The National League All Star battery according to Topps in 1968 was Ken Holtzman (LHP), Bob Gibson (RHP) and Tim McCarvey (catcher). The actual Sporting News All Star selections for 1968 were Bob Gibson and Juan Marichal (both starting pitchers, both right-handed. I don't get this either). At catcher TSN had the rookie, Johnny Bench.
Ken Holtzman
I felt it was time to update the list of players in the iconic 1952 Topps set that are still with us. This was a project that was begun by the late Bob Lemke. Since my last update of this list, Eddie Robinson passed away at the ripe old age of 100. He was the oldest living MLB player at the time of his death. In August we lost Johnny Groth. He was 95. Cloyd Boyer, the older brother of Clete and Ken Boyer, left us in September at the age of 94.
That brings the survivors of the 1952 Topps set down to twelve. Here is the current list of the '52 survivors:
Bobby Shantz
Born 9/26/1925
Card #219
Born 6/29/1926
Card #355
Born 12/13/1926
Card #250
Born 4/8/1927
Card #180
Bob Kelly
Born 10/4/1927
Card #348
Born 12/6/1927
Card #281
Born 11/2/1928
Card #298
Born 5/19/1929
Card #203
Ike Delock
Born 11/11/1929
Card #329
Born 3/12/1930
Card #81
Born 11/4/1930
Card #369
Born 5/6/1931
Card #261
The 1968 Topps All Star cards for the National League outfield mirrored the 1967 All Star Game starting outfield. Perennial All Stars Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Roberto Clemente were all there. But the cards themselves say "The Sporting News 68 All Star Selection." The actual 1968 Sporting News All Star outfielders were Billy Williams, Curt Flood and Pete Rose.
After a relatively small group of potential All Star Cards That Never Were in my last post, this group is loaded. Here are the candidates:
Who probably didn't merit inclusion in the 1968 Topps All-Star set, but was in it anyway?
Morgan was not on the MLB All Star Roster nor the Sporting News All Star Roster in 1967 or 1968. Although he had (at then) a career high of 29 stolen bases in 1967, he was injured most of the 1968 season. playing only 10 games.
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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.
Getting back to the 1970 set, this time focusing on the NL Outfield. Topps was close, in that 2 of their 3 were actually 1969 All-Star starters (Alou and Aaron). But only one was named to the 1970 Sporting News All-Star roster (Aaron). That leaves me with 3 players who could have been included in this set.
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.
I was just reading the "Night Owl" post from June 3rd, about how the players of our youth seem to be passing away at an alarming rate. Specifically, players from the 1975 Topps set. It reminded me of another blogger who passed away a little over 4 years ago, Bob Lemke. Bob kept tabs of who was still alive from the 1952 Topps set.
Obviously, the list hasn't been updated in quite a while, so here is Bob's last update from November 2016 (Link Here). This was his list of surviving players from the 1952 Topps set:
PLAYER 1952 TOPPS BIRTH TEAMHis list of 41 has now dropped to just 15. The oldest being Eddie Robinson at 100 years and the youngest being the "Say Hey Kid" at a youthful 90.
Here is the current list of the '52 survivors:
Lastly, since this is a Cards That Never Were blog, I feel obliged to include at least one custom card. So here is my custom card of Bob Lemke himself. I'm not sure if he coined the phrase "Cards That Never Were" but it's the first place I'd heard it. He was a huge influence on this blog and the card community as a whole:
