Minor League Baseball Players

[doors11]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ed-Thomas-D...75.c100623.m-1

heres a link to ed thomas which is what he was called at dallas wort worth
i'm posting the link because i'm not sure we can post pictures from ebay

pretty sure Gail And ED Thomas are the same person

[Cusick]

Thought this was an interesting photo of a minor leaguer from over a hundred years ago. This photo was posted on Facebook by Jay Gauthreaux.

The Preisels of Cleveland were an amateur team. I've confirmed that Saxe was on that team in 1915. He may have been with them in additional years, but I've at least verified that one year.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=saxe--001cha

[PinsonHOF]

I found an image of long time Dodger minor leaguer and briefly a St. Louis Cardinal, outfielder John Glenn. Pictured here with the AAA Atlanta Crackers of the International league a Cardinals affiliate. Glenn played for the Crackers in '62 and '63. Primarily a center fielder, he was for years blocked by Duke Snider in Brooklyn. Glenn's triple A number suggest he was more suited to a big league role as a fourth outfielder. Occasional power hitting .260 to .280 at AAA with above average speed.

[PinsonHOF]

Lou Vickery was a lefthander in the Cardinals, Yankees, Reds and White Sox organizations. His minor league career spanned nine seasons from 1959 beginning with the Billings Mustangs in the Pioneer league and ending in Tampa pitching for the A ball Tarpons a Reds farm team. I am uploading images of what appears to be spring training appearances with the Yankees and Cardinals and a photo from a Tulsa Oilers program featuring Vickery and batboy Terry Tucker. I am including Vickery's personal web link ( He is very much alive and has authored 12 books) I also found him speaking on Youtube. Terry Tucker survived a flying Bud Bloomfield bat to the head and grew up to be a 21 year Air Force and Vietnam veteran. The Tulsa photo is from 1963.

https://louvickerybooks.com/pages/about-us

https://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsext...aa8c58de1.html

[PinsonHOF]

Another AAA southpaw for your perusal. Included here are 3 photos of Seward with the Buffalo Bison where he played during the 1961 and '62 seasons. 1961 was Wally Seward's best when he won 8 games at AA Nashville and 11 more at Buffalo with a 2.55 ERA. He was not selected by any of the new expansion teams and suffered a reversal in '62 when he hurled a 4-11 season for the Bison. His last in pro ball. I found one photo from his 2015 obituary which has no caption. Another is from a book Baseball in Buffalo by Paul Langendorfer and the Buffalo History Museum. It features future big leaguers Ted Savage and Felix Torres alongside Seward. Despite a solid eleven year minor league career with a 107-81 record Wally Seward never made it to the majors. After his stellar '61 season I wonder if the Phillies invited him to spring training.

[Cusick]

Lou Vickery was a non-roster invitee with the Cardinals in 1961 and with the Yankees in 1965.

Wally Seward was a non-roster invitee with the Indians in 1953 and 1959. He did not get an invitation to the Phillies' spring camp in 1962. Instead, he signed with Buffalo in late March of 1962 and joined them directly.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=vicker002and

https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=seward001wal

[PinsonHOF]

Corbo was an excellent minor league hitter , spending 9 years in the Dodgers organization. He hit .290 in his professional career with 124 homeruns. I found a newspaper clipping presumably from his hometown of San Antonio when Corbo was 18 dated August 1958. Corbo had been selected to play in the Herst Sandlot Classic in the old Polo Grounds the last year of the New York Giants. Pictured with him is another future professional player catcher Bill Sebera. Another photo is of Corbo in a Dodger uniform a team he suited up for after being called up but never got to play in a big league game. The last one is of Mel Corbo playing for the Albuquerque Dukes in 1964.

[Home Free]

Originally Posted by Cusick

Lou Vickery was a non-roster invitee with the Cardinals in 1961 and with the Yankees in 1965.

Wally Seward was a non-roster invitee with the Indians in 1953 and 1959. He did not get an invitation to the Phillies' spring camp in 1962. Instead, he signed with Buffalo in late March of 1962 and joined them directly.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=vicker002and

https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=seward001wal

Vickery also went on to be an author. According to Amazon.com, he has penned a dozen different books.

[PinsonHOF]

DeLeon was a catcher turned outfielder in the Cardinals and White Sox organizations. He had two outstanding minor league seasons alas they were in Class C and Class A ball. In 1962 Felix DeLeon hit .344 with 37 HR, 125 RBI's and 121 walks for the Billing Mustangs with an out of this world of 1.220 . In a move up to Class A Winnipeg in 1964, DeLeon repeated his success with 27 HR 96 RBI's and a ,338 mark in only 109 games. His professional career would quickly in 1966. He never made it past AA where played a scant 50 games where he was not out of his depth and but not outstanding. .273 with 3 homeruns. This photo is from his only action with the Texas league Tulsa Oilers. He played well at age 22 but the native of Puerto Rico would advance no further.

[Bobbyraz49]

Originally Posted by PinsonHOF

Another AAA southpaw for your perusal. Included here are 3 photos of Seward with the Buffalo Bison where he played during the 1961 and '62 seasons. 1961 was Wally Seward's best when he won 8 games at AA Nashville and 11 more at Buffalo with a 2.55 ERA. He was not selected by any of the new expansion teams and suffered a reversal in '62 when he hurled a 4-11 season for the Bison. His last in pro ball. I found one photo from his 2015 obituary which has no caption. Another is from a book Baseball in Buffalo by Paul Langendorfer and the Buffalo History Museum. It features future big leaguers Ted Savage and Felix Torres alongside Seward. Despite a solid eleven year minor league career with a 107-81 record Wally Seward never made it to the majors. After his stellar '61 season I wonder if the Phillies invited him to spring training.

Regarding the Bisons. Do you live in the Buffalo area? I do. Saw many games at the Rockpile. I'm 58 years old. I recall Tony Pena catching for the AA Bisons. Is there a way to look up players in this game? My mom's cousin was Danny Ozark, once the Philadelphia Phillies manager.. Original name was Orzechowski. TY

[rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com]

Does anyone know who is who in this 1968 Corning Royals team photo?

[Cusick]

Originally Posted by rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com

Does anyone know who is who in this 1968 Corning Royals team photo?

I think that's Tom Crichton in the second row, second from left. (I had originally identified the player as Paul Splittorff, but changed my mind after seeing the Crichton photo below.). The photo is from the Santa Cruz (CA) Sentinel of April 19, 1970 and shows Crichton with the San Jose Bees. Crichton was a non-roster invitee to the Kansas City Royals' spring camp in 1969.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=cricht001tho

I think Cornelius "Ollie" Drew is the Afro-American player in the first row, third from left. Lumpkin, you requested his photo last year, and it was provided on the following page:
https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/....php?p=4272312

Drew was 5'11" tall while playing, so he would probably not have been the tallest man in the back row. At first I thought he was the player on the far right in the back row, but that is clearly the 6'1" Willie Sanders, as will be demonstrated later. Drew was a non-roster invitee with the K.C. Royals in 1969.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=drew--001cor


The roster of the 1968 Corning Royals may be found at:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...gi?id=a556cb74

Paul Splittorff and Lance Clemons were the two major leaguers with Corning that year, but I've been unable to pinpoint which ones they are in the team photo.

[Cusick]

I think that Pomeroy is third from the right in the top row. He was 5'10" tall when playing. He was another non-roster invitee to the K.C. Royals' spring camp in 1969. The photo is from the Topps Vault.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=pomero001bru

[Cusick]

Sanders appears in the top row of the Corning team photo at the far right. He was 6'1" tall when playing. The photo is from the Topps Vault, and was posted on one of the OOTP threads back in 2013. I didn't record who posted it.

Sanders was also a non-roster invitee with the KC Royals in 1969.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=sander003wil

[Cusick]

Hein appears to be the player in the middle row, 4th from the right, in the Corning team photo. The photo below is from the Kansas City Times of June 14, 1968, which cited Hein as the Royals' #1 pick in the free agent secondary draft.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=hein--001rex

[Cusick]

I think George Balak is the player at the far right in the second row of the Corning team photo. This photo of Balak comes from the Weirton (WV) Daily Times of January 26, 1967. Balak had been a high school baseball star in Weirton.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=balak-001geo

[Cusick]

Given that he was 6'4" in height, I think Dick Balderson is the fellow who is 4th from left in the 3rd row from the bottom. This photo seems to bear a resemblance. The photo is from the Elmira (NY) Star-Gazette of May 18, 1971 and shows him in an Elmira uniform.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=balder001ric

[Cusick]

The player who is third from the left in the top row of the Corning team photo appears to be Benny Grove. Grove was 5'10" tall when he played. The photo of him comes from the Frederick (MD) News of Aug. 25, 1965.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=grove-001ben

[Cusick]

In the 1968 Corning team photo, John McCowan is in the second row, 3rd from the left. The photo below of McCowan is from the Quad City Times (Davenport, IA) of Aug. 9, 1971. Though capless, he would have been in the uniform of the Quad Cities Angels.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=mccowa001joh

[Cusick]

I don't have a straight-on photo of Meyer, but based on his being 6'3" tall and the shape of his mouth, I think he is the fellow in the bottom row, 2nd from left (next to the batboy) in the 1968 Corning team photo. This photo of Meyer comes from the Quad City Times (Davenport, IA) of Aug. 6, 1970 and shows him with the Waterloo Royals.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...d=meyer-002rus