Billy and His McCool Baseball Card

Think golden rookie trophies (not arches)

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1965 Topps Bill McCool (#18) - Card of the Day

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If you were going to choose a name for a fictional big man on campus, you could do a lot worse than pulling “Billy McCool” out of your storytelling hat. Of course, heading into life with that as your actual name might set you up for some steep expectations, especially as your high school years dawned.

By all indications, though, William John McCool of Batesville, Indiana, took the weight of his name in stride. Ran with it even, as you can see from the back of his 1965 Topps baseball card:

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McCool, it seems, was a BMOC on the gridiron and on the mound at nearby Lawrenceburg High School. How many guys toss three no-hitters, in high school or otherwise?

The Reds certainly noticed and signed the local(ish) kid as an amateur free agent before the 1963 season. A strong summer split between Single-A Tampa and Triple-A San Diego (see card back above) had McCool knocking on the door of Crosley Field for the 1964 season.

By the end of Spring Training, the left-hander was done with the minors and made his big league debut for the Reds on April 24, 1964. McCool gave up a run in two innings of mop-up relief in a blowout loss to the Giants in Cincinnati. He did strike out two batters, though.

McCool stayed with the Reds all summer long, going 6-5 with a 2.42 ERA and seven saves (not an official stat until 1969). He also made three starts and, as Topps noted above, helped Cincy stay in the wild National League race until the very last day.

Along the way, McCool also scored his first baseball card, a two-player rookie stars card (#356) he shared with Chico Ruiz. Both rookies got their first solo cards in the 1965 set — you can see the front of McCool’s at the top of this post.

McCool held onto his spot on the Reds’ staff through 1968, even nabbing an All-Star nod in 1966, his second year as Cincinnati’s closer. He dropped to just 50 innings pitched in 1968, though, and the brand new San Diego Padres selected him with the 46th pick in the expansion draft after the season.

McCool spent 1969 with the Padres before wrapping up his career with the Cardinals in 1970. After a season in the minors, he retired from baseball and moved back to Ohio, eventually landing as the sports anchor at a local Dayton television station.

Today is an especially McCool day to remember the Reds’ one-time wunderkind. Because Billy McCool, who passed away in 2014, was born on July 14, 1944.

(As an aside, McCool’s birthplace of Batesville is world-famous for one of its biggest and longest-running businesses…Batesville Casket Company.)

1972 Topps Earl Williams Didn’t Come Easy

Also born on July 14 (in 1948) was 1971 National League rookie of the year Earl Williams. Nicknamed “Big Money,” Williams developed himself into a major league slugger and ended up with a nifty All-Star Rookie trophy to show for it.

But that wasn’t the plan when Williams began his pro journey. Read all it — man and card — right here.

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Did you know that Shohei Ohtani and Jarren Duran made All-Star history last year? Their home runs were the first ever hit at the Midsummer Classic played on July 16. That’s one of the little nuggets I uncovered hopping down a couple of rabbit holes last summer.

I wrote it all up in two quick eBooks (here and here), both free on Amazon the next few days (July 14-17):