The next card from my "Lost Second Series" 1963 Fleer set released last year to get the spotlight treatment is Richie Ashburn, who was wrapping up a Hall of Fame career in the Big Leagues with the upstart New York Mets:
Ashburn just completed his 15th
and final season in the Major leagues in 1962, hitting a very impressive
.306 for the Mets in their inaugural season and making his fifth
All-Star team in the process.
The former anchor of the
Philadelphia Phillies, he won two batting titles over his career (1955
& 1958), while leading the league in hits three times, triples
twice, stolen bases once, walks four times and on-base-percentage four
times between 1948 and 1962.
By the time he hung up the
cleats, he finished with 2574 hits, a .308 batting average, 1322 runs
scored, 109 triples and 234 stolen bases in 2189 games.
Often
overshadowed by contemporaries, the man was about as solid as they came,
rarely missing a game during his prime and giving the Phillies a
defensive whiz out in centerfield, leading the league in putouts every
season between 1949 and 1958 except for 1955, while pacing the league in
assists three times and "range factor" (for you new-stat guys) 10
times.
It's amazing to me that he was never selected for the
Hall of Fame by the BWAA, and had to wait until 1995 to be selected by
the Veteran's Committee for his rightful place in Cooperstown.
