Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Cool Old Card of the Week



The card listed is his 1958 Topps baseball card.

Stanley Edward Lopata (born September 12, 1925 in Delray, Michigan) was a former Major League Baseball player. Stan was a graduate of Southwestern High school, Detroit, where his career started under the tutelage of Lyle VanDeventer, baseball coach and Dick Strohmer Athletic Director for the "Prospectors".

Lopata, a catcher was a two-time all-star who played for parts of 13 seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Braves. He made his debut in 1948 and served as a backup to Andy Seminick and Smoky Burgess for many seasons. In 1955 he hit 22 home runs and became the Phillies full time catcher the next season. In 1956, Lopata had his best season as he hit 32 home runs finished second in the league in doubles and was in the top ten in other statistical categories including slugging percentage, runs batted in, OPS, and homers.

After two years of declining performance Lopata was traded to the Braves in 1960 and played in 32 games over two more seasons before retiring.

He finished his career having played in 863 games with a .254 batting average and 116 home runs.

Lopata served in the military during World War II.

He was the first National League catcher to wear glasses.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Lopata

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