1963 Topps NL Stolen Base Leaders: Wills, Davis, Javier, Pinson, Taylor

This is a card that I'm sure Topps wished they could have made. In 1962 Maury Wills (who was famously not under contract with Topps) broke Ty Cobbs long-standing stolen base record and ushered in a new era of base running.

Stolen bases were more common in the dead ball era. But when Babe Ruth changed the way games were played stolen bases lost their popularity. In 1955 the Al and the NL leaders both had a paltry 25 SB each. In 1950 Dom DiMaggio led the AL with only 15 stolen bases.

 But you don't even need to go back that far. In the same season that Wills set the modern record for stolen bases at 104, the average stolen base total for an American League team was 56.

Rounding out the top 5 are Tommy Davis with 32, Julian Javier and Vada Pinson with 26, and Tony Taylor with 20.

1964 Topps All Stars - The National League Infield

In 1963 the entire starting infield for the NL was made up of St. Louis Cardinals. The corner infielders, White and Boyer also earned Gold Gloves in 1963. In addition, their Hall of Fame teammate, Stan Musial, was making his final All Star appearance in his last MLB season. Despite the All Star infield and leading the league in Runs and Batting average, the 1963 Cards fell short in the pennant race. They were no match for the Dodgers pitching dominance. 

The Cardinals offence in the 1963 All Star game didn't mirror the regular season. Collectively, the Cardinal All Stars had just 2 hits in 18 at-bats.

1964 Topps Bill White AS

1964 Topps Julian Javier AS

1964 Topps Dick Groat AS

1964 Topps Ken Boyer AS