Topps All-Star Misses: 1961 NL Outfield

 The 1961 Topps "Sporting News" All Star cards were pretty close to accurate as far as reflecting what the cards purported to represent.  Topps had Aaron, Mays and Frank Robinson.  Three solid choices and future first-ballot Hall of Famers, all. Two of the three were actually The Sporting News All Star selections for 1961 (Mays and Robinson).  Topps was also two for three when it came to starters in the the 1960 All Star Games.  Mays and Aaron started both games in 1960. That being said these two Pirates could have been in that set just as easily.  Bob Skinner started in left field in both 1960 ASGs.  Roberto Clemente was selected to The Sporting News All Star team in 1961.

Topps All-Star Misses: 1961 AL Battery

In 1961 Topps had LHP Whitey Ford, RHP Jim Perry and catcher Earl Battey representing the AL battery. Only Ford was an actual Sporting News All Star in 1961. He was also the only starter in either 1960 All Star game, starting the second game. Bill Monbouquette was the starter in game 1.

Whitey For was the 1961 Sporting News All Star selection for left handed pitcher.  The right handed pitching selection was Tigers pitcher Frank Lary.

Righty Monbouquette started game one and southpaw Ford started game two.  In game one, the first lefty reliever was Bud Daley.  In game two the first right handed reliever was Ealy Wynn.

At catcher, Topps had Earl Battey, but the starter for both 1960 games was Yogi Berra. His backup from 1955-1959 was Elston Howard, who also platooned in the outfield for the Yankees.  But by 1960 he was getting the majority of starts behind the plate.  In 1961 he was named to the Sporting News All Star team at catcher. 

Who probably didn't merit inclusion in the 1961 Topps All-Star set, but was in it anyway?

Jim Perry was the runner up to Bob Allison for the AL Rookie of the year in 1959. In 1960 he led the AL with 18 wins. He was selected to the 1961 All Star team as a reserve. Earl Battey was a Gold Glove catcher for the Senators/Twins franchise in 1960 and 1961.  He was also 8th in MVP voting in 1960. That being said he wasn't an All Star in either season. Nor was he selected to The Sporting News roster.  So neither actually belong by my narrow definition.  If we only knew Topps definition...

Topps All-Star Misses: 1961 NL Infield

 There were two All Star Games in 1960 and in 1961 Topps had Panch Herrera as their All Star first baseman, Mazeroski at second, Ken Boyer at 3rd and Ernie Banks at short.  Only Maz and Banks started in the 1960 games.  Although Boyer didn't start in the 1960 ASGs he was the 1961 Sporting News All Star selection at 3rd base.  Here are a few cards that could have been included in that All Star subset.

At first Topps could have included Joe Adcock who actually started both 1960 ASGs.  They also could have had Orlando Cepeda who was The Sporting News actual 1962 All Star selection at 1st base.

At second, they could have included Frank Bolling.  He was the 1962 Sporting News All Star selection at second base.  And at third, his teammate, Eddie Mathews, started both 1960 ASGs.

At short, The Sporting News All Star was Maury Wills.  Of course, he was famously not under contract with Topps at the time.  So here is what could've been:

Who probably didn't merit inclusion in the 1961 Topps All-Star set, but was in it anyway?

Frank (Pancho) Herrera:

Herrera was 2nd place in Rookie of the Year voting in 1960, far behind Frank Howard. He also led the league in errors at first base and had a then MLB record of 136 strikeouts.  He wasn't a 1960 All Star, nor was he a Sporting News All Star.  He is an interesting side note though.  He played from 1955-1974 in pro ball. Only parts of three seasons were at the Major League level.  In that time he amassed 305 homers at all levels.  He was elected to the International League Hall of Fame in 2008.

Topps All-Star Misses: 1961 AL Outfield

Topps 1961 All-Star AL outfield contained  Mantle, Maris and Kaline.  Mantle an Maris both started in the two 1960 All Star games and were also 1961 Sporting News All Stars.  Joining them in the outfield for the 1960 games was the "Cuban Comet" Minnie Minoso.  The 3rd 1961 Sporting News All Star outfielder was Rocky Colavito.  Therefore both Minnie and Rocky were worthy of cards in this subset.

Who probably didn't merit inclusion in the 1961 Topps All-Star set, but was in it anyway?

Al Kaline:

 Al Kaline, a future Hall of Famer played in both 1960 and both 1961 ASGs.  He even started the second 1961 ASG.  Plus he was an impressive 5 for 9 in the 4 games.  Nobody doubts "Mr. Tiger's"  bona fides. Since he was a starter in neither of the 1960 contests and he was not selected to The Sporting News All Star team in 1961 (or for that matter, not in 1960 either), his inclusion in this set is questionable.

Topps All-Star Misses: 1961 NL Battery

 Let me start by saying that Topps had no mystery players represented in the NL battery.  Their 1961 All Stars included RHP Bob Friend who was the starting pitcher of the first ASG of 1960. They had Del Crandall at catcher who started both ASGs in 1960. At LHP they had Warren Spahn who was selected to The Sporting News All-Star roster in both 1960 and 1961. That being said there are still five potential inclusions to this subset from the NL Battery alone.

LHP Mike McCormick:

• On the NL All Star roster for both games on 1960.
• Was the first lefty to come on in relief in ASG 1 in 1960.
• On the NL All Star roster for both games on 1961.
• Led NL with 2.70 ERA in 1960.

LHP Johnny Podres:

• On the NL All Star roster for both games on 1960.
• Was the first lefty to come on in relief in ASG 2 in 1960.
• Was 14th in NL MVP voting in 1961.
• Led NL in Win/Loss % in 1961.

RHP Vern Law:

• On the NL All Star roster for both games on 1960.
• Was the starting pitcher in ASG 2 in 1960.
• 1960 Cy Young award winner.
• Was 6th in NL MVP voting in 1960.
• Led NL with 18 complete games in 1960.

RHP Joey Jay:

• On the NL All Star roster for both games on 1961.
• Named to The Sporting News All Star roster in 1961.
• Led NL in Wins with 21 in 1961.
• Led NL in Shut Outs with 4 in 1961.

Catcher Smoky Burgess:

• On the NL All Star roster for both games on 1960.
• Was 20th in NL MVP voting in 1960.
• Starting catcher in both 1961 ASGs.
• Named to The Sporting News All Star roster in 1961.

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 My latest project is making All Star Cards That Never Year for the years 1958-62 and 1968-70.  During those years Topps decision making on these cards was haphazard and a mystery to everybody but Topps. They were NOT based on the current season's "Sporting News All Stars" nor the previous season's ASG starters.  So I've made additional cards based on this criteria.   

What started as an idea for a small project, ballooned to over 150 cards so I'll be posting these in small doses.  I'll be breaking it down by year, league (NL or AL), and positions (battery, infield and outfield).

Topps All-Star Misses: 1961 AL Infield

  My latest project is making All Star Cards That Never Year for the years 1958-62 and 1968-70.  During those years Topps decision making on these cards was haphazard and a mystery to everybody but Topps. They were NOT based on the current season's "Sporting News All Stars" nor the previous season's ASG starters.  So I've made additional cards based on this criteria.   

What started as an idea for a small project, ballooned to over 150 cards so I'll be posting these in small doses.  I'll be breaking it down by year, league (NL or AL), and positions (battery, infield and outfield).

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Norm Cash:

• Named to 1961 Sporting News All Star team.
• Started both 1961 MLB All Star games.
• Led AL with .361 batting average in 1961.
• 4th in 1961 MVP voting.

Pete Runnels:

• Started both 1960 MLB All Star games.
• Led AL with .320 batting average in 1960.
• 17th in 1960 MVP voting.

Bobby Richardson:

• Named to 1961 Sporting News All Star team.
• Won Gold Glove in 1961.
• 24th in 1961 MVP voting.

Tony Kubek:

• Named to 1961 Sporting News All Star team.
• Started in 1961 MLB All Star Game 1.
• Reserve in 1961 All Star Game 2.
• 11th in 1960 MVP voting.

Ron Hansen:

• 1960 AL Rookie of the Year.
• Started both 1960 MLB All Star games.
• 5th in 1960 MVP voting.

Frank Malzone:

• Started both 1960 MLB All Star games.
• Led AL in Double-Plays turned at 3B from 1957-1961.

Who probably didn't merit inclusion in the 1961 Topps All-Star set, but was in it anyway?

Nellie Fox:

As much as it pains this White Sox fan, the 1959 MVP just doesn't belong.  He was an All Star reserve in both 1960 games and both 1961 games.  However, he wasn't a Sporting News All Star either year. Nor did he start any of the 4 All Star games in 1960 or 1961.

One More for "Mr. Tiger"

Last week baseball lost another legend.  Here is one more card in the style of the 1967 Alt-Topps. Over the past several years he has been featured on this blog more than a few times.  In fact, he was even included in my latest posts of the 1967 Alt-Topps.  He was on the AL batting leaders card.

He passed away on the 6th of April and his #6 was retired by Detroit in 1980.  I thought it might be interesting to see how Kaline performed on April 6th over his Hall of Fame career.  But what I came to realize is that the baseball season for the most part used to begin mid-April.  Its has been creeping earlier and earlier since 1970. Kaling had only played on April 6th 3 times in his career. Collectively, he hit .462 in just 3 games: 1970, 1971 and 1974.  He went 6 for 13 with 3 walks, 2 RBIs and 2 runs scored.  Not bad.

Here are the cards that I've created for this blog in the past:

Angels No-Hit Tribute to Tyler Skaggs

Two days in a row, I'm creating tribute cards. Yesterday was Jim Bouton who was 80 years old.  A genuine loss to all baseball fans.  Last night the Angels paid tribute to Tyler Skaggs.  Today would have been his 28th birthday.

The tribute wouldn't have been believed if it were scripted.  The entire team wore his uniform, name and number. His mother, a former softball player, threw out the first pitch.  From the mound.  A perfect strike. 

Taylor Cole opened the game by striking out the first batter. Normally a relief pitcher, he only went two innings.  Both of them perfect.  In the Angels first, Fletcher led off with a double, then Mike Trout launched the first pitch 454 feet to put the Angels up 2-0.  Trout would also get a double in that 7 run first inning.

Felix Pena came in and pitch 7 near-perfect innings. He allowed one walk in the 5th before retiring the next 14 in a row.  After celebrating the 13-0 no-hitter, the players all laid their #45 jerseys on the  mound. 

There was so much going on that there is no way to capture it all on one card.  Instead, I made a card in the style of the 1961 Topps Baseball Thrills crediting all three pitchers. 

Minnie Minoso

1925-2015

Another one of my all-time favorites passed away today. It's odd that the player who broke the color barrier for the White Sox died within weeks of the player who broke the color barrier for the Cubs. I can't express what these 2 great men meant to the city of Chicago and to baseball. Today's news just amplifies the tragedy of the recent "Golden Age" Hall of Fame ballot.

Minnie Minoso has always been one of my favorite subjects.I made the card above back in 2011 to commemorate his brief appearance playing for the Sox in 1980. I changed up the Topps cap design a bit to look more like the Sox cap of the era. Ultimately, I wasn't happy with it and never posted it until today.Instead went with this 1981 Fleer card:

I had also created 2 different cards for Minnie from 1951 sets. A 1951 Bowman of Minoso on the White Sox:

And a 1951 Topps card of Minnie on the Indians:

He even made it onto one of the leaders cards that never were, this 1961 RBI leaders card:

1961 Topps Checklist - Cards That Never Were - 21th Series

This checklist features a photo of Connie Mack Stadium or as it was originally called Shibe Park. It was home to both the Philadelphia Phillies and the Philadelphia Athletics. The cards include the last of the tribute cards, the 1972 All Star cards, the rookie class of 1978, and the 1965 leader cards that never were. Also included was Elway on the Colts and the first few lost Chris Short cards.

1961 & 1962 Topps Chris Short

I am continuing with my versions of the Chris Short cards that never were. If you read the last few posts you know that like Maury Wills, Short was missing from Topps sets during the same time period for possibly similar reasons. Unlike Wills, the missing Chris Short cards are not as well documented. 

In 1961 Chris short led the league in wild pitches. He was still splitting time between starting and coming out of the pen. His record was an abysmal 6-12 with a 5.94 ERA. Although his record was right in line with the last place Phillies, who had an overall record of 47-107 and gave up an average of 5.1 runs.

The 1962 Phillies improved to 81-80. That was still only good enough for 7th place, only beating out the 2 expansion teams and the Cubs' disasterous "College of Coaches".

Chris Short improved as well. His record went to 11-9 and his wild pitches were cut in half.

1961 Topps Checklist - Cards That Never Were - 20th Series

My 20th checklist which includes my 500th card. This has gone well beyond a mere hobby into a genuine sickness. Once again I changed up the format of my checklists. I kept the 1961 style but instead of brawls I decided to feature former ballparks. For my first version in this format I went with old Comiskey Park. No surprise there, I've always shown a bit of favoritism toward the hometown.

30 Tribute Card Project - Part 2

     In my last post I wrote about the latest project I decided to take on. It is based on this article on the Sports Collectors Daily website. In that post I showed the cards on that list that Topps actually made in one form or another and was able to check numbers 1,3,8, and 20 off the list.    

    Today I am going to present cards made by fellow card geeks that I found elsewhere on the web. Some of these have multiple versions on the internet. I chose these particular cards in order to get a variety of the sites I like onto the list without too much repetition. 

    First is #5 on the list 1957 Jackie Robinson.  Robinson was traded to the Giants after the 1959 season. But Robinson had other plans. He had already decided to retire. This card was created by one of my favorite sites, Dick Allen Hall of Fame. Unfortunately that site has been idle for a while now but the creator is now working on the DickAllen15.com, the official Dick Allen website. 

   Topps produced a card of Robinson sporting a giants uniform as part of the 2009 National promo set. but for whatever reason the made it a 1959 card. This card just makes more sense.

     Next is # 6, 1961 Ted Williams. Williams retired after the 1960 season and he went out with style. He hit a homer in his last at bat September 28, 1960. This card is courtesy of  Keith Conforti. I've seen his cards in several locations on the web. To see most of them in one place, here is a link to his Picasa Web Album.

    #11 is the 1966 version of Yogi Berra. Berra had actually retired after the 1963 season to become the Yankees manager in 1964. After losing the World Series to the Cardinals, Berra was fired. He return as a "Player/Coach" of the Mets in 1965 but played in only 4 games. His 1965 Topps card listed him as catcher-coach. This card can be found on Uncle Doc's Card Closet. 

    A few cards on this list have been made by multiple collectors. #13 on the list is one of the more frequently produced. In fact I made a 1967 Sandy Koufax All-Star card myself not that long ago. This one comes from Bob Lemke's Blog. Bob is THE leader in creating Cards That Never Were. He has been producing them for years. 

 

     The #14 card on the list was created for White Sox Cards. As a White Sox fan and a fan of custom cards, I am a regular follower of this site. Robin Roberts was dropped by the Astros in July of 1966 after winning just 3 games in 12 starts. He didn't fare much better when the Cubs signed him 9 days later. He won 2 in 9 starts then hung up his cleats at the end of the season.  Still, it's always nice to see a Hall of Famer in a hometown uniform.

    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:

1.       1952 Joe DiMaggio X

2.       1956 Ralph Kiner

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

17.   1969 Roger Maris 

18.   1969 Eddie Mathews

19.   1970 Don Drysdale

20.   1972 Ernie Banks X

21.   1973 Maury Wills

22.   1974 Willie Mays

23.   1977 Hank Aaron

24.   1977 Frank Robinson

25.   1978 Brooks Robinson 

26.   1978 Jim Wynn

27.   1980 Lou Brock

28.   1980 Thuman Munson

29.   1984 Johnny Bench

30. 1984 Carl Yastrzemski

To be continued......