Interview with Jim Wohlford

Outfielder Jim Wohlford played fifteen seasons in the major leagues for the Royals, Brewers, Giants and Expos. His best season was 1984, when he hit .300 with 5 HR and 29 RBI for Montreal. Overall in 1,220 games he hit .260 with 21 HR, 305 RBI and 89 SB. He is now Senior Vice President of Investments at Raymond James in Visalia, CA. He kindly answered my baseball cards stories in a phone interview, and also shared some other baseball stories. He clearly loves talking baseball!

Do you have a favorite card?

My rookie card with Rich Coggins and Richie Zisk.is my favorite. It is the most valuable of my cards, because Zisk also played a long time and Coggins finished high in the Rookie of the Year voting.

I had a lot of cards. There are 23,000 players who played major league baseball, and 1,500 played 15+ years. I got hits off of 21 Hall of Famers. I loved all of the teams I played for, but I liked National League baseball better. I don't love the DH. I love all of the moves in baseball without the DH.

I came up with the Royals as a second baseman. They brought up Frank White from their academy to play second, and George Brett was playing third, so I moved to the outfield. Brett was a good third baseman and the best hitter I ever saw. He worked his butt off. His brother Ken should have been a hitter. He hit a lot of pinch-hit home runs.

Other players that stood out: I saw Roberto Clemente in spring training. One year we played the Toyko Giants and I saw the third baseman Shigeo Nagashima.

Do you collect baseball cards?

I don't collect now, but I did when I was a kid. I was a Yankee fan, and loved Mickey Mantle. Hank Aaron would have been the biggest star had he played in a bigger city. Willie Mays was terrific too. Sandy Koufax was the best pitcher I ever saw.

Thanks!