Who Could Resist the Bruce Ellingsen Pin-Up?

He was a matinee idol in cardboard, if only briefly

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1975 Topps Bruce Ellingsen (#288) - Card of the Day

If you saw the photo from Bruce Ellingsen’s 1975 Topps baseball card out of context, you might think the man/boy and the shot look familiar.

You know, like a 1960s pin-up poster of Frankie Avalon, or maybe a Mickey Rooney movie still. Maybe even a Valentino promo piece from the 1920s.

Or would you maybe believe the inside flap of a Glen Campbell or Pat Boone record album?

One thing is for certain — Ellingsen and his no-hatted, perfectly-coiffed baby face look about as out of place among the other long-haired airbrushed wild and wooly denizens of Topps’ psychedelic mid-decade offering as his 13 complete games and 200+ innings in the minors would look in today’s game.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

Before we can understand how Ellingsen landed on card #288, we have to first realize that he started his pro baseball life as the 63rd-round pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1967.

That’s a pretty big hole to dig out of, but the Dodgers were down a lefty by that point, what with Sandy Koufax’s sudden retirement the previous November.

Even so, Ellingsen started his climb about as low as he could have, splitting the next summer (1968) between Rookie-level Ogden and Single-A Bakersfield. A full season at Single A followed, and then Ellingsen was at Double-A Albuquerque for all of 1970.

He was climbing pretty quickly, given his low starting point and having been a high-school draftee. But that tends to happen when you show that you can strike out nearly a batter an inning and post a 2.53 ERA in 200+ innings, as Ellingsen did in that summer of ‘69. That’s also when he posted those 13 complete games.

After a 12-5 showing in 1970, the promotion train kept rolling, and Ellingsen landed with the Triple-A Spokane Indians in 1971.

But that’s where the going got rough.

Used mostly as a reliever for the first time ever, Ellingsen started just five games among his 28 appearances. Overall, he put up a bloated 4.77 ERA, which earned him another go at Triple A in 1972 and full-time relief duty.

After posting a stingy 1.61 ERA and 18 saves that summer, Ellingsen was nonetheless back in Albuquerque (by then the Dodgers’ Triple-A home) in 1973. He also went back to starting part-time, and the results were more or less disastrous: 5-10, 6.71 ERA in 44 appearances (7 starts).

The next April, just as the 1974 season was about to start, the Dodgers traded Ellingsen straight up to Cleveland for Pedro Guerrero.

Dispatched once again to Triple A (Oklahoma City), the left-hander put up familiar results: 3-4, 5.37 ERA, lots of strikeouts, lots of runners allowed.

Even so, the 1974 Indians weren’t much to write home about, and they called up the 25-year-old Ellingsen as the season neared its midpoint — when they were actually still in contention.

In the bottom of the second against the Brewers on the Fourth of July at County Stadium in Milwaukee, Tribe manager Ken Aspromonte called on the rookie to relieve starter Steve Arlin.

Ellingsen gave up a run that was charged to Arlin, then worked out of a jam of his own, with the help of Milt Wilcox.

Ellingsen spent most of the rest of that season at the ready in Cleveland, eventually going 1-1 with 3.21 ERA in 42 innings across 16 appearances that included two starts.

It was enough to convince Topps that Ellingsen was part of the future by the lake, even if it wasn’t enough to convince them to make an effort to get a pic of him in his new uniform.

Which all turned out to be well and good in the long run because, by the time collectors were pulling Ellingsen’s rookie card in the spring of 1975, he was done in the majors.

He’d spend one more 6.43-ERA summer at Triple A in 1975 before bowing out of pro baseball scene altogether.

Well, except for that movie-star RC of his, of course. And also except for days like today, when we get to celebrate his 75th birthday.

Make Way for The Judge

Ellingsen wasn’t the only one who was done in Cleveland after the 1974 season.

No, following a 77-85 finish, the Indians showed Aspromonte the door, too, clearing the way for Frank Robinson to make history.

Robinson also made a bit of history, or at least an unusual showing, in the baseball card world, too. Topps didn’t issue many cards of non-active players back in those days, but F. Robby (sort of) pulled off the feat.

You can read the details over on WaxPackGods.com.

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Well, that’s another week in the books here in the Corny Corner. I hope you have a great weekend lined up, one featuring at least some smattering of baseball and/or cardboard.

And also — may your coif turn out even half as good Bruce Ellingsen’s 1975 Topps version for whatever outings you may have ahead of you. After all, no hat could hold him!

Thanks for reading.

—Adam