted a complete summary of this fantastic show over at The Phillies Room.

After securing Doug's Jim Thome autograph, I returned to Uncle Dick's and their neon green shirts, pulled up a chair, and settled in.  Over the course of 45 minutes or so, I found 79 cards needed for our set, including this Nottebart card which was a little less than $4 after the dealer discount.  I was surrounded by six or seven other seated collectors, all who looked similar to me, with a touch of gray, focused on their individual quests.  I wiped out Uncle Dick's two 1965 Topps commons binders, paid for my haul and then retreated to a table with Doug to update our checklist.

In the middle of all of this, Doug won one of the day's door prizes, which turned out to be an Eagles Super Bowl canvas print.  He was thrilled to win, but slightly disappointed the prize wasn't baseball related as neither of us are big football fans.

The Card / Astros Team Set
Like a lot of his Astros teammates, Nottebart is shown hatless while wearing the jersey of the recently re-named Colt .45s.  His 1963 no-hitter against the Phillies gets the cartoon highlight treatment on the back of the card.

1965 Season
With the Astros, Nottebart began the year in the team's starting pitching rotation and he'd struggle most of the season.  In 29 games, including 25 starts, he was 4-15 with a 4.67 ERA for the ninth place Astros.  On September 13th, he surrendered the 500th career home of Willie Mays' (#250) career.

1960 Topps #351

1964 Topps #434

1966 Topps #21

1967 Topps #269

1969 Topps #593

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1960 Topps #351
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (10):  1960-1969
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1978 TCMA The 1960s I #72

33 - Nottebart non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 2/19/22.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

Previous Card:  #468 Larry Brown - Cleveland Indians

Next Card:  #470 Yogi Berra - New York Mets