1961 Topps #351 Jim King

Today’s Card of the Moment is about 95% of a 1961 Topps Jim King card. Jim spent 11 years playing Major League baseball with 6 different teams. The majority of that time was spent in the nations capital, but he also made stops in Chicago (both the North Side and the South Side), San Francisco, St. Louis and Cleveland.

He was never really a full-time player, having only reached 500 plate appearances once in his career when he had 510 in 1963. Despite that, he managed to hit double digit home runs in 8 out of the 11 seasons that he spent in the Majors. I was too lazy to look up home run per plate appearance averages, but that sounded pretty impressive to me.

Jim also was also one of the 492 Major Leaguers who have hit 3 home runs in one game. He pulled this of on June 8, 1964 in a game against the Kansas City A’s. Two of them were hit off of Moe Drabowsky and the third off of reliever John Wyatt. All three were solo shots. Unfortunately, despite Jim’s home run heroics, the Senators still managed to lose the game 5-4. I remember watching a Mets game in 2006 against the Phillies where the Mets lost despite Jose Reyes hitting 3 dingers. That would be stat I’d like to see. How many of those 492 triple home run performances came in a losing effort?

Mr. King was also one of the 291 Major Leaguers who have hit for the cycle, which happens to be one of my personal favorite baseball achievements. He did it about 2 weeks before his 3 homer game, on May 26, 1964. Again, unfortunately for Jim, the Senators fell to the Red Sox 3-2 in that game. Also once again, I remember Jose Reyes hitting for the cycle in 2006 against the Reds, and the Mets also lost that one. I wonder if Jim and Jose can start some kind of support group.

Tags: 1961 Topps, Cardboard Abuse, Jim King
Filed Under: Card of the Moment by slangon
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