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.
