TTM Stats
- Sent: 1/25/2019 | Received: 2/4/2019 | 9 Days
- ’84 Topps, ’85 Topps
- Address: Home (address from Sports Card Forum)
The Story of the Autograph
Billy Gardner is a former second baseman and manager. He played from 1954 to 1963 with the Giants, Orioles, Senators, Twins, Yankees and Red Sox. As a manager he worked for the Twins and Royals.
Gardner was your typical light-hitting second baseman. His most significant playing time came with the Orioles from 1956 through 1959 and then with the Senators in 1960. During those year he appeared in at least 140 each season. In ever other season he never appeared in more than 86 games. In 1957 he led the AL in plate appearances, at bats and doubles. Despite having a .262 average with six homers, 55 RBI and 10 stolen bases, he still received MVP votes that year. He won the 1961 World Series with the Yankees.
As a manager he never led a team to anything better than a .500 record. That came in 1984 with the Twins when they went exactly 81-81. But it was under his watch that guys like Puckett, Hrbek, and Viola worked their way on to a team that would eventually win two World Series Championships.
The Score on Billy Gardner – 5.0
Billy has a pretty standard signature and I’d say it kind of has that “old guy” feel to it. The 1984 Topps cards is definitely the better of the two because the ’85 card is so dark. I definitely don’t have any cards of Billy’s from his playing days so this is why I like getting these old manager cards.
Thanks Mr. Garnder! This one gets a 5.
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Information gathered using Wikipedia and Baseball Reference.