Phillies Rookies: Larry Colton / Dick Thoenen

This is the only Phillies Rookies card in the 1968 set (#348). (There was only one Phillies Rookies card in the '66, '67, and '68 sets. That number ballooned to 3 in the '69 set. Backlog of prospects? Nah.)

Each of these players had a major-league career lasting exactly one game. (Larry Colton pitched 2 innings on 5/6/1968, while Dick Thoenen pitched 1 inning on 9/16/1967.) This is the rookie card for both players, and the only card for Thoenen. Surprisingly, Colton re-appears on a 1969 Phillies Rookies card.


Larry Colton was signed by the Phillies in 1964, and was a starting pitcher in their farm system for 5 seasons (1965-69), starting at least 25 games each season except for 1968. That season, he spent part of the time riding the bench in Philadelphia, along with some time on the DL.

At the time, it was reported that he "hurt his shoulder reaching for the telephone on his bedside table". Years later, it was revealed that he was injured in a bar fight, and it cost him his shot in the majors.

After the '69 season, he was sent to the Cubs to complete the Johnny Callison for Dick Selma and Oscar Gamble trade. Colton pitched the 1970 season for the Cubs AAA team, then was out of baseball until pitching the 1975 season for an unaffiliated class A team.

At one time, Colton was married to the daughter of movie star Hedley Hedy Lamarr.

Dick Thoenen was signed by the Phillies in 1963, and pitched for 7 seasons in their farm system. Although a starting pitcher for his first 3 seasons, he was converted to a reliever at the start of the 1966 season and worked out of the bullpen in double-A (1966), and triple-A (1966-69).

His cup of coffee was pitching the 4th inning in relief of starter Rick Wise. After giving up hits to the Dodgers' Bob Bailey and Luis Alcaraz, he retired Don Sutton, Nate Oliver, and Wes Parker in order.

I found this write-up about Dick Thoenen recently at the 11th & Washington blog. At the end of the blog post, there's a newspaper clipping listing the Phillies' September 1967 call-ups. Larry Bowa was among them, although he wouldn't get into a major-league game until April 1970.

Dick Hall (#17)

This is the last of Dick Hall's two Phillies' cards. Hall was traded from the Orioles during the winter of 1966-67, and returned to Baltimore after the 1968 season. Surprisingly, Topps was able to produce both of Hall's Phillies cards showing hin in a Phillies uniform, and not some airbrushed or capless travesty, which is how they handled the Turk Farrell and Don Lock cards for the several years they were with the Phillies.

Hall was signed by the Pirates as an outfielder in September 1951. He made his major-league debut in April 1952, but after sticking with the Pirates until mid-May, he was sent down to their class-B team, where he spent much of the '52 and '53 seasons.

He played the entire 1954 season with Pittsburgh, starting 84 games in the outfield. Dick began pitching in 1955, and split that season between the Pirates and their class-A team in Lincoln, Nebraska. After a full season with Pittsburgh in '56, he was in triple-A for most of 1957 and out of baseball altogether in 1958.

Hall returned in 1959 and compiled an 18-5 record in 27 starts for the Pirates' AAA team in Salt Lake City. After the season he was traded to the Kansas City Athletics, and spent one season in their starting rotation before moving on to the Orioles in April 1961.

Hall spent his first season in Baltimore divided evenly between starting and relieving, but the next 5 seasons found him firmly entrenched as a bullpen mainstay for the Birds. He wrapped up his first stint with the O's as a member of the World Series champs in 1966.

After the season he was traded to the Phillies and spent 2 seasons co-closing with Turk Farrell, before returning to the Orioles in 1969, where he pitched in the World Series in each of his last 3 seasons before retiring after the 1971 season.

Hall was an amazing control pitcher!  Since becoming a full-time reliever in 1962, he pitched 780 innings, during which he only issued 61 unintentional walks.

Although a full-time major-leaguer since 1960, Hall did not have a baseball card in the '64, 65, '66, or '69 Topps sets.

Gary Sutherland (#98)

This Gary Sutherland's first solo card. It's also the first of his cards that I got (in 1968), since his rookie card was in the 1967 7th series (none of which I had until the mid 1980s).

Sutherland was one of my favorite players on the 1967 Philadelphia Phillies (my introduction to MLB). Why? I don't really remember - maybe because he was an upstart rookie, getting a lot of playing time as a platoon player among so many veterans.



Sutherland was signed by the Phillies in 1964, the year after they signed his brother Darrell (and his other brother Darryl). Gary played just 2 seasons in the minors (as the fulltime 2nd baseman at double-A Chattanooga in 1965, and the fulltime shortstop at triple-A San Diego in 1966) before making the Phillies at the start of the 1967 season.

Although this card lists his position as "INF-OF", during his rookie season he only played shortstop and left field. For the first half of the season he platooned in left field with Johnny Briggs, and also played shortstop when Bobby Wine was not in the lineup. As the season wore on, the Phillies stopped platooning in left field, decreasing Sudsy's playing time.

During the 1968 season, Sutherland was relegated to utility infielder status (even with starting shortstop Bobby Wine going down for the season on May 12th with a back injury). The team recalled journeyman infielder Roberto Pena from the minors to handle the shortstop post. Sutherland only made 6 starts there to Pena's 128 starts.

After the '68 season, the Phillies lost Sutherland, Wine, and Pena to the expansion draft, with Sutherland and Wine going to the Montreal Expos. Gary was the Expos' starting 2nd baseman in their inaugural season, but shared the position with Marv Staehle in 1970. In 1971 he was the backup 2B/SS (behind starters Ron Hunt and Bobby Wine).

Sutherland spent most of 1972 and 1973 in the minors. Along the way, he was traded to the Astros in June 1972. It would take a December 1973 trade to the Tigers to get him back to the major leagues.

Gary made a comeback as the Tigers' regular 2nd baseman from the start of the 1974 season until his early June 1976 trade to the Brewers. In Milwaukee, Suds shared the 2nd base job with Tim Johnson and Jack Heidemann.

Gary was released prior to the 1977 season, and soon signed with the Padres. After the season he was released again. In January 1978 he was signed by the Cardinals, but was released in late May, ending his career.

Back on Topps' Radar: John Boozer

John Boozer (#173) returns to the Topps set after missing out in 1967. John had a baseball card every year from 1963-69, except in the 1967 set. How ironic, since that was his only winning season (5-4).

Boozer was signed by the Phillies in 1958, and spent his entire career in the Phillies' organization. Except for the 1968 season, he pitched in the minors every season from 1958 to 1969, primarily as a starting pitcher.

John made his major-league debut in July 1962. He was primarily a long reliever for Philadelphia, but also made some spot starts. Most of his time in the bigs came from 1963-64, and 1967-69.



I remember that in 1967, he was recalled around Memorial Day, after the Phillies cleaned house of several veteran relievers. After the 1966 season, the Phillies went on a binge, signing aging veterans Dick Hall, Pedro Ramos, and Ruben Gomez to shore up their bullpen. Only Hall panned out, and the other 2 (along with holdover Bob Buhl) were all given an early-season boot.

The Phillies' revamped bullpen that season included Turk Farrell (acquired in May) and Hall as the 2 firemen, along with rookie Grant Jackson (a lefty) and the recently-recalled Boozer. They also reclaimed Dallas Green off the scrap heap, who didn't do too much in his final season except collect days toward his pension.

Anyhoo, Boozer was the right-handed long man and occasional spot starter. Somehow, he managed to stay with the big club for the entire 1968 season. I don't know if it was his performance, as much as it was the Phillies not having many other options. After all, it would be another year or so until their "phenoms" (Lowell "Shades" Palmer, Billy Champion, Barry Lersch, and Billy Wilson) were ready.

1969 Phillies Stamps

Ok, so these aren't from 1968, but the photos were probably taken in 1968 (well, all but Don Lock. Apparently, Topps was unable to locate Don Lock after 1966!)


I was just reading the latest post by Jim on his Phillies Room blog where he made a reference to the 1969 Topps baseball stamps. I forgot that I had these until reading his post. When I located them, I didn't find any doubles, but I have 76 of these stamps from various teams, mostly Phillies, Pirates, Cubs, Twins, and Athletics. I wonder why out of 76 stamps, I have none from the Red Sox, Yankees, Orioles, Angels, Cardinals, Expos, Astros, or Reds?


Here are the Phillies (I seem to be missing the Tony Taylor stamp that Jim referred to):



And here are 3 recent ex-Phillies. (Cater is actually about 4 years removed from the team, but Topps is still showing him in a Phillies uniform.)

Bobby Wine (#396)

I can still remember getting this card in 1968, and how I really liked it. Why? I wasn't really a Bobby Wine fan. I think maybe it was the fact that the photo was so crisp, and because there were many hatless Phillies' cards in 1he 1968 set, this one just stood out as a nice card.

This is Bobby's last card as a Phillie. After the season, the Montreal Expos selected pitcher Larry Jackson in the expansion draft. When he chose to retire, the Phillies sent Wine to the Expos as compensation. It wasn't a great loss for the Phillies. Wine has missed all but 27 games of the 1968 season with a back injury, and the Phils had rookie Don Money waiting in the wings to take over in 1969.

This photo is from 1965, as that is the only season that Wine didn't wear his familiar #7 uniform. He had switched to #13 for that season in deference to veteran Dick Stuart.



The Phillies signed Bobby in 1957, and after 5 seasons in the minors, Wine made the team in 1962. He shared the shortstop job with Ruben Amaro Sr that first season, but was the clear #1 shortstop from 1963-65, although Amaro continued to start many games at short.

After losing his starting job to veteran Dick Groat in 1966, Wine regained the position for the 1967 season. It was to be his last signifcant time with the Phillies. The 1968 season began with rookie Don Money being handed the SS job. When he faltered in early April, Wine took over for a few weeks until being sidelined for the season with his ailing back.

Moving to Montreal in 1969, Wine was the Expos' starting shortstop for their first 3 seasons. His playing time began to diminish in the final weeks of the 1971 season, and for 1972 he had lost the starting job to Tim Foli. After only 18 at-bats over 34 games, Wine was released on July 10th.

He went on to a long coaching career with the Phillies and Braves, and also scouted for the Braves.

Don Lock (#59)

First, let me point out that the late-1960s cards of Don Lock are the most complete example of Topps' photographical laziness that I have found. Lock was traded to the Phillies in November 1966. His 1967 card shows him in a hatless photo. Fine, no problem there, because he was just traded. But, here it is ONE YEAR LATER, and Topps puts out another hatless card of Lock (with a different photo than 1967). To top it all off, Don's 1969 card (still with the Phillies, mind you) has ANOTHER hatless photo! More than 2 seasons after his trade from the Senators, and while on the Phillies roster for all that time, Topps couldn't squeeze out a new photo of Don Lock.


Don Lock was signed by the Yankees (I didn't know that until today) in 1958, and spent over 4 seasons on the Yankees' farm, until he was traded to the Senators on July 11, 1962 for 1st baseman Dale Long. Six days later, he made his major-league debut with the Senators. He started 63 of the final 76 games that season, all but one in left field.



In 1963, Don began the season as the center fielder, and except for a stretch of 19 consecutive games in late April and early May, he was the undisputed #1 in center, with 129 starts there. He also started 9 games in right field. Lock bashed 27 homers in his first full season.

1964 was more of the same, with Lock making 120 starts in center, compared to Ken Hunt's 30 starts. Don also started 25 games in right field, spelling regular Jim King. He also hit 20 home runs.

1965? The center field scoreboard says Don Lock 116 games, Woodie Held 34 games. Replaced by Woodie Held? That's what happens when your average drops to .215 and you only hit 16 home runs.

1966? Lock 101, Fred Valentine 55. Don's playing time is similar to 1965, but for the 2nd straight year, he hits a mere 16 home runs and collects less than 50 RBI.

Lock seems to be slipping in his last 2 seasons with the Senators. This affirms what I have often thought was a bad trade made by the Phillies in the mid-1960s (and always overlooked, in the shadow of the Fergie Jenkins trade). The Phillies traded pitcher Darold Knowles, who led the team in saves during his rookie season in 1966, for a starting outfielder who, under closer examination, was already on the decline. I can remember back in the 1960s, one of the "great reasons" to get Lock was that he "hit 99 home runs with the Senators" (something that is repeated on the back of this card).

Knowles went on to accumulate 143 saves in a 16-year career, which ended in 1980. Lock was heavily platooned during his 2 full seasons with the Phillies, and was sent packing to the Red Sox in early May 1969, for a guy whose entire major-league career consisted of one at-bat in 1965. Lock remained with the Red Sox through the end of the 1969 season, before retiring.

"Highly sought-after slugger"? Bah!