As I've said, my COMC Spring Cleaning box focused on my two set-building projects, 1972 Topps and 1955 Bowman. Today I'll show the six Pirates I got for my 1955 Bowman set.
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| Bob Friend. |
Bob Friend was a longtime Pirate, staying with the team 1951-1965. He then briefly played for the Yankees and Mets in 1966. He led the NL with a 2.83 ERA in 1955, while the Pirates finished in last place. He died just recently, in February, at age 88.
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| Max Surkont. |
Max Surkont pitched in the majors from 1949 through 1957 with a variety of clubs, including the White Sox, the Boston and Milwaukee Braves, the Cardinals, and the New York Giants in addition to the Pirates. He had a career 61-76 record.
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| Bob Hall. |
Bob Hall last appeared in the majors in 1953, so it's not all that clear why he has a card in the 1955 set. But he pitched for the Boston Braves in 1949 and 1950, and for the Pirates in 1953. His career record was 9-18. Most of those decisions came in 1953 with the Bucs, when he pitched in 37 games, going 3-12.
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| George Freese. |
George Freese played for the Tigers in 1953, the Pirates in 1955, and the Cubs in 1961. With the 1953 Tigers, he had one plate appearance, and he had eight for the 1961 Cubs. So the bulk of his career was his 202 plate appearances with the 1955 Pirates. He batted .257 for his career with 3 home runs and 23 RBI.
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| Frank Thomas. |
Frank Thomas (well, this Frank Thomas, not the other one) had a relatively long career as a slugger, playing in the majors from 1951 through 1966 for a variety of teams, amassing 286 home runs. He was part of a trade with the Reds that brought Harvey Haddix to the Pirates. I have another good card of him, from 1959 Topps, that I've been meaning to show, and which I'll have to get to posting soon.
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| Lee Walls. |
Finally, we have Lee Walls, who played in MLB with a variety of teams from 1952 through 1964 and in Japan in 1965. He was an All-Star in 1958 with the Cubs, and had a career .262 batting average.
That's it for now. Thanks for reading!
That is kind of interesting about Bob Hall, I wonder if there's anybody left alive from those Bowman days who might know why he was included in the set?
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