1968 Topps Joe Morgan Game Insert

  

I decided to pay tribute (although belatedly) to Joe Morgan by adding him to the 1968 Topps Game Inserts.  He was on the Astros at that time and Topps was in a dispute with Monsanto over the Astros trademark.  So many Houston players appeared hatless or with the logo airbrushed. 

This was actually called out in the comment section when I had made a 1969 Topps Deckle card for Joe Morgan.  I had to agree with the accuracy of the comment and made a second version:

Of course Morgan's superstar status in the '70s made him a frequent subject on this blog. Here are some of the other Joe Morgan Cards That Never Were from past blog posts. 

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Just a side note:  I fought with this posting for hours.  The new google blogger is just awful.  I couldn't get the cards to line up properly.  So after a long battle, I gave up and stacked them.  Then my post wasn't showing up on other feeds.  I deleted it the re-made it, thinking all the reshuffling of images might've messed it up.  Still nada.  Finally it's showing up on others' blog rolls but it randomly used the 4th image instead of the 1st. I am so close to switching to a new platform.  Any recommendations?

More 1973 Alt-Topps

Traded, Rookies and Managers

Filling out the set, here are some rookie cards, traded cards and manager/coaches cards.

On November 27, 1972 the Mets dealt Tommie Agee to the Astros for two minor leaguers.  The Mets GM didn't sugar-coat it, telling the press, "We were dissatisfied with Agee's playing."  Agee looks a little dissatisfied himself.  One day later, Frank Robinson was involved in a seven-player deal that sent him 30 miles Southeast from Chavez Ravine to the big "A" in Aneheim. 

The 1973 NL Rookie of the Year was Gary Matthews Sr. He batted an even .300 and had 58 RBIs.  A couple other notable debuts in 1973 were made by Dave Winfield and Dave Parker.  With the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, I included them on this card.

In the AL it was Al Bumbry or as Topps called him on his rookie card, "Alonza".  I also included Jerry Hairston whose father, brother and two sons also played in the MLB. Rounding out the trio is Gorman Thomas who was a first round pick of the Seattle Pilots but didn't make the majors until 1973.

In the early years (through 1956) Topps included both managers and coaches in the regular set.  There have been a few exceptions since, notably Yogi Berra listed as catcher/coach in 1965 and the Cubs failed experiment with the "College of Coaches" in the early 1960s. Bob Kennedy was listed as "Head Coach" of the Cubs in 1964 & 1965. With a wealth of MLB retired stars coaching, I wouldn't mind seeing cards of them included.

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Just as I've done in previous Alt-Topps posts, I'll make as many request as I can. Hopefully, I'll post them in a few weeks. Just post your requests (or even ideas for other subsets, etc) in the comment section.  Thanks.

MLB Dream Bracket Alt-Topps Cards Pt. 11

Results of  MLB Dream Bracket 

Quarter Finals and Semi Finals

The semi finals contained teams that had long, rich histories.  The Yankees were born as the Baltimore Orioles in 1901. The moved to the Big Apple in 1903 and became the Highlanders. In 1913 they were renamed the Yankees.

The Red Sox were also founded in 1901. The Boston American League team had no official nickname until 1908 when they adapted Red Sox from the Boston NL team the Boston Red Stockings. The NL Boston Red Stockings were actually the original Cincinnati Red Stockings and would eventually become the Boston Braves. The Boston AL team had many unofficial nicknames prior to 1908, Pilgrim, Puritans, Somersets and Americans.

The Reds claim to be the oldest team in baseball. This is not entirely true. The Cincinnati Red Stockings were the first professional ball club, born in 1869.  As mentioned earlier that club moved to Boston and lives on now as the Atlanta Braves. This franchise was actually born in 1882 also named Red Stockings. It was often shortened to Reds. In 1911 it became official with the appearance of "Reds" on their uniform.  During the McCarthyism era in the fifties, they briefly changed their name to Redlegs in a shameful effort to distance themselves.

The Dodgers were originally the Brooklyn Atlantics in 1883. Then for many years, had no official nickname. They were called the Superbas, the Infants, the Bridegrooms, the Robins, the Trolley Dodgers or just the Dodgers for many years. It wasn't until 1932 that "Dodgers" became official and  appeared on their jerseys.

For these brackets, I re-used the cards I had created for each team right up until the semifinals. At that point I needed to create new cards for Jeter, Gehrig, Tiant, Larkin, Bench and Koufax.

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These cards are base on the MLB Dream Bracket.  Not sure who picked the "all-time players". It is a product of Twitch, Out of the Park and Draft Kings.  I take no responsibility for their choices, good or bad.  The cards themselves are based on a rejected Topps design from the late sixties.

To check the status of the bracket click here.

MLB Dream Bracket Alt-Topps Cards Part 9

Recap of  AL Dream Bracket 

Round 1 & 2

The only real upset in this round could have been the Astros advancing past the Orioles and Tigers. The big disappointment for me was the early exit of the Negro League Legends.

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These cards are base on the MLB Dream Bracket.  Not sure who picked the "all-time players". It is a product of Twitch, Out of the Park and Draft Kings.  I take no responsibility for their choices, good or bad.  The cards themselves are based on a rejected Topps design from the late sixties.

To check the status of the bracket click here.

MLB Dream Bracket Alt-Topps Cards Part 3

A's v Rays and Orioles v Astros

These "games" have already been played, you can check the results here. I got a chance to watch a bit of these yesterday.  I was disappointed.  The graphics were almost non existent.  I was hoping for something more like the White Sox are doing with NBCSN and "MLB The Show". 

The "greatest" player selection was made by "Twitch" or "Out of the Park" or "Draft Kings" or whoever.  I can't say I totally agree. Also there were no players "disqualified". That mean they included "Shoeless"  Joe Jackson, Pete Rose, Barry Bonds, etc.  In fact, there seems to be a plethora of steroids-era players.

These games are going on right now. As I type many American Leagues have already been eliminated. So I'm doubling up today. Just want to get as many cards out while they are still relevant. I'm still making 4 for each team, 1 pitcher and 3 position players. Once again, the card design is based on a rejected Topps design from the late sixties.

For the A's, I made cards of Eddie Plank, Jimmie Foxx, Bert Campaneris, and Rickey Henderson.  On the Rays there is David Price, Fred McGriff, Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria,

In the Orioles-Astros match up, we have Jim Palmer, Frank Robinson, Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken. For the Astros it's JR Richard, Cesar Cedeno, Brad Ausmus and Carlos Correa.

More 1975 Alt-Topps

Rookies, All Stars and Team Cards

In my last post I held back the AL MVP, Fred Lynn in favor of runner-up John Mayberry.  I kept him for this card along side of the 3rd place finisher in MVP voting and the ROY runner-up, Jim Rice. With a rookie class like this and narrowly losing the World Series in 1975, they would still wait 11 more years for their next World Series appearance. Rice and Dwight Evens were the only Red Sox that played in both Series.

In the NL the Rookie of the Year was Giants pitcher John Montefusco.  He's teamed up on this card with Jack Clark. Clark was a September call-up for the Giants at the age of 19.  Montefusco beat out HOF catcher, Gary Carter. Carter spent most of the 1975 season in the outfield.  Barry Foote was their everyday catcher despite hitting less than his weight.

For these All Star cards, I found some action photos from the 1974 All Star Game. Murcer was traded to the Giants in 1975 but appeared as a Yankee in the 1974 ASG.  Likewise, Aaron was dealt to the Brewers in 1975.  Unfortunately, both these stars went 0 for 2 in the '74 classic.  Aaron and Murcer would play in the 1975 ASG but for the opposite league.  This time as reserves, both would go hitless again.

I struggled a bit adapting this format to the traditional team card format.  After several attempts, this was the design that I disliked least. Here are the two Texan teams.  

The Rangers were led by Billy Martin at the start of '75 season. The Astros began the season with Preston Gomez. Martin would finish the 1975 season managing the Yankees replacing Bill Virdon.  Virdon would then move to Houston and replace Gomez as manager.

1984 Topps Stadium Statues: 2019 ALDS - Rays vs Astros Edition

This life-size Boggs statue is across from his display in Ted Williams' Hitters' Hall of Fame at Tropicana Field. The statue commemorates his 3000th hit. It happened to be a two run homer in Tampa Bay.  The Bagwell Statue is outside another domed stadium named after orange juice, Minute Maid Park.  These guys are both depicted in possibly the ugliest uniforms in the respective franchises' histories.   

My favorite Houston uni is the Original Colt .45 home uniforms, followed closely by the Tequila Sunrise '70s uni.  The Rays hands-down-best is their 70's faux-back based loosely on the San Diego Padres of that era. There may be some room for discussion on Houston uniforms, but the 70's faux-back is the only correct answer for Tampa Bay.

More 1968 Alt-Topps *UPDATED*

Managers, Team Cards and Rookies

Nothing ground breaking here. I simply used the base card format for the managers.

I had to use this photo because I never noticed that the White Sox coaches had caps that were different than their players. This is similar to the A's look in the '60s and 70s. I scoured 2 of my favorite sites looking for other examples of coach-specific White Sox caps. I had no luck at either Chris Creamer's Sportslogos.net or Paul Lukas's Uni-Watch.com.  If either of these blogs can help me out with more information, hit me up.    ****See update below for more information***

For the team cards I used the Topps 1965 and 1966 method of including where the team finished the previous year.

For whatever reason, Topps did not include team cards of the Astros, Cubs, Giants, Indians, Red Sox or Yankees in the real 1968 set.  In this alt-set we got the Giants and Red Sox covered.

As usual I included the Rookies of the Year in my sampling of rookie cards.

For the Reds, Bench and McRae. And for the Yankees Bahnsen and Bobby Cox.

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UPDATE Jan 10, 2019

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That was fast. 

I knew that posing this question to Paul Lukas would yield results. I just didn't realize how quickly he would have the answer. He sent me a link to Todd Radom's blog where he had a great and humorous history of this short-lived ballcap.

Here is a link to Todd Radom's Blog. There is plenty of good reading there. I can really lose a full day just going through it. (Just a friendly warning)

Here is a screenshot of his explanation:

There is also a terrific graphic that accompanies this story.  I won't include that here. I feel I have already taken too many liberties posting his explanation. I do recommend following the above link to see it for yourself.

That is Tiger Stadium depicted in the photo used for this card.  I would have to deduce that this was the final appearance of this ill-fated cap.

Thanks again to Paul Lukas of  Uni-Watch!