Thanks to a recent email from one of
you asking how Kelleher could be wearing a home uni while clearly at
Shea Stadium, I felt it would be a good time to revisit this 10-year-old
blog post:
I have no answer as to why this happened, where he does look to be wearing a home uniform while on the road.
Am I wrong here? Or can it just be the road uni with a rainy-day lighting influence here making it seem otherwise?
I tell you, I didn't even remember that Kelleher came up with the
Cardinals, then went on to play for the Astros and then the Cardinals
yet again before moving on to the team I always remember him with, the
Cubs.
In 1972 he played in 23 games for the Cardinals, hitting .159 with
10 hits over 63 at-bats. Not much of a showing for the 24-year old, but
at the very least perhaps a slot on a multi-player rookie card?
He got to play in more games the following season, yet Topps left
him out of their set yet again in 1974 and once again in their 1975 set,
this time as a Houston Astro.
Needless to say, I'll be tackling those in the near future as well!
Kelleher put in 11 years as a Major League player, moving on to the
Detroit Tigers and California Angels in 1981 and 1982 before becoming a
long time coach (presently with the New York Yankees).
He retired with a .213 batting average, collecting 230 hits over 1081 at-bats in 622 games.
He never did get to put in a full year, but the closest he came was
in 1976 when he appeared in 124 games and posted 363 plate appearances,
pretty much setting career highs in almost every category.
Keep an eye out for the other "missing" cards for Kelleher right
here, as I've already scored a few photos of him that will work
perfectly…
