Thursday, November 8, 2018

More 1964 Alt-Topps

Managers, Team Cards and Rookies


What set would be complete without the basic staples? Managers, team cards and rookie cards.

The manager cards in the actual 1964 Topps set were pretty much the same as the base cards.  In my "Bizzaro Universe" set, too. 


For the team cards I kept the basic card design continuity along with the full color team logo.

 In the real 1964 Topps set, the picture for the A's showed a team still in the 1961 uniforms. In the early 60's the A's changes uniforms more than most teams changed underwear. The uniforms shown on this card were introduced in 1964. 
The other strange difference in these cards is the sheer volume of players. The Braves must've taken the picture at the beginning of spring training. The A's looked like they waited until they were down to a 25 man roster.

For the rookie cards I went 3 across and broke it down to position and league. This is something that I don't think Topps ever did. I've seen them break it down by league, team, or position. To my best recollection, I don't remember Topps going in this direction. They only had multiplayer rookie cards since 1962. In 62 they were broken down by position. In 1963 they were simply labeled "Rookie Stars", not broken down by league, team nor position. So it's not too far fetched that this would be the format they could've opted for,

Of course with 20/20 hindsight, I stacked the deck with the Rookies of the Year for 1964, Dick Allen and Tony Oliva.  I also doubled up on rookie Hortons in the AL. In the NL included Don Kessinger and HOFer Tony Perez.


7 comments:

  1. First a "trip" back to 1972 (always a "trip"), now this!! Next stop the Pleistocene? Just kidding....love this stuff, your choice of K.C. for a team card was just perfect. "Buzz" Bryant

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    1. Thank you for classing up this joint. "Pleistocene"? Ashamed to admit I needed to google it. LOL. Thanks again Buzz for the kind words.

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  2. These are nice! Wish Topps would put out something like this instead of the crap they have been putting out since 2016 or so.

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  3. Awesome cards Mr. Hogan, as usual. :)

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  4. Well, you were close to being unique with your rookie cards. Even after Topps shifted to splitting most of their rookie cards up by teams in 1964, they usually had a handful of rookie cards in the later series that included players from different teams. And some of those cards were organized by both league and position, but the card didn't specifically state that fact, like your cards do . . .

    . . . until 1971, when Topps had five rookie cards that were organized by both league and position AND stated as much on the card. But the best rookie card that year was #664, a card featuring three rookie pitchers . . . all with the same last name. So Topps was sort of paying attention :-)

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    1. Nice catch. You were dead right and I really should have known it. I had previously featured a card that was designated by league and position on my other blog Rating the Rookies.

      Here is a link. If you scroll down the page you can see Keith Lampard's 1971 rookie card that is designated as "N.L. Outfielders"

      https://ratingtherookies.blogspot.com/2015/02/1972-topps-expos-rookie-stars-terry.html

      Thanks again for catching that.

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