Barrier Breakers: 1955 Elston Howard - New York Yankees

 

My final Barrier-Breaker card is a 1955 Topps Elston Howard of the Yankees.  He debuted in April of 1955 and played for the Yankees from 1955-1967 when he was traded to the Red Sox. He finished his career in Boston in 1968. He was a twelve-time all star and the 1963 AL MVP.  He did have a Bowman card in 1955 but not a Topps card.  Oddly, he also had a card in the 1994 Topps Archives set depicting him as a "1954 Prospect".  But to my knowledge, this is the only 1955 Topps card of Elston Howard.

He had been in the Yankees system since 1950 after they purchased him from the Kansas City Monarchs.  When he came up with the Yankees, he spent most of his time in the outfield.  Future Hall of Famer and three-time MVP, Yogi Berra caught most games with the Yanks until 1960. Howard took over and earned Gold Gloves behind the plate in 1963 and 1964.

Barrier Breakers: 1947 Larry Doby - Cleveland Indians

We all know Larry's story. Second to Jackie Robinson in the MLB and the second MLB manager behind Frank Robinson.  He also played in Japan in the early sixties. He has been one of my favorite subjects in this blog. I've made a few cards of him already. Here is a '55 Bowman, a 1963 Menko, an Alt-Topps MLB Dream Bracket card and a 1978 Topps manager card.  These all made appearances on my blog going back as many as 9 years.

I had floated the idea of the 1947 Bond Bread card on Twitter. Most liked it and thought it captured the era accurately.  The only complaint was the photo I had originally used.  Someone pointed out that it was already used on a  1979 TCMA card.  It actually was used by TCMA  again in 1984 and 1986.  In all, I found over a dozen cards that used that same photo, including several from Fleer and Topps. This version uses a magazine phot from that era.  I can't tell if it was colorized or just the print quality of the magazine.  At least I haven't found it on any other cards. Yet.

Earl Weaver & Stan Musial

The baseball world mourns the loss of 2 Hall of Famers today. 

Earl Weaver Managed the Baltimore Orioles from 1968-1982 then again in 1985 and 1986.

Stan Musial played 22 seasons for the Cardinals and appeared in 24 All Star Games.

1955 Bowman Stan Musial

St. Louis Cardinals CTNW Favorites #2

Stan Musial was notably missing from mainstream baseball cards in the '50s. He had a contract with Bowman and had cards in 1948, 1949, 1952 and 1953. But from 1954-57 he didn't have any cards at all. He simply didn't want to sign a contract with Topps. In 1958 Gussie Busch, the owner of the Cardinals, approached Sy Berger of Topps for a charitable contribution. Berger offered $1500 if Musial would sign a contract. A Stan Musial All Star card was added to the final series of the 1958 set but there wouldn't be a regular issue Topps card until 1959.

In 2011 Topps issued several "Lost Cards" of Musial, including 1953, 1955, 1956, 1957. In 2006 Topps produced a Walmart exclusive 1952 Musial card and in 2007 There was an eTopps version of the 1954. So far I have not seen an official Topps version of Musial on a 1951 card nor have I seen any remakes of the missing Bowman years, 1950, 51, 54 or 1955.

1955 Bowman Larry Doby

Cleveland Indians CTNW Fan Favorites #3

I'm putting together 5 "Cards That Never Were" fan favorites from each team. These are not necessarily the 5 best players from the franchise. So as David Letterman used to say before Stupid Pet Tricks, "This is only an exhibition. This is not a competition. Please, no wagering."

Larry Doby represented the Indians on the All-Star team 7 years in a row from 1949-1955. He played for the Indians from 1947-1955, then again in 1958. In the early 50's many players were left off sets because Topps and Bowman were competing for contracts with the players. That doesn't explain why Doby appeared on both Topps and Bowman card in 1954 but on neither in 1955.

1955 Bowman Santa Claus

I was looking to do a few "Christmas Cards" and wanted to see what else was out there before I started. That's when I came across the 2007 Topps Christmas Set. See images below. I had no idea these existed. I may have to pick up a set on eBay.

Merry Christmas!

Upon Further Review....

Ok, maybe some of these cards were done before.

I was on ebay looking for cards and came accross this:

This is an original sketch with an asking price of $299. Much better than my version. 

It made me think. Which other cards were done before?

So I googled the cards I made and this is what I found:

This was on a message board called "The Bench" under a thread called "Topps Cards That Never Were". This guy not only made the card but he graded it too. (Why only a 7?) Here's mine:

Next I found this:

This was on Amazon and it says that it was issued in 1995. Again the artwork is really nice. Not to nit-pick but, Aaron wasn't on the Braves in 1952 and the Braves were not in Milwaukee in 1952. Here is my version:

Next I found one that I really don't know how I missed. It is on Bob Lemke's Blog. I actually follow his blog and enjoy his cards. He does an artistic and professional job. Mine are for my own amusement. I really like his version. Not only is it a nice looking picture but the background is similar to Chuck Klein's 1941 Play Ball card and kind of reminiscent of the 1933 Tattoo Orbits. Here is his card:

I am almost ashamed to put mine up next to his but here it goes:

I found this for sale also on eBay:

It's a 2010 card from Monarch Corona. I never heard of them before. Here is my version:

At least nobody else made a 1979 Bobby Douglass.

1955 Bowman Herb Score

In 1955 Herb Score won the Rookie of the Year award. Unfortunately he didn't have a card until 1956. In 1957 Herb was hit in the face with a batted ball from Yankee's Gil McDougald breaking several bones in his face and missing the rest of the season. When he returned in 1958 he was nagged by injuries, changed his delivery and was never the dominating pitcher he was in his early career.