• Card series: Diamond Heads '15
• City: Philadelphia
• Team: Athletics (AL)
• League: American League

Amos Aaron Strunk (1889-1979) was added to Connie Mack’s growing assemblage of speedy players in 1908 and then sent to Milwaukee to get major-league-ready. In and out with injuries (much of his career) Strunk began to shine on defense. By 1913 he was touted as the best defender of all-time. In ‘16 Baseball Magazine proclaimed him to be in the company of Cobb and Speaker. Mack witnessed Strunk’s contributions to three national championships, 1911, 1913, and 1914, read the reviews and still said Strunk was underrated. Sold to Boston when Mack was rebuilding, Amos couldn’t adjust to Beantown despite another title and returned to the Athletics in 1919. After another stint with the White Sox, Mack got his prized centerfielder back one final time in 1924 but the toll of too many outfield collisions brought an end to a 17-year career where the left-hander compiled a .284 average. Never a big base-stealer, Strunk was among the best at advancing on the basepaths. Mack’s famed “double squeeze play” owed much to Strunk’s ability to get a jump from second and score right behind the runner who had been at third when the bunt got down.

• Strunk lived to see 90, having spent over half a century in the insurance business following his retirement from the game