Filling in the Blanks with Johnny Kucab

I picked up this card of a Philadelphia Athletics pitcher in the one of the REA Encore Sales a few years ago. REA is known for some astounding offerings in their big catalog auctions. A T-206 Wagner would be right at home among these offerings with the firm having moved at least ten examples of the card. The Encore Sales offer fare that is a bit tamer, typically comprised of items expected to bring lower prices than those in the big catalog events. “Tame” is used in a highly relative manner, as the items on offer in this sale included a Canadian Goudey Babe Ruth, an insanely rare candy card of Ty Cobb, and multiple rookies of Mickey Mantle and Jackie Robinson.

This is where I find cards like this: The castoffs of high-end collections where the condition of memorable or generally tough to find cards isn’t quite up to the standards of the rest of the group. ’52 Topps high numbers appear with regularity in these sales in all grades and the lower level ones slot in handily to fill in missing spots in my set building project. The Johnny Kucab card highlighted above saw the least bidder interest of all the ’52s on offer and joined my collection for just a bit over the cost of whatever constitutes the latest blaster box of current year cards. Pick ups like this will always win that battle.

Ignoring the giant tape stains and paper loss on the front of the card, the element that sticks out the most is the yawning chasm of blank space following Kucab’s biographical information on the back. Sy Berger put together a pretty good write-up of Kucab’s career, but appeared to run out of inspiration as he neared the finish line. There is room to put in one more fact, but Berger had nothing left in the tank to describe the Philadelphia reliever.

Perhaps he could have ended with this highlight: “Johnny got the win in Connie Mack’s final game as A’s manager in ’50.” Kucab made it into four games as a rookie that season and was the starter for the final two of those contests. The latter of these starts was on the final day of the season in a game that coincided with the 87-year-old Connie Mack’s last day as the manager of the club. The always suit-attired Mack had been elected to the Hall of Fame as an active manager in 1939 and continued his daily oversight of the team for another 11 years. Until Kucab threw the final pitch of the 1950 season, every Athletics pitcher in history had received their orders from the man wearing a full suit in the Philadelphia dugout.

Like his legendary A’s manager, Johnny Kucab didn’t make much of an impact as a player on the field. Kucab only played in the majors for a little over two seasons, generating exactly zero wins above replacement. He made his debut at age 30, pitched in 59 games, and logged only three of those as starts. Batters hit .279 against him for his career.

Kucab pitched his final MLB game on September 1, 1952, giving his ’52 Topps rookie card an overlap of only a few weeks between its issuance and the end of his big league career.