Posted by Bill Tabor, Dick Hyde’s 1961 APBA card came up on the Facebook APBA Baseball group and caught my eye. Everyone would agree that it falls under the category of “Weird”.
Hyde’s 1961 pitching stats for the Orioles are unremarkable. In 15 games, he was 1-2 with a 5.57 ERA with 13 walks and 21 strikeouts in 15 innings.
At the plate however, he went 1 for 1 with 1 run and 1 stolen base.
| Split | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 Totals | 15 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.000 |
Dick Hyde has a well-deserved D*Y pitching grade for his hurling performance in 1961 for the Orioles. No surprise there.
On his batting card however, Hyde earned a total of twelve 11s even getting a 61-11. He also received an additional three 10s (at 42, 62 and 64).
Hyde received a 26-9 and a 46-9 but no 8s on his card meaning his card will hit slightly better against B pitchers than C pitchers. There are no 14s on his card (nor should there be) but there is the usual complement of 13-23, and 45-36 and 53-21 given to pitchers.
On further research on Hyde, the Facebook group noticed he was from Hindsboro, Illinois only 35 miles from where I live. Not only that, he played for the University of Illinois baseball, a team which I am obsessed with during the spring.
Hyde went on to play for the Senators and Orioles and even led the league in saves in 1958. As Don Smith noted, the bespectacled Hyde was a submarine pitcher.
His son Rich Hyde is a local sports legend too. Rich was drafted by the Giants and has coached high school and college baseball.
Thanks, Bill!
Dear Thomas,
Its been quite a while since I have contacted you. Since then my APBA GOLF on my computer no longer functions. And my discs and cards are gone. I am looking at buying the APBA GOLF GAME at the stadium shop. But as for the cards, I am not sure which to get. Many of the 144 all time golfers show up in later years such as Tiger and Jack. Not sure also if their stats as all time golfers would be same as for example Nicklaus in 85 or Tiger in 2018.
Any ideas?
I saw Dick Hyde pitch for the Senators against the KC A’s a couple of times. His pitching motion was always an item of discussion because there were so few submariners, as is the case now. The only other pitcher who threw from down under at the time was Ted Abernathy, who was a better pitcher than Hyde. As I remember him, Hyde was only about 5-11 and slender, but could throw pretty hard.