(Greetings readers. Today would have been my mom's 82nd birthday. I don't think it was too much to ask to have her reach 82 years, but we don't get to decide things like that. Time for something we can decide: whether or not to read about cards! This is the 316th in a series):
This may or may not interest anyone, but I think it's fascinating, and, again, that's all that matters around here.
While going through my last "One-Card Wonder" post, I came across this 1960 Leaf card of Stover McIlwain, or shall I say, the alleged Stover McIlwain.
McIlwain, a pitcher, managed just two appearances in the major leagues for the White Sox. He showed up in a mop-up role at the end of the season in 1957 as an 18-year-old. The following year, also at the end of the season, he got his first start against the Kansas City A's, in which he gave up a home run to Lou Klimchock. That marked the first time a teenager had homered off another teenager in MLB history.
McIlwain spent the rest of his pro career in the minor leagues, including the time when Leaf issued a card of him. His last year in pro ball was 1963. He then went into banking, but died from testicular cancer at age 26.
All of this is documented in his SABR bio, written in great detail, alongside McIlwain's one-and-only baseball card.
Except the player shown on the baseball card is not Stover "Smokey" McIlwain.
It is White Sox outfielder Jim McAnany.
So, Stover McIlwain finally gets a baseball card -- his only baseball card -- and the guy on the card isn't him!
All right, how about Jim McAnany. What's his story?
McAnany was an outfielder for Chicago, called up for the first time in 1958. In 1959, he enjoyed a hot streak for the White Sox, appeared in 60 games, and also played in three games in the '59 World Series against the Dodgers. Injuries shortened his career, he played in just 21 games for Chicago over the next three years and was done by 1963 as well.
Neither Topps nor anyone else made a card of McAnany during his playing career. There is only one card of him that I could find, a TCMA issue from 1981 commemorating the 1959 Go-Go Sox.
So his only appearance in a major release during his playing career is on a card in which the rest of the card is about another player entirely, Stover McIlwain!
I think it's interesting that two teammates never received their own card in its entirety, but the two of them, together, created a card that represented the both of them.
If high-number 1960 Leaf cards weren't so cost-prohibitive, that's a card that would be in my collection.
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