#361 5th Series Checklist 353-429

A checklist card gives me an opportunity to veer away from the 1965 Topps set a little bit and give some context to these recent posts.  In February 2020, before the coronavirus pandemic, we added 23 cards to our 1965 Topps set and I began composing posts going through each of these new cards.  I write these posts in advance and then schedule them on a weekly basis each Monday, Wednesday and Saturday mornings for 7am publishing.  I’m usually extremely busy during this time of year at my chosen profession, but this year has been much different.  When I started writing about these 23 cards, we were hearing about the virus, but we had no idea how much life would change in the matter of a few short weeks.

With baseball and all other normal life suspended for the foreseeable future, and with New Jersey and the rest of the country practicing social distancing and self-quarantining, I’m spending more time than usual with each of these cards.  It’s relaxing and it gives me a little bit of time each day to think about baseball cards and the players on them rather than thinking about everything else going on.  I’m trying to compose a post a day, and when the 23 cards run out I’ll most likely head to eBay to add some more just to keep me going.  I hope when these posts are published in June that our world is back to some semblance of normal. I hope baseball is back and I hope my kids can go back to school.   I hope we flatten the curve and less people get sick.

A checklist card is objectively one of the most boring cards in any entire baseball card set, but right now boring sounds pretty good to me.  It’s March 17, 2020 as I write this, St. Patrick’s Day, and my wife and I and our two sons haven’t left the house for a few days except to take daily walks around the block, to shoot hoops in our backyard or to just sit on our front step.  We’re washing our hands, eating all the snacks my wife stocked up on and I’m trying to refrain from constantly refreshing my news feeds for the latest breaking information.  I’m listening to a lot of Beatles music, trying to focus on work (as fortunately enough with my job I’m able to work from home), and writing posts about checklist cards from the 1965 Topps set.  I’m generally optimistic but I miss normalcy.  This post is scheduled to publish exactly three months from today - June 17, 2020.

We’ll all have stories to tell once we’re on the other side of this.  I hope when we’re telling those stories the world is back to being as relatively boring as a checklist card.

Building the Set
February 29, 2020 from King of Prussia, PA - Card #77
Doug and I attended the Philadelphia Sportscard & Memorabilia Show held on the bottom floor of the Valley Forge Casino on the final day of February.  I did a post over at The Phillies Room with a few pictures of Doug taken with some of the show's autograph guests.

We purchased this checklist card from an initial batch of 17 commons and semi-stars purchased from John's Sports Cards within the first hour of our arrival.  I didn't track each individual price of the cards purchased, but this card was originally marked at $10 and the entire 17-card lot cost me $50 total.

The Card
This is one of seven checklists to appear in the set, each marking their respective series.  The fifth series in the set covers cards #353 through #429, or 78 cards.  On the back, Stan Williams (#404) and John Roseboro (#405) only had their first initials displayed to make room for the number of the card.

In my experience building sets from the 1970s, it's tough to find these cards completely unmarked so I was happy to find this one when flipping through a stack of "semi-stars" at the table hosted by John's Sports Cards.  At the time this card was purchased, we had six cards (including this checklist) that could have been marked off - #389 Don Larsen, #407 Lee Maye, #414 Al Lopez, #417 Ed Brinkman and #419 Ruben Amaro.

For series five in our set, that's six down, 72 to go!

Checklists

Prior Card:  #360 Orlando Cepeda - San Francisco Giants

Next Card:  #362 Don Schwall - Pittsburgh Pirates

#115 Bobby Richardson - New York Yankees

Robert Clinton Richardson
New York Yankees
Second Base

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'9"  Weight:  170
Born:  August 19, 1935, Sumter, SC
Signed:  Signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent, June 12, 1953
Major League Teams:  New York Yankees 1955-1966

Bobby Richardson was the regular second baseman for the Yankees during their mid-1950s to mid-1960s dynasty that saw the club win World Series titles in 1958, 1961 and 1962.  In addition, Richardson was the World Series MVP in 1960, becoming the only player to date to be selected for the honor from the losing team.  In 12 seasons, all with the Yankees, Richardson was named to seven All-Star teams and won five Gold Gloves.  Known for his defense and his clutch hitting, Richardson along with shortstop Tony Kubek (#65) and third baseman Clete Boyer (#475) formed one of the strongest defensive infields in baseball.

He was awarded the 1960 World Series MVP after hitting .367 with 12 RBIs.  Richardson's best season came in 1962 when led the league with 209 hits and batted .302 with 8 home runs and 59 RBIs, both career highs.  He finished second in the MVP voting that season behind teammate Mickey Mantle (#350).  In the 1964 World Series, he set a record with 13 hits since tied by Lou Brock (#540) in 1968 and Marty Barrett in 1986.

Richardson retired from baseball at the age of 31 following the 1966 season.  In 1,412 games he accumulated 1,432 hits and a lifetime average of .266.  He'd go on to serve as the head baseball coach for the college teams at the University of South Carolina, Liberty University and Coastal Carolina University.  In 1976, at the request of President Gerald Ford, he launched an unsuccessful bid for one of South Carolina's seats in the U.S. Congress, losing by a narrow margin

Building the Set
February 29, 2020 from King of Prussia, PA - Card #76
Doug and I attended the Philadelphia Sportscard & Memorabilia Show held on the bottom floor of the Valley Forge Casino on the final day of February.  I did a post over at The Phillies Room with a few pictures of Doug taken with some of the show's autograph guests.

We purchased this Richardson card from an initial batch of 17 commons and semi-stars purchased from John's Sports Cards within the first hour of our arrival.  I didn't track each individual price of the cards purchased, but this card was originally marked at $10 and the entire 17-card lot cost me $50 total.

The Card
I'll admit I didn't know much about Richardson before composing this post, but this is just a classic looking baseball card.  I imagine kids would have been thrilled to find this card in their packs back in 1965.  Richardson is shown posing in front of the home team's on-deck circle at Yankee Stadium.  On the back of his card, his record breaking 13-hit performance in the 1964 World Series is noted.

The 11 at-bats in one game happened on June 24, 1962 in a 22-inning game against the Tigers.  The game took seven hours to play and the Yankees prevailed, 9-7, when Jack Reed hit a two-run home run off Phil Regan (#191) in the top of the 22nd.  Richardson played the entire game at second base and went 3 for 11 with a pair of runs scored.  Richardson, at card #65, is one of 72 players featured within the 1965 Topps Embossed insert set and one of four Yankees in the set.  He's also in the harder to find 1965 Topps Transfers insert set.

Yankees Team Set

1965 Season
An All-Star and Gold Glove Award winner again in 1965, Richardson appeared in 160 games, batting .247 with 6 home runs and 47 RBIs.  He had one of his career five-hit games on May 10, 1965, against the Indians with his second career five-hit game coming on June 29, 1966.  Richardson had planned to retire following the 1965 season, but chronic back and neck injuries forced his double play partner Kubek to retire first.  Not wanting to lose the heart of their infield in the same year, the Yankees offered Richardson a five-year contract to stick around.  Richardson agreed to play one more season and then assist the Yankees however needed, but not as player, for the final four years of his contract.

1957 Topps #286

1959 Topps #76

1961 Topps #180

1962 Topps #65

1966 Topps #490

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1957 Topps #286
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (10):  1957-1966
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2019 Panini Diamond Kings DK 205 Signatures #205S-BR

284 - Richardson non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 3/17/20.

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.

Prior Card:  #114 Jim Hickman - New York Mets

Next Card:  #116 Cardinals Rookie Stars

#347 Roy Face - Pittsburgh Pirates

Elroy Leon Face
Pittsburgh Pirates
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'8"  Weight:  155
Born:  February 20, 1928, Stephentown, NY
Signed:  Signed by the Philadelphia Phillies as an amateur free agent in 1949
Major League Teams:  Pittsburgh Pirates 1953, 1955-1968; Detroit Tigers 1968; Montreal Expos 1969

Roy Face was one of the best relief pitchers of his era, compiling an unprecedented record of 18-1 for the 1959 Pirates.  Only Max Scherzer has matched that mark since, going 18-1 for the 2013 Tigers. He ended his 16-year career with 191 career saves and 802 games with the Pirates.  At the time, only Walter Johnson had pitched in that many games with one team, as Johnson had appeared in 802 games for the Washington Senators.

Face was a three-time All-Star with the Pirates, making the N.L. squad in 1959, 1960 and 1961.  With the help of his forkball, he helped seal the 1960 World Championship with three saves in the Pirates' seven game win over the Yankees.  Face led the league in saves three times, including an impressive 28 save season in 1962.  He was baseball's all-time saves leader during the 1962 and 1963 seasons before being passed by Hoyt Wilhelm (#276) in 1964.

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

Building the Set
February 29, 2020 from King of Prussia, PA - Card #75
Doug and I attended the Philadelphia Sportscard & Memorabilia Show held on the bottom floor of the Valley Forge Casino on the final day of February.  I did a post over at The Phillies Room with a few pictures of Doug taken with some of the show's autograph guests.

We purchased this Face card from an initial batch of 17 commons and semi-stars purchased from John's Sports Cards within the first hour of our arrival.  I didn't track each individual price of the cards purchased, but this card was originally marked at $6 and the entire 17-card lot cost me $50 total.

The Card
Face appeared in 16 different Topps flagship sets, all showing him wearing a Pirates uniform and only his 1969 Topps card updated to show a Tigers team designation.  As the back of his card points out, he had 68 appearances in both 1956 and 1960 to lead the league.  Wilhelm and Hersh Freeman finished in second place in 1956 with 64 appearances, and Lindy McDaniel (#244) was second in 1960 with 65 appearances.  Face's 17 games won in a row in relief is also celebrated on the back of the card.

Pirates Team Set

1965 Season
As a 37-year-old reliever, Face went on the disabled list for the first and only time in his career following knee surgery.  He appeared in only 16 games in April/early May and late August/September, compiling a 5-2 record with a 2.66 ERA and no saves.

Phillies Connection
Face was originally drafted by the Phillies and he spent the first two seasons of his professional career (in 1949 and 1950) pitching for the Class D Bradford Blue Wings in the Pennsylvania-Ontario-New York (PONY) League.  Face pitched extremely well for the Blue Wings (32-7 with a 2.88 ERA), but the Phillies made the unfortunate decision to leave him unprotected in the annual winter draft.  Branch Rickey drafted the young right-hander and added him to the Dodgers stable of young pitchers.

In 1954, Rickey, who had moved on to the Pirates, drafted Face again beginning what would become a 15 year relationship between the reliever and Pittsburgh.

I'm not a huge fan of the modern day Bowman releases, but it's cool to think that if prospect sets had been around in the late 1940s/early 1950s, we'd have a card of Roy Face in the 1950 Bowman Draft set, photoshopped into a Phillies uniform.

1953 Topps #246

1956 Topps #13

1959 Topps #339

1961 Topps #310

1969 Topps #207

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1953 Topps #246
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (16):  1953-1954, 1956-1969
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2018 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-RFA

130 - Face non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 3/16/20.

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.

Prior Card:  #346 Bobby Bragan MG - Milwaukee Braves

Next Card:  #348 George Banks - Cleveland Indians

#62 Jim Kaat - Minnesota Twins

James Lee Kaat
Minnesota Twins
Pitcher

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Left  Height:  6'4"  Weight:  205
Born:  November 7, 1938, Zeeland, MI
Signed:  Signed by the Washington Senators as an amateur free agent, June 17, 1957
Major League Teams:  Washington Senators 1959-1960; Minnesota Twins 1961-1973; Chicago White Sox 1973-1975; Philadelphia Phillies 1976-1979; New York Yankees 1979-1980; St. Louis Cardinals 1980-1983

Hall of Fame Induction:  2022

Jim Kaat pitched in parts of four different decades in a major league career that spanned 25 seasons.  His best seasons came with the Twins in the mid to late 1960s, and then with the White Sox in the mid 1970s.  He won at least 14 games in 11 seasons, topping the 20-win mark in 1966, 1974 and 1975.  He led the A.L. in wins in 1966 with 25, complete games with 19 and innings pitched with 304 2/3.  He was named to three All-Star teams in 1962, 1966 and 1975.

An excellent fielder, Kaat won 16 consecutive Gold Gloves at pitcher, still the record and tied with Brooks Robinson (#150) for consecutive Gold Gloves won.  Greg Maddux broke his total Gold Glove record for pitchers by winning 18 times.  Kaat was also an excellent batter, hitting .185 with 16 home runs.  He hit his final home runs with the Cardinals in 1980 at 41 years old.

Kaat appeared in the 1965 World Series with the Twins and the 1982 World Series with the Cardinals, earning his first ring when the Cardinals defeated the Brewers.  He appeared in four games in relief in that World Series, allowing a run over 2 1/3 innings.

Upon his retirement, Kaat's 25 seasons were the most by any pitcher in major league history.  He has since been passed by both Nolan Ryan with 27 seasons and Tommy John (#208) with 26.  He compiled a lifetime record of 283-237 with a 3.45 ERA and 2,461 strikeouts which is currently 43rd on the all-time list.  He retired in 1983 as the last player to have appeared in a major league game in the 1950s.  In 2014, he appeared on the Hall of Fame's Golden Era Committee ballot and requiring 12 votes for induction into the Hall of Fame, missed by just two votes.

Kaat briefly served as Pete Rose's (#207) pitching coach in 1984 and 1985 with the Reds.  Beginning in 1986 through the late 2000s, Kaat served as a respected broadcaster for the Yankees, Twins, NBC Sports, ESPN, CBS Sports and Yankees again, winning 7 Emmy Awards for excellence in sports broadcasting.

Postscript - Jim Kaat was elected into the Hall of Fame in December 2021 by the Golden Days Era Committee, and he'll be inducted in July 2022.

Building the Set
February 29, 2020 from King of Prussia, PA - Card #74
Doug and I attended the Philadelphia Sportscard & Memorabilia Show held on the bottom floor of the Valley Forge Casino on the final day of February.  I did a post over at The Phillies Room with a few pictures of Doug taken with some of the show's autograph guests, one of which was Kaat.  I had decided it would be cool to not only add the Kaat card to our 1965 Topps set at this show, but then to have Kaat sign that card too.

We purchased the card from an initial batch of 17 commons and semi-stars purchased from John's Sports Cards within the first hour of our arrival.  I didn't track each individual price of the cards purchased, but this card was originally marked at $6 and the entire 17-card lot cost me $50 total.

Kaat, now 81 and looking fantastic, signed our card and made no mention of the fact his name was misspelled on the front.  I took a few pictures of Doug with the legendary pitcher, and I created a custom card to mark the occasion.

The Card
Topps goofed with the spelling of Kaat's name on the front of the card, but not on the back.  The back of the card references the 19 batters Kaat struck out while pitching for the 1959 Chattanooga Lookouts, the AA farm team for the Senators.  His 17 wins in 1964 did indeed lead the Twins' pitching staff with Camilo Pascual (#255) finishing second with 15.

Twins Team Set

1965 Season
Helping the Twins to the A.L. pennant, Kaat went 18-11 with a 2.83 ERA over 264 1/3 innings pitched.  He and Mudcat Grant (#432) solidified the Twins rotation with Grant going 21-7.  Kaat won six of his final seven decisions to help the Twins reach the World Series and his 18 wins were third highest in the A.L.  In the 1965 World Series, Kaat started Game 2 and bested the Dodgers' Sandy Koufax (#300) as the Twins won 5-1.  However in a Game 5 rematch in Los Angeles, Koufax shut out the Twins while Kaat lasted just 2 1/3 innings.  Kaat and Koufax faced off one last time in Game 7, with Koufax again shutting out the Twins and leading the Dodgers to a seven game World Series victory.

Phillies Career
On December 10, 1975, the White Sox traded Kaat to the Phillies with Mike Buskey for Alan Bannister, Dick Ruthven and Roy Thomas.  He was a key part of the Phillies pitching rotations in 1976, 1977 and 1978 with the Phillies reaching the NLCS in each of those years.  Unfortunately, the team was easily handled by the Reds in 1976 and the Dodgers in 1977 and 1978.  His only postseason appearance with the club came in 1976 when he started Game 3 against the Reds.  Kaat pitched well in that game, allowing two runs on two hits over six innings of work and he departed with the Phillies holding a 3-0 lead.  Reliever Ron Reed couldn't hold that lead and the Reds would eventually win.

In parts of four seasons with the Phillies, Kaat was 27-30 with a 4.23 ERA over 102 games and 87 starts.  On May 11, 1979, without a readily available roster spot for him, the Phillies sold Kaat to the Yankees.

1960 Topps #136

1967 Topps #300

1975 Topps #243

1979 Topps #136

1983 Topps #672

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1960 Topps #136
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (24):  1960-1983
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2016 Topps Archives Fan Favorite Autographs #FFA-JK

237 - Kaat non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 3/15/20.

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

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.

Prior Card:  #61 Chris Cannizzaro - New York Mets

Next Card:  #63 Ty Cline - Milwaukee Braves

#595 Don Lee - Los Angeles Angels

Donald Edward Lee
Los Angeles Angels
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'4"  Weight:  205
Born:  February 26, 1934, Globe, AZ
Signed:  Signed by the Detroit Tigers as an amateur free agent, June 27, 1956
Major League Teams:  Detroit Tigers 1957-1958; Washington Senators 1960; Minnesota Twins 1961-1962; Los Angeles Angels 1962-1964; California Angels 1965; Houston Astros 1965-1966; Chicago Cubs 1966

Don Lee was a journeyman pitcher who appeared in parts of nine seasons with five different clubs.  He had his best seasons in the early 1960s with the Senators/Twins and Angels.  In 1962, he recorded a career high 11 wins and posted a 3.46 ERA.  His career record was 40-44 over 244 games (97 starts) with a 3.61 ERA.

His father, Thornton Lee, was a pitcher for the Indians, White Sox and Giants between 1933 and 1948.  Both Thornton and Don Lee allowed home runs to Ted Williams with Williams homering off Thornton on September 17, 1939 and off Don on September 2, 1960.  Williams became the only player in Major League history to hit home runs against a father and son combination and the Lee's in turn became the only father-son team to allow a home run to the same batter.

Building the Set
February 29, 2020 from King of Prussia, PA - Card #73
Doug and I attended the Philadelphia Sportscard & Memorabilia Show held on the bottom floor of the Valley Forge Casino on the final day of February.  This was our first baseball card show of 2020 and the fourth show we've attended in Valley Forge since March 2019.  I did a post over at The Phillies Room with a few pictures of Doug taken with some of the show's autograph guests.  We ended up adding 23 cards to our set.

This Lee card was from an initial batch of 17 commons and semi-stars purchased from John's Sports Cards within the first hour of our arrival.  I didn't track each individual price of the cards purchased, but this card was from a half-price binder and the 17-card lot cost me $50 total.  John's table has been located in the back right of the showroom floor for as long as we've been going to these shows, and I know I've bought a bunch of vintage Topps cards from him in the past including cards needed for my 1971 Topps set.  He's one of those dealers who you can't help but remember, probably because he genuinely seems happy and to be enjoying what he's doing.  Doug and I would come back to him later in the show for a few major purchases for our set, and I'll eventually feature all cards added in upcoming posts.

This was the final card purchase at the show featuring a player I didn't know anything about.  I've enjoyed going through each of these 17 cards and learning about each of the players featured.

Thornton Lee, 1938

The Card
Lee would play another season in the big leagues, but this was to be his final Topps card.  That looks to be the Yankee Stadium facade behind Lee in the background.  Thornton Lee makes a cameo in cartoon form on the back of the card, but sadly Thornton did not have a beard that reached his knees nor did he wear a plaid baseball uniform when he pitched.

Lee signed copies of a reprinted version of this card for inclusion in the 2014 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs insert set.

Angels Team Set

1965 Season
Lee started the season with the Angels, appearing in 10 games for the club and going 0-1 with a 6.43 ERA.  On June 1st, he was traded to the Astros for Al Spangler (#164).  With the Astros, he only appeared in seven games, pitching eight innings and compiling a 3.38 ERA.  Lee's best pitching performances in 1965 came with the Astros' top farm team, the Oklahoma City 89ers.  With the 89ers, he appeared in 14 games, going 6-1 with a 2.48 ERA.

1957 Topps #379

1959 Topps #132

1960 Topps #503

1962 Topps #166

1964 Topps #493

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1957 Topps #379
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (8):  1957, 1959-1965
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2014 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-DLE

23 - Lee non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 3/14/20.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia

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.

Prior Card:  #594 Joe Gaines - Houston Astros

Next Card:  #596 Don Landrum - Chicago Cubs

#546 Indians Rookie Stars - Davis / Hedlund / Weaver / Barker

Arthur Willard Davis
Cleveland Indians
First Base

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Left  Height:  6'7"  Weight:  215
Born:  June 6, 1942, Graceville, MN
Signed:  Signed by the Cleveland Indians as an amateur free agent before 1964 season
Major League Teams:  Cleveland Indians 1965-1966; San Diego Padres 1969

David Floyd Weaver
Cleveland Indians
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'4"  Weight:  195
Born:  May 12, 1941, Ben Franklin, TX
Signed:  Signed by the Cleveland Indians as an amateur free agent before 1961 season
Major League Teams:  Cleveland Indians 1962, 1965; Chicago White Sox 1970; Milwaukee Brewers 1971
Died:  November 17, 2008, Powderly, TX (age 67)

Michael David Hedlund
Cleveland Indians
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  182
Born:  August 11, 1946, Dallas, TX
Signed:  Signed by the Cleveland Indians as an amateur free agent before 1964 season
Major League Teams:  Cleveland Indians 1965, 1968; Kansas City Royals 1969-1972

Raymond Herrell Barker
Cleveland Indians
First Base

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'0"  Weight:  192
Born:  March 12, 1936, Martinsburg, WV
Signed:  Signed by the Baltimore Orioles as an amateur free agent before 1955 season
Major League Teams:  Baltimore Orioles 1960; Cleveland Indians 1965; New York Yankees 1965-1967
Died:  May 29, 2018, Martinsburg, WV (age 82)

Nicknamed the Jolly Green Giant due to his 6'7" frame, big left-handed first baseman Bill Davis appeared in 64 games over three seasons with the Indians and Padres.  Davis was the starting first baseman, batting fifth, for the first ever game in Padres franchise history.  He hit .181 with one home run and five RBIs over his career.

After a brief stint with the Indians, Mike Hedlund joined the expansion Royals where he found some success as a starting pitcher.  His best season came in 1971 when he went 15-8 and his 2.71 ERA was fourth best in the A.L.  In six seasons, he compiled a 25-24 record with a 3.56 ERA.

Floyd Weaver made his big league debut on the final day of the 1962 season, starting for the Indians and pitching five strong innings with eight strikeouts to earn the win.  He wouldn't make it back to the Indians until the 1965 season when he pitched in 32 games.  His next absence from the Majors lasted four seasons until he appeared in 31 games for the 1970 White Sox.  In total, Weaver had a 4-5 record over 85 games and a 5.21 career ERA.

Ray Barker enjoyed his best season in the Majors in 1965, as a backup first baseman and left-handed pinch-hitter for the Yankees.  Joe Pepitone (#245) started 113 games at first for the Yankees, but Barker tallied the second most starts at first with 43.  Over four seasons, Barker hit .214 with 10 home runs and 44 RBIs.  In 11 seasons in the minor leagues, Barker accumulated 181 home runs reaching double digits in that category in every season between 1955 and 1964.

Building the Set
February 29, 2020 from King of Prussia, PA - Card #72
Doug and I attended the Philadelphia Sportscard & Memorabilia Show held on the bottom floor of the Valley Forge Casino on the final day of February.  This was our first baseball card show of 2020 and the fourth show we've attended in Valley Forge since March 2019.  I did a post over at The Phillies Room with a few pictures of Doug taken with some of the show's autograph guests.  We ended up adding 23 cards to our set.

This Indians Rookie Stars card was from an initial batch of 17 commons and semi-stars purchased from John's Sports Cards within the first hour of our arrival.  I didn't track each individual price of the cards purchased, but this card was from a half-price binder and the 17-card lot cost me $50 total.  John's table has been located in the back right of the showroom floor for as long as we've been going to these shows, and I know I've bought a bunch of vintage Topps cards from him in the past including cards needed for my 1971 Topps set.  He's one of those dealers who you can't help but remember, probably because he genuinely seems happy and to be enjoying what he's doing.  Doug and I would come back to him later in the show for a few major purchases for our set, and I'll eventually feature all cards added in upcoming posts.

The Card
There are 55 multi-player Rookie Stars cards in the 1965 Topps set, and this is one of five cards to feature four different players.  The first thing I noticed about this card is the design is off with the players' boxes on the top row larger than those on the bottom row.  The fonts are also different between the top and bottom rows.  There's no room on the back for anything other than a line of minor league statistics for each player but when this card was issued, both Weaver and Barker had prior Major League experience.

Davis would go on to appear on Rookie Stars cards in Topps sets in 1966, 1967, 1968 and 1969.

Indians Team Set

1965 Season - Davis
Davis appeared in 143 games for the Portland Beavers, hitting .311 with 33 home runs and a team-leading 106 RBIs.  His big year in Triple-A earned him a September call-up and in 10 games with the Indians he hit .300 (3 for 10) in 10 pinch-hitting appearances.

1965 Season - Hedlund
Only 18 when he made his big league debut on May 8th, Hedlund enjoyed a brief stint with the Indians in May and June, appearing in six games and compiling a 5.06 ERA over 5 1/3 innings pitched.  I'm not sure what he did during the rest of the season, as he has no minor league statistics for the year.  Hedlund wouldn't appear in another Major League game until 1968.

1966 Topps #44

1967 Topps #253

1968 Topps #432

1969 Topps #304

Other Notable Baseball Cards - Davis
First Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #546
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (5):  1965-1969
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1969 Topps #304

12 - Davis non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 3/14/20.

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

Other Notable Baseball Cards - Hedlund
First Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #546
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (6):  1965, 1969-1973
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1973 Topps #591

16 - Hedlund non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 3/14/20.

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

1969 Topps #591

1970 Topps #187

1971 Topps #662

1972 Topps #81

1973 Topps #591

1965 Season - Weaver
Weaver appeared in 32 games for the Indians, all but one of those games in relief, compiling a 2-2 record and a 5.43 ERA.  He was one of the most frequently used relievers in 1965 by manager Birdie Tebbetts (#301).

1965 Season - Barker
Barker started the season with the Indians, appearing in 11 games and going 0 for 6.  On May 10th, he was traded to the Yankees for Pedro Gonzalez (#97).  He'd appear in a career high 98 games for the Yankees, hitting .254 with 7 home runs and 31 RBIs.

Other Notable Baseball Cards - Weaver
First Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #546
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (3):  1965-1966, 1971
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1978 TCMA The 1960s I #176

9 - Weaver non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 3/14/20.

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

Other Notable Baseball Cards - Barker
First Mainstream Card:  1961 Topps #428
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (4):  1961, 1965-1967
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1981 TCMA The 1960s II #314

11 - Barker non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 3/14/20.

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

1966 Topps #231

1971 Topps #227

1961 Topps #428

1966 Topps #323

1967 Topps #583

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.

Prior Card:  #545 Jesus Alou - San Francisco Giants

Next Card:  #547 Jake Wood - Detroit Tigers