Sports Card Forum Articles

By Cory Yokel

Forrest “Smoky” Burgess was one of the greatest batters in the history of baseball that very few in the 21st century remember. He was signed as a free agent in 1944 and his eighteen year career began in 1948 with the Chicago Cubs, but throughout his time he played for the Phillies, Reds, Pirates, and White Sox. He was a six-time all star and he also has the record for most career pinch hit at bats. He is currently ranked third all time in career pinch hits, which is impressive as it is in how shattered some of the greatest records in baseball history have been defeated in this modern era. Smoky had a career batting average of .295 which included his 126 career home runs. To make his first all star game he batted .368 in 1954 with the Philadelphia Phillies. In 1955, he had a game in which he hit three home runs with nine RBIs, many greats of the game can not claim a nine RBI game of their own.

Burgess was not what you would call the ideal athlete physically. He was a heavy-set catcher who just flat out knew how to swing the lumber. His enormous size is what led him to being a pinch hitter, but he was greater at pinch hitting than almost anyone in the game. Pinch hitting is not something just any player can do. When your a heavily relied upon pinch hitter, like Smoky was, your put into the game at the most crucial situations with all the pressure on you to do what has to be done. He obviously never folded under such constant pressure and even thrived off of it. To sit on the bench all game and then having to get up for your one at-bat is one of the most difficult jobs in baseball. Even players in the modern era have been no match to what Burgess accomplished.

His pure skill at pinch hitting is remarkable when you look at what modern-day pinch hitters do now-a-days. You rarely see a team have a player come off the bench and perform to the level that he did. Nonetheless, when he was an everyday player he was comparable at the plate to players now like Joe Mauer. In an era where players were on their own without all the support that modern players have, he by far surpasses any of their abilities. If he had all the knowledge in training and prolonging his career with maintaining physical shape, he would definately be a hall of famer. But unfortunately, Smoky will never get the appreciation he deserves. His cards will always sell for under a couple of dollars when players who could not even match his hitting ability are much more renown than he is. For a player of the caliber of Smoky to be forgotten is despicable and shows the ignorance of this generation.

Smoky Burgess’s Best Baseball Cards

Smoky Burgess’s 5 Best Cards:

5. 1964 Topps (Smoky with the White Sox)

4. 1953 Topps (Smoky with the Phillies)

3. 1952 Topps (Smoky with the Phillies)

2. 2008 SP Legendary Cuts Headliners and Heroes Auto

1. 1963 Topps Bucs Blasters (Smoky, Clemente, Dick Stuart, Bob Skinner)

Smoky Burgess Best Value baseball Card

The card with the best value today would have to be the legendary cuts auto, because Burgess died at the age of 64 and since he never received a lot of notoriety his signature is not as plentiful as a lot of the game’s greats at his time period. The lack of respect for his abilities has actually helped the value of such a card, and it’s about time that such a great card has been produced by a major card manufacturer.