Saturday, August 18, 2018

The Andrews Boys Part 1

I had an idea in the back of my mind for a long time and recently decided to finally act on it. I thought it would be fun to collect a card from the careers of every major league players who shared my last name.

This initiated with this guy (BTW...shout out to Joe Shlabotnik who sent me this card):


...with whom I share a first AND last name. That and the fact that we were born within a week of each other. Anyway, I checked with Baseball Reference and the search turned up 14 players in history with my last name. I'm not including Steve Andrade whose last name I could have carried through life had the folks at Ellis Island not 'American-ized' it when my grandfather's family first came to the US from the Azores in the early 1900s. (For more on that see this post).


The Andrews' are listed here in no particular order with dates of big league service and the teams they played for:


Mike Andrews (1966-1973) Franchises: BOS,CHW,OAK
Shane Andrews (1995-2002) Franchises: WSN,CHC,BOS
Rob Andrews (1975-1979) Franchises: SFG,HOU
Ivy Andrews (1931-1938) aka Paul Franchises: NYY,BAL,BOS
Nate Andrews (1937-1946) Franchises: ATL,STL,CLE
Ed Andrews (1884-1891) aka George Franchises: PHI,IND,CKK
Clayton Andrews (2000) Franchises: TOR
Fred Andrews (1976-1977) Franchises: PHI
Stan Andrews (1939-1945) Franchises: LAD,ATL,PHI
Jim Andrews (1890) Franchises: CHC
John Andrews (1973) Franchises: STL
Hub Andrews (1947-1948) Franchises: SFG
Wally Andrews (1884-1888) Franchises: LOU
Elbert Andrews (1925) aka Devore Franchises: OAK

Finding a 'card' of each of them turned out to be impossible for several reasons but I did manage to dig up something for each. I'm going to spread this out over a few posts to keep the length reasonable. Let's kick it off with the headliner. I will link each name to their BR page.

Rob Andrews.... my namesake and the one I saw play most often. I love that he was originally signed by the Orioles although he never played for them. After a fine year at AAA in '74 he was dealt to the Astros in the trade for Lee May. He spent two seasons here in Houston before moving on to the Giants. His brother Mike is on the list. In addition to the card at the top that Joe sent me I have a couple of others.


This SSPC came from Joe as well. I have another one in the set binder.


Hub Andrews... He pitched a total of 11.2 innings for the NY Giants in two brief stints in 1947/48. He didn't get any decisions. He worked in the insurance industry after his playing days. He has no known cards but I found this autographed index card on Net54.


Mike Andrews... Rob's older brother who played 8 seasons in the AL, mostly with the Red Sox. He was part of the Red Sox Impossible Dream club of 1967 and then won a Series ring with the Athletics in 1973. He had four hits in the '67 Series. He hit .293 and made the All-Star team in 1969. This card came from a card show cheap vintage box.


Stan Andrews...He got into 70 games over four seasons as a backup catcher for the Boston Braves, Dodgers, and Phils beginning in the late 30s. He had a long minor league career and some solid seasons there. He appeared in the 1941 Goudy set but I haven't found one that was in my price range although they are not especially costly. He has cards in some reprint and oddball sets. This one I own is an 'art card' from what is called the 2017 Carl Aldana San Francisco Seals World War II Commemorative set. I'm not sure of why he's included since he never played for San Francisco and only had one very average season in the PCL with the Hollywood Stars as far as I can tell. I'm not sure what I'm missing. Either way, I may try and do better in terms of a card for Ol' Stan.




Wally Andrews... He was a light-hitting first baseman in the 1880s for the Louisville franchise of the then-major American Association. He has cards in the N172 Old Judge set which was issued in the late 1880s. He earned them with a .400 season with Omaha in 1887. Needless to say, I doubt I'll ever have an actual one in my collection. The Trading Card Database has a card showing for him which is actually of Ed Andrews who will be seen here in another post.

These are supposedly copies of Wally Andrews' N172s. But I wouldn't count on them being authentic. In any case, I'm just going to assume they are legit and list them as his only cards. The top two are different scans I found of the same card.






That's the first batch of Andrews'. I know you can;t wait for the rest of them!

14 comments:

  1. I enjoy collections like this, which are largely me living vicariously through other collectors. Much like the collection of players from my high school and college amounts to zero cards, players with my last name - my *real* last name, which is about as unlikely as "Shlabotnik" - are also zero.

    I'm a bit surprised there aren't more Andrews who played in the majors.

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    1. The very next post I read after this one was by "The Topps Archives" and was about the production of two 1969 team posters... and right under the banner on the the Red Sox poster is Mike Andrews!

      http://toppsarchives.blogspot.com/2018/08/pasted-along-way.html

      I thought the timing was amusing, plus I figured I'd point out an oddball you could potentially add to your wantlist (or not, I know these posters can run into $$$)

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    2. Saw the poster post a bit ago. I might look for one but I’m trying to stay cheap on this project. That blog is awesome tho, right? He posts some amazing finds.

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    3. I know how you feel...a quick check of the TCD confirms that there are no known cards of anyone with my last name. (Alan is my middle name, although I've sometimes used it as a last name professionally.) Oh, well, there's always my George Brett binder!

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  2. I'm waiting on pins and needles for the extensive rundown of former Phillies' prospect Fred Andrews.

    (I often wonder if the Phillies' definition of "prospect" is different than all the other teams.) :(

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  3. Cool post Bob. Glad to see a Mike Andrews represented

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  4. The Impossible Dream reference was just for you! But you knew that, right?

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  5. Cool projects. This is right up my alley. Only problem is that nobody with my last name has played at the MLB level. I do have a few guys from the NPB. And there's one kid on the Japan LLWS team this year who shares my last name.

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  6. A project I'd love to do but I'm pretty sure that anyone shawing my last name would be a relative.

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  7. Wally Andrews was my second great grandfather. I have one of his baseball cards and 2 of the photo proofs that the cards were made from. The ones you posted are definitely of him.

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    1. Oh, wow. That's terrific! Wonderful treasures to own of your great-grandfather. Thanks for commenting here. I'm still doing occasional searches for an affordable card of him.

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  8. Wally Andrews was my second great grandfather. I have one of his baseball cards and 2 of the photo proofs that the cards were made from. The ones you posted are definitely of him.

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