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Oscar Donald Melillo
St. Louis Browns
Second Base
Born: August 4, 1899, Chicago, IL
Major League Teams: St. Louis Browns 1926-1935; Boston Red Sox 1935-1937
As a Manager: St. Louis Browns 1938
Died: November 14, 1963, Chicago, IL (64)
Oscar Melillo, better known by his nickname "Ski," was a steady hitting and slick fielding second baseman in the American League for 12 seasons, spending most of his time with the Browns. In 1926, while suffering from Bright's Disease, his doctor informed him he needed to go on a diet consisting exclusively of spinach if he wanted to stave off a potentially fatal kidney ailment. Melillo complied and he earned a second nickname, "Spinach," for his troubles. He was the Browns regular second baseman for seven seasons between 1929 and 1935 before finishing his career with the Red Sox. Melillo hit a career high .306 in 1931 while driving in 75 runs. In 1933, he drove in a career high 79 runs. Melillo was one of the best defensive infielders of his day, leading the league in fielding percentage for all second basemen twice. His 965 double plays turned at second base currently rank 34th on the all-time list. Melillo collected 1,316 hits over his big league career, batting .260 with 22 home runs and 547 RBIs.
Building the Set
August 31, 2021 from Niwot, CO - Card #27
To close out the summer, and after adding a trio of cards from Clean Sweep Auctions, I decided to add another trio of cards, this time from eBay seller Vintage Card Company from Niwot, Colorado. I had a few of these cards on my watch list for a good chunk of the summer and while parsing down that watch list recently I opted for the Buy It Now option in lieu of the Remove from Watch List option. The former option is always more fun. The trio of cards arrived the day of my Mom's back surgery so they were a welcome sight in my mailbox after a day of anxiety and waiting. (She's doing great now, slowly but surely recovering.)
Variations Available
1 - 1935 / green back / 1934 statistics / 1935 copyright
The Card / Browns Team Set
That's a fanatic city sky line in the background behind Melillo. National Chicle could have easily gone with a plain red sky behind the batter, but opted for a yellow and green sky line instead. A fielding tip would have been a natural choice for the back of Melillo's card, but we get a base running tip instead.
1935 Season
Melillo was the Browns' opening day second baseman and appeared in 19 games for the club before a trade on May 27th sent him to the Red Sox for outfielder Moose Solters (#85) and cash. At the time, the Browns desperately needed more offense and the Red Sox needed to improve their infield defense. Melillo appeared in 106 games for the Red Sox, forming a strong double play combination with shortstop Joe Cronin (#123). Melillo batted .260 with 39 RBIs. His SABR biography notes his locker was stationed next to pitcher Lefty Grove (#1), who didn't speak to Melillo for several weeks after the second baseman had joined the club. Back in 1931, Melillo had doubled off Grove to ruin his streak of 16 consecutive wins. Ultimately, Grove relented and started talking to his new teammate.
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Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1929-30 Exhibits Four-in-One (W463-1) #30
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (0): N/A
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1993 Conlon Collection TSN #890
Melillo doesn't have any solo Topps flagship set appearances, but he appears as a coach on the Athletics' team card found in the 1956 Topps set.
43 - Melillo non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 9/13/21.
Sources:
Previous Card: #52 George Stainback - Chicago Cubs
Next Card: #54 "Hank" Greenberg - Detroit Tigers
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