Final Card - Ed Rakow

I posted Ed Rakow's 1963 card on another blog some years ago, but that was before I acquired his final card in the 1965 set (#454). 

Rakow had a relatively short career. The record shows he pitched from 1960 to 1967, but he missed 1966 altogether, and his appearances in ’60, ’65, and ’67 numbered 9, 6, and 17, so the bulk of his career was from 1961-63 with the Kansas City Athletics and 1964 with the Tigers. Those were also the 4 years he managed to stay out of the minor leagues. 

Ed was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1957, and made his major-league debut with Los Angeles in 1960. He pitched 9 games in his first season – 7 in the first 2 months, then 2 more during his September recall.

During spring training in 1961 he was traded to the Athletics for pitcher Howie Reed. Ed was primarily a reliever in 1961, but also made 11 starts. 

He was the team’s ace in 1962, leading in starts (35), innings (235), and complete games (11). (By the way, the other starters were Dan Pfister, Jerry Walker, and Orlando Pena - a far cry from Jim Hunter, Lew Krausse, Johnny Odom, Jim Nash, and Chuck Dobson, who manned the rotation in just a few years.) 

In 1962 Ed was joined in the rotation by Dave Wickersham, rookie Diego Segui, and Moe Drabowsky, who joined the team in mid-season. Rakow led the league in earned runs allowed (111) and also losses (17), which I imagine wasn’t hard to do for the early-1960s’ Athletics. He still managed to win a career-high 14 games. 

In 1963 he slumped to a 9-10 record. After the season he was traded to the Tigers along with Wickersham and 2nd baseman Jerry Lumpe for outfielder Rocky Colavito and long-time Cubs’ pitcher Bob Anderson. 

He made 13 starts for the Tigers, but spent most of 1964 in the bullpen. Rakow made 6 relief appearances during the first half of May 1965, but was soon sent down to the minors, not to return to the majors until 1967. 

The Tigers released him in May 1966, then he was signed by the Red Sox but spent all of 1966 in the minors. In December he and pitcher Julio Navarro were traded to the Braves for catcher Chris Cannizzaro and outfielder John Herrnstein. 

Ed’s final major-league action was 17 games with the Braves over the second half of 1967. He played for the Braves’ AAA team in early 1967, and all of 1968 before retiring. 

Rakow passed away in 2000 at age 65. 

 

Walt Bond (#109)

When I began this blog last year, it was not my intent to post cards for players I had already posted elsewhere. However, while returning the Gene Stephens card to my 1965 binder after a recent post, I was browsing through it and found several cards of interest that were not the player's final card. The previous post with 4 manager cards were some that fell into that category, as does this card of Walt Bond.

I previously posted Walt Bond's final card on my 1967 blog six years ago, therefore I will not repeat his career exploits again. I am posting this card for several reasons:

1) This is one of the few 1965 "Houston" cards that escaped the Topps Airbrush Treatment. Although the pennant says "Houston", we see a nice shot of the Houston Colt .45s' cap. I can only recall this card and Turk Farrell's card that show the .45s logo

2) Walt is looking very pensive in this photo.  It is all the more somber with the realization that just over 2 years after this card hit collectors' hands, Bond will have passed away from leukemia in September 1967, after having played for the Twins earlier that season.

Dick Bertell (#27)

Dick Bertell’s final card was in the 1966 set, but since that is one of the 6 dozen cards I am missing from that set, this card will have to do.

Bertell began his career with 5 games in 1960, and ended it with 2 games in 1967. In-between, he played for 5 seasons (1961-65) as the Cubs’ #1 catcher, although he never started more than 105 games in a season, and some years started less than half the games.

Dick was signed by the Cubs in 1957, and played in the minors until making his debut in September 1960.

For the next 4 seasons, he would platoon with others behind the plate, but played more than any other Cubs' catcher.

In May 1965 Bertell and outfielder Len Gabrielson were traded to the Giants for pitcher Bob Hendley, catcher Ed Bailey, and outfielder Harvey Kuenn. Dick finished up the ’65 season as a backup catcher with the Giants, and although he spent the entire 1966 season with the Giants’ AAA team, he had a card in the ‘66 Topps set.

Just days before the start of the 1967 season, the Giants traded him back to the Cubs, where he played 2 games (starting the first 2 games of the season) then was relegated to the bench until he was released in late-May.

Bertell passed away in 1999 at age 64.

Final Card - Bill Stafford

Here is the final card for Yankees’ starting pitcher Bill Stafford (#281). Stafford was one of the top 10 Yankees pitchers during the 1960s, in terms of playing time. For the others, see here.

Stafford was signed by the Yankees in 1957, and pitched from 1957-60 in their farm system. He made his debut with the Yankees in August 1960 and went 3-1 in 11 games in his rookie season, joining the rotation of Whitey Ford, Art Ditmar, Ralph Terry, and Bob Turley. He also pitched 6 innings in relief in the World Series vs. the Pirates.

In ’61 and ’62, Bill was among the team’s top 3 starting pitchers (with Ford and Terry), finishing with a 14-9 record in both seasons. He also compiled a 1-0 record in the World Series each year.

Stafford began the ’63 season as a starter, but by mid-season he moved to the bullpen, as Jim Bouton (21-7), rookie Al Downing (13-5), and Stan Williams (9-8) joined the rotation that year.

In 1964 he only made 1 start, as he spent the season in the Yankees’ crowded bullpen.

In 1965 Bill was back in the rotation, as the #5 starter behind Mel Stottlemyre, Ford, Downing, and Bouton. He finished up with a poor 3-8 record, and that would be his last season in pinstripes.

Stafford found himself back in the minors to start the 1966 season, and in mid-June was traded (with pitcher Gil Blanco and outfielder Roger Repoz) to the Kansas City Athletics (where else?) for pitcher Fred Talbot and catcher Bill Bryan. He started 8 games for the A’s in June and July, but did not play in August or September.

After beginning the ’67 season in the minors, he relieved in 14 games for the Athletics in August and September. That was the end of his MLB career.

Stafford continued in the minors for 2 more seasons, playing for Oakland’s and the Angels’ AAA teams in 1968, and for the Giants’ and White Sox’ AAA teams in 1969. The addition of 4 expansion teams could not get him back to the majors.

Bill Stafford passed away in 2001 at age 63.