NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1974 TOM KELLEY

Up on the blog today we have a career-capping “not so missing” 1974 card for former pitcher Tom Kelley of the Atlanta Braves:

Kelley pitched in what turned out to be the last seven games of his seven-year Big League career in 1973, going 0-1 with an earned run average of 2.84 over 12.2 innings.
He would spend the next three seasons pitching in the Minors for both the Atlanta and New York Mets organizations, but never get another shot back at the Big Show again.
His finest season in the Big Leagues was easily 1971 when he made his return to the Majors, going 9-5 with a nice 2.96 ERA over 28 appearances after toiling in the Minors really since 1967.
When Topps gave him that 1971 card in their set, he pitched a total of ONE inning since the end of the 1966 season, and I wrote about it was back on this blog in August of 2013:

http://whentoppshadballs.blogspot.com/2013/08/one-inning-in-four-years-gets-you.html

Nevertheless, he finished his career with a record of 20-22 over 104 appearances, with an ERA of 3.75 over 408 innings of work pitching for both the Braves and the Cleveland Indians between 1964 and 1973.

 

MISSING IN ACTION- 1973 TOM KELLEY

Here’s a card that I have no idea why it took so long to create, a “Missing” 1973 Tom Kelley card, who was really left out of the set though he pitched a nice relatively full season for the Atlanta Braves:

Kelley, who was ironically given a 1971 card though he last pitched in the Majors in 1967 for the Cleveland Indians, appeared in 27 games for Atlanta in 1972, going 5-7 with a 4.56 earned run average over 116.1 innings of work.
Of those 27 appearances, 14 were starts, and he completed two of them with one being a shutout, along with 59 strikeouts.
That amount of action certainly seems like enough to warrant a card in the ‘73 set don’t you think?
Anyway, once the 1973 season started, Kelley would end up only appearing in seven games for the Braves, going 0-1 over 12.2 innings, which would end up being the last appearances of his Big League career.
His finest season in the Big Leagues was easily 1971 when he made his return to the Majors, going 9-5 with a nice 2.96 ERA over 28 appearances after toiling in the Minors really since 1967.
When Topps gave him that 1971 card in their set, he pitched a total of ONE inning since the end of the 1966 season, and I wrote about it was back on this blog in August of 2013:

http://whentoppshadballs.blogspot.com/2013/08/one-inning-in-four-years-gets-you.html

ONE INNING IN FOUR YEARS GETS YOU A CARD...1971 TOM KELLEY

I don't know what Topps was expecting when they issued a card for pitcher Tom Kelley in their 1971 set (#463).
He only pitched one inning in the Majors in 1967, and was toiling in the minors ever since before the start of the 1971 season.
After playing for the Cleveland Indians organization from 1964 to 1969, he signed with the Atlanta Braves in May of 1970 and pitched in Shreveport (AA) and Richmond (AAA), putting together a 9-7 record with a 3.93 E.R.A.
I guess when it came time to putting together the fourth series for the 1971 set Topps figured Kelley was worthy of a card since he secured a roster spot with the Braves and was on his way to a decent season where he finished at 9-5 with a 2.96 E.R.A.
It's also worth noting that the 1971 card was his first since the beautiful 1967 set (#214), so here we have another one of those guys that went a few years between card appearances. 
Kelley's success was a bit short-lived. By May of 1973 Kelley pitched his last game in the Majors, and finally hung them up after appearing in seven games for the Tidewater Tides in the Met's system in 1976.
As for the card, you can clearly see the red piping that was part of Cleveland's uniform back in the late 60's/early 70's, and I suspect the image used was about four or even five years old. It also seems that the photo was taken in the old Yankee Stadium, though I could be mistaken.
Just another one of those cool little quirks you find when scouring the baseball card sets of the 1970's.

One big league inning in four years at the time this card was issued.