#99 "Pie" Traynor MG - Pittsburgh Pirates

Harold Joseph Traynor
Pittsburgh Pirates
Third Base-Manager

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'0"  Weight:  170
Born:  November 11, 1898, Framingham, MA
Major League Teams:  Pittsburgh Pirates 1920-35, 1937

World Series Appearances:  Pittsburgh Pirates 1925, 1927

As a Manager:  Pittsburgh Pirates 1934-39

Died:  March 16, 1972, Pittsburgh, PA (73)

Hall of Fame Induction:  1948

The greatest third baseman of his era, Pie Traynor played his entire 17-year big league career with the Pirates.  He helped the club win a World Series title in 1925, batting .346 (9 for 26) in the seven-game series against the Senators.  Traynor batted over .300 in ten different seasons, attaining a career high in hits with 208 in 1923 and hitting a career-high .366 in 1930.  His lifetime batting average was .320.  He drove in over 100 runs in seven seasons, a record for third baseman until surpassed by Mike Schmidt.  Traynor led the league in triples with 19 in 1923, and he's currently 30th on the all-time triples list with 164.  He had 371 career doubles and astonishingly only struck out 278 times over 1,941 games and 8,298 plate appearances.  An adept bunter, Traynor twice led the league in sacrifices.  He was named to the first two All-Star Games in 1933 and 1934, and was the National League's starting third baseman in the 1934 contest.  Exceptional defensively, Traynor's 2,289 career putouts at third base are fifth all-time.

He was named the Pirates' player-manager during the 1934 season, and he held that position through the 1939 season.  Pittsburgh nearly went back to the World Series in 1938, but they fell to the Cubs following the Gabby Hartnett (#134) home run in the infamous Homer in the Gloamin' game at Wrigley Field on September 28, 1938.  Traynor had a lifetime managerial record of 457-406.  Traynor later served as long-time and popular radio host in Pittsburgh between 1944 and 1965.  He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1948, the first third baseman to be voted in by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.  Traynor threw out the ceremonial first pitch before Game 3 of the 1971 World Series and passed away a few months later.  His #20 was posthumously retired by the Pirates before their home opener in 1972.

Building the Set

March 14, 2025 from Lincoln, MA (Champion Sportcards & Collectibles) - Card #115

My luck continued recently on eBay when I won this late series Traynor card for a final bid price that was less than half what the card's current book price is, according to Beckett.  The card showed up in one of my saved searches, I placed what I thought was a "no way this is going to win" bid, and was pleasantly surprised when no one else entered the auction after my bid.

Unbelievably, I'm down to needing just four cards for my version of a master set . . . or maybe it's just three.  I had wanted both the error and corrected versions of the Hank Greenberg (#54) card, but as I near the end of this collecting journey, maybe just one of those versions is fine.  I'd of course feel differently if the card wasn't the most expensive in the set.  I'm also still on the hunt for the cards of Mel Ott (#50) and the last high-number needed, Stan Hack (#107).

Variations Available

1 - 1936 / blue back / 1935 statistics / 1935 copyright

This is the second Traynor card in the set, with the Hall of Fame third baseman first appearing on card #27.  The final 12 cards in the Diamond Stars set, released as part of series three in 1936, contain the exact same photos and players as earlier cards from the set.  This card has the same text on the back as his earlier card, save for his 1935 statistics at the bottom replacing his 1934 statistics.  Also, the ink on the back of card #99 is blue, similar to all cards from the third series.

The Card / Pirates Team Set

The tip on the back of the card provides guidance on where to stand in the batter's box, depending on your arm length and swinging style.  It also implores the reader to study Traynor's form, given the current Pirates manager's success over the years while batting.

Comparing both the easier to find early series Traynor card to this harder to find late series Traynor card, the latter is actually the nicer of the two in my set.

1936 Season

This was the first season Traynor was a full-time manager, not playing in any games, although his SABR biography notes he kept himself on the Pirates' active roster.  His team finished in fourth place in the National League with a 84-70-2 record.  Shortstop Arky Vaughan (#151) was the team's MVP, leading the league with a .453 on-base percentage, 118 walks and 122 runs scored.  Vaughan batted .335.  First baseman  Gus Suhr (#56) led the team with 11 home runs and 118 RBIs.  Cy Blanton (#57) won 13 games and threw a league-leading four shutouts.

1922 American Caramel Series of 240 (E120)

1933 DeLong Gum (R333)

1933 Goudey #22

1940 Play Ball #224

1976 Topps #343

Other Notable Baseball Cards

First Mainstream Card:  1922 American Caramel Series of 240 (E120)

Topps Flagship Set Appearances (1):  1976

Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2022 Panini Diamond Kings #108

181 - Traynor non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 3/15/25.

Sources:

Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
National Baseball Hall of Fame
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

Previous Card:  #98 "Schoolboy" Rowe - Detroit Tigers

Next Card: #100 Earle Averill - Cleveland Indians

#103 Bill Dickey - New York Yankees

William Malcolm Dickey

New York Yankees

Catcher

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  185

Born:  June 6, 1907, Bastrop, LA

Major League Teams:  New York Yankees 1928-1943, 1946

World Series Appearances:  New York Yankees 1928, 1932, 1936-1939, 1941-1943

As a Manager:  New York Yankees 1946

Died:  November 12, 1993, Little Rock, AR (86)

Hall of Fame Induction:  1954

Bill Dickey was an 11-time All-Star catcher for the Yankees, behind the plate for nine American League pennants, which included eight World Series titles between 1928 and 1943.  He replaced Benny Bengough as the Yankees' starting catcher in 1929, a role he'd settle into for the next 15 seasons.  Dickey could hit for power, batted over .300 in 11 seasons and was excellent defensively behind the plate, leading the league four times in fielding percentage.  He hit over 20 home runs with at least 100 RBIs for four straight years between 1936 and 1939, and his .362 average in 1936 stood as the high-water mark for catchers until Joe Mauer batted .365 in 2009.  Dickey's best season statistically came in 1937 when he batted .332 with 29 home runs and 133 RBIs - both career bests.  In 1,789 games with the Yankees, Dickey batted .313 with 202 home runs and 1,209 RBIs.

After two years serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Dickey returned to the Yankees as player-manager for the 1946 season.  He'd serve as a coach with the Yankees from 1949 to 1957, and again in 1960.  During his tenure as Yankees' coach, Dickey helped mentor two of his successors behind the plate - Yogi Berra and Elston Howard.  He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1954, and the Yankees retired #8 in 1972 to honor both Dickey and Berra.

Building the Set

February 22, 2025 from Clifton, NJ (Probstein123) - Card #114

I had no intention of this card actually entering my collection, putting what I thought was an incredibly low bid on a recent eBay auction from seller probstein123.  The card is slabbed and graded 1.5 (fair) according to SGC, but the front of the card looks just fine to me.  Given what comparable cards have sold for over the past few years, I'm happy with the price I paid for this.  The addition of this card drops me to needing five more Diamond Stars cards for my version of a master set - Mel Ott (#50), both the error and corrected versions of the Hank Greenberg (#54) card, Pie Traynor (#99) and Stan Hack (#107).  As I get closer to the end of collecting this set, I'm coming to terms with not really needing two versions of the pricey Greenberg card.

And speaking of the master set . . . I recently spent time over at TCDB updating this set's checklist to include all 170 cards found in a Diamond Stars master set.  It had bugged me for years the TCDB checklist didn't contain any of the many back variations found throughout the set, so I decided to fix that.

Variations Available

1 - 1936 / blue back / 1935 statistics / 1935 copyright

This is the second Dickey card in the set, with the Hall of Fame catcher first appearing on card #11.  The final 12 cards in the Diamond Stars set, released as part of series three in 1936, contain the exact same photos and players as earlier cards from the set.  This card has the same text on the back as his earlier card, save for his 1935 statistics at the bottom replacing his 1934 statistics.  Also, the ink on the back of card #103 is blue, similar to all cards from the third series.

The Card / Yankees Team Set

When I posted card #11, I wrote it was the "cheaper" of two Dickey cards in the set, with this second card likely one of the hardest to find out of all Diamond Stars cards.  Given my luck on eBay, I didn't pay much more for this harder to find high-number version than its lower-number counterpart.  The tip on the back explains the catcher's role whenever a batter drops a bunt.

1936 Season

Dickey enjoyed one of his best seasons in 1936, batting a record-setting (for catchers) .362 in 112 games, with 22 home runs and 107 RBIs.  As mentioned above, it was to be the first of four years in a row he'd eclipse the 20-home run and 100-RBI marks.  His batting average was good enough for third in the league, behind Luke Appling (#95), who batted. 388.  Dickey was an All-Star for the third of what would ultimately be 11 appearances.  He didn't fare well in the World Series, batting .120 over six games, but his Yankees defeated the Giants in the first of four straight World Championship titles.

1933 Goudey #19

1934-36 Batter-Up (R318) #30

1939 Play Ball #30

1941 Play Ball #70

1952 Topps #400

Other Notable Baseball Cards

First Mainstream Card:  1933 Goudey #19

Topps Flagship Set Appearances (2):  1952, 1960

Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2017 Panini Diamond Kings #2

558 - Dickey non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 2/23/25.

Sources:

Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
National Baseball Hall of Fame
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

Previous Card:  #102 Van Mungo - Brooklyn Dodgers

Next Card: #104 Robert Rolfe - New York Yankees

#104 Robert Rolfe - New York Yankees

Robert Abial Rolfe

New York Yankees

Third Base

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'11"  Weight:  170

Born: October 17, 1908, Penacook, NH

Major League Teams:  New York Yankees 1931, 1934-42

World Series Appearances:  New York Yankees 1936-39, 1941-42

As a Manager:  Detroit Tigers 1949-52

Died:  July 8, 1969, Gilford, NH (60)

Red Rolfe played in 10 major league seasons with the Yankees, reaching the World Series in six of those seasons and winning five World Series rings as a key member of the "Bronx Bombers" of the 1930s.  As the team's regular third baseman, Rolfe went to four All-Star Games and provided both a steady glove and a reliable bat.  His best season came in 1939 when he helped the Yankees reach the World Series by leading the league in runs (139), hits (213) and doubles (46) while hitting his career highs in batting average (.329) and home runs (14).  He tied his career high with 80 RBIs that season as well.  With his glove, Rolfe twice led the league in fielding percentage for third basemen (1935 and 1936).

Retiring following the 1942 season, Rolfe coached baseball and basketball at Yale University before returning to the majors in 1947 as a coach for the Yankees.  He took over as manager of the Tigers beginning in 1949, going 278-256 over four years at the helm.  Rolfe returned to his alma mater, Dartmouth, as their athletic director in 1954 where he stayed until retiring in 1967.  In a 1969 Yankees fan poll, Rolfe was named the third baseman on the Yankees' all-time greatest team.

Building the Set

December 10, 2024 from Los Angeles, CA (Greg Morris Cards) - Card #111

The addition of this high-number Rolfe card was a pleasant surprise, and helped me avoid getting completely shut out from a series of auctions from Greg Morris Cards following yet another Diamond Stars set break by the dealer.  On a whim, I spent an evening in early December searching for any of the final nine cards needed for my version of a Diamond Stars master set.  Greg Morris Cards had a bunch of cards up for auction from the set, including most of the cards I needed.  I entered my highest bid on each of them, waited a few days until the auctions closed, and came away with this Rolfe card for what I deemed to be a reasonable price.

This card joins the less pricey Rolfe card from early in the set (#29), added almost exactly four years to the day prior to this newer card arriving in the mail.

Variations Available

1 - 1936 / blue back / 1935 statistics / 1935 copyright

As mentioned and shown above, this is the second Rolfe card in the set, with the infielder first appearing on card #29.  The final 12 cards in the Diamond Stars set, released as part of series three in 1936, contain the exact same photos and players as earlier cards from the set.  This card has the same text on the back as his earlier card, save for his 1935 statistics at the bottom replacing his 1934 statistics.  Also, the ink on the back of card #104 is blue, similar to all cards from the third series.

The Card / Yankees Team Set

There's all kinds of stuff going on in that Art Deco photo.  Rolfe is presumably getting ready to make a throw from third to first while the shortstop (maybe?) looks on and an umpire preemptively makes a safe call even though Rolfe is still holding the ball.  In the distance, a factory's smokestack sends smoke into the cloudless blue sky.  Rolfe is wearing a Yankees road uniform, as those sported "New York" across the front while the Yankees home uniforms contained nothing but pinstripes up until 1936.

The back contains a fielding tip, advising the reader to learn how to anticipate in which direction a batted ball will go based on the location of the pitch.  Rolfe had mastered this, according to the write-up, which is part of the reason he had become a successful fielder.

1936 Season

Rolfe was a year away from stardom and four straight All-Star Game appearances.  The regular third baseman for the Yankees, Rolfe appeared in 135 games, batting .319 with 10 home runs, 70 RBIs, and a league-leading 15 triples.  Manager Joe McCarthy (#143) had Rolfe bat second most of the year, setting the table for the power hitters in the middle of the order, including Joe DiMaggio (#126), Lou Gehrig (#130) and Bill Dickey (#11).  In his first World Series action, Rolfe batted .400 (10 for 25) against the Giants, as the Yankees won in six games.

1934 Goudey #94

1941 Double Play #65

1951 Bowman #319

1952 Topps #296

1973 Fleer Famous Feats #22

Other Notable Baseball Cards

First Mainstream Card:  1934 Goudey #94

Topps Flagship Set Appearances (1):  1952

Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2010 Topps New York Yankees 27 World Series Championships #YC8

123 - Rolfe non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 1/1/25.

Sources:

Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Previous Card:  #103 Bill Dickey - New York Yankees

Next Card:  #105 "Ernie" Lombardi - Cincinnati Reds

#100 Earle Averill - Cleveland Indians

Howard Earl Averill

Cleveland Indians

Outfield

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'9"  Weight:  172

Born:  May 21, 1902, Snohomish, WA

Major League Teams:  Cleveland Indians 1929-39; Detroit Tigers 1939-40; Boston Braves 1941

World Series Appearances:  Detroit Tigers 1940

Died:  August 16, 1983, Everett, WA (81)

Hall of Fame Induction:  1975

Earl Averill patrolled center field for the Indians for over a decade, making the All-Star team in six consecutive seasons between 1933 and 1938.  He's the only American League outfielder to be named to each of the first six All-Star Games.  A power hitter who also hit for average, Averill hit at least 30 home runs in three seasons, and drove in at least 100 runs in five different seasons.  He collected a career-high 143 RBIs in 1931, finishing third in the league behind Lou Gehrig (#130) and Babe Ruth (#110).  Averill batted over .330 in five seasons, attaining a career high in 1936 with a .368 average.  That season he led the American League in hits (232) and triples (15).  Dealt to the Tigers in July 1939, Averill saw his only postseason action with Detroit in 1940.  Upon his retirement, he had 2,019 hits, a .318 career average, 238 home runs and 1,164 RBIs.  Averill still tops the Indians' all-time leaders list for runs (1,154), RBIs (1,084) and triples (121), and he's second on the all-time franchise list for hits (1,965, behind Nap Lajoie with 2,052 hits) and doubles (424, behind Tris Speaker with 486).

Averill's #3 was retired by the Indians in 1975, the same year the Veteran's Committee inducted him into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Building the Set

October 15, 2024 from Tempe, AZ (Desert Ice Sports) - Card #110

With only a handful of cards to go to complete my version of a master Diamond Stars set, I've come to the conclusion I have three potential avenues to completion.  The first option is to shell out the cash and finish what I've started.  The second option is to fill the missing spaces in the set with reprint cards.  Once a cringe-worthy idea to me as a baseball card set collector, it's now a possibility worthy of consideration.  The third option is to go after beat up, lesser quality, well-loved versions of these cards.

I combined the first and third options to acquire this Averill card.  It had been on my eBay watch list for quite a while, and the word "Poor" in the item description likely kept a lot of potential buyers away.  Now in hand, the card isn't that bad.  I made what I considered a somewhat aggressive offer to the seller one afternoon while taking a break at work, with a "well, it can't hurt" the attitude.  Much to my surprise, the seller accepted my offer the next day and the card was soon on its way from Desert Ice Sports in Tempe to me on the East Coast.  I have nine more cards to go, and they're all high price tag cards.

Variations Available

1 - 1936 / blue back / 1935 statistics / 1935 copyright

The Card / Indians Team Set

This is the second Averill card in the set, with the outfielder first appearing on card #35.  The final 12 cards in the Diamond Stars set, released as part of series three in 1936, contain the exact same photos and players as earlier cards from the set.  This card has the same text on the back as his earlier card, save for his 1935 statistics at the bottom replacing his 1934 statistics.  Also, the ink on the back of card #100 is blue, similar to all cards from the third series.

I'm assuming this card can be considered an uncorrected error, as National Chicle added the E to the end of Averill's first name on the card.  The tip on the back gives a batter bunting tips, which seemed odd to place on the card of a power hitter like Averill.  But he did own 55 career sacrifices, including a career-high 17 in his rookie season of 1929.

1936 Season

Averill was again an All-Star for the Indians, and he'd lead the American League in hits (232) and triples (15), as mentioned above.  As one of the Tribe's top offensive players, Averill batted .378 with 28 home runs and 126 RBIs.  His batting average gave him a second place finish in the league behind Luke Appling (#95), who had a .388 mark.  Averill finished third in the postseason MVP voting, behind winner Gehrig and Appling.  Averill batted third and played center field on August 23rd, the day Bob Feller (#128) made his first big league start for the Indians, pitching a complete game victory over the Browns.

Phillies Connection

Averill's son, Earl Douglas Averill, also played in the majors between 1956 and 1963 with the Indians, Cubs, White Sox, Angels and Phillies.  Primarily a catcher, the younger Averill was dealt to the Phillies from the Angels on December 11, 1962 for outfielder Jacke Davis.  Averill was used almost exclusively as a pinch-hitter by the Phillies in 1963, appearing in 47 games with 27 of those appearances coming in the pinch-hitter role.  He batted .268 with three home runs and eight RBIs for the Phillies, playing in his final major league game on September 26, 1963.

1929-30 R315

1933 Goudey #194

1933 Tattoo Orbit (R305)

1939 Play Ball #143

1961 Fleer Baseball Greats #5

Other Notable Baseball Cards

First Mainstream Card:  1929-30 R315

Topps Flagship Set Appearances (0):  N/A

Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2018 Panini Diamond Kings #38

253 - Averill non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 10/17/24.

Sources:

Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
National Baseball Hall of Fame
The Phillies Room
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

Previous Card:  #99 "Pie" Traynor - Pittsburgh Pirates

Next Card: #101 Dick Bartell - New York Giants

#108 Wally Berger - Boston Bees

Walter Anton Berger

Boston Bees

Outfield

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'2"  Weight:  198

Born:  October 10, 1905, Chicago, IL

Major League Teams:  Boston Braves 1931-35; Boston Bees 1936-37; New York Giants 1937-38; Cincinnati Reds 1938-40; Philadelphia Phillies 1940

World Series Appearances:  New York Giants 1937; Cincinnati Reds 1939

Died:  November 30, 1988, Redondo Beach, CA (83)

Wally Berger enjoyed a solid multi-year run in the early 1930s in which he was the top player for the Boston Braves/Bees franchise, earning MVP votes in each season between 1932 and 1936.  Berger hit 38 home runs in his rookie season of 1930, a record for rookies that stood until 1987 when broken by Mark McGwire, and he drove in 119 RBIs, a National League rookie record that was in place until surpassed by Albert Pujols in 2001.  Berger was a four-time All-Star and the National League's starting center fielder in the inaugural All-Star Game in 1933.  Of the 18 players who started the 1934 All-Star Game, Berger is the only one not currently in the Hall of Fame.  He never topped the 38 home runs he hit in 1930, but he led the league in 1935 with 34 home runs and a career-high 130 RBIs.  Shoulder and hand injuries suffered during the 1936 season hurt his power numbers in subsequent years, and Berger would retire following a final season in the minors in 1941, playing for the Cubs' top affiliate, the Los Angeles Angels.

Upon his retirement, Berger owned a career .300 average with 242 home runs and 898 RBIs, with his home run tally 12th on the all-time list following the 1940 season.  He briefly scouted with the Giants and Yankees in the late 1940s before leaving baseball for good.

Building the Set

September 21, 2024 from Nashville, TN (Burl's Sports) - Card #109

Seller Burl's Sports had this card listed on eBay recently, and I don't think it had been listed over the summer the last time I searched for the 11 cards I still need for my version of a Diamond Stars master set.  I made an offer on the card, which was quickly accepted by the seller.  Even though the card was slabbed, it still had to go through the eBay authentication process, which seems a bit redundant.  After eBay confirmed that yes, this is a real baseball card, it eventually made its way to me.

With the arrival of this Berger card, I'm down to 10 cards to go.  I've recently started at least thinking through the idea of foregoing the final 10 cards and having them represented in my set by reprints.  These are all fairly pricey cards I need and I could see myself adding one or maybe two a year for the foreseeable future, or just simply satisfying myself with reprints and moving on to my next set collecting quest.  A family friend of mine recently went this route with his 1959 Topps set, opting for reprints of the Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays cards as he couldn't justify those cards' price tags.  He had fun collecting 570 out of the 572 cards in that set and then decided he was close enough.  I initially hated that idea conceptually, but 10 cards away from a complete Diamond Stars set, I kind of get it now.

Variations Available

1 - 1936 / blue back / 1935 statistics / 1935 copyright

The Card / Bees Team Set

This is the second Berger card in the set, with the outfielder first appearing on card #25.  The final 12 cards in the Diamond Stars set, released as part of series three in 1936, contain the exact same photos and players as earlier cards from the set.  Berger's card needed some extra attention, removing the Braves word mark from the front of his jersey since Boston switched to the Bees nickname for their 1936 season.  This card has the same text on the back as his earlier card, save for his 1935 statistics at the bottom replacing his 1934 statistics.  Also, the ink on the back of card #108 is blue, similar to all cards from the third series.

The back of the card gives a few tips to aspiring batters on how best to stride toward a pitch and what do with your arms while swinging.

1936 Season

Berger was named to his fourth consecutive All-Star team in 1936, although his production for the Bees declined a little from his monster year in 1935.  Berger appeared in 138 games, batting .288 with 25 home runs and 91 RBIs.  A shoulder and hand injury cut into his playing time, with Berger making 133 starts in center field for the Bees.

Phillies Career

On May 10, 1940, the Reds released Berger and the now veteran outfielder signed with the Phillies five days later on May 15th.  Berger had held out for a higher salary with the Reds in the spring, after hitting 14 home runs for the team during their pennant-winning 1939 season.  

The Reds ultimately relented, but Berger received minimal playing time and his release came as a surprise.  Berger appeared in 20 games for the Phillies, hitting a respectable .317 (13 for 41), including his final career home run on June 5th against Cubs pitcher Larry French.  Not receiving any playing time, Berger requested his release from the club, which was granted on July 5th.

1933 Goudey #98

1933 Tattoo Orbit (R305)

1936 Goudey

1939 Play Ball #99

1940 Play Ball #81

Other Notable Baseball Cards

First Mainstream Card:  1933 Goudey #98

Topps Flagship Set Appearances (0):  N/A

Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1994 Conlon Collection TSN #1098

90 - Berger non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 9/30/24.

Sources:

Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

Previous Card:  #107 Stanley Hack - Chicago Cubs

Next Card: #2 Al Simmons - Detroit Tigers (Variation)

#98 "Schoolboy" Rowe - Detroit Tigers

Lynwood Thomas Rowe

Detroit Tigers

Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'4"  Weight:  210

Born:  January 11, 1910, Waco, TX

Major League Teams:  Detroit Tigers 1933-42; Brooklyn Dodgers 1942; Philadelphia Phillies 1943, 1946-49

World Series Appearances:  Detroit Tigers 1934-35, 1940

Died:  January 8, 1961, El Dorado, AR (50)

While playing on an adult baseball team while a 15-year-old high school student, Lynnwood Rowe was given the nickname "Schoolboy," and the moniker stuck throughout his career.  Superstitious and a fan-favorite, Rowe was a star pitcher for the Tigers in the mid-1930s, winning a career-high 24 games in 1934 and following that up with consecutive 19-win seasons in 1935 and 1936.  Rowe was second in the league in strikeouts with 140 in 1935, and recorded a career-high 149 strikeouts in 1934.  He was named to both the 1935 and 1936 American League All-Star teams.  He started four games for the Tigers in the 1934 and 1935 World Series, as the team lost to the Cardinals in seven games in 1934, but won the Championship in six games over the Cubs in 1935.  In Game 2 of the 1934 Series, he pitched a 12-inning complete game for the win.  Rowe was 2-3 with a 2.76 ERA over 42 1/3 innings pitched in those two Series, to go along with 26 strikeouts.  A threat at the plate too, he batted .307 with five home runs in 1934 and 1935.

Shoulder pain and related injuries began to take a toll on Rowe beginning in 1937, although he rebounded in 1940 to go 16-3 with a 3.46 ERA for the pennant-winning Tigers.  He'd be limited to pitching in only 55 games between 1942 and 1946, due his injuries and two years of service in the U.S. Navy during World War II.  Finishing up his career with the Phillies, Rowe won at least 10 games each season between 1946 and 1948 and made his final All-Star team in 1947.  He retired with a career record of 158-101 and an ERA of 3.87 with 913 strikeouts.  Rowe batted .263 for his career with 18 home runs and 153 RBIs.  He served as the Tigers pitching coach in 1954 and 1955.

Building the Set

August 1, 2024 from Valley View, OH (Stan's Vintage Sports Cards) - Card #108

The seventh card added to our Diamond Stars set in 2024, the addition of this card put me 11 cards away from my version of a master set.  I knew adding the final cards to our set would be tough, and pricey, and I've shied away from recent eBay auctions as most of the opening bids or buy it now prices are way out of my price range.  

I made a reasonable offer to the seller, Stan's Vintage Sports Cards, on this card, the seller made a counteroffer, and I quickly accepted.  Aesthetically, I wanted to have all these cards in order in the set's binder, but with some of these more expensive cards, I'll likely leave them in their slabs and fill the empty spaces in the binder pages with reprint cards.  It could be a little while before I add another card to our set, although I do have several current eBay auctions on my watch list.  I'm assuming I'll be able to get better deals and do some more negotiating live, and I'm looking forward to hunting Diamond Stars cards at the upcoming Philly Show in September.

Variations Available

1 - 1936 / blue back / 1935 statistics / 1935 copyright

The Card / Tigers Team Set

This is the second Rowe card in the set, with the pitcher first appearing on card #33.  The final 12 cards in the Diamond Stars set, released as part of series three in 1936, contain the exact same photos and players as earlier cards from the set.  This card has the same text on the back as his earlier card, save for his 1935 statistics at the bottom replacing his 1934 statistics.  Also, the ink on the back of card #98 is blue, similar to all cards from the third series.

The back of the card contains an odd tip, basically telling a pitcher not to aim for the catcher's mitt but rather to aim at some part of the catcher's body other than the mitt.  The tip goes on to claim that Rowe not only endorses this tip, but that Rowe himself can't hit a target more than two out of every three times.

1936 Season

Rowe was 19-10 with a 4.51 ERA in 41 appearances for the Tigers, as his club finished in second place behind the Yankees.  Tommy Bridges (#5) was the ace of the staff, with 23 wins and a 3.60 ERA.  Rowe made his second All-Star Game, and pitched three innings in relief of Lefty Grove (#1), giving up a pair of runs.  Battling shoulder pain, Rowe would pitch in only 14 games for the Tigers in 1937 and 1938.

Phillies Career

Rowe was purchased by the Phillies from the Dodgers on March 24, 1943.  Now throwing a knuckle ball, he'd appear in 27 games that season for the Phillies, going 14-8 with a 2.94 ERA in 199 innings pitched.  Rowe was also the team's top pinch-hitter with 15 pinch-hits in 51 at-bats.  After two years in the Navy, Rowe made an impressive comeback in 1946, and was 11-4 with a 2.12 ERA in 17 games pitched.  In his first start in nearly two years on April 21, 1946, the 36-year-old Rowe threw an 11-inning complete game, although in a losing effort.  He'd win 14 games in 1947 and was named to the National League All-Star team.  Rowe would pitch in two more seasons for the Phillies before injuries finally caught up to him, and the team released him following the 1949 season. Rowe would just miss participating in the triumphant march of the Whiz Kids towards the 1950 National League pennant.  In 128 games with the Phillies, he was 52-39 with a 3.54 ERA and 245 strikeouts.

1934-36 Batter-Up (R318) #184

1935 Goudey 4-in-1 (R321)

1939 Play Ball #60

1949 Bowman #216

1954 Topps #197

Other Notable Baseball Cards

First Mainstream Card:  1934-36 Batter-Up (R318) #184

Topps Flagship Set Appearances (1):  1954

Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1994 Topps Archives 1954 #197

57 - Rowe non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 8/4/24.

Sources:

Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

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