Continuing the conversation from a previous blog, a baseball friend of mine recently shared a number of baseball cards with me. This baseball friend has quite an impressive collection of cards and memorabilia and has granted me permission to share them with you. Humbly speaking, I had never heard of some of these baseball stars, but then again 10s of thousands have played Major League baseball since its inception. So, there are a few that will slip through the cracks. But, it doesn’t take long to connect a player to someone I know. Case in point, Joe Astroth.
According to his bio page on SABR, the Society of American Baseball Research, Joe Astroth was a catcher who very well defined the term “caught stealing” during his 10 year pro career. Per the SABR page, Astroth threw out an impressive 49% of potential base runners. He played for one team, the Philadelphia then Kansas City A’s. He batted a respectable .254 for his career, with 13 home runs and over 400 hits. Astroth served in the United States Coast Guard in World War II after attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Here are some additional fun facts from his 1952 Bowman card’s back side:
The Joe Astroth SABR bio page is filled with great detail on this player’s life on and off the field. Including one story that connects Astroth with New York Yankee icon Mickey Mantle. I encourage you to read up on players, like Astroth, on the SABR site as well as sites like Baseball Reference. If you or someone you know has a connection to Joe Astroth and have a story to share, send me a message.
Next up in this baseball card story connection is Gus Zernial.
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