1934-1936 Diamond Stars: #151 Floyd Vaughan

Sunday, July 11, 2021

#151 Floyd Vaughan - Pittsburgh Pirates

Joseph Floyd Vaughan
Pittsburgh Pirates
Shortstop

Bats: Left Throws: Right Height: 5'10" Weight: 175
Born: March 9, 1912, Clifty, AR
Major League Teams: Pittsburgh Pirates 1932-1941; Brooklyn Dodgers 1942-1943, 1947-1948

World Series Appearances: Brooklyn Dodgers 1947

Died: August 30, 1952, Eagleville, CA (40)

Hall of Fame Induction: 1985

Shortstop Floyd "Arky" Vaughan was a nine-time All-Star with the Pirates and won a batting title in 1935 with his incredible .385 average - still a Pittsburgh single-season record. Vaughan was the model of consistency for a dozen years between 1932 and 1943, batting over .300 in all but one season. At the risk of sounding redundant, he led the league in three different seasons in each of these offensive categories - runs scored, triples, walks and on-base percentage. Despite his offensive leadership, Vaughan's Pirates never won a National League pennant, finishing as the runner up in the league in 1932, 1933 and 1938. With the Dodgers, he led the league in stolen bases with 20 in 1943. He left baseball for three years following a falling out with Dodgers manager Leo Durocher (#127), but made a comeback in 1947 when Durocher was suspended for the season. Serving in a utility role, Vaughan hit .325 and saw his only postseason action with the Dodgers falling to the Yankees in the World Series in seven games.

He would have received more accolades had he played on a contending team and as of this writing, Vaughan's WAR of 78.0 for position players is 43rd on the all-time list. He retired with a .318 career average, 2,103 hits, 1,173 runs scored, 96 home runs and 926 RBIs. Vaughan died tragically in a boating accident at the age of 40. 33 years later, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veteran's Committee.

Building the Set

December 16, 2020 from Albion, NY

Within days of officially deciding to collect the Diamond Stars set, I found myself searching for the 1993 extension set consisting of 36 more "what if" cards this time issued by the Chicle Fantasy Company. Individual cards from this set are very prevalent on eBay, but I wanted to buy a complete set to save myself some time and money. Given this is a relatively modern set, I was somewhat surprised at the closing auction prices for previously sold complete sets and I was happy to win my set at a lower price. These cards are gorgeous, and I can tell a lot of hard work and love for the originals went into making this tribute set. What's more, the set's creators were smart enough to start the numbering with card #120, given the 1981 extension set had left off with #120.

As I slowly collect the originals from the 1930s, I'll also highlight each of the cards from these extension sets with their own posts.

Variations Available

1 - 1993 / blue back / no statistics / 1993 copyright

The Card / Pirates Team Set

Vaughan's surname is misspelled on the back of this card. Like a lot of the big stars of the day, Vaughan was omitted from the original 1934-36 Diamond Stars set. The back of the card mentions his strong defense at shortstop and no other player played more games at the position than he did between 1933 and 1940. Vaughan finished third in the 1935 National League MVP voting behind the Cubs' Gabby Hartnett (#134) and the Cardianls' Dizzy Dean (#124). It's hard to compare Vaughn to Dean, but Vaughan had better statistics (by quite a margin) in every offensive category over Hartnett.

1936 Season

Vaughan didn't let up in 1936, appearing in a league-leading 156 games and also leading the league in runs (122), walks (118) and on-base percentage (.453). He batted .335 with nine home runs and 78 RBIs and was the top offensive player on the Pirates.