Roberto or Bob?

 In my last post I made a 1962 All Star card for Roberto Clemente.  I went back and forth on whether to use the name that Topps used for Clemente back in that era or his chosen name of Roberto.  I opted for the one that was more historically accurate. This caused some discussion in the comments.  Was this a micro-aggression? Was Topps trying to anglicize his name to appeal to a broader audience? Or was this "Just Topps being Topps"?  Perhaps a little of each? 

When he came into the league his first two Topps cards had his name as Roberto Clemente (1955, 1956).  In 1957 they changed it to Bob.  A name that he did not like.  The kept this practice through 1969, and a few insert cards of 1970.

Occasionally Topps would accidentally refer to him as Roberto in the bio on the back of the card (Topps being Topps).  This was understandable as most people in the media and otherwise, called him by his given name of Roberto. Here are the backs of a 1959 Topps card featuring Clemente, Bob Skinner, and Bill Virdon:

Here is the back of his 1962 Topps card:

Also whenever his facsimile autograph appeared on a card it was a beautifully written "Roberto Clemente". 

In an odd twist the 1967 Topps card abbreviated his facsimile signature to "Rob" Clemente.  Possibly to justify referring to him as Bob all along?

The other card makers during that time almost exclusively referred to him as Roberto.  These were mostly food issues or local team issues. The only exceptions I found was the 1961 Post cereal card.  He was referred to as Bob in 1961 but Roberto in subsequent issues. And the 1966 East Hills Shopping Center card.  Here are some food issue cards from that era; 1962 Post, 1963 Jello, 1966 Kahn's and 1969 Nabisco:

Here's a couple more oddballs from that era:  1962 Salada Tea coins and a 1968 Atlantic Oil card:

Even the 1963 Fleer set had a "Roberto" Clemente card:

Here is an interesting article on the subject. Click Here. In it the author states that he searched newspapers.com for the year 1956 looking for uses of the name "Bob Clemente".  He then searched the same for "Roberto Clemente".  "Bob" had 706 hits, "Roberto" had 5,156 hits. While it was not unheard of, Bob was used approximately 12% of the time when referring to Clemente in 1956, the year Topps changed his name to "Bob".  I have no data to back this up, but would wager that as Clemente became more famous (ie: the sixties) that 12% usage of "Bob" in the media diminished. By 1970 Topps (with the exception of a couple 1970 insert cards) finally used his given name on the front of their card.

I recently saw a 1966 Clemente card on twitter drawn by Gummy Arts (@gummyarts).  In his own inimitable style he recreated the card accurately but instead used Clemente's given name.  I loved it, and told him so.  There is no real need for card creators to be historically accurate at the cost of simple dignity.   He was fiercely proud of his heritage and preferred to be called Roberto. 

Even Topps in their Project 70 series of cards reimagined the 1969 card with Clemente's given name:

Does that make me part of the "woke" politically correct crowd?  I honestly don't care.  Those type of labels mean nothing to me personally.  I think we should treat all people with dignity and respect.  If they are offended by something you say, do your best not to offend them.  Especially something small like a name.  Whether we're talking about "Bob" Clemente, "Richie" Allen, the Washington Redskins or the Cleveland Indians.  Most times it costs you nothing.  Other times it could be a marketing bonanza.  Just think how many new jerseys, t-shirts, hats, etc. the Guardians will sell this year. 

I have been collecting cards since 1974.  By then Clemente was gone, but I had never heard him referred to as "Bob".  It was odd when I found older cards that had that name.  By 1970 even Topps was calling him Roberto.  For me to refer to him as "Bob" in an effort to be historically accurate to what Topps would have done, is counter to what I put at the very top of this blog.  "What cards would look like if I had my way".  So with my apologies to Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker, here is the card I should have made:

I think it looks just as good as my previous "Bob" Clemente card. And it cost me nothing to show simple respect.

1956 Topps Ralph Kiner - 30 Tribute Card Project - Part 5

Good day and welcome to day 5. So far I've managed to find 19 of the 30 cards on the list that inspired me to take on this project. And so far I haven't had to make a single card. That ends now.

After serving as a Navy Pilot in WWII, Ralph Kiner began his Baseball career with the Pirates. Under the tutelage of future Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg, Kiner led the league in homers 7 consecutive years from his rookie season in 1946 until 1952. Kiner was traded to the Cubs in 1953 as part of a 10 player trade in part because of a salary dispute. Branch Rickey who was at that time the Pirates GM told him "We finished last with you, we can finish last without you." Kiner was traded to the Indians after the 1954 season. Back injuries limited him to 87 games with Cleveland in 1955 and at the age of 32 his playing days were over. 

He began his broadcasting career as a radio announcer on WCFL for the White Sox in 1961 but was taken in the expansion draft by the New York Mets and has been their broadcaster ever since. 

 Here is the list so far. The Black X represents cards produced by Topps, The red X represents those made by other baseball card geeks, and now the blue X represents the cards made by yours truly:

1.       1952 Joe DiMaggio X

2.       1956 Ralph Kiner X

3.       1957 Bob Feller X

4.       1957 Phil Rizzuto

5.       1957 Jackie Robinson X

6.       1961 Ted Williams X

7.       1962 Jackie Jensen

8.       1964 Stan Musial X

9.       1964 Early Wynn

10.   1965 Duke Snider

11.   1966 Yogi Berra X

12.   1966 Warren Spahn 

13.   1967 Sandy Koufax X

14.   1967 Robin Roberts X

15.   1968 Whitey Ford

16.   1969 Rocky Colavito X

17.   1969 Roger Maris 

18.   1969 Eddie Mathews

19.   1970 Don Drysdale X

20.   1972 Ernie Banks X

21.   1973 Maury Wills X

22.   1974 Willie Mays X 

23.   1977 Hank Aaron X

24.   1977 Frank Robinson X

25.   1978 Brooks Robinson X 

26.   1978 Jim Wynn

27.   1980 Lou Brock

28.   1980 Thuman Munson X

29.   1984 Johnny Bench X

30. 1984 Carl Yastrzemski X

To be Continued......

1977 Topps Eddie Murray

 In 1977 Eddie Murray and Andre Dawson were the Rookies of the Year. Both went on to be enshrined in Cooperstown.  Its not often that both AL and NL Rookies of the Year land in the Hall of Fame. 

In 1956 it was Luis Aparicio and Frank Robinson.

In 1967 we had Rod Carew and Tom Seaver.

And the most recent is Eddie Murray and Andre Dawson in 1977. The 2001 ROY's Ichiro and Albert Pujols, look like they have a pretty good chance but that is a fairly long drought. 

1975 Topps M.V.P. and R.O.Y. Cards: 1951-1959

Now that I have finally finished my run of Rookie of the Year cards as they might have appeared on 1975 Topps MVP cards I thought I would look back and see how they stacked up.

Neither Gil McDougald, nor Willie Mays had 1951 Topps cards so these were some of my earliest works. To Topps' credit, a '51 Campanella didn't exist either. For the MVP card they also modified the existing Yogi Berra card.

They increased the size and darkened the font of his name and eliminated the other text. They followed suit on the Campy cards as well. I tried to stay true to the original but it made the card harder to read. Topps made the right move.

For the 1952 card I needed only to create the Harry Byrd card. 

For the 1953 card I chose to use the Kuenn card Topps created for the 1991 Archives set. Kuenn did not have a card in the original 1953 Topps set.

Once again I used the Archives card for this one. Bob Grim was not included in the original set but was in the 1994 Archives set.

1955 shows 3 "Cards That Never Were". The first being the Campanella card Topps created for the 1975 MVP. Both photos black and white and what is worse, he is wearing an L.A. Dodgers cap. On the ROY card I used the 1955 Herb Score card that was created by Topps as a V.I.P. give-away at the National Sports Collector's Convention in 2005. The Virdon card was mine.

Mantle, Newcombe and Aparicio all had cards issued by Topps in 1956. The Robinson card was also a Topps creation. Once again I used a VIP card from the Nationals, this time from 2006.

For the first time all 4 cards were actually issued in the original set.

Ditto for 1958.

For the 1959 card I needed to create a McCovey rookie card. In this case I decided to make it look like a regular issue card as opposed to the Rookie Stars card like Bob Allison. If Topps had issued these cards they might've gone the other way because the standard 1959 set was already well represented on the MVP card. I felt that as a stand-alone card I needed to show off the standard set.

1975 Topps 1956 Rookies of the Year

Now that the post-season is over I can return to some of my recurring themes. Here is the 1956 edition giving the Rookies of the Year the same treatment Topps gave the MVPs in 1975. 

1956 is the first year that both Rookies of the Year went on to Hall of Fame careers. While Luis Aparicio had a card in the 1956 Topps set, Frank Robinson first appeared on a Topps card in 1957. 

 The Robinson card I included here was produced by Topps and given away in VIP packages at the 2006 National Sports Card convention.  I actually have one problem with this card. In 1956 the team was officially called the Redlegs. This was the height of the McCarthy era and the Reds changed names rather than be confused with communists. As ridiculous as it was to change the name, it seems disingenuous to ignore the name change on a reissue. A few days ago I include Bob Lemke's version of  Robinson' "rookie" card. His properly identified the team as Redlegs. Check it out.

October Shout Out

Bob Lemke's Blog

This is one of my favorite websites. If you are a baseball card geek like I am you will recognize the name. Bob is the Editor of the Standard Catalog of Vintage Baseball Cards.  His blog is full of information and quit a few custom cards.

His creations are head and shoulders above any I have seen on the web. He is obviously a perfectionist and it shows.

His cards all have a front and a back that is both true to the original set issue format and informative.

I could (and I have) spend hours going through his blog. Also if you are so inclined, he sells a limited number of hard copies of his creations. 

I really had a hard time narrowing down the cards to include on this page. I had to include Wheaton, IL native John Belushi and Brian Piccolo (note Lemke spelled his name correctly but Topps did not).  I love to see cards of famous players on unfamiliar teams (Robinson, Doby, Namath) or people who never had cards (Madden, Pride). I don't want to give away too much but go visit his blog. If you are like me, it's like being a kid in a candy store.