The baseball cards of past players who were not
notable are called “common” in the business of sports memorabilia. These are the cards that are priced the
cheapest. Former Baltimore Orioles
catcher Gus Triandos, who died this past March 28 at 82 years old, was Topps
Card #330 in 1959. In the last Beckett
Baseball Card Price Guide I bought in 1994, the price categories for common
1959 Topps Cards #s 287 – 506 were: $3.50
for near mint condition, $1.55 for very good – excellent condition, and .45 for
good condition. Triandos’ 1959 card was
priced at $4.00, $1.80, and .50; a little above the common card price.
A little better
than just a common or average ballplayer, but not great; that was my opinion of
Gus Triandos. An opinion that was formed
mainly from the information on his baseball cards that I collected.
The picture on the back of his 1959 card shows
multiple players going from one team to another describing 1954 seventeen
player trade with the New York Yankees that brought Triandos to the
Orioles. The card also highlights the 30
home runs Triandos hit in 1958 to break his previous Oriole home run record of
21 in 1956. From the statistics on the
card, he was the Orioles’ best home run hitter and RBI producer.
On his 1960 Topps Card (#60), Triandos’ 1959 batting
average dropped 29 points to .216.
However, he hit 25 home runs and the card highlights both of his two
home run games. In addition, the card
tells of Triandos’ two run, eighth inning triple in the 1959 All Star
Game. But the card made a mistake, it
was only a double.
For 1961 and 1962, I cut out the Gus Triandos cards
on the back of Post Cereal boxes. The
1961 card (#69) mentions him throwing out the four time American League base
stealing champion Luis Aparicio four times in 1959 and that his 30 home runs in
1958 tied him with the great Yogi Berra for the record of most home runs hit by
a catcher in the American League.
Triandos’ batting average went up to .269 in 1960 but dropped to .244 in
1961 (Card # 33).
The Orioles traded Triandos to the Detroit Tigers
after the 1962 season. I did not collect
a 1962 or 1963 card for him. However, I
did get his Topps 1964 Card (#83) showing he hit 14 home runs with Detroit in
1963; fourth highest on the team. The
1964 card also shows he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies shortly before
the season began. He has on a Detroit
Tiger uniform but the card says Phillies. That was the last card I collected of
Gus Triandos.
Do you still have your baseball card
collection? Was it mistakenly thrown
away or did you cash it in?
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