#37 ARNIE EARLEY
Left-handed Pitcher
What came before: A lefty workhorse in the Boston bullpen. Between 1961-65, he appeared in 217 games, including a career-high 57 in 1965. That only 74 innings as a LOOGY, going 0-1, 3.63. His stuff got him into the big leagues after seven years despite five straight losing seasons as a starter in the minors. His durability got the notice of the Braves, who acquired him, Jay Ritchie and Lee Thomas for Dan Osinski and Ed Sadowski. Which made it all the more puzzling that …
That 1966 season: … Earley never made it to the majors that year. Despite his six-year career up to that point, he was stuck in Triple-A Richmond and worked in only 12 games (one start) until the unhappy pitcher was abruptly shuttled to the Cubs along with outfielder Marty Keough for a pinch-hitter, John Herrnstein. Earley's career with the R-Braves had him going 2-4, 3.91 with 26 strikeouts in 23 innings.
To his frustration, the Cubs didn't summon him, either, and his season consistent of a 5-7 record in 38 games, and the Cubs peddled him to the pitching-poor Houston Astros midway through the '67 season.
What came next: Earley got into only two games for the Astros (1.1 innings total) and retired following that season at the age of 33.
But what makes this entire page special is that photo you're looking at. Earley was one of the players who had issues with the Topps player contract and didn't have a card made until an ugly hatless shot in the 1967 set – his only Topps card. He appeared in a TCMA retro set, but nothing else. Were this an actual card, it would be his “rookie” card!
Earley died in 1999 at age 66 at his residence in Michigan.
