131 -- Jim Nettles

Jim Nettles

Wilton Guerrero. Tommie Aaron. Paul Reuschel. Vince DiMiggio. Rich Murray. Hector Cruz. Jim Nettles fits into a category with these guys. They were all the ball-playing brother of an All-Star, some even got to have Hall of Famers as brothers (although none were able to parlay that into as much fame as Billy Ripken). Jim had the blessing of following Graig through high school in San Diego and then to San Diego State.

So, by the time college is over, and Graig is 3 years ahead of Jim, that's the end, right? Nope. Graig is drafted in the 4th round by the Twins in 1965 and in 1968 the Twins take Jim in the 4th round. Graig was traded to Cleveland by the time the Twins brought Jim up in 1970.

Like Wilton, Tommie, Paul, Rich and Hector, Jim Nettles didn't have much of a career. He played with the Twins in 1971-72, primarily off the bench, and was then traded to the Tigers. After a partial season with the Tigers in 1974, he bounced around AAA, Mexico and Japan, getting 23 at bats with the Royals and A's in 1979 and 1981. He had a 9 year managerial career in the minors, ending with a 39-101 record with Bakersfield in 1996.

He did hit homers off Catfish Hunter and Gaylord Perry. One guy he hit really well was Joe Decker, who he got twice in 3 at bats against Decker on July 20, 1974 in Tiger Stadium. Jim had 16 career home runs, but 5 of them came in July 1971. His first 2 homers were in each game of a doubleheader against the Royals (the first a walkoff in the bottom of the 10th) and then he homered off Sonny Siebert, Stan Bahnsen and Fritz Peterson (an inside the parker) that month, all pretty good pitchers.

It's a pretty good picture on the card. Looks like one of the posed shots with the bat outstretched so it looks like the photographer snapped the picture mid-swing. It looks like a coach ambling towards the outfield to run drills. I can't figure out who it is. Any help would be appreciated.

#66 -- Ray Corbin

Ray Corbin










Ray's got a start on a set of eyebrows, there. He was a reliever/spot starter for the Twins who had some moderate success. There just wasn't much that stood out about Ray as a pitcher, except for one flukey stat. In each of his first 3 seasons (1971-73) he struck out exactly 83 hitters. I suppose that's consistent, but his usage was also pretty consistent as he faced 620, 657 and 622 hitters those seasons. He had to finish with a flourish in 1973 to get there, striking out 11 in his last 2 games.

In 1974 Ray was less effective, didn't pitch as much and his strikeouts fell. He had arm surgery in 1975 and never made it back. Ray was born in Florida and is living in western North Carolina now.

The big question I have is about the card photo. The inside fo the bill of the hat looks like it says "11". In 1971, Ray wore 23 and Brant Alyea wore 11. Ray continued to wear 23 and Steve Brye took over #11 in 1972. I've tried to zoom in, but it's not clear enough. This is the 1971 Twins' road uniform (no pinstripes), but with the blue sky above there's no way to tell where Ray is.

#51 & 52 -- Harmon Killebrew & "In Action"

Harmon Killebrew





Harmon Killebrew was one of the gentlest big men to play in the big leagues. He's 2nd all time for most AL homers. Anytime Babe Ruth is the only person ahead of you on the leaderboard, you're a stud . By this time in his career, Harmon was declining. But I'd have to say that he's still the best Minnesota Twin in their history, with only Rod Carew close by.


This makes back to back Hall of Famers. If you want to count Harmon's appearance on John Ellis' "action" card, this is 5 cards in a row with Hall of Famers. Pretty good run.

Harmon wasn't big, only 5'11". But he hit some of the farthest homers around. Legend has it that an Idaho senator tipped off Clark Griffith about this guy who was hitting .847 for a semi-pro team. That's pretty good. That's even better than I hit in my heyday of playing co-ed softball and refining my stroke to hit it to the girl in right field that didn't want to be there. Harmon signed and, under baseball's Bonus Baby rule, had to spend 2 years on the big league roster. He made his debut 6 days short of his 18th birthday. He wasn't ready. It wasn't until 1958 that he was ready to play.

OK, it's Hall of Fame time. You've got a guy with 573 lifetime homers, at the time #5 all-time (Aaron, Ruth, Mays, F. Robinson), 1 MVP award and 5 other Top 5 finishes, 11 time All-Star, lifetime OPS+ of 143 and 8 40-homer seasons. In or out? In Harmon's first trip on the ballot, he was named on only 59% of the ballots. Bob Gibson was the only inductee and future HOFers that didn't make it that year included Don Drysdale, Hoyt Wilhelm, Juan Marichal, Red Schoendienst, Jim Bunning, Nellie Fox, Richie Ashburn, Orlando Cepeda, Luis Aparicio and Bill Mazeroski. Harmon, with his credentials, didn't make it until the 4th ballot. There's no doubt that "The Killer" was a shoo-in Hall of Famer, but you can see that the voters at that time were very protective of who got enshrined in Cooperstown. I fall into that same crowd and think the HOF is for the very absolute best of the best.

The "action" card could be one of two things. Either Harmon has just nailed one that's headed for parking lot or he's popped up to the catcher. Either way, even though he wasn't a tall guy, he looks like a giant the way Topps framed this card. I think it's great. Harmon lives in the Scottsdale area now and does a lot of charity work, including a golf tournament every year in the name of his former Twin teammate Danny Thompson, who died of leukemia.

Harmon's one of those guys who isn't just a Hall of Famer ballplayer, he's a Hall of Fame person.