Manny Sanguillen (#251)

This is Manny Sanguillen's rookie card. He rated a whole card to himself, by virtue of a second-half call-up in 1967. (Hey Topps, where was Reggie Jackson's 1968 card?)

Manny had a card in 1968, but not major-league playing time. He spent the entire season in the minors, then returned in 1969 as the starting catcher.

Sanguillen was signed by the Pirates in late 1964, then played 2 seasons in A ball before jumping up to triple-A for 1967.

When Pirates' regular catcher Jerry May went down with an injury in late July, Sanguillen was called up and started 14 of the next 24 games behind the plate, alternating with aging veteran Jim Pagliaroni. When May returned in mid-August, Pags was shelved for the remainder of the season, with Sanguillen backing up May.

Manny spent the entire 1968 season back in triple-A "getting his playing time", while journeymen types like Chris Cannizzaro and Gary Kolb were retained as May's backups.

Sanguillen returned in 1969, splitting the catching assignments with May for awhile, but by late-May Manny had taken over, ending up with 107 starts to Jerry's 50 starts. Except for the first half of 1973 (when Manny started 53 of the first 54 games in right field, in an attempt to replace the late Roberto Clemente), Sanguillen was the Pirates' regular catcher until September 1976, when he gave way to Duffy Dyer and Ed Ott.

Manny was an all-star in '71, '72, and '75, and hit a career-high 12 home runs in 1973. He also collected 11 hits in the 1971 World Series, good for a .379 batting average.

After the 1976 season, he was traded to the Athletics for manager (yes, manager) Chuck Tanner. Manny returned to Pittsburgh after only one season in Oakland, with the Pirates using him as a pinch-hitter and occasional backup first baseman for the next 3 seasons.

Traded to the Indians after the 1980 season, he was released in spring training the following year. Manny sat out the 1981 season, then played in the Mexican League in 1982.

Orlando Cepeda (#200)

Card #200 in the 1968 set is Orlando Cepeda. Good choice! Cepeda was the 1967 NL MVP, led the league with 111 RBI, bashed 25 homers, and bat .325 during the season (although only .103 in the World Series).

Orlando was signed by the New York Giants in 1955. After 3 seasons in the minors, Cepeda began the 1958 season with San Francisco, and started 147 games at first base, en route to winning the Rookie of the Year award (only the 2nd player to win unanimously).

In late-July 1959, the Giants called up rookie Willie McCovey, moving Cepeda to left field for the rest of the season. Cepeda played most of 1960 in left field, but when McCovey spent the 2nd half of the season in the minors and on the Giants' bench, Orlando reclaimed the 1st base job.

He split the 1961 season between 1B and LF, and led the NL in home rums (46) and RBI (142). Cepeda returned to his old 1st base job for the 1962-64 seasons, but missed most of the 1965 season with a knee injury.

Orlando was traded to the Giants in May 1966 for pitcher Ray Sadecki. He spent 3 seasons in St. Louis (including his MVP season in '67 and World Series appearances in '67 and '68).

During spring training 1969, he was traded to the Braves for catcher Joe Torre. He had another big power season in 1970 (34, 111), then was traded to the Athletics in July 1972 for pitcher Denny McLain.

Cepeda only played 3 games with the A's when a knee injury ended his season. Released after the season, he hooked on with the Red Sox when the AL instituted the DH before the 1973 season. He DH'ed in 142 games, but never played the field or pinch-hit that season.

He was released after the 1973 season, and spent most of 1974 playing in Mexico, until the Royals signed him for the final two months of the season.

Cepeda was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1999 by the Veterans Committee.

Final Card: Fred Klages

Here is the final card for White Sox' pitcher Fred Klages (#229). He also appeared on a White Sox Rookie Stars card in the 1967 set.

Klages is from the sports hotbed of southwestern Pennsylvania, specifically Ambridge in Beaver County*, which is also the hometown of 1960s Detroit Lions middle linebacker Mike Lucci.

Fred was signed by the White Sox in 1962, and was a starting pitcher in their minor-league system for 8 seasons (1962-69), the last four in triple-A.

His brief major-league career started in September 1966, when he made 3 starts. In 1967, he made one start on June 14th, then another 10 appearances (mostly starts) from July 31st to the end of the season. His last major-league game came on September 11th - the one-year anniversary of his debut.

After 2 more seasons with the Sox' triple-A team, he played part of the 1969 season in the Mexican League.


* After clicking on the "Ambridge" link above, you can navigate to other sports stars from Beaver County, PA, including Joe Namath, Babe Parilli, Mike Ditka, Tony Dorsett, Po James, Tito and Terry Francona, Doc Medich, Hal Woodeshick, Joe Verbanic, Pete Maravich, and Norm Van Lier.