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.

Bob Meyer (#219)

Here is the first solo card for pitcher Bob Meyer. Signed by the Yankees in 1960, Bob appeared on a Yankees Rookies card in the 1964 set, then after playing for 3 teams in his rookie season, we find him with his own card as an Athletic.

Unfortunately for Bob, 1964 was to be his last season in the majors until resurfacing in 1969 with the expansion Pilots. This did not go unnoticed by Topps, who left him out of the 1966-1969 sets. He had baseball cards in 1970 (Pilots) and 1971 (Brewers).

After laboring on the Athletics' farm for 4 1/2 seasons, Meyer was traded to the Pilots in August 1969 for pitcher Fred Talbot.

Bob began 1970 with the Brewers, pitching in 10 games (all in relief), the last coming on May 20th. Maybe he was injured, because he doesn't have any minor-league playing time that season.

Meyer was released in March 1971, ending his brief career. He pitched in 38 games over 3 seasons, but in actuality his 1969 and 1970 seasons lasted about 1 month each.


Even with such a short career, there were some highlights:

 - His first strikeout victim was Carl Yastrzemski.

 - In September 1964 he pitched a 1-hitter against the Orioles, but lost 1-0 when a runner scored on a sacrifice fly.

 - For the Pilots, he pitched the first 9 innings of a game against the Yankees, giving up only 1 run in a game the Pilots eventually won in the 13th inning.

Final Card - Doc Edwards

Doc Edwards (#239) was a backup catcher for the Indians, Athletics, and Yankees in the mid-1960s.

He was signed by Cleveland in 1958 and played 4 full seasons in their farm system, before making his major-league debut with the Indians in April 1962. As the backup to Johnny Romano, Doc started 34 games as a rookie, mostly in August and September.

In May of the following season, he was traded to the Athletics for catcher Joe Azcue and shortstop Dick Howser (quite a haul for an unproven 2nd-year backup catcher!) Edwards alternated with Haywood Sullivan for a month, then shared the job with Charley Lau (acquired from the Orioles on July 1st) for the rest of the season. Kay-Cee used 4 backstops that season, with Edwards getting the most starts (58).

Doc was the #1 catcher in 1964, making 71 starts while sharing the load with Billy Bryan (who had opened the ’63 season as the starter before returning to the minors) and Lau.

1965 began with Edwards and Bryan splitting the catching duties again, but a month later Doc was traded to the Yankees for catcher John Blanchard and pitcher Rollie Sheldon. Edwards started 34 games behind Elston Howard over the next 2 months, but was sent down to the minors for the 2nd half of the season when the Yankees decided to go with young Jake Gibbs as the backup.

In January 1966, he was returned to the Indians in exchange for outfielder Lou Clinton, but spent the entire season in triple-A. One year later, the same thing: traded to the Astros with outfielder Jim Landis for outfielder Lee Maye, but played all of 1967 in the minors.

Edwards major-league career appeared to be over, as he moved on to the Phillies’ organization and played in triple-A for the ‘68 and ’69 seasons.

Prior to the 1970 season, the Phillies installed a new manager (Frank Lucchesi) and a new coaching staff, with Edwards as the bullpen coach. It appeared he would settle into the coaching ranks, until both Phillies’ catchers (Tim McCarver and Mike Ryan) broke their hands in the same inning of a game on May 2nd. The Phils called up their 2 AAA catchers Mike Compton and Del Bates the next day. (Neither played in the majors before or after 1970.)

After 1 month, Bates and his .133 batting average was sent back down, and Edwards was activated to help out. Doc got into 34 games (28 starts) over the next 3 months alternating with Ryan (who had returned in early July) and Compton. McCarver returned to active duty on 9/1, spelling the end Doc’s playing career.

Edwards coached for the Phillies for a few more seasons, then managed in the minors from 1973-85.  After managing the Indians from 1987-89, he again managed in the minors from 1993-2012.