#596 Don Landrum - Chicago Cubs

Donald Leroy Landrum
Chicago Cubs
Outfield

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'0"  Weight:  180
Born:  February 16, 1936, Santa Rosa, CA
Signed:  Signed by the Philadelphia Phillies as an amateur free agent, June 24, 1954
Major League Teams:  Philadelphia Phillies 1957; St. Louis Cardinals 1960-1962; Chicago Cubs 1962-1965; San Francisco Giants 1966
Died:  January 9, 2003, Pittsburg, CA (age 66)

Originally signed by the Phillies, Don Landrum appeared in parts of eight seasons in the majors, hitting .234 with 12 home runs and 75 career RBIs.  He enjoyed his best season in 1965 as the Cubs' regular center fielder.

Building the Set
June 8, 2020 from Fontana, CA - Card #101
Strange days indeed.  While social distancing due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, watching peaceful protests and nationwide racial justice marches on television, and hoping for the looting perpetuated by those taking advantage of a bad situation to stop, I worked, spent time with my family and wrote about old baseball cards.  I read something on social media that stuck with me and it was something along the lines of, "When this is over, we shouldn't strive to get back to normal, we should work to get better."  President Obama eloquently put it, "If we want our children to grow up in nation that lives up to its highest ideals, we can and must do better."

I'm grateful to still be working, but there are days when my chosen profession is exhausting.  These posts can take anywhere from a half hour to an hour or more to compose, and during most of that time I'm focused on the player, the card and a baseball season that happened 55 years ago.  I'm grateful for the escape this provides, while acknowledging I'm privileged to be able to have this escape available to me while many, many more people do not.  Strange days indeed.

Having acquired the last few cards in the set already, Al Downing (#598) and the Twins Rookie Stars card (#597), I continued working my way backwards, looking for this Landrum card.  I found an eBay auction with a reasonable opening bid and I came away with this card for $3.65.  I bid on a total of 10 cards for our set from buyer Your Card Connection, winning this Landrum card and three Phillies cards I'll feature in upcoming posts.

The Card
Landrum had a tough time when it came to his Topps baseball card appearances.  This card features a photo very similar to his 1964 Topps card and he appears to have straightened up his stance a little.  His first Cubs Topps card, in the 1963 set, features a photo of his teammate Ron Santo (#110).  And Landrum has a few variations to his 1966 Topps card available - one with his fly open, one with his fly airbrushed shut and one with no fly visible at all.  This is great stuff.

His bowling skills and minor league exploits are celebrated on the back of the card.  For as much success as he had in the Phillies' farm system, it's odd he couldn't crack the majors with the club given their lack of depth in the mid to late 1950s.

Cubs Team Set

1965 Season
Landrum made 104 starts in center field, taking over for Billy Williams (#220) when Williams shifted to left to replace George Altman (#528).  Altman was relegated to mostly pinch-hitting duties for the remainder of the season.  Williams would move again to right field as the bottom dwelling Cubs tried to find three reliable outfielders.  Landrum hit just .226 with six home runs and 34 RBIs and following the season he was dealt to the Giants with Lindy McDaniel (#244) for Bill Hands and Randy Hundley.  Both Hands and Hundley would play parts in the Cubs' late decade resurgence under manager Leo Durocher.

Phillies Career
Signed after his 18th birthday, Landrum moved his way up through the Phillies' farm system between 1954 with the D-level Mattoon club and 1960 with the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons.  He peaked in 1960, hitting .292 in 155 games with the Bisons, along with 18 home runs and 75 RBIs, both season highs.  He earned a September call-up in 1957, appearing in two games as the team's starting center fielder in the final two games of the season.  Landrum went 1 for 7 with the Phillies, collecting his only hit, a double, off Dodgers' starting pitcher Rene Valdes.  He earned a Phillies card in the 1958 Topps set for his two-game performance.

On September 19, 1960, the Phillies traded Landrum, then a top prospect, to the Cardinals for five players - Bob Sadowski (#156), Wally Shannon, Billy Harrell, Jim Frey and Dick Ricketts.

1958 Topps #291

1961 Topps #338

1963 Topps #113

1964 Topps #286

1966 Topps #43

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1958 Topps #291
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (7):  1958, 1961-1966
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1966 Topps Rub-Offs

24 - Landrum non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 6/22/20.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database

In some cases, the first and last cards listed above are subjective and chosen by me if multiple cards were released within the same year.  Most recent mainstream card may also be subjective and does not include extremely low serial numbered cards, buybacks or cut autograph cards.

Previous Card:  #595 Don Lee - Los Angeles Angels

Next Card:  #597 Twins Rookie Stars

#352 Alex Johnson - Philadelphia Phillies

Alexander Johnson
Philadelphia Phillies
Outfield

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'0"  Weight:  205
Born:  December 7, 1942, Helena, AR
Signed:  Signed by the Philadelphia Phillies as an amateur free agent, July 11, 1961
Major League Teams:  Philadelphia Phillies 1964-1965; St. Louis Cardinals 1966-1967; Cincinnati Reds 1968-1969; California Angels 1970-1971; Cleveland Indians 1972; Texas Rangers 1973-1974; New York Yankees 1974-1975; Detroit Tigers 1976
Died:  February 28, 2015, Detroit, MI (age 72)

Alex Johnson put together a 13-year big league career, finding his most success in 1970 as a member of the Angels when he was an A.L. All-Star and led the league in hitting with a .329 average.  He won the title on the final day of the season, getting two hits, and passing Carl Yastrzemski (#385), .3289 to .3286.  He was also the N.L. Comeback Player of the Year in 1968 after hitting .312 for the Reds.

His mercurial demeanor saw him move frequently from team to team, and he ultimately made eight different stops beginning with the Phillies in 1964 and ending with the Tigers in 1976.  Johnson battled with media members, managers, coaches and teammates throughout his career and was often criticized for failing to hustle or for his surliness.  At some point, MLB Players Association leader Marvin Miller intervened and it was determined Johnson did in fact suffer from a form of mental illness.

He played in 1977 with the Mexico City Reds before retiring from baseball and settling in his hometown of Detroit.  There, he ran his father's truck repair and leasing company until succumbing to prostate cancer in 2015.

From the 1965 Phillies Yearbook

Building the Set
May 11, 2020 from Bowling Green, KY - Card #100
This is milestone card #100 for our set, and we have just 498 more cards to go!

Having added the Al Downing (#598) card and a few others through eBay auctions, I continued working my way backwards looking for card #597, a Twins Rookie Stars card and the second to last card in the set.  I found a copy in great shape and at a reasonable buy it now price from Blue Grass Treasures in Bowling Green, Kentucky.  The seller had a few other cards available from the set and I pushed the buy it now button on those too, adding four total cards to our set from Kentucky.  After applying a discount, this Johnson card cost me $5.39.

The Card
This is Johnson's rookie card and the slight smile on his face contains no clues to the future troubles he'd find.  The back of the card refers to Johnson as "a manager's dream" and notes his speed on the base paths.  This was one of the other frustrating aspects of Johnson's career as it always seemed as if he should be faster than he actually ended up being in game situations.  Dick Sisler (#158), the former Phillies player and a Cardinals coach during Johnson's time with the club noted, "He has tremendous speed, but he is not a good baserunner."

The blurb on the top of the back of the card highlights his three-hit performance during his major league debut on July 25, 1964.  Johnson started in left field in that game for the Phillies, collecting his first big league hit off the Cardinals' Curt Simmons (#373).

Phillies Team Set

Phillies Career/1965 Season
Alex Johnson made his debut with the Phillies at the age of 21.  He was viewed as the left fielder of the future when he arrived, but his time with the club lasted just two seasons.  Johnson appeared in 43 games for the doomed 1964 Phillies, hitting .303 with four home runs and 18 RBIs.  He platooned with Wes Covington (#583) in left field, seeing action against left-handed starting pitchers.  Johnson and Covington shared the same platoon in 1965 with Johnson appearing in 97 games and hitting over .300 throughout most of the season.  His average dropped below .300 to .294 over the final weekend of play.

In 140 total games with the Phillies, Johnson hit .296 with 12 home runs and 46 RBIs.  Following the 1965 season, Johnson was part of a six-player trade with the Cardinals that saw the Phils ship Johnson, Pat Corrales (#107) and Art Mahaffey (#446) to St. Louis in exchange for Dick Groat (#275), Bob Uecker (#519) and Bill White (#190).  For the Cardinals, Johnson was the key to the deal.

Along with Phillies cards in the 1965 and 1966 Topps sets, Johnson was also included in the regional 1964 Philadelphia Bulletin Phillies Album set.  His 1966 Topps card is available both with and without a statement indicating he had been traded to the Cardinals.

1967 Topps #108

1970 Topps #115

1971 Topps #590

1975 Topps #534

1977 Topps #637

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #352
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (12):  1965-1975, 1977
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1977 Topps #637

68 - Johnson non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 5/23/20.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Phillies Room
SABR
The Trading Card Database

In some cases, the first and last cards listed above are subjective and chosen by me if multiple cards were released within the same year.  Most recent mainstream card may also be subjective and does not include extremely low serial numbered cards, buybacks or cut autograph cards.

Previous Card:  #351 Jim Perry - Minnesota Twins

Next Card:  #353 Jerry Lumpe - Detroit Tigers

#532 Hector Lopez - New York Yankees

Hector Headley Lopez
New York Yankees
Outfield

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'11"  Weight:  182
Born:  July 8, 1929, Colon, Panama
Signed:  Purchased by the Philadelphia Athletics with Joe Taylor from Drummondville (Provincial) for $1,500 prior to the 1952 season
Major League Teams:  Philadelphia Athletics 1955-1959; New York Yankees 1959-1966

Hector Lopez, also known as "The Panama Clipper," played 12 seasons with the Athletics and Yankees, serving as the primary left fielder for a Yankees team that would go to the World Series every year between 1960 and 1964.  He patrolled the Yankees outfield alongside Roger Maris (#155) and Mickey Mantle (#350) in the early 1960s.

In the 1961 World Series, Lopez hit .333 with five of his seven RBIs coming in Game 5 in which he hit a home run and a triple.  He won World Series rings with the Yankees in 1961 and 1962.  A career .269 batter, Lopez was a true utility player, playing all three outfield positions along with shortstop, second base and third base.  By all accounts he had a tough time with his defensive skills.

Lopez became the first black manager at the AAA level when he managed the Buffalo Bisons in 1969.  He was also the manager for Panama in the 2009 World Baseball Classic.

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

Building the Set
May 11, 2020 from Bowling Green, KY - Card #99
Having added the Al Downing (#598) card and a few others through eBay auctions, I continued working my way backwards looking for card #597, a Twins Rookie Stars card and the second to last card in the set.  I found a copy in great shape and at a reasonable buy it now price from Blue Grass Treasures in Bowling Green, Kentucky.  The seller had a few other cards available from the set and I pushed the buy it now button on those too, adding four total cards to our set from Kentucky.  After applying a discount, this Lopez card cost me $5.39, which is a fantastic price for a high numbered Yankees card in mint condition.

The Card
I wrote about Lopez's 1956 Topps card way back in 2016, before the global pandemic, and I've linked to that post below.

The Yankee Stadium facade is partially visible behind Lopez in the photo.  On the back, Lopez's birth year is off by three years as he was actually born in 1929.  His three home run game came on June 26, 1958 against the Senators at the Athletics' home ballpark, Municipal Stadium.  The victims were Hal Griggs, Tex Clevenger and Vito Valentinetti.  The homer off Valentinetti was a walk-off, two-run home run hit in the bottom of the 12th.  It was the only three-home run game of Lopez's career.

Yankees Team Set

1965 Season
This was to be the penultimate season in Lopez's 12-year big league career, and he appeared in 111 games for the Yankees primarily in the corner outfield positions.  At 35 years old, he was the club's regular right fielder, starting 52 games to Maris' 42.  Lopez hit .261 with 7 home runs and 39 RBIs, the lowest RBI total of any everyday Yankee player other than shortstop Tony Kubek (#65) who drove in 35.

1956 Topps #16

1957 Topps #6

1959 Topps #402

1962 Topps #502

1966 Topps #177

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1956 Topps #16
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (11):  1956-1966
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2018 Topps Archives Fan Favorites Autographs #FFA-HL

64 - Lopez non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 5/22/20.

Lopez's first non-mainstream baseball card can be found in the oddball 1955 A's Rodeo Meats set. It's also interesting to note that Lopez's actual 1959 Topps cards features him with the Athletics, but his card found within the 2008 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs insert set features him with the Yankees.  He was traded on May 26, 1959 from the Athletics to the Yankees and Topps took the time to create a Yankees card for him for inclusion in its 2008 autograph set.

Topps then created another version of a 1959 Topps card, again featuring Lopez on the Yankees, for him to sign as part of the 2018 Topps Archives release.

Sources:  
1956 Topps Blog
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database

In some cases, the first and last cards listed above are subjective and chosen by me if multiple cards were released within the same year.  Most recent mainstream card may also be subjective and does not include extremely low serial numbered cards, buybacks or cut autograph cards.

Previous Card:  #531 Chuck Hiller - San Francisco Giants

Next Card:  #533 Mets Rookie Stars

#443 6th Series Checklist 430-506

Another checklist, another chance to check in with some context as I'm composing these posts.  I'm writing this on May 19th, the Tuesday before Memorial Day, and the post will be scheduled to publish in early August.  The last time I drove to my office for work in Philadelphia was Thursday, March 12th.  I stayed home the following day, and every day thereafter.  My wife is teaching her classroom virtually and our two sons are completing their school work at home, occasionally participating in a Zoom session with their teachers and small groups of classmates.  We've talked to our extended families over FaceTime and Zoom, attended virtual church sessions and my wife has helped organize multiple neighborhood food drives.  We go for long walks when the weather is nice, and I try to relax at night by writing about baseball cards or putting together 1,000-piece puzzles.  The boys are binging past seasons of the reality show Survivor.  I've been posting a Beatles song of the day (including solo material) on my personal Facebook page, and I'm up to 68 songs from this daily diversion in my Spotify playlist as of this writing.  I've tried meditation for the first time and I've discovered I enjoy it.

There are parts of our state, New Jersey, slowly re-opening but this brings me more anxiety than relief.  My wife and I wear our masks when we're out running errands, but we see plenty of people who don't.  We see groups of kids, clearly not from the same family, walking around the neighborhood or riding their bikes together.  We've managed to block friends and news outlets spreading rumors or things that just aren't true, while relying on science-based news updates and coping with the knowledge this is most likely far from over.  I know people who have caught the virus, or have close family members who had the virus, and all have fortunately recovered.  I want nothing more than for things to go back to normal, but not at the expense of lives and people's health.  I yearn for leaders who lead with empathy, truth and compassion.  Just like everyone else, I have good days and bad days.

Baseball may or may not happen this season.  If it does happen, fans won't be in attendance and there will be a strict routine in place for playing games in empty stadiums.  Part of me is anxious to watch any form of Phillies baseball, but a bigger part of me thinks they should admit defeat, scrap the season and try again in February.  So that's where I am right now, May 19, 2020, and I hope wherever you are when you read this you're healthy and safe and hopeful.

May 16, 2020

Building the Set
May 11, 2020 from Bowling Green, KY - Card #98
Having added the Al Downing (#598) card and a few others through eBay auctions, I continued working my way backwards looking for card #597, a Twins Rookie Stars card and the second to last card in the set.  I found a copy in great shape and at a reasonable buy it now price from Blue Grass Treasures in Bowling Green, Kentucky.  The seller had a few other cards available from the set and I pushed the buy it now button on those too, adding four total cards to our set from Kentucky.

Finding a mint, unmarked checklist from the 1960s feels like a major accomplishment so I'm happy to add this card to our set.

The Card
This is one of seven checklists to appear in the set, each marking their respective series.  The sixth series in the set covers cards #430 through #506, or 77 cards.  The fifth series checklist (#361) contained 78 cards.  I wonder if Yogi Berra (#470) was a late addition to the checklist?  I'm only suspicious as his name is the only name in the first column on the back not justified to the left, which makes me think it was a late insertion after another name was deleted.

At the time this card was purchased, we had seven cards (including this checklist) that could have been marked off - #437 Chico Cardenas, #438 Harry Walker, #450 Elston Howard, #474 Cookie Rojas, #479 Ken Harrelson, and #486 Angels Rookies.

Checklists

Previous Card:  #442 Vic Power - Los Angeles Angels

Next Card:  #444 Bob Hendley - San Francisco Giants

#597 Twins Rookie Stars - Joe Nossek / Dick Reese / John Sevcik

Joseph Rudolph Nossek
Minnesota Twins
Third Base-Outfield

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'0"  Weight:  178
Born:  November 8, 1940, Cleveland, OH
Signed:  Signed by the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent before 1961 season
Major League Teams:  Minnesota Twins 1964-1966; Kansas City Athletics 1966-1967; Oakland Athletics 1969; St. Louis Cardinals 1969-1970

Richard Benjamin Reese
Minnesota Twins
Infield

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Left  Height:  6'3"  Weight:  185
Born:  September 29, 1941, Leipsic, OH
Signed:  Signed by the Detroit Tigers as an amateur free agent before 1962 season
Major League Teams:  Minnesota Twins 1964-1972; Detroit Tigers 1973; Minnesota Twins 1973

John Joseph Sevcik
Minnesota Twins
Catcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'2"  Weight:  205
Born:  July 11, 1942, Oak Park, IL
Signed:  Signed by the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent before 1964 season
Major League Teams:  Minnesota Twins 1965

Joe Nossek's Baseball Reference page lists his primary positions as centerfielder and pinch-hitter which immediately clued me in as to how Nossek spent the bulk of his six seasons in the big leagues. In 295 games, he made 128 starts in the field, getting a career high 59 starts with the Twins and A's in 1966.  He also had a career high 27 RBIs that season.  Nossek retired with a .228 career average, batting .215 (17 for 79) as a pinch-hitter.  Following his playing days, Nossek was a long-time coach with the Brewers (1973-1975), Twins (1976), Indians (1977-1981), Royals (1982-1983) and White Sox (1984-1986, 1990-2003).

Rich Reese played 10 years in the majors, serving as the Twins regular third baseman in the late 1960s and earning some A.L. MVP votes in 1969.  That was by far his best season as he hit career highs in average (.322), home runs (16) and RBIs (69).  Reese is tied with three other players (one of whom is Willie McCovey - #176) for the most pinch-hit grand slams all-time with three.  He struck out to end Catfish Hunter's (#526) perfect game on May 8, 1968 and he was also the 383rd strikeout victim of Nolan Ryan in 1973, when Ryan set the single season record for strikeouts.

John Sevcik enjoyed a long cup of coffee with the Twins in 1965, appearing in 12 games and going 1 for 16 (.063), all while spending the entire season on the active roster as a bonus baby.  He spent most of the year watching the game action from the Twins bullpen, serving as an extra bullpen catcher.  It seems as if he was also on the Twins' World Series roster, but he didn't get into any games.  In seven minor league seasons, Sevcik hit .266 with 22 home runs and 196 RBIs over 504 games.

Building the Set
May 11, 2020 from Bowling Green, KY - Card #97
Having added the Al Downing (#598) card and a few others through eBay auctions, I continued working my way backwards looking for this card - the second to last card in the set.  I found a copy in great shape and at a reasonable buy it now price from Blue Grass Treasures in Bowling Green, Kentucky.  The seller had a few other cards available from the set and I pushed the buy it now button on those too, adding four total cards to our set.  The four cards arrived on the same day as the three I won from El Paso, Texas, so it was a fantastic mail day.  I've already started hunting around for card #596 and I have a feeling that card will be entering our set before our state's stay at home order is lifted.

The Card
This is the rookie card for Reese and Sevcik, and Nossek had previously appeared on a Rookie Stars card in the 1964 Topps set.  Topps used Dick for Reese's first name here but would switch over to the more familiar Rich with his 1967 Topps card.  This is also the final card for Sevcik, and other than an appearance in a 2005 Donruss set celebrating the 1965 Twins, this is his only mainstream baseball card.  The photo used for Sevcik could have been moved up a little to avoid the light blue wedge floating above his head.  Topps was determined to cram as many prospects and rookies into the final series of the set as possible, and there are six three-player rookie stars cards to be found along with five four-player cards.

Twins Team Set

1965 Season - Nossek
Nossek appeared in 87 games for the Twins, hitting .218 and serving as the team's primary back-up outfielder.  His fine defense earned him five starts in center field during the seven-game World Series against the Dodgers.  He hit .200 (4 for 20) in the Series, and he mentioned he was proudest of the fact he had only struck out once.

1964 Topps #532

1966 Topps #22

1967 Topps #209

1969 Topps #143

1974 Topps #99

Other Notable Baseball Cards - Nossek
First Mainstream Card:  1964 Topps #532
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (7):  1964-1967, 1969, 1973-1974
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1974 Topps #99

33 - Nossek non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 5/18/20.

Sources - Nossek:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia

1965 Season - Reese
Reese appeared in only 14 games for the Twins, going 2 for 7 (.286) with a double in April, May and as a September call-up.  In 105 games with the Charlotte Hornets, the Twins Double-A farm team, Reese hit .226 as the team's regular first baseman.

1965 Season - Sevcik
Sevcik had several sporadic appearances with the Twins throughout the season, appearing in exactly one game in April, May and July, six games in June and three more games in late September/early October.  His rare playing time meant it was easy to assign him different numbers throughout the season as needed and he wore #20, #25 and #41.  I'd love to know the reason he bounced around with uniform numbers throughout the year.  He collected his first and last big league hit on September 28th with a double off the Orioles' Wally Bunker (#290).

1968 Topps #111

1969 Topps #56

1970 Topps #404

1971 Topps #349

1972 Topps #611

Other Notable Baseball Cards - Reese
First Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #597
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (7):  1965, 1967-1972
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1989 Pacific Legends II #112

32 - Reese non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 5/18/20.

Sources - Reese:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia

Other Notable Baseball Cards - Sevcik
First Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #597
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (1):  1965
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #597

2 - Sevcik non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 5/18/20.

Sources - Sevcik:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database

In some cases, the first and last cards listed above are subjective and chosen by me if multiple cards were released within the same year.  Most recent mainstream card may also be subjective and does not include extremely low serial numbered cards, buybacks or cut autograph cards.

Previous Card:  #596 Don Landrum - Chicago Cubs

Next Card:  #598 Al Downing - New York Yankees

#538 Chuck Dressen MG - Detroit Tigers

Charles Walter Dressen
Detroit Tigers
Manager

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'5"  Weight:  146
Born:  September 20, 1894, Decatur, IL
Acquired:  Traded by St. Paul (American Association) to the Cincinnati Reds for a player to be named later (Cliff Lee)
Major League Teams:  Cincinnati Reds 1925-1931; New York Giants 1933
As a Manager:  Cincinnati Reds 1934-1937; Brooklyn Dodgers 1951-1953; Washington Senators 1955-1957; Milwaukee Braves 1960-1961; Detroit Tigers 1963-1966
Died:  August 10, 1966, Detroit, MI (age 71)

As a player, Chuck Dressen played in parts of seven seasons with the Reds, serving as their regular third baseman between 1926 and 1929.  He led the N.L. in fielding percentage for third baseman in 1927 with a .967 mark.  Dressen wrapped up his big league playing career with 16 games for the Giants in 1933.  In 646 games, he hit .272 with 603 hits and 11 home runs.

As a manager, Dressen helmed teams in four different decades, including 16 years as a major league manager.  His first stint as a manager in the majors came with the Reds, and following that fairly unsuccessful beginning, he latched on with the Dodgers as their third base coach.  Dressen served as a coach with the Dodgers between 1939 and 1946, departing for the Yankees when he was poached from Brooklyn by Yankees' executive Larry MacPhail.  Following two years as a coach for the Yankees, Dressen returned to Brooklyn in 1951 as the team's manager.  He led the Dodgers to the World Series in 1952 and 1953, with his 1953 club winning 105 games.

Dressen resigned his position from the Dodgers following a contract dispute, and he'd go on to manage the Senators, Braves and Tigers between 1955 and 1966.  He'd briefly return to the Dodgers as a coach under manager Walt Alston (#217) in 1958 and 1959.  Dressen had a lifetime managerial record of 1,008-973 with his two pennant-winning years with the Dodgers serving as his high water mark.

Building the Set
May 11, 2020 from El Paso, TX - Card #96
As we closed in on the two-month social distancing mark during the coronavirus pandemic, I found myself once again browsing eBay.  I'm primarily a Phillies collector, and with no new products coming out, at least any that interested me, I once again turned to looking for cards for our 1965 Topps set.  Using the strategy I first considered when recently adding two League Leaders cards (#3 and #4), this time I decided to work my way backwards through the set.

I found and won the Al Downing (#598) card, the final card in the set, from Diamond Smiles, located in El Paso, Texas.  Not wanting Downing to travel alone from Texas, I also bid on two other 1965 Topps cards up for auction from the same seller, winning both of those too.  This Dressen card was mine for a winning bid of $2.05, and the card of Jack Kralick (#535) joined the padded envelope too.

I was first hesitant to populate our 1965 Topps set with cards impersonally acquired through eBay auctions, but who knows when we'll attend another baseball card show again?  And I like the idea of bidding on and winning cards from small dealers on eBay.  I'm keeping track of each of these purchases, and it would be cool to see how many different states I can "visit" through my auction wins.  My co-set builder, my son Doug, remains mildly interested in the few cards that arrived in padded envelopes for our set.  Like me, he's anxious for real live baseball to return.  And like me, he realizes that could be a while and the only thing we can do is wait and hope and stay positive.

The Card
I believe Dressen is one of two managers in the set to have been born in the 19th century, with Casey Stengel (#187), born in 1890, being the other.  Researching and writing this post, I realized I had never read Roger Kahn's The Boys of Summer, which I plan to rectify.  Dressen apparently figures prominently in the narrative, and before finishing this post and scheduling it for publishing, I ordered the book.  As the quarantine could most likely continue throughout the summer, I should have plenty of time to read it.

This is Dressen's cupped hand around mouth, post-yelling pose, not to be confused with the cupped hand around mouth, yelling pose as demonstrated on his 1964 Topps card.  The text on the back of the card refers to Dressen's time managing the "old Dodgers."  That's like a 2020 Topps card referring to Charlie Manuel as having managed the old Phillies.  Maybe the term "old" is used since the Dodgers had moved from Brooklyn?

Tigers Team Set

1965 Season
Dressen suffered a heart attack during spring training and coach Bob Swift managed the club through their first 42 games.  Dressen returned at the end of May and guided the Tigers to a fourth place finish, with the club going 65-55 under his watch.  At the start of the 1966 season, Dressen had another heart attack and that combined with a kidney infection led to his passing on August 10th.

1940 Play Ball #72

1952 Bowman #188

1953 Topps #50

1961 Topps #137

1966 Topps #187

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1940 Play Ball #72
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (7):  1952-1953, 1960-1961, 1964-1966
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2004 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Classic #17

67 - Dressen non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 5/13/20.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database

In some cases, the first and last cards listed above are subjective and chosen by me if multiple cards were released within the same year.  Most recent mainstream card may also be subjective and does not include extremely low serial numbered cards, buybacks or cut autograph cards.

Previous Card:  #537 Angels Rookie Stars

Next Card:  #539 Herm Starrette - Baltimore Orioles