Final Card - Dick Smith

Here is the final card for baseball short-timer Dick Smith (#579). Smith's last major-league game was on May 2, 1965. After 10 games, he was sent down (as this late-series card tells us on the back).

Smith was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1957, and he played for 6 seasons in their farm system before he was acquired by the Mets in October 1962.

He played most of the next 2 seasons with the Mets' AAA team in Buffalo, but did play in a few dozen games for New York each season.

The Dodgers reacquired him after the 1964 season for pitcher Larry Miller, but as said above, he only played 10 games before returning to the bushes.

After 2 seasons at triple-A Spokane, the Dodgers traded him to the Twins in April 1967 for pitcher Jerry Fosnow (recently seen on this blog). Smith played a full season for the Twins' AAA Denver team in 1967, and 53 games for the Senators' AA team before retiring.

 He passed away in 2012 at age 72.

Final Card - Mike White

This is the final card for Mike White (#31). It's also one of the few 1965 cards that shows the ".45s" logo on the cap.

1965 was the first season the team was named "Astros", and Topps wasn't up to speed at the start of the season. The Astros' cards in the first few series all have "Houston" on the pennant and either capless or airbrushed photos. This is one of the few (also Turk Farrell and Walt Bond) that escaped the airbrusher.

White was signed by the Indians in 1959, and played 2 seasons in their organization as a 3rd baseman before he was released in December 1960.

The expansion Angels signed him in April 1961, and after 1 season with their double-A team, he was drafted by the Colt .45s in the minor-league draft.

White only played 3 seasons for Houston. His debut came with 3 games in a September 1963 call-up, then 89 games during 1964. His final major-league action was 8 games in 1965, the last coming on May 5th.

After that it was back to the bush leagues, with the Astros ('65), Angels ('66), and Cubs ('67-'69) before retiring.

Mike's father Jo-Jo White played for the Tigers in the 1930s.

Bob Sadowski (#156)

Unlike most of the players I have posted on this 1965 blog, this is not the final card for Bob Sadowski. His last card came in the 1966 set, but that is one of the 8 final cards I am missing from that set, so this card will have to do.

He is one of two players named Bob Sadowski who played in the early 1960s. (The other was an infielder, who passed away last year.)

Sadowski was signed by the Cardinals in 1958. In June 1963 he was traded to the Milwaukee Braves (along with catcher Gene Oliver) for pitcher Lou Burdette. 4 days later, Bob made his major-league debut.

Bob pitched in 104 games for the Braves over the next 2 ½ seasons, spending all of ’64 and ’65 with Milwaukee. In 1965 he started the final home game for the Braves in Milwaukee.

After the 1965 season, he was traded to the Red Sox with pitcher Dan Osinski for 1st baseman Lee Thomas and pitchers Arnold Earley and Jay Ritchie. Sadowski only pitched 11 games for the Sox during the first half of 1966, then he was sent down to triple-A for the 2nd half.

He wrapped up his career in 1967 with the Braves’ double-A team.

Bob’s brother Ed was a catcher for the Red Sox (1960), Angels (1961-63) and Braves (1966). Another brother (Ted) pitched for the Senators/Twins from 1960-62.

Final Card - Herm Starrette

This is the final card for Herm Starrette (#539), a reliever for the Orioles from 1963-65. His rookie card was in the 1964 set. Herm’s floating-head also appeared on Braves’ manager Eddie Mathews’ card in 1974. I first heard of Starrette when he was hired as the Phillies’ pitching coach during the Dallas Green regime from 1980-81.

Starrette was signed by the Orioles in 1958 and played 5 seasons in the low minors. From 1963 to 1965, he split each season between the Orioles and their AAA team in Rochester, NY. His best big-league season was 1963, pitching in 18 games.

Starrette retired after pitching all of 1966 with Rochester. He had played in 27 games over his 3-season major-league career, all in relief.

After his playing career, he was the Orioles’ minor-league pitching coach from 1967-73, where he oversaw the development of their young pitchers.

Beginning in 1974, he spent the next 28 years in a variety of positions (major-league coach, minor-league instructor, farm system director) for the Braves, Orioles, Giants, Phillies, Brewers, Cubs, Expos and Red Sox. He was the Phillies’ pitching coach during their World Series championship season in 1980.