Final Card - Mel McGaha

Mel McGaha (#391) never played major-league baseball, but he did play NBA basketball for the New York Knicks during the 1948-49 season.

He was an outfielder in the Cardinals' organization from 1948-52, and the Indians' organization from 1953-58.

He managed in the Indians' farm system from 1954 to 1960. He was also the head basketball coach at Arkansas A&M in 1953-54 and 1954-55.

Mel joined the Indians as a coach in 1961, then was promoted to manager for the 1962 season. He was fired 2 games before the end of the season. (Why do teams do that? It’s not like they are going to start a turnaround in the final week of the season.)

McGaha was hired as an Athletics' coach in 1963, and became the team's manager in June 1964, with the A's mired in last place. They improved slightly, but still finished the year in last place. After a 5-21 start in 1965, he was canned by owner Charlie Finley.

Mel moved on the the Astros, as a minor-league manager in 1966-67, and a base coach from 1968-70.  I first became aware of McGaha during his time with the Astros.

McGaha passed away in 2002 at age 75.

Final Card - Bill Pleis

This is the final card for Bill Pleis (#122), at age 80 the oldest living player from the 1965-70 period that I have not yet featured on any of my blogs. Because this is his last card, and I didn’t collect cards prior to 1966 until recently, I didn’t know anything about him.

Pleis had a 6-year career (1961-66), all with the Twins. He was primarily a reliever, only making 10 starts among his 190 games.

Bill began his pro career in 1956, pitching for the unaffiliated Orlando Seratomas in the class-D Florida State League. By mid-August, he was acquired by the Washington Senators, and spent the next 4 seasons working his way up the ladder in their organization.

Although he never played for the Senators, following the team’s move to Minnesota prior to the 1961 season he made the team out of spring training. Pleis pitched most of ’61 and half of ’62 with the Twins, and was the team’s top lefthander in the bullpen as a rookie. In 1961 he won the first Twins’ home game in their new location.

Bill played fulltime with the Twins from 1963 to 1965, and led the team in games pitched (47) in 1964.

By 1966, his time with the Twins was winding down. He had been edged out of a job by newcomers Dave Boswell, Jim Merritt, and Pete Cimino, all at least 5 years younger than Pleis. Bill spent most of the season with triple-A Denver, and only pitched 8 games for the Twins in his last major-league season, all during the second half.

Pleis pitched 44 games for the Senators’ AAA team in 1967 and 23 games for the Red Sox’ AAA team in 1968 before retiring.

Final Card - Jim Duffalo

Here is the final card for pitcher Jim Duffalo. I was surprised to see that he had such a short career. I did not follow baseball before 1967, but for some reason I had always assumed his career was similar to that of guys like Bill Stafford, Bob Duliba, or Wes Stock. (In hindsight, I have no basis for that assumption.)

Anyway, Duffalo pitched in the minors for the Pirates (1955-58) and Giants (1958-60) before making his major-league debut in April 1961. He was with the Giants for the first 2 months (relieving in 20 games), then spent the summer back in AAA, until he was recalled in September, making 4 starts in the final month.

Jim pitched mostly out of the Giants’ bullpen from 1962-1964. Although with the team for the entire 1962 season, he did not play in the World Series.

He began the ’65 season with the Giants (2 games), but was traded to the Reds in early May for pitcher Bill Henry. He pitched 22 games for the Reds, and another 20 games in the minors.

From 1966 to 1972 he bounced around in the minor leagues with the Reds, Dodgers, Astros, Giants, and Cubs.

Final Card - Ken Retzer

Ken Retzer was a catcher for the Senators from 1961 to 1964. By the time this card came out, his major-league career was over.

Ken was signed by the Indians in 1954, where he worked his way up the ladder from 1954-61. In September 1961 Retzer was traded to the Senators, and got his feet wet with 15 starts that month, in place of regular backstop Gene Green.

In 1962, Ken split the catching duties with Bob Schmidt, starting 91 games (to Schmidt’s 71).

In the off-season the Nats acquire catcher Don Leppert from the Pirates, and even though Retzer started 95 games to Leppert’s 55 starts, somehow Leppert was named to the All-Star team.

Retzer began the 1964 season as the starter, but by game #6 was replaced by rookie Mike Brumley. Ken only managed 6 more starts over the remainder of the season, spending most of the season with triple-A Toronto.

He played in the minors from 1965-67 seasons. After 1964, Washington traded him to the Twins, who flipped him to the Astros in April 1966 for Walt Bond. In January 1967 he returned to the Indians’ organization, traded with outfielder Lee Maye for outfielder Jim Landis, catcher Doc Edwards, and pitcher Jim Weaver.