Thursday, June 27, 2013

1968 Topps Willie Mays All Star MVP

Going Horizontal



1968 was truly the "Year of the Pitcher" . Denny McLain and Bob Gibson both won Cy Young and MVP awards for their respective leagues and Mickey Lolich won the World Series MVP. 

In the "Year of the Pitcher" we had one of the most unique All Star Games. The game was won by the NL despite the fact that there were no RBIs and no Earned Runs. The 12 pitchers combined for ZERO earned runs and 20 strike outs over 17 innings. (9 for the NL, 8 for the AL). The pitchers surrendered only 8 hits and 6 walks.

One of those hits came off the bat of Willie Mays who made the most of it. On a pick off play at first, Mays advanced to second on an errant throw by Luis Tiant. Mays then took 3rd on a wild pitch. Curt Flood walked then Willie McCovey grounded into a double play. Mays scored the only run of the day. Unearned because of the error. No RBI because of the double play.


1 comment:

  1. Another great looking card! I always enjoy seeing your work.

    As some additional material for your review of the game, here is a review of the broadcast of the 1968 All Star Game:

    http://fleersticker.blogspot.com/2011/07/1968-all-star-game-broadcast.html

    ReplyDelete