Random Topps Card of the Day: 1970 Topps #263 Duane Josephson

It's Retro Sunday!!! Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Sunday, November 10, 2013:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1970 Topps #263.
• Player Name, position, team: Duane Josephson, catcher, Chicago White Sox.
• Major League Debut: September 15, 1965.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1969 stats (White Sox): 52 G, 162 AB, 19 R, 39 H, 6 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 20 RBI, .241 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Signed with the White Sox as a Free Agent before the 1964 season. Bats: right. Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 6. This is his fourth Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: "Duane missed much of 1969 due to injuries. Led PCL backstops in Putouts, Assists, and DP's in 1966 and was named league's MVP. Duane led AL catchers in Assists and DP's in 1968 and appeared in the All-Star game."
• Commentary: The comic on the back of the card says that Duane Charles Josephson "is good at handling knucklers (knuckleball pitchers). To his credit, it's good that he was or learned really fast to be good at it because two of the pitchers he had to handle when with the White Sox were Hoyt Wilhelm and Wilbur Wood (late 60's). His best year in the majors was in 1968, when he appeared in a career high 128 games, hit .247 with 6 home runs, 45 rbi's, committed a low 7 errors in 734 total chances, a 40% caught stealing ratio, along with a spot on the AL All-Star team. In 1970, both Josephson and fellow catcher Ed Hermann shared catching duties for the Pale Hose. Josephson, for his part, had the better offensive year, hitting a career high .316, adding 4 home runs and 41 rbi's to his Sox numbers. It would also be his final year with the team. During the offseason, he was traded off to the Red Sox with Danny Murphy for Tony Muser and Vicente Romo. Josephson's career numbers during his six year tenure with the White Sox included a .261 average, 12 homers, 118 rbi's, offensive percentages of .303/.358/.361, 34.5% caught stealing percentage, a and a .989 fielding percentage. Pericarditis (an inflammation of the membranes that surround the heart) had always affected Josephson during his career, and it caused him to miss a good portion of the 1972 season. After two solid seasons with Boston, in which he endeared himself not only with the pitching staff, but with some of the hitters (Carl Yastrzemski especially), when trainers were concerned that Duane was diagnosed with heart disease, Josephson announced his retirement from the game as an active player. Upon retirement, Josephson ran a sporting goods store in Iowa, affectionately named "Josie's." Duane Josephson passed away on January 27, 1997, due to a heart attack caused by the pericarditis. He was only 54 years old. Josephson's biography can be found as part of the SABR's BioProject.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.40-$1.00.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 0.

In case you're actually wondering, I don't own this card, but was able to get a crystal clean copy of the image from the from the Baseball Card Cyber Museum. So thank you Joe McAnally and the folks at the BCCM.

Well, it's back to normal on Monday. Tomorrow's card will be: 2008 Topps #109. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Come on back then to see what the Topps Card Randomizer gets us to look at then.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama