Wednesday, December 1, 2021

Topps All-Star Misses: 1959 AL Outfield

In 1959 Topps' AL All Star outfield consisted of Mickey Mantle, Al Kaline and Roy Sievers. Of the three, only Mantle started in the 1958 ASG. Al Kaline was 9th inning defensive substitute for Ted Williams. The other two starting All Star outfielders were Bob Cerv of the Athletics and Jackie Jensen of the Red Sox.

In 1958 for Topps credited the All Star Selections to "Sport Magazine".  (They would repeat this in 1960.)  In 1959 the All Atar selections were supposedly from The Sporting News. This wasn't accurate either as Ted Williams was the only Sporting News All Star in 1958 to represent the American League outfield.  In 1959 the only AL outfielder selected was Minnie Minoso, who at that time was playing for the Cleveland Indians.


Who probably didn't merit inclusion in the 1959 Topps All-Star set, but was in it anyway?

Roy Sievers

He was not an All Star in 1958, but he finished 6th in MVP voting playing left field for the Senators. Sievers was primarily a first baseman in 1959. He was named a reserve in both All Star games that year, he only saw action in the first game as a pinch hitter. 



3 comments:

  1. Very nice! These fit right in with the originals. 1958, the first year the players, managers and coaches voted for the starters, since the fans stuffed the ballot box in 1957, and they vote for Bob Cerv over Ted Williams in leftfield. Really?

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    1. Bob Cerv had a great season in '58!

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    2. Agreed, but so did Williams, batting .328. It seems in most cases, not always, that the players and managers tended to concentrate on the one season, while the fans looked at the player's career.

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