Favorite Players A-Z (Part 3 of 3)

 Part 3 of "Everybody else is doing it, why can't I?"  Here's "S" through "Z" of my favorite players.  This time there aren't any ties, but a full 50% of them are Chicago cards.  Told you I was a homer.

1976 Topps Ron Santo

1990 Donruss Frank Thomas

1976 Topps Father/Son style Bob Uecker Broadcaster

1976 Topps Rookie Pitchers - Pete Vuckovich

1987 Topps Billy Williams All Star

OK this is another cheat, but his nickname is "Double X" so...

Jimmie Foxx on a rejected Topps prototype

1982 Topps Robin Yount In Action

For my final card, I chose a real one.  Bottom line is you cannot improve on this card. From the high sign, to the six balls nailed to the bat, to the inexplicable pink undershirt. It is art, plain and simple.

1952 Topps Gus Zernial

MLB Dream Bracket Alt-Topps Cards Part 8

Cubs v Mets
Giants v Brewers

The 3rd round began yesterday and I'm just finishing up the first round of match ups.  Again they pitted older franchises against sixties expansion teams. The Mets colors were originally colors were going to be pink and black.  They decided to change them to orange and blue in homage of the two New York teams that had recently departed for the west coast.  The Brewers were born as the Seattle Pilots in 1969. Weeks before the 1970 season they were "rescued" by Bud Selig and relocated to Milwaukee.

In the Cubs - Mets match up, I went for a 1969 reunion. On the Cubs 26 man roster there is exactly one pitcher (Jenkins) and 3 starting position players (Banks, Santo and Williams).  For the Mets there are 3 pitcher (Seaver, Koosman and McGraw), one starting position player (Jones) and one reserve (Agee) that played in 1969. So in a slight break from my norm of 1 pitcher and 3 position players, the Mets will have 2 pitchers and 2 position players. To see the results of this series click here.

In the Giants - Brewers match up I have Christy Mathewson, Mel Ott, Willie Mays and Willie McCovey for the New York/San Francisco Giants.  The makers of this roster all but forgot about the Seattle Pilots.  Gorman Thomas was drafted #1 by Seattle but didn't make the bigs until 1973. So for the Brewers/(not)Pilots I have Pete Vuckovich (who liked to wear two different shoes), the aforementioned Gorman Thomas, Paul Molitor and Christian Yelich. To see the results of this series click here.

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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.

1967 Alt-Topps Requests

I promised to have these done "before spring training ends".  But it ended rather abruptly.  I did at least manage to get these out before the regular season starts, if there is a season at all.  

This time around, there weren't as many requests as I usually get.  It's as though you might have had more important things to tend to.  In all seriousness, I hope that everyone is staying healthy and following the CDC guidelines.  Here's something to kill a few minutes of your self quarantine. 

I got a couple requests for more All Star cards, particularly Harmon Killebrew.  The Killer wasn't actually a starting All Star in 1966.  He was on the All Star roster, though.  Topps played pretty fast and loose with their All Star cards in the '60s. Often they referred to them as "Sporting News All Stars". Despite the title, sometimes the players on their cards weren't named to the Sporting News All Star team, either. So I have no qualms about including Killebrew in this Alt-Topps subset.  The Ron Santo card is one that I had made earlier, then decided to make a McCovey card instead.  After all McCovey's name was on the original mock-up, even though his image wasn't.  

I also got a request for a Phillies and an Orioles card.  The reason: both had yellow as their base colors in the real 1967 Topps set.  "Bob" thought yellow wouldn't work well in this design. He may have a point.  I found a decent head shot of Uecker wearing a Phillies uniform.  His real 1967 card was of the hatless variety.  For the Orioles, I dragged out one of my favorite players, Luis Aparicio.

As I said before, the request were few, so I had a couple that I wanted for myself.  I always like to add a card of "the Mick" whenever I can.  In 1967 he moved from the outfield and played first base exclusively.  His real 1967 card still listed him as an outfielder.  I also needed to add possibly the biggest trade of 1967, Maury Wills.  He not only moved from LA to Pittsburgh but also from shortstop to third base.  The Pirates already had a Gold Glove shortstop in Gene Alley

A request came in for the multi player cards that were a Topps staple in the '60s.  In this instance, the request was for the White Sox pitching rotation that included Tommy John, Joel Horlen and Gary Peters.  Although the Sporting News had all three on their cover in July of 1967, I could not find a similar color photo. But heck, two out of three ain't bad. I also made a card of the Alou brothers.  I used the term Family Affair. That TV show debuted in September of 1966. The Sly and Family Stone hit single of the same name wouldn't come out until 1971.

 

The same person wanted a rookie card that featured Fred Lasher and Cisco Carlos.  Both were late call ups that pitched for 2 of the 4 late-season AL contenders. (As late as September 6th, the Twins, Tigers, Red Sox and White Sox were all tied for 1st place). Lasher was a closer with 9 saves in 17 appearances in '67.  He also had 28 strikeouts in just 30 innings pitched.  Cisco Carlos was 2-0 with a 0.86 ERA and a strikeout to walk ratio of 3 to 1. He was good enough to be included with Johnny Bench on the cover of the 1968 MLB rookie edition of Sports Illustrated.  However in 1968 he went 4-14 for the Sox.

"Deogolf" wanted more World Series cards and I wanted to provide some equal time for the Dodgers.  But the reality is LA was pretty much absent from the 1966 Fall Classic.  Even the real 1967 Topps set had only Orioles on their World Series cards.  One of the better performances by the Dodgers was Claude Osteen's pitching in game 3.  He only gave up 3 hits in 7 innings. But one of those hits was a solo homer by Paul Blair.  The Dodgers gave him zero runs in support.  

1973 Topps All Star Cards : National League Outfield

Again in 1973 the Topps set was devoid of All Star cards. I actually had addressed this once before.

This was my first attempt at a Topps 1973 All Star card.  I made this for my previous blog, 6 degrees of Ron Santo. I really liked the concept but there is no way this would work for most of the All Star starters. On this post alone, it wouldn't work for Aaron or Mays.  Aaron was the sole representative of the Atlanta Braves and The Mets had only 2 other All Stars, Seaver and McGraw. 

That being said, it would have made a sweet card for Willie Stargell along with Roberto Clemente, Manny Sanguillen, Al Oliver and Steve Blass.

 Instead, I kept to a format similar to the World Series cards in that set. I also decided to use all "action" cards as they were becoming more prevalent in the 1973 set.

Willie Stargell was the starting left fielder and clean-up hitter for the 1972 NL All Stars. He walked in the bottom of the 2nd and was force out at 2nd when Johnny Bench grounded into a double play. He popped out to short right in his only other plate appearance.

The 1972 All Star Game was Willie Mays' final game as a starter and his first in a Mets uniform. At 41 years old, Mays was the oldest position player in Major League Baseball in 1972.

In 1971 Hank Aaron hit a career high 47 homers and in 1972 he was, once again the starting right fielder. In the 6th inning he smashed a 2 run homer to ut the NL ahead 2-1.

1967 Topps All Star Cards : National League Infield

1967 Topps Willie McCovey All-Star

Willie McCovey  batted cleanup in the 1966 All Star game. The N.L. beat the A.L. 2-1 in 10 innings. Each team had only 6 hits. "Stretch" went 0 for 3 but drew an intentional walk in the 6th and was forced out at 2nd on grounder of Ron Santo's bat.

1967 Topps Jim Lefebvre All-Star

In his only All Star appearance, the 1965 Rookie of the Year, Jim Lefebvre started at 2nd base. He played the first 5 innings, and hit 2 pop ups to left field.

1967 Topps Chico Cardenas All-Star

Coming off his Gold Glove season in 1965, Leo Cardenas made a statement with his bat in 1966. He hit career highs in Homers (20) and RBIs (81) in 1966. Cardenas was a 5 time All Star but 1966 was his only start. He went 0 for 2 but turned a 3-6-3 double play with Willie McCovey.

1967 Topps Ron Santo All-Star

Ron Santo was a lifetime .333 hitter in 9 All Star games. In 1966 he was 1 for 4 but he made his one hit count. He drove in Willie Mays to put the N.L. on the board in the 4th inning.