Despite wearing the Pilots uniform, he never actually played for Seattle in 1969.

Although he played during my childhood, I don't remember Hershberger – unsurprisingly, as it turns out, because I was an NL fan and he played for AL teams, and his career was winding down as my habit of memorizing Who's Who in Baseball was revving up. He appears to have been what, in the old 8- and 10-team leagues, was called a "second-division ballplayer." But TFE is completely right: he was a major-leaguer who had a substantial career. RIP.

Hershberger was an excellent defensive outfielder, with a strong arm. He would have been a center fielder, but he kept playing on teams that had Jim Landis.

That said, he didn't hit nearly well enough to justify all the regular playing time he got. He was a fourth outfielder type, who was fortunate to find himself in 135-150 games for six straight years. His actual career was his best-case scenario.

Despite wearing the Pilots uniform, he never actually played for Seattle in 1969.

Several of the players that Seattle traded for in the winter of '69-'70 were photographed for their Topps cards in spring training 1970 wearing Pilots uniforms. The Pilots did not move to Milwaukee until April 1, so they were "Seattle" throughout spring training.

I actually remember him from Massilon high school--all everything in both football and baseball

I had a chance to interview Mike Hershberger five years ago as part of a series of articles about the MLB Alumni Association. He was really a delightful guy to talk to.

He was Hawk Harrelson's roommate when Hawk called Finley a "menace to baseball" and was then "fired" by Finley. Mike seemed to enjoy playing for the A's and for Finley, who once had his mule accompany Hershberger on an autograph signing venture. As Mike said, "I played with a lot of crazy guys."

12 comps for Hershberger.
OF types within 6 WAR, 5 OPS+, 700 PA and 40 WAR fielding runs of Mike.

I had that card...sigh

Edit: Hershberger

In my Player won-lost records, Hershberger ranks in the top 10 (#10) in career wins below positional average (since 1948). On the one hand, it's a fairly dubious "honor", but you have to be good enough to get enough playing time to end up that high on the list; the really bad ballplayers spend too much time on the bench or in the minors. May he rest in peace and condolences to his family.

you know his 1968 card always stood out in my mind for some reason (the '68s are the ones with the herringbone design on the edge, I think the 1969 version is pictured here). Then I realized it, THAT was the very first baseball card I ever laid eyes on. Or at least the very first card I saw when I opened my very first package of baseball cards. WOw, that brings back some memories! can someone post a link to his '68 card?

Several of the players that Seattle traded for in the winter of '69-'70 were photographed for their Topps cards in spring training 1970 wearing Pilots uniforms. The Pilots did not move to Milwaukee until April 1, so they were "Seattle" throughout spring training.

And he played with the A's in KC, moving with the team to Oakland. Good thing he wasn't traded to Washington in '71.

not all of the 1968 cards looked like this, iirc:
http://s.ecrater.com/stores/66095/4952b27e5e548_66095b.jpg

I still have my cards, including this 1971 version w/Brewers:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1971-Topps-149-Mike-Hershberger-BREWERS-VG-VG-EX-/370157034680?_trksid=p3284.m263&_trkparms=algo=SIC&its=I&itu=MRU-64482+UCI+IA+UA+FICS+UFI&otn=21&pmod=370262769461&ps=54

The card Howie posted is indeed the base design for the 1968 set. The card pictured with the excerpt is from the 1970 set.

And he played with the A's in KC, moving with the team to Oakland. Good thing he wasn't traded to Washington in '71.

He was the Elmer Valo of his day.

I had that card...sigh

I think I did, too. In any event, as I've noted before, the '70 set is my all-time favorite, almost certainly because that was the year I started buying cards.

that was the year I started buying cards.

ditto, grin

Yes indeed that is the 68 card shown in Mike's link. I guess I was confused between the '69 and '70 sets. I loved both of those designs in their own way.

I vote for the '71 set as the best of my boyhood. The black border and the facsimile signatures gave them a classic feel, and I really like the way they spelled the guys names w/o capitalization; to this day I often refuse to capitalize personal names, I guess that's where it started.

The 70 set the name is in cursive but the '71 it appears to be the actual way the guy signed. But the '71 set is where they ripped you off and didnt give the guy's complete record, only last season and career totals. Whose idea was that? But I also liked the different picture of the guy on the back of the '71 set I dont recall that in other sets.

Most of the '68 set that I recall was face shots, is that correct? I got Eddie Matthews, Jerry Adair and Joe Greznda in addition to Herschberger, in that first package and I think they were all face shots.

Also in '68; each pack they threw in a black and white "photo" of a star that appeared to be autographed,, IIRC. I got Maury Wills and Luis Tiant in my first two packages; they looked classier because they were in some semi realistic looking pose.

THe '69 and '70 ones that I recall the guys were in more or less posed positions, but I dont recall real "action" photos until the '71 set. THe one of Nolan Ryan about to uncoil a fastball was pretty sweet. Or Clemente, doing that awkward neck twitch in response to a called strike I guess.

Remember when they used to have cards to depict the games of the World Series? Maybe they still do. I had the "Koosman Shuts the Door!" headline for game 5 of the '69 series.

THe '72 set was garish with it's faux raised lettering as well as the garish color schemes. THere is a Geo. Hendrick card from that era that is liked the epitome, it is posted on the Hardballtimes site; not only are the format colors bad, Hendrick himself is super saturated with color.

The '73 set toned it down back a little and had standardized icons to represent certain positions.