1953 Bowman Color Phillies

Having recently completed the 11-card 1953 Bowman Color Phillies team set, I wanted to show off these gorgeous cards here.  If I were to ever win the lottery and decide to collect another set from the 1950s, it would come down to choosing between this set and the 1955 Bowman set.

#10 Richie Ashburn

#28 "Smoky" Burgess

#60 Granny Hamner

#64 Curt Simmons

#65 Robin Roberts

#67 Mel Clark

#103 Del Ennis

#113 Karl Drews

#131 Connie Ryan

#133 Willie Jones

#158 Howard Fox

Old Phillies Baseball Cards and a Quilt Too! (#SBWTMABCTJ)

1949 Bowman #76

1949 Bowman #142

1951 Berk Ross #1-9

She did it again.

Before Christmas, my Ten Most Wanted - Vintage list on the sidebar looked like this:

Thanks to my Mom, and a now seven-year tradition, nine of those ten cards have been removed from my want lists and an updated Ten Most Wanted - Vintage list is needed.  On the day after Christmas, we visited my Mom's house so that her grandkids and kids could each open their stockings, unwrap their way too many thoughtful gifts and so that I could once again experience the annual phenomenon now known as Santa Brings Way Too Many Awesome Baseball Cards to Jim (SBWTMABCTJ, for short).

I don't remember a Christmas when I didn't receive one or two or dozens of amazing baseball cards from Santa.  Be it a card I needed to complete my 1975 Topps set (#638 Cubs Team Card) or a pricey card needed for the 1956 Topps set, I've always had the pleasure of adding great cards to my collection every Christmas.  This year was no different.

Presented here in chronological order are the cards I crossed off my list thanks to my Mom.

1949 Bowman #76 Bill Nicholson
1949 Bowman #142 Eddie Waitkus
Appearing in Cubs uniforms, both of these cards are technically Phillies cards.  The backs of both cards list the Phillies as the team designation, as Nicholson was acquired from the Cubs on October 4, 1948, and Waitkus was acquired a few months later on December 14th.  I now need six cards to complete the 1949 Bowman team set, including the rookie cards of Richie Ashburn and Robin Roberts.

1951 Berk Ross #1-9 Richie Ashburn
Speaking of Ashburn . . . This 1951 Berk Ross card came encased in a PSA graded slab but it's now been freed.  No offense to the other cards I received, but this may be my favorite of the lot.

1953 Bowman Color #113

1953 Bowman Color #131

1953 Bowman Color #113 Karl Drews
1953 Bowman Color #131 Connie Ryan
With the addition of these two cards, I'm now just one card away from a complete 1953 Bowman Color Phillies team set (#158 Howie Fox).  When I'm one day rich and famous, it would be tough to decide whether to collect this complete set or the complete 1955 Bowman set.  These cards are gorgeous.

1959 Topps #31 Ken Lehman
1959 Topps #352 Robin Roberts
These are the last two cards I needed to complete the 1959 Topps Phillies team set.  Together in nine-pocket pages, the team set looks incredible and I may need to feature all the cards in a gallery in a future post.

1961 Topps Topps #569 Frank Herrera AS
1962 Topps #534 Tony Gonzalez
Jumping ahead to the 1960s, I'm inching closer to complete Phillies team sets from 1961 and 1962 Topps.  These two high numbered cards have been difficult for me to find, but by Mom was able to track them both down.

1959 Topps #31

1959 Topps #352

1961 Topps #569

1962 Topps #534

2011 Santa Brings Way Too Many Awesome Baseball Cards to Jim

Part 1 - Continuing a Tradition

Part 2 - 1971 Topps Set - 13 More Down

Part 3 - 1952 Topps Phillies

Part 4 - 1951 Bowman Phillies

Part 5 - Curt Simmons - Two New Bowman Cards

Part 6 - 1955 Bowman and Topps Phillies

2012 Santa Brings Way Too Many Awesome Baseball Cards to Jim
Part 1 - 1941 Double Play Litwhiler & May
Part 2 - 1963 Topps John Herrnstein rookie card (featuring Willie Stargell)
Part 3 - 1940 Play Ball Phillies - Part 1
Part 4 - 1940 Play Ball Phillies - Part 2
Part 5 - 1950 Bowman Del Ennis

2013 Santa Brings Way Too Many Awesome Baseball Cards to Jim
Part 1 - 1998 Upper Deck Scott Rolen
Part 2 - 1968 Topps Phillies Team Card
Part 3 - 1966 Topps Bob Uecker
Part 4 - 1955 Bowman Robin Roberts
Part 5 - 1965 Topps Johnny Callison
Part 6 - 1954 Bowman Richie Ashburn

2014 Santa Brings Way Too Many Awesome Baseball Cards to Jim
Part 1 - 1952 Bowman and 1953 Bowman Color Richie Ashburn
Part 2 - 1950 Bowman Roberts, 1951 Topps Blue Backs Jones, 1955 Bowman Wyrostek
Part 3 - 1995 Collector's Choice Hayes and 1999 Fleer Mystique Burrell

2015 Santa Brings Way Too Many Awesome Baseball Cards to Jim
Seven Phillies Cards from the 1950s Crossed Off the List

2016 Santa Brings Way Too Many Awesome Baseball Cards to Jim
Part 1 - 10 vintage Phillies cards added to the collection
Part 2 - 2 modern oddball Phillies cards find a new home

2017 Santa Brings Way Too Many Awesome Baseball Cards to Jim
Vintage cards crossed off the list, 1959 Topps Phillies team set completed!

Before ending this post, the post title promised a quilt as part of my annual Christmas summary.  Gathering old t-shirts and baseball uniforms, my Mom had a large quilt made that perfectly captures my formative years.  I hadn't seen some of these shirts in over 30 years, and I had no idea she had kept them.  The resulting quilt is a nostalgic reminder of my youth and a perfect gift.  (My sister got one too, featuring t-shirts from the many local and school plays in which she had appeared.)

If you're interested, and I can highly recommend them, please check out Keepsake Theme Quilts here.

1953 Topps Phillies

1991 Topps 1953 Archives #10, #146, #88, #79

I've always preferred Topps' "sophomore" effort over its inaugural freshman set.  (I'm not ignoring the '51 sets, but it's hard to hold them in the same class as the '52 and '53 sets.)  The 1953 Topps set is gorgeous.  It uses beautifully painted portraits of its subjects as Topps continued to battle Bowman for the hard-earned allowances of young baseball fans across the nation.  The '53 Bowman Color set is a classic in its own right, but there's something about the '53 Topps set that appeals to me a little more.  It's a shame Topps hasn't dipped back into this well more, as it's only reproduced the design in its 2002 Topps Heritage set.  I wouldn't mind seeing a Topps 53 set, showcasing portraits of the rookie classes of 2011 or 2012.

The Set
Number of cards in the set:  Although the set numbers to 280, there are only 274 cards in the set as six cards were never issued.
My very brief thoughts on the set:  When I'm rich and famous, I'd love to collect this set.  The only drawback is the lack of notable Phillies players in the set, which I'll get to in a a little bit.  The write-up in the Standard Catalog notes this is the first time the back of baseball cards featured a trivia question.
Notable competition:  Bowman issued two sets in 1953 - a 160-card color set and a 64-card black and white set.  Trying to keep up with Topps, both Bowman sets contained a line of prior year and career statistics on the back.

1991 Topps 1953 Archives #102, #140, #59, #136

1953 Phillies
Record and finish:  After winning 87 games and finishing in fourth in 1952, the record slipped to 83-71, but the finish improved to third place in the National League.  The Phils had finished the '52 season as one of the hottest teams in baseball, and they were primed to compete in the Senior Circuit in '53.  But it wasn't to be, as injuries and a red hot Brooklyn Dodgers team couldn't be overcome.
Key players:  Robin Roberts led the league in wins (23), strikeouts (198) and complete games (33) on his way to being named The Sporting News' pitcher of the year for the second consecutive year.  Richie Ashburn led the league in hits (205) while hitting .330 for the year.  Lefty Curt Simmons (16-13, 3.21) had another successful year and Jim Konstanty, who started 19 games for the Phils, made a nice comeback with a 14-10 record.  Left fielder Del Ennis (.285, 29 home runs, 125 RBIs) had another solid year.  Granny Hamner (.276, 21 home runs, 92 RBIs) was the starting shortstop for the National League in the All-Star Game, but he was moved to second over the summer to make room for rising prospect Ted Kazanski.
Key events:  Simmons cut off the end of one of his big toes in June, missing a month of the season.  Second baseman Connie Ryan had six hits in a game against the Pirates on April 16th.

1991 Topps 1953 Archives #311, #288, #318, #307

1953 Phillies in 1953 Topps
Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are only 9 Phillies cards in the '53 Topps set, which is well below the average for the 16 existing teams at the time.  Even worse, two of the nine Phillies featured didn't play a game for the team in 1953 - Howie Fox, who played for the AAA Baltimore Orioles all season, and Ken Heintzelman, who was released by the Phils on April 4th.  We're up to 36 total Phillies cards in Topps' first three years.

1991 Topps
1953 Archives #88 (Back)

Who’s in:  The Topps Company's ongoing disputes with Bowman over player contracts meant that not many Phillies were in.  There's only four of the regular position players - catcher Smoky Burgess, Hamner, third baseman Puddin' Head Jones and right fielder Johnny Wyrostek.  There's also two bench players (Ryan and infielder Tommy Glaviano) and just one lone pitcher who actually pitched for the Phils in '53 - Karl Drews.
Who’s out:  Just about everybody else - first baseman Earl Torgeson, shortstop Kazanski, outfielders Ennis and Ashburn, pitchers Roberts, Simmons and Konstanty and the entire bullpen.
Phillies on other teams:  Pitcher Johnny Lindell was purchased from Pittsburgh in August and he appeared in 11 games for the Phillies.  He appears on card #230 as a Pirate.
What’s he doing here?:  Fox and Heintzelman, as mentioned above.
Cards that never were candidates:  Ennis, Ashburn, Roberts, Simmons and Konstanty.
Favorite Phillies card:  I'm going with Willie Jones' card with its blue sky background with white fluffy clouds.  Although it would have been cool had Topps crammed in "Puddin' Head" on the front of the card instead of "Willie."

2002 Topps Heritage #30, #179, #246, #288

Other Stuff
Recycled:  Topps reprinted the '53 set in 1991, dubbing it 1991 Topps Archives, "The Ultimate 1953 Set."  Topps included 57 "cards that never were" featuring black and white photos and colored backgrounds, which completely failed to capture the look and feel of the original.  What could have been a cool concept was botched as the cards that never were looked absolutely nothing like the cards that actually were, save for the colored black or red box and team logo.  Had they done it right, the 1953 Topps Ashburn card would have looked like this.  As mentioned above, Topps used the design for its second Heritage set in 2002.

Blogs:  Check out this excellent entry on the '53 Topps set over at The Golden Age of Baseball Cards.

Did You Know?:  The Phillies logo used by Topps on its '52 and '53 baseball cards was never actually an official logo of the club.  The correct "official" logo in use at the time by the team on its publications and advertising materials was the logo featured here.  I've always wondered why the people at Topps generated their own Phillies logo for its earliest baseball cards instead of using the official logo.  Perhaps the thin blue line circling the Phillies' cap was too hard to replicate on a baseball card?  The official logo makes its long-awaited debut in the '54 Topps set.

1954 Bowman #191 Karl Drews

I was recently on the good end of a lopsided baseball card trade.  Reader John had contacted me before Christmas to ask if I'd be interested in a trade.  "But of course," I replied.  John had taken the time to go through my wantlists and list out the cards he had to offer in exchange for cards off his wantlists.  He mentioned he'd trade heavy in my favor.  I had no idea how true that statement would prove to be.

John's Phillies wantlist is extremely impressive.  He's down to needing turn of the century tobacco cards, obscure inserts from the '50s and '60s, oddball cards from the '80s and random parallel cards from the '90s, along with one or two cards from base sets throughout the '80s and '90s. I attacked his wantlist with zeal, only to come away with about a dozen Phillies cards from my doubles pile from the '80s and '90s.

1958 Topps #268

True to his word, John still wanted my pitiful little pile and in exchange he'd send me 10 cards from the '50s from my wantlists.  Well the cards arrived today, and I'm sitting here wondering if this is how the Indians' general manager felt when he unloaded Von Hayes for five Phillies players in December 1982.  I received this 1954 Bowman card, two cards from 1957 Topps, and eight cards from 1958 Topps.  (The other Topps cards will be prominently featured in upcoming "Topps Phillies" posts.)

Thank you John, and I've saved your wantlist in the hopes of finding some of the other cards you're trying to track down.

If you're looking for a good trading partner and you happen to have any extra Phillies tobacco cards, Bazooka cards from the '60s, or even a spare '97 Bowman's Best Atomic Refractor, let me know and I'll gladly shoot you John's e-mail.