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Joseph Henry Astroth
Kansas City Athletics
Catcher
Born: September 1, 1922, East Alton, IL
Signed: Signed by the Philadelphia Athletics as an amateur free agent before 1945 season
Major League Teams: Philadelphia Athletics 1945-1946, 1949-1954; Kansas City Athletics 1955-1956
Died: May 3, 2013, Boca Raton, FL (age 90)
After serving in the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II, Joe Astroth spent his entire big league career with the Philadelphia and Kansas City Athletics. Known for his defense, his throwing arm and as a favorite receiver to many pitchers, Astroth was a career .254 hitter with 13 home runs and 156 RBIs over 544 games. He spent the bulk of his early A's career as a back-up catcher to Mike Guerra in 1949 and 1950 and Joe Tipton in 1951. In 1952 he appeared in a career high 104 games and that year's A.L. MVP, Bobby Shantz (#261), credited Astroth for helping him win 27 games. In 1953, he led all A.L. catchers in caught stealing percentage (72.1%) and double plays turned (13).
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| My bedroom in 1991 - Baseball card binders are stacked on the shelf of my desk |
Sometime in 1991, no record of purchase - Card #97
So this is a little embarrassing, and as diligent as I was in my record-keeping skills between 1987 and 2005, I have absolutely no record of how or when this card came into our collection. There are four such cards we added to our set without me writing down the date of purchase, and the worst thing is one of those four cards is a fairly high profile card. I'll get to it soon enough, but at some point in 1987, when we had decided to start collecting this set in earnest, the Robin Roberts (#180) card was purchased and I have no idea when or how much we paid for it.
Based on my review of checklists we had kept at the time, this Astroth card, along with the card for Max Surkont (#209) entered our set at some point in 1991. Our checklists from 1990 have us needing the Astroth and Surkont cards, and then our checklists from 1992 have those cards crossed off. It's a mystery.
My only excuse here is I would have been a junior in high school in the first part of 1991, and then a senior in the fall/winter. I had college, girls, friends and general high school stuff on my mind and I'll forgive my younger stuff for not recording the purchase of two 1956 Topps cards.
The Card
Wherever the card came from, we got it in fantastic shape, although it's a little off-center. This marks Astroth's return to Topps sets, as he was absent in 1954 and 1955. He must have been one of the players with an exclusive Bowman contract, as he's in each Bowman set between 1951 and 1955. This is also the last card issued for Astroth as an active player.
The back is full of great information. The 6-RBI inning for Astroth happened on September 23, 1950 when Astroth hit a sixth inning grand slam and then added a two-run single later in the inning. The A's won the game, 16-5 against the Senators, thanks to their 12-run outburst in the sixth. The middle panel on the back refers to Astroth being a favorite among his pitching counterparts, while the final panel recognizes his public speaking talents. I couldn't find anything on the internet about his public speaking skills, but his obituary did mention that he and his wife were known for their jitterbug dancing. Astroth sounds like he would have been a great guy to know.
This card was reprinted for Astroth to sign as part of the Real One Autographs set included within packs of 2005 Topps Heritage.
Athletics Team Set
1956 Season
With Joe Ginsberg and Tim Thompson ahead of Astroth on the Athletics' catching depth chart, Astroth only appeared in 8 games before being sold to the San Diego Padres in the Pacific Coast League on May 16th. He had gone 1 for 13 (.077) during the first month of the season with the A's.
With the Padres, then associated with the Indians, Astroth hit .246 over 96 games with 6 home runs and 45 RBIs. He was the team's primary catcher with fellow veteran Dick Sisler as the team's regular first baseman.
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First Mainstream Card: 1951 Bowman #298
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (3): 1952-1953, 1956
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2011 Topps Lineage Autographs #RA-JA
30 - Astroth non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 5/30/20.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
In some cases, the first and last cards listed above are subjective and chosen by me if multiple cards were released within the same year. Most recent mainstream card may also be subjective and does not include extremely low serial numbered cards, buybacks or cut autograph cards.
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