Topps All-Star Misses: 1960 NL Infield

I've been a bit behind on my postings, due to trying to put together another pack of physical cards.  Also just work, family, holidays, etc.  Also, for the time being, I'm going to monitor ALL of the comments, as this blog has been getting spam comments lately.  I will try to allow comments quickly so they will show, unedited, while trying to weed out the spam.

The National League All Star infield had a lot of potential cards to add to the 1960 set.  Much of this is due to having 2 ASGs in 1959. That being said, the only position Topps seemed to be in sync with was shortstop.  Ernie Banks was the starter in both 1959 ASGs and was a 1960 Sporting News All Star.

However, at first Topps had Willie McCovey, the 1959 Rookie of the Year, but the future Hall of Famer wouldn't make an All Star appearance until 1963. In the first game of 1959, his teammate, Orlando Cepeda was the starter at first.  

In the second game Stan Musial was the starter at first base.  In 1960 The Sporting News selected one All Star team rather than one from each league and in 1960 the selection was Moose Skowron of the Yankees.

Topps had Dodgers Gold Glove second baseman as their All Star selection.  He was a reserve in the second ASG of 1959 and both 1960 ASGs.  The starter in both 1959 games was the Reds' Johnny Temple. 

The 1960 Sporting News selection was Bill Mazeroski.  He was also the starter at second in both 1960 All Star games.

At third Topps had Eddie Mathews. Mathews was the 1960 Sporting News All Star and started the first All Star game in 1959. The player who started the second game was Ken Boyer.

Who probably didn't merit inclusion in the 1960 Topps All-Star set, but was in it anyway?

Willie McCovey

 Stretch was the Rookie of the Year in 1959, but didn't have a Topps card.  (Here is my version of that missing card).  Perhaps Topps was making up for that by giving him two cards in the 1960 set.  But he wouldn't make an All Star appearance until 1963.  It wasn't until 1965 that he would be a Sporting News All Star selection.

MLB Dream Bracket Alt-Topps Cards Pt. 10

Recap of  NL Dream Bracket 

Round 1 & 2

Fairly predictable results with the exception of the Florida/Miami Marlins over the Boston/Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves and the Pilot-less Brewers advancing against the NY/SF Giants then (to a lesser degree) passing the Cubs.

******************************************

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.

1984 Topps Stadium Statues: Dodgers vs. Cardinals

N.L.D.S. Edition

Dodger Stadium is another ballpark completely devoid of statues. To see a ballpark statue honoring Dodgers greats you would need to go to Brooklyn. Specifically, MCU Park, home of the Minor League Brooklyn Cyclones. Outside the park is a statue of Pee Wee Reese with his arm around the rookie Jackie Robinson. This famous gesture was recreated in the movie "42". Although Robinson played the majority of his career at 2nd, his rookie season was spent covering 1st. Robinson spent his entire MLB career in Brooklyn, retiring in 1956. Reese played one season in Los Angeles after the Dodgers moved West in 1958.

The latest Busch Stadium is surrounded by statues of Cardinal heroes;  Lou Brock, Dizzy Dean, Bob Gibson, Rogers Hornsby, Stan Musial, Red Schoendienst, Enos Slaughter and Ozzy Smith. There is also a statue of Hall of Fame broadcaster Jack Buck and 2 Hall of Famers from other St. Louis Teams. George Sisler the Browns and Cool Papa Bell of the St. Louis Stars. The Statue of Stan Musial was moved to its current location from the 2nd Busch Stadium where it stood since 1968.

30 Tribute Card Project - Part 1

A while back, I was reading a post on Sports Collector's Daily that really seemed to be right up my alley. Rich Klein, one of the contributors to this site, wrote about the desire for Topps to make "Tribute" cards for their next Archives set. Tribute cards are basically cards from the year after the player retires. The part of the article that intrigued me was his list of players that he wanted to see tribute cards for. 

 I had seen many of the cards on his list somewhere on the web before, so I started doing a little research. As it turns out, Topps made versions of 4 cards on the list. I found 15 "card creations" from his list on various other baseball card blogs. I thought I could post them here and give a shout-out to the bloggers who made the cards and have inspired me. That still leaves me with 11 cards to complete the list.

Here is his "Wish List":

1.       1952 Joe DiMaggio 

2.       1956 Ralph Kiner

3.       1957 Bob Feller

4.       1957 Phil Rizzuto

5.       1957 Jackie Robinson

6.       1961 Ted Williams

7.       1962 Jackie Jensen

8.       1964 Stan Musial

9.       1964 Early Wynn

10.   1965 Duke Snider

11.   1966 Yogi Berra

12.   1966 Warren Spahn 

13.   1967 Sandy Koufax

14.   1967 Robin Roberts

15.   1968 Whitey Ford

16.   1969 Rocky Colavito

17.   1969 Roger Maris 

18.   1969 Eddie Mathews

19.   1970 Don Drysdale

20.   1972 Ernie Banks

21.   1973 Maury Wills

22.   1974 Willie Mays

23.   1977 Hank Aaron

24.   1977 Frank Robinson

25.   1978 Brooks Robinson 

26.   1978 Jim Wynn

27.   1980 Lou Brock

28.   1980 Thuman Munson

29.   1984 Johnny Bench

30. 1984 Carl Yastrzemski

First I gotta give Topps credit where credit is due:

Topps created these Promo cards tor the National Sports Collectors Convention. Taking care of #1 & #3 on his list.

Just this past year Topps produced these two. The Stan Musial was a special autographed insert in the 2013 Heritage set. And the Banks was part of the Series 2 - 1972 mini subset. That takes care of #8 and #20 on the list.

In my next few posts will share some of the cards on this list that I found on the internet made by my fellow baseball card geeks.

1975 All Star Game Honorary Captains: Musial & Mantle

With the All Star break upon us I thought I would make a few cards to honor the occasion.

1975 Topps Stan Musial All-Star

The practice of selecting an Honorary Captain of the All Star Team began in 1975. It continued until 2003. In 2007 once again Honorary Captains were named but the practice was abandoned the following year.

1975 Topps Mickey Mantle All-Star

In 1975 the Honorary Captions were Mickey Mantle and Stan Musial. The game was played in County Stadium in Milwaukee. Milwaukee was home to the American League Brewers and the former home to the National League Braves. In theory they could have chosen some hometown favorites to honor but instead went with 2 living legends.

Earl Weaver & Stan Musial

The baseball world mourns the loss of 2 Hall of Famers today. 

Earl Weaver Managed the Baltimore Orioles from 1968-1982 then again in 1985 and 1986.

Stan Musial played 22 seasons for the Cardinals and appeared in 24 All Star Games.

1955 Bowman Stan Musial

St. Louis Cardinals CTNW Favorites #2

Stan Musial was notably missing from mainstream baseball cards in the '50s. He had a contract with Bowman and had cards in 1948, 1949, 1952 and 1953. But from 1954-57 he didn't have any cards at all. He simply didn't want to sign a contract with Topps. In 1958 Gussie Busch, the owner of the Cardinals, approached Sy Berger of Topps for a charitable contribution. Berger offered $1500 if Musial would sign a contract. A Stan Musial All Star card was added to the final series of the 1958 set but there wouldn't be a regular issue Topps card until 1959.

In 2011 Topps issued several "Lost Cards" of Musial, including 1953, 1955, 1956, 1957. In 2006 Topps produced a Walmart exclusive 1952 Musial card and in 2007 There was an eTopps version of the 1954. So far I have not seen an official Topps version of Musial on a 1951 card nor have I seen any remakes of the missing Bowman years, 1950, 51, 54 or 1955.

1957 Topps Stan Musial

Horizontal Variations

A couple weeks ago I posted a 1953 Topps Ted Williams which was a horizontal variation of the original design. I thought it might be a cool idea to make horizontal cards out of vintage sets with vertical designs. I asked for feedback but only got one response. (Thanks Johngy) Here is another horizontal variation that I made around the same time. Again, I like the way horizontal variations look and the way they lend themselves to action shots. 

1973 Topps Cardinals Home Run Leaders

(The Asterisk Version)

 

This was a tricky one for me. I didn't know whether I should put asterisks next to the steroid inflated records or ignore the steroid users completely. So I decided to do one of each. For the Rangers, I went 'roid-free, for the Cards I used the asterisk.

Stan Musial was a 3 time MVP and appeared in 24 All-Star games in his 22 seasons. His highest season total was 39 which ties him for 13th in the all time Cardinals list. But it is his consistency and longevity that puts him on top.

Mark McGwire hit 70 home runs in 1998. After years of denial he finally came clean. Well, almost. He claimed taking steroids for "health purposes". I don't remember where I heard it first but I'll repeat it. "Without steroids, Mark McGwire is Dave Kingman."

Albert Pujols has never hit fewer than 32 home runs in any season of his 11 year career. He is at #2 on the Cardinals all-time list at 445 and should surpass Musial next year assuming he is still healthy and wearing a Cardinals uniform. He is also #3 on the single season list with 49 homers behind Mark McGwire's suspect totals in 1998 and 1999.