1949 Bowman #193 Ken Trinkle

I acquired this card some time ago, but to date I really haven't had a good reason to post it.  With my recent abundance of posts featuring Phillies cards from the early to mid-90s, I thought this would be a good baseball card to cleanse the palette.

Right-handed pitcher Ken Trinkle appeared in parts of five seasons with the New York Giants (1943, 1946-1948) and the Phillies (1949), compiling a 21-29 record over 216 games.  His best year was probably 1947 when he went 8-4 for the Giants with a 3.75 ERA while leading the league in appearances with 62.  He finished second in the league with 10 saves.  Trinkle was a somewhat reliable reliever with the Phillies, appearing in 42 games and tallying a WHIP of 1.466 and an ERA of 4.00.  He finished his professional baseball career with three seasons in the minors (1950-1952) with the Phillies and Red Sox Class AAA affiliates.

Trinkle served his country during World War II, shipping out in September 1943 and missing the entire 1944 season.  He saw action in France at the Battle of the Bulge, receiving a Bronze Star.  Here's an article with much more information on Trinkle's military service.

Per the Beckett database, it looks as if Trinkle has appeared on 7 baseball cards, including this Bowman card which could be considered his only mainstream release.

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My Dad was a big fan of Phillies players with unusual or difficult to say names.  Upon first seeing this card, he would have dramatically announced, "And my new favorite Phillie is Ken Trinkle!"