1963 Topps, Bill Virdon

#55 Bill Virdon

Here is the second card that I got in the mail from Bill Virdon. The '81 Donruss card of him was the only one I had of him, so I picked this one up from checkoutmycards.com for about a dollar. This is the only signed '63 Topps card that I have so far.

Bill played in the Majors for parts of twelve seasons with the Cardinals and Pirates. He was the Rookie of the Year in 1955 with the Cardinals and that looks like the best season that he had. He had 17 home runs that season and 68 RBI, both career highs. He finished his career in 1968 with 1,596 hits, 91 home runs, 502 RBI, and a .267 average.

If you look at his stats, you'll notice a two year gap from 1966-'67. Baseabll Almanac says he got released after the '65 season and then signed with the Pirates in the middle of the '68 seasons. He played in six games and went 1-3 with 2 RBI before getting released about a month later. Does anyone know the story behind that?

Speaking of Baseball Almanac, they lists Bill's nicknames as Quail and The Milkshake Man.