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Robert Andrew Veale
Pittsburgh Pirates
Pitcher
Born: October 28, 1935, Birmingham, AL
Signed: Signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates as an amateur free agent before 1958 season
Major League Teams: Pittsburgh Pirates 1962-1972; Boston Red Sox 1972-1974
Long-time Pirates pitcher Bob Veale was an All-Star twice (1965 and 1966) and tallied at least 15 wins for the club in four straight seasons between 1964 and 1967. He accumulated over 200 strikeouts in four different seasons and led the league in that category in 1964 with 250. An effective starter for most of the 1960s, an elbow injury caused Veale to alter his pitching motion and ultimately led to his move to the bullpen. He pitched solely out of the bullpen in 1971 and a strong September helped propel the Pirates to the World Series. Veale struggled in his sole World Series appearance, but the Pirates prevailed in seven games over the Orioles earning Veale and his teammates the title. Veale wrapped up his big league career with 56 games for the Red Sox between 1972 and 1974. In 397 career games, Veale was 120-95 with a 3.07 ERA and 1,703 strikeouts and his 1,652 strikeouts while with the Pirates rank second on their all-time list behind Bob Friend (#392). After his playing days, Veale served as a minor league pitching coach in the Braves and Yankees organizations. He was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.
June 19, 2021 from Moorestown Mall Baseball Card Show - Card #312
Following our youngest son Ben's flawless performance of Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy at his piano recital, our family headed to the Moorestown Mall in New Jersey to browse a real live baseball card show. Traditionally, I only venture into malls for baseball card shows and I can't honestly remember the last time, pre-pandemic, I had stepped foot into a mall. The show was small, hosted by S&B Sports Promotions, with about a dozen tables and not much vintage to offer, but it was a sight for sore eyes. It took us only about 15 minutes to scout the whole place out and I was lucky enough to find a friendly dealer with 1960s and 1970s Topps cards in great shape, in order and (best of all) reasonably priced. I took my time going through his 1965 Topps commons, settling on 29 cards we needed and adding a card from the star pile to give us 30 new cards total. I spent an even $100 (after a generous dealer discount) and this Veale card was around $3.25.
The Card / Pirates Team Set
I wouldn't be surprised to learn if Veale requested his hat be removed for this photo, solely to highlight his awesome glasses frames. A photo from the same session is used earlier in the set on the N.L. Strikeout Leaders card (#12). The cartoon highlight on the back celebrates a no-hitter thrown by Veale in 1959 while pitching for the Wilson Tobs in the Carolina League. Veale is in the harder to find 1965 Topps Transfers insert set, but he's not in the 1965 Topps Embossed insert set.
1965 Season
Veale continued the success he had found in 1964, making 39 starts for the Pirates and going 17-12 with a 2.84 ERA as the ace of their pitching staff. He struck out a career-high 276 batters, but finished a distant second in the league behind Sandy Koufax (#300) and his record-setting 382 tally. His 276 strikeouts remain a modern-era Pirates single-season record.
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First Mainstream Card: 1962 Topps #593
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (12): 1962-1973
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1978 TCMA The 1960s I #114
89 - Veale non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 8/20/21.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
