350 is a magic number - dressed to the 9s

a few weeks ago i noted that i was pondering the idea of adding a number type mini-collection to my collection. of the options i considered - 190, 272, 350, or none at all - i decided to go with 350.

i am posting cards from the same year of each decade, and so far i've shown the 8s, 7s, 6s, 3s, 2s, 1s, and 4s. this post will be all about the 9s.

1959 topps #350

ernie banks makes his second appearance at number 350 in these posts, but his first chronologically. as the back of his card states, he was the national league's mvp in 1958 as he led the league in home runs and rbi (and slugging percentage). he would repeat as mvp in 1959, but was featured on card number 10 in the 1960 set.

1969 topps #350

richie allen had a strong season in 1968 and put up nearly identical numbers in 1969. the phillies weren't winning and traded allen to the cardinals in what became known as the curt flood trade. he eventually won the mvp award with the white sox in 1972 before returning to the phillies in 1975,

1979 topps #350 

garry templeton led the national league in triples in 1977 as his card back states, but he also led the league in that category in 1978. weird that the card doesn't mention that. he went on to lead the league in triples for the third year in a row in 1979, and also led the league with 211 hits that year. he may be best remembered as basically the guy the cardinals traded away to get ozzie smith, but he was a solid player in his own right. 

1989 topps #350

andy van slyke led the league in triples in 1988, just like templeton a decade before him. we know this thanks to the italicized text that topps started using to denote things like this. and, like templeton, van slyke was traded by the cardinals. he had a down year in 1989 but rebounded to help lead the pirates to back-to-back-to-back nlcs losses from 1990 - 1992.

1999 topps #350

larry walker followed up his 1997 mvp year with a batting title in 1998 as seen with red italicized text on the back of his 1999 card. walker led the league in batting again in '99, posting a career high .379 average.

2009 topps #350

dustin pedroia was the american league mvp in 2008, giving us two reigning mvp's on card number 350 in this post. he finished second in the league in batting average to joe mauer by just a couple of thousandths, but did lead the league in runs, hits, and doubles. he hit .346 in the alcs as well, but the red sox fell to the devil rays.

2019 topps #350

nick markakis had a solid career, and i wondered if this numbering was somewhat of a lifetime achievement award. he went on to play through the 2020 season, however, so i think this was a result of the very strong start he had to the 2018 campaign. he was batting around .330 well in to the summer and was a big part of the braves' national league championship that year.

i am tracking a few things in an effort to find any consistency with number 350, although there really isn't any. still, i am keeping track of the following occurrences, now through two posts:

number of reigning rookies of the year: 1 (kris bryant)

number of reigning mvps: 4 (ernie banks, frank robinson, robin yount, dustin pedroia)

number of reigning cy young winners: 0

number of reigning world series champions: 2 (keith hernandez, joe carter)

number of reigning pennant winners: 7 (frank robinson, steve garvey, robin yount, jack clark, keith hernandez, joe carter, clayton kershaw)

number of reigning league leaders: 16 (ernie banks - home runs, rbi; ernie banks - home runs; mel stottlemyre - complete games; willie mccovey - home runs; billy williams - runs, hits; garry templeton - triples; robin yount - hits, doubles; keith hernandez - walks; andy vanslyke - triples; kenny lofton - sb; larry walker - batting average; chase utley - runs; dustin pedroia - hits, runs; david ortiz - doubles, rbi; clayton kershaw - wins, era; dj lemahieu - batting average)

subset types: 2 (all-time all-stars, postseason highlights (3))

number of repeat players: 1 (ernie banks)

number of dodgers: 2 (steve garvey, clayton kershaw)

frequency of teams: cardinals (6), cubs (5), astros (4), mets (4), twins (3), yankees (3), braves (3), dodgers (2), a's (2), reds (2), brewers (2), giants (2), phillies (2), rockies (2), red sox (2), white sox, indians, blue jays, angels, rangers, orioles, rays, padres, pirates

i will have another post with another run of cards soon - stay tuned!

from my dad's collection to mine

a long time ago, i gave my dad a 1966 topps jim lefebvre card for father's day. i was a relatively new collector, and i found the card in my local card and comic shop's box of 1966 cards. i had asked my dad who his favorite player had been, and he said lefebvre. knowing that the dodger infielder won the 1965 rookie of the year award, i figured i would look for a 1966 card. anyway, that gesture, combined with my passion for collecting, encouraged my dad to begin a collection of his own and started us on a path of opening packs and boxes together each spring, and heading to a few card shows (including a national convention) over the subsequent years.

a couple of years ago, he formally gifted me his collection. i am not ashamed to say that i broke it up and used some of the cards to further my 1965 topps set build and a couple of mini collections, and i sold and traded some of the cards as well. there are some cards, however, that i used to create a new mini collection - cards from my dad - that features three of the pitchers that he collected:

1. sandy koufax

those nine cards, spanning from 1958 through 1966 fit nicely on a single page. my dad pretty much drew the line at the 1957 topps set (he only had one or two cards from years prior), so i am pretty sure he never owned a 1955 koufax rookie or his 1956 second year card. he did have a 1957 card of koufax, but he gave that to me several years ago when i was still working on my 1957 topps dodger team set. i have since upgraded it for the team set with this one

and moved my dad's old koufax card in to my '57 complete set build.

the 1958 card looks like it had been on display in a card shop window before my dad rescued it for his collection. he helped me understand that condition doesn't need to be king if all you are doing is trying to have fun with a hobby.

2. don drysdale

that is a complete career run of big d's topps flagship solo cards, including the 1957 rookie. i heard lots of references growing up to koufax and drysdale from my dad. he saw each of them pitch in person, and to be honest i am not sure which of them he favored. 

3. nolan ryan

my dad saw ryan pitch in person as a met once, which i am jealous of. i had the chance to see him pitch against the angels in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but never took advantage. what's worse is that ryan was dominant in his two starts at the big a in 1989 that took place while i was doing something probably much less exciting about 20 miles away.  anyway, i really am fond of this collection. i have no idea what my dad paid for his 1968 ryan rookie, but i do remember looking at it with a sense of awe when he added it to his collection back in the early 80's.  the last box of cards i recall opening together was 1990 topps, and that was pretty much the end of his collecting days. so, after he handed these cards over, i mined my own defunct player collection of ryan and added the 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1994 cards. i find it very serendipitous that the result is 27 cards that fit squarely in three pages, and i think it is fitting that the collection is a combination of our efforts.

i am really happy to have these cards and plan to keep them together like this in my collection. i also have a 1966 topps jim lefebvre card in my 'meaningful and just because' mini collection. just look what it spawned!

i haven't seen my dad in person for 20 months, but we have plans to meet up in july. i am definitely looking forward to it! happy father's day tomorrow to all for whom it holds meaning!

that which we call pee wee; by any other name would cause confusion

apologies to the bard.

i bring to you tonight, among other things, this 1958 topps pee wee reese card

now reese's real name is harold. harold henry reese, if we are being formal. keep that in mind as you look at the back of this card:

the first time i ever saw this card, the cartoon on the left confused me. it says that reese got his nickname "from his marble-shooting days as a boy". i was left wondering how "pee wee" was derived from marbles, but i thought maybe there was a "pee wee" competition or a brand of marbles or something like that. the only other nickname for reese that i was aware of was "little colonel" which doesn't seem to have anything to do with marbles at all.  

then a couple of years ago, i was reading joe garagiola's book "baseball is a funny game"

and in a section wherein he discusses nicknames of the 1950's, he notes that reese's nickname is actually "the champ".

while joe can't spell, he does reference marbles! mystery solved. now it is possible that this information was included in roger kahn's classic "the boys of summer" but if so the information didn't register between the time i read the book and first saw the back of pee wee's card. other nicknames garagiola notes in the book that you won't find on baseball reference include lee walls (captain midnight) and bill virdon (cyclops). both of those had to do with their glasses that they wore.

the pee wee card up top (and all the other cards you will see in this post) came my way from thorzul - now at death stare cards - as part of a vintage collection team break he hosted. it was an upgrade for my team collection, as were a number of cards that i received. cases in point:

1959 topps don zimmer

well, there's ol' zim!

1959 topps rip repulski

rip here was a good ol' minnesota boy whose real name was eldon. joe doesn't say, but i assume repulski was known as rip as a take on his last name. he also has one of the few non-yellow dodger cards in the 1959 set. maybe because he's a phillie in the photo.

1960 fleer joe medwick

i am sure that joe g. would want you to know that medwick's nickname was "ducky"

1960 topps frank howard

howard went by "hondo". 

1962 topps league leaders featuring wally moon

i don't know if moon had a nickname (maybe something to do with his eyebrow game?), but the name shenanigans here have to do with roberto clemente and topps' apparent refusal to use his real name.

1962 topps daryl spencer

according to baseball reference, spencer's nickname was "dee" or "big dee". maybe before he joined the dodgers, but there was just one "big d" on the dodgers.

1967 topps john werhas

i guess werhas was known as "peaches", at least according to baseball reference.

1976 topps league leaders featuring andy messersmith

now this card wasn't an upgrade for me, but it does feature some folks with strong nicknames. there's tom terrific, but john the count of montefusco takes the prize. as for messersmith, he was called "bluto".

1971 fleer laughlin world series 1949

the cartoon on the card features elwin charles roe, better known as "preacher"

names are a big part of these next two cards

thorzul offered the set checklists up for grabs, and i was able to upgrade a couple from my 1974 set. we see right at the start of that checklist a couple of players with some great nickames - hammerin' hank and catfish hunter.

the dodger team checklist features some signatures taken from topps contracts, so you get formal names like "david e." lopes and "ronald" cey and "william joseph" buckner instead of dave and ron and bill, respectively. "thomas" john surgery just wouldn't sound the same.

finally, i also came away with this card

that's a 1975-76 topps lakers team leaders card that features gail goodrich, cazzie russell, and happy hairston. of the three, only hairston is sporting a nickname - his real name was harold.

while i was hoping for a koufax or four in my lot, i was not disappointed by the return. thanks thorzul!

1950's represent!

sometime around the year 2000, i began putting together "sampler" sets of topps sets from 1952 through 1969. i had no intention of ever completing any of those sets, and i figured it would be a fun idea to pick up a card from each team and each subset for those older sets.

i finished the task in a few years (it was a low priority), but then decided to scrap the collection as i began putting together the 1965 and 1957 sets.  now, i've decided to put together a "representative card" mini collection that will make it easier for me to see a great card from each topps flagship set from 1952 on.

i'll show off the cards occasionally, along with a reason for choosing that particular card. i won't use a card that is in my dodger collection, or any other collection for that matter, so i should wind up with a good variety.  here are the cards that represent the 1950's in this mini collection:

1952 - chuck stobbs

this card is one of the first that i added to my 1952 sampler, but that's not the only reason that i've chosen it for this project. it's a great looking, colorful card, and features stobbs (a pitcher) posing like a slugger with the bat resting on his shoulder. stobbs was only 18 when he debuted with the red sox in 1947, and looks the part of a young ballplayer five years later.

1953 - ralph kiner

the first (but not only) pirate and hall of famer to represent the 1950's. this kiner card was in a lot of vintage cards that i bought back when i started the sampler project. this was his final pirates card as he was dealt to the cubs during the 1953 season. he only played for 10 years, but stuck around the game for the remainder of his life.

1954 - ed and john o'brien

another pirates card! this one was picked up for the sampler as the only 'combo' card in the 1954 set. i know it's not really a combo card, but i wanted it in my sampler anyway. neither o'brien brother suited up for the pirates in 1954, but both were with the club in '53 and again from 1955 to 1958.  both played the infield and also pitched, with ed's 1957 topps card even listing his position as "ss-p". 

1955 - joe amalfitano

i chose this card because amalfitano was well known to me as the dodger third base coach for most of tom lasorda's managerial reign. 

1956 - wally moon

the unibrow makes this card, although i am also about 95% sure that the catcher appearing here is roy campanella.

1957 - elmer valo

the valo card is well recognized as one of the highlights of the 1957 set, and it was one of the first that i added to my sampler collection. it is also the card that helped me decide to pursue the complete set - something i hadn't committed to doing when i first showed one of the valo cards from my collection.

1958 - pete whisenant

whisenant here is one of the few (only?) black background cards in the 1958 set, and it creates a striking piece of cardboard. for the 1958 set, i not only had at least one card from each team and subset, but also at least one card featuring every different color background.

1959 - roberto clemente

here's the only card in this collection that wasn't part of my sampler set. no, this clemente belonged to my dad, who must have picked it up as part of a deal for some 1959 dodger cards. he had no other clemente cards, and his star player collections didn't include clemente. however it came in to his possession, i am thankful as it made its way to me a couple of years ago.

i used to own a 1951 topps luke easter card, but sold it off a few years ago. i don't plan to pick up a 1951 card for this collection, but if i were to do so, i would probably seek out easter again.

which cards would represent the 1950's in your collection?

up next, the 1960's represent! stay tuned...