#64 Joe Lonnett

Western Pennsylvania native Joe Lonnett spent 24 years in baseball as a player and coach, signing with the Philadelphia Phillies as a free agent in 1948. He missed two seasons while serving in the U.S. Navy in World War II and the Korean War. Lonnett spent four seasons as a catcher with the Phillies, from 1956-59, batting .166 with six home runs and 27 RBI. His roommate with the Phils was Robin Roberts.

He later coached for the Pirates under friend and fellow Pittsburgh area native Chuck Tanner. He was on the staff of the '79 championship team.  He succumbed to Alzheimer's disease in 2011 at the age of 84.

#52 Roberto 'Bob' Clemente

When your nickname is 'The Great One' there isn't much a humble blogger can add. Here is a list of Roberto Clemente's 'Notable Achievements' from his Baseball Reference Bullpen page (which is the grandest one I've come across to date):

•     12-time NL All-Star (1960-1967 & 1969-1972)
•     NL MVP (1966)
•     1971 World Series MVP
•     12-time NL Gold Glove Winner (1961-1972)
•     4-time NL Batting Average Leader (1961, 1964, 1965 & 1967)
•     2-time NL Hits Leader (1964 & 1967)
•     NL Triples Leader (1969)
•     20-Home Run Seasons: 3 (1961, 1966 & 1967)
•     100 RBI Seasons: 2 (1966 & 1967)
•     100 Runs Scored Seasons: 3 (1961, 1966 & 1967)
•     200 Hits Seasons: 4 (1961, 1964, 1966 & 1967)
•     Won two World Series with the Pittsburgh Pirates (1960 & 1971)
•     Baseball Hall of Fame: Class of 1973

That page also had this quote which comes from one of the many bios written about Clemente. I think it says a lot about him....

 "When I was a boy, I realized what lovely people my mother and father were. I was treated real good. I learned the right way to live. I never heard any hate in my house. Not for anybody. I never heard my mother say a bad word to my father, or my father to my mother."  "During the war, when food was hard to get, my parents fed their children first and they ate what was left. They always thought of us.”  “My mother have to really work. My mother used to get up at one o’clock in the morning. She had to work and make lunches for these people that used to work in the sugar cane plantations. Now, my mother never went to a show. My mother, she didn’t know how to dance." "But even the way we used to live, we were happy. We would sit down to eat and make jokes and talk and eat whatever there was. That was something wonderful... to grow up with people who had to struggle to eat.”

#45 Dick Groat

A two-sport star, Dick Groat went from being a hoops sensation at Duke to being a five-time big league All-Star and MVP. After seeing Groat's athletic talent Branch Rickey offered him a contract during his junior year at Duke but Groat wanted to complete his four-year obligation to the Blue Devils. He signed with the Pirates in 1952. He immediately was inserted into the club's lineup at shortstop. He hit .284 in almost 400 at-bats and was third in the Rookie of the Year balloting.

Meanwhile, he was drafted in the first round by the NBA's Fort Wayne Pistons franchise and he played in just under half their games in an unusual situation where the Pistons flew him in for games and then back to Duke where he was finishing up his coursework. He had the second highest PPG on the team but that was the end of his basketball career. He was drafted into the army and after his two years of service, he devoted himself to baseball only.

He was a standout at short for 14 seasons and finished with a .286 career average and World Series rings he won with the Pirates in 1960 and the Cardinals in 1964. He is a member of the College Basketball Hall of Fame. He was part of the Hall's second induction group, the Class of 2007. He went in alongside my man, Guy V. Lewis.

#7 Dale Long

Here's a challenge for someone with time on their hands....make a flowchart depicting lefty first baseman Dale Long's travels through all the baseball organizations he was a part of. Here is his transaction listing from Baseball Reference:

• May 1945: Traded by Middletown (Ohio State) with Kenneth Braden (minors) to the Cincinnati Reds for Dick Oder (minors) and Joseph Turczak (minors).
• June 1947: Released by the Cincinnati Reds.
• June 1947: Signed as a Free Agent with the Boston Red Sox.
• November 24, 1948: Drafted by the Detroit Tigers from the Boston Red Sox in the 1948 minor league draft.
• December 5, 1949: Drafted by the New York Yankees from the Detroit Tigers in the 1949 minor league draft.
• November 16, 1950: Drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates from the New York Yankees in the 1950 rule 5 draft.
• June 1, 1951: Selected off waivers by the St. Louis Browns from the Pittsburgh Pirates.
• December 5, 1951: Purchased by the Pittsburgh Pirates from the St. Louis Browns.
• May 1, 1957: Traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates with Lee Walls to the Chicago Cubs for Gene Baker and Dee Fondy.
• April 5, 1960: Purchased by the San Francisco Giants from the Chicago Cubs.
• August 21, 1960: Purchased by the New York Yankees from the San Francisco Giants.
• December 14, 1960: Drafted by the Washington Senators from the New York Yankees as the 28th pick in the 1960 expansion draft.
• July 11, 1962: Traded by the Washington Senators to the New York Yankees for Don Lock.
• August 2, 1963: Released by the New York Yankees.

Bottom line is that he played ten seasons for six different clubs and for years was known as the guy who homered in eight consecutive games in May 1956. That record has since been matched by Don Mattingly and Ken Griffey Jr. but never exceeded.

I recall as a kid how that dinger streak impressed the hell out of me and my friends and we coveted Dale Long cards as if he was a star. 1956, in addition to being the year he made headlines for that run of homers as a Pirate, was his best season in the majors. He had 27 home runs and 91 RBIs while hitting .263 and making the NL All-Star Game.

He sandwiched better batting average seasons around that '56 campaign and hit 20 homers or more a total of three times. He appeared in two World Series with the Yankees, 1960 and 1962 when he won a title. Interestingly he was a mid-season pickup by the Yankees in both of those seasons. 

#4 Hank Foiles

It's becoming apparent that my scanner is none too fond of these '58s. Hank Foiles' card isn't nearly as scuzzy in hand as it appears at the top on this post. Nothing I can do about it though. I'll just endeavor to persevere.

Hank Foiles was a career back-up and platoon catcher who spent eleven seasons in the majors toiling for seven franchises. That's not counting the Yankees who originally signed him in 1947. He was in the Yankees' system for four years before he was drafted away by the Reds in 1951. But he came away with one nice perk of his time with the Yankees...he formed a friendship with Joe DiMaggio that lasted through the years.

He was known for his defensive skills rather than his bat but he made the 1957 All-Star squad as a Pirate by hitting over .300 into July. He had an interesting 1960 season which I will amplify on over on the 1960 set blog when his card comes up. In brief, he was with five different teams (one of them twice!) between December of 1959 and November of 1960.

Foiles wrote a book about his career in 2011 and still makes appearances in the Virginia area it appears. My favorite Foiles card (and for a guy who hit a career .230 he had quite a few) is his 1959 pink framed gem.

#306 Whammy Douglas

Whammy Douglas (born Charles William Douglas) was coming off his rookie (and only) major league season when this card was issued. He had a 3-3 record with the Pirates in 1957 in 11 games. He had eight starts after being promoted to the big club in July.

Douglas had a 27 win season in the low minors in '54 and climbed the ladder to the majors from there. The card credits him with 273 K's in that '54 season but his Baseball Reference page can't confirm that.  He spent the 1958 season with the Buc's AAA team in Columbus but apparently Pittsburgh gave up on him after that.

Douglas was traded to the Reds in January of 1959 and was given a sweet (heavily airbrushed!) card in that year's set but he never pitched in the majors again. He hung around with the Reds and Senators organizations through 1961.

Douglas, who lost the sight in one eye because of a childhood accident, was profiled in this neat MiLB article from 2008. I linked it on my '59 Topps blog and it's worth a look if you didn't read it then.

Whammy Douglas passed away in 2014.

#341 Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pirates finished second in the NL in 1958. Danny Murtaugh was in his first full season as manager having taken over from Bobby Bragan late in the '57 season. Frank Thomas led the team with 35 homers and 109 RBI which was second best in the league in both categories. Bob Skinner's .321 batting average was tops on the team.

Bob Friend anchored the rotation. He had a 22-14 season. Elroy Face had 20 saves as the closer in a time when saves were less common. To put it in perspective only one other National Leaguer, the Dodger's Clem Labine (14 saves) had more than 11.

Roberto Clemente was 23 years old and just coming into his own. He hit .289 and that was the last time he hit under .290 in his career. He's in the team photo on this card, second from the right in the front row.

The Pirates lined up for their team photo (probably late in 1957) in front of the ivy covered outfield wall of Forbes Field. I tend to forget that Wrigley was  not the only park in the majors with that feature.

The checklist on the back is only marked a couple of times. This is one of the last cards I acquired for this set. I had scratched it off my wantlist by mistake and it wasn't until I was putting the binder together that I figured that out.

I had family living in West Mifflin in western PA in the 60's but I never got to visit them or go with them to Forbes Field. I sure wish I had seen it in person.

#82 Ronnie Kline

Ron Kline (I never heard him called 'Ronnie') got off to a very inauspicious big league career losing all seven of his decisions for Pittsburgh in his rookie campaign of 1952. He served in the military for a couple of years after that and when he returned to the Pirates he continued to struggle as a starter. He led the NL in losses twice.

It wasn't until he moved to the bullpen that he found success. He moved around quite a bit until settling in as the Senators' closer in the mid-60s and he led the AL with 29 saves in 1965. He pitched a total of 17 seasons with nine different clubs. He retired after pitching briefly for the Braves and in the PCL in Hawaii in 1970. He ranks fifth on the list of pitchers with the most appearances without a postseason game.

He was 13-16 in 1958 but his stats look better than his W/L would indicate. The Pirates finished 2nd that season. During much the 50's the Pirates pitchers wore batting helmets while on the mound as mandated by owner Branch Rickey. This is the first card I've posted from this set that shows a pitcher wearing one other than the Vern Law card in the header. This article gives a lot of the background.