Wood vs. Wood #82

 Last time 1962 won a tough matchup, 6-3. Who will prevail this time?

Two very similar looking cards, just one taken at more of a close-up.

Deron Johnson wearing the interlocking K-C of the Athletics; always weird for someone my age to see the A's not wearing green. Deron Johnson was a big man with a big swing who came up with the Yankees in 1960 as one of many players over the years whom the New York press dubbed "the next Mickey Mantle". The next year the Yankees traded him to KC for Bud Daley. Two years later the A's sold him to the Reds where he had his best seasons, including leading the NL with 130 RBI in 1965. He failed to live up to that season and after a terrible 1967 was traded to the Braves, and ended up playing for five more teams after that. He finished his career with 245 home runs. In 1992, while coaching for the Angels, he died of lung cancer at the age of 53.

Rob Murphy also had his best seasons with the Reds, going 14-11 with 7 saves and a 2.60 ERA in his three full seasons in Cincinnati. Murphy pitched for eight teams in eleven seasons, and when he retired in 1995 he was the NL's all-time leader in percentage of inherited runners stranded. He now owns a horse-racing business, and in 2009 shared some baseball card stories with this blog.