Vintage Fridays: Jerry Adair, 1965 Topps #231

From August 24-26, 1962, the Orioles hosted the Yankees in a five-game series that included a pair of doubleheaders. Incredibly, the O's swept all five games from the defending World Champs by a combined score of 34-14. Jerry Adair started every game at shortstop in the series, going 13-for-23 with  a walk and a hit-by-pitch. His batting line was a stout .565/.600/.739, which included a 5-for-6 with 3 runs scored in the August 24 nightcap. The O's entered the weekend showdown at 61-64, 14.5 games behind the 76-50 New Yorkers. They were back on the positive side of .500 by the time the smoke cleared, and had drawn to within 9.5 games of the mighty Yanks. That was as close as the Birds got to first place; a rough September dropped them to 77-85 at year's end, a distant seventh place in the American League. But Adair proved his mettle as a Yankee killer, and his career numbers against New York (.282/.314/.413) were some of his best against any team.