Topps All-Star Misses: 1969 AL Battery

Taking a look at the American League All Star battery represented on cardboard in 1969 and it's legit.  Topps had "Sudden" Sam McDowell as the left-handed pitcher.  Although he did not start in the 1968 All Star Game, he was the first lefty to come on in relief. For RHP they had Denny McLain who was chosen to the 1969 Sporting News All Star Roster. Finally, they had Bill Freehan who was the 1968 ASG starting catcher AND selected to The Sporting News All Star Roster.

Even still, there could be arguments made for two more pitchers.  Luis Tiant who was the starting pitcher in the 1968 ASG and Mike Cueller who was named The Sporting News All Star LHP.

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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).

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.

1968 Alt-Topps

Here's another in a series of rejected Topps designs ** (Now found in "The Brooklyn Collection". An exclusive "582 Montgomery Club" issue from Topps).**  As I stated in my previous post.  This mock-up features the photo of  Bubba Phillips and inexplicably bears the name of Angels pitcher Jim Weaver.

I'm not sure why they used the airbrushed photo from Phillips' 1964 card.A greater mystery is why the designer used Jim Weaver's name. He pitched just 53 innings at the major league level over 1967 and 1968.  Was it an inside joke? Was he related to someone at Topps? Why him? 

Well here is my cleaned up version of this card. I put the actual Jim Weaver in place of Bubba.

 I had to "borrow" the photo from his 1968 Topps Rookie Stars card.

Because Topps used Weaver as their subject, I am using this design for my Alt- Topps 1968 set. My usual method is to make base cards of that year's MVPs and Cy Young awards winners.  Since 1968 was the "Year of the Pitcher", Gibson and McLain won both MVP and Cy Young Awards. 

To round it out I added 2 more pitchers who had great 1968s.  Tiant led the A.L. with a 1.60 ERA.  Seaver was coming off his Rookie of the Year season in 1967. He had 16 win seasons in 1967 and 1968. Both of these pitchers were on the 1968 All Star teams.  Tiant was the A.L. starter and Seaver struck out 5 of the 8 batters he faced including Hall of Famers Mantle and Yaz.

If you haven't picked up on it already, there was something fishy about the National League pitchers.  Both Gibson and Seaver are posing as southpaws.  These two tried to pull a fast one on Topps and their poses even made it as far as the proof sheet. 

Here is a closer look at the Gibson and Seaver Proofs:

In 1968 the real Topps caught the pranks by these well-known pitchers before releasing the 1968 set.  The folks at Alt-Topps were more easily fooled.

1976 Alt-Topps Requests

A few quick requests before the end of the year. 

Buzz likes a challenge. He requested a few veterans that were playing out the twilight of their careers on different teams. 

He also requested a couple West-Coast favorites. Billy Buck and Rick Monday.  The photo used is somewhat a cheat. Monday performed his famous flag rescue on May 4, 1976. This photo was obviously taken some time after that. He was dealt to the Dodgers for Buckner (in a five player deal) after the 1976 season.  Again, the colors used in the base cards reflect he colors Topps used for these teams in the real 1976 set. 

Deogolf requested more World Series cards so here are Games 1 & 7.

Bill wanted some All Stars so for good measure I added a couple stolen base experts. In truth, I just needed an excuse to use a photo that incorporated the little used football-styled helmet the Cards used in 1975.