Here is another card created for "Rating the Rookies".
The reason I chose to use these players was to kill 2 birds with one
stone. First, Bobby Cox played only 2 seasons at the Major League level
before going on to his Hall of Fame managing career. He didn't have a
card his rookie season, 1968. But his 1969 Topps card featured the
"Topps 1968 All-Star Rookie" trophy.
So one reason was to give Bobby Cox a card for his 1968 season, but the more important reason was this magazine cover:
This
cover featured Sports Illustrated's picks for the rookie class of 1968.
Of these 5, Topps agreed with SI on 3. Johnny Bench, Mike Torrez and
Cisco Carlos all had "Rookie Stars" cards in the 1968 Topps set. But
Don Pepper (who never had any cards) and Alan Foster were left out.
A
while back, I created this card that included Don Pepper at the request
of a Tigers' fan who wanted some cards commemorating their 1968 season.
(He specifically wanted a Jim Rooker card among others.) Click here.
Now thanks to a randomly selected card from "Rating the Rookies", all 5 players now have 1968 Topps Rookie Stars cards to go along with the 1968 SI cover.
