Card #29 -- Tony Taylor, Detroit Tigers
I'm trying to figure out why the cap is airbrushed, though. It appears Taylor is wearing a Tigers jersey, as he was dealt to the team from Philadelphia during the 1971 season. If the picture originally had Taylor wearing a Phillies jersey, the airbrush artist did a great job of it. One problem, though: in 1972 and '73, the Tigers definitely used an orange-colored D in Old English style on their caps, but only in road games, where the jerseys were grey. The white jersey shown on Taylor would have been accompanied by a white-colored letter D.
After coming up with the Cubs in 1958, Taylor was the Phillies' regular second sacker from 1960-'71 and was a fan favorite there. He was a threat with his glove and on the basepaths. He stole home six times, which ranks second among all Phillies players. 1973 would be Taylor's final season in Detroit. During the offseason, he swent back to Philly as a free agent and spent three more seasons there as a utility player. When he retired in 1976, he was the oldest player still active. He played more than a thousand games at second, still the all-time Phillie record.
Taylor was the Phillies' regular 2nd baseman only thru the 1966 season. In 1967, he filled in at 1B and 3B during Bill White's and Richie Allen's stints on the DL.
ReplyDeleteIn 1968 Taylor was the regular 3rd baseman (with Allen moving to LF).
In 1969 he got regular playing time, but was split between 2B and 3B. After that year, Taylor was relegated to backup duty.
The Tigers team checklist had him listed as playing infield. He was the only player I know of who had that designation.
ReplyDelete