Topps All-Star Misses: 1960 AL Outfield

 In 1960 Topps had Mantle, Maris and Kaline as its AL All Star outfielders.  All three of them started one of the 1959 ASGs.  Kaline started game one,  Maris and Mantle started the second game.  That left three other 1959 ASG starters that did not have All Star cards in the 1960 set.  Minnie Minoso was the most egregious offense. He not only started all four ASGS in 1959 and 1960, but he was also a Sporting News All Star in both 1959 and 1960.

Rocky Colavito started the first All Star game in 1959 and was a reserve in the second game.  He led the AL with 42 homers in 1959 and was 4th in MVP voting.

Ted Williams would get his last All Star start in the second ASG of 1959.  By 1960 he was already under contract with Fleer and wouldn't have another Topps card until his manager cards in 1969.

More 1972 Alt-Topps

Managers, Rookies and Team Cards

Running with this same concept, I made these manager cards of two Hall of Famers who were  gone before the start of the 1973 season. Ted Williams was the Manager of the Year for the Senators in 1969. In 1972 the Senators moved to Texas and lost 100 games. It was Williams final year.  Meanwhile, Durocher was falling out of favor in Chicago.

I included the coaches on these cards like Topps would do in 1973 and 74 but it seemed a shame to reduce them to black and white on such a colorful set. You might notice that both 1959 MVPs are included in the coaches. Nellie Fox coached under Williams for the Senators and the Rangers. Ernie Banks was a coach for the Cubs the first few years after his retirement.

And of course, made the necessary rookie cards featuring what would be the 1972 Rookies of the Year.

And love 'em or hate 'em, here are the team cards.

2016 ALDS: Rangers vs. Blue Jays

For the 2016 postseason I am making Cards That Never Were of Hall of Famers from each team but with a couple of twists. The first twist is that they will appear on cards that coincide with the year they were inducted into Cooperstown. The second twist is that these are not the teams they are best known for playing.

1966 Topps Ted Williams

Ted Williams was the manager of the Texas Rangers in their first year. Williams was voted Manager of the Year by the Associated Press in 1969. In his first year as manager he improved the Senators record from  65-96 in 1968 to 86-76 in 1969.  The 1972 Rangers had a miserable 54-100 record under Williams. He was replaced by future Hall of Fame manager Whitey Herzog. He was dismissed in September of '73 when Billy Martin was fired by Detroit. 

This card is an unusual mash-up. Williams was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1966. The Rangers first year was 1972. Even so, it makes a for nice looking card. 

2009 Topps Rickey Henderson 

Just before the 1993 trade deadline, the Blue Jays picked up Rickey Henderson from the A's for Steve Karsay and a player to be named later (Jose Herrera). Henderson only played 44 regular season games with the Jays. But he played in all 12 post season games and earn himself another World Series ring.  

Here he is on a 2009 Topps Card That Never Was, the year he entered the Hall.  He is wearing the unfamiliar number 14. He wore this only a few games while negotiating a deal with Turner Ward for his trademark number 24. When he joined the Yankees it was rumored that he gave catcher Ron Hassey golf clubs and stereo equipment. Ward got an alleged $25,000.

30 Tribute Card Project - Part 2

     In my last post I wrote about the latest project I decided to take on. It is based on this article on the Sports Collectors Daily website. In that post I showed the cards on that list that Topps actually made in one form or another and was able to check numbers 1,3,8, and 20 off the list.    

    Today I am going to present cards made by fellow card geeks that I found elsewhere on the web. Some of these have multiple versions on the internet. I chose these particular cards in order to get a variety of the sites I like onto the list without too much repetition. 

    First is #5 on the list 1957 Jackie Robinson.  Robinson was traded to the Giants after the 1959 season. But Robinson had other plans. He had already decided to retire. This card was created by one of my favorite sites, Dick Allen Hall of Fame. Unfortunately that site has been idle for a while now but the creator is now working on the DickAllen15.com, the official Dick Allen website. 

   Topps produced a card of Robinson sporting a giants uniform as part of the 2009 National promo set. but for whatever reason the made it a 1959 card. This card just makes more sense.

     Next is # 6, 1961 Ted Williams. Williams retired after the 1960 season and he went out with style. He hit a homer in his last at bat September 28, 1960. This card is courtesy of  Keith Conforti. I've seen his cards in several locations on the web. To see most of them in one place, here is a link to his Picasa Web Album.

    #11 is the 1966 version of Yogi Berra. Berra had actually retired after the 1963 season to become the Yankees manager in 1964. After losing the World Series to the Cardinals, Berra was fired. He return as a "Player/Coach" of the Mets in 1965 but played in only 4 games. His 1965 Topps card listed him as catcher-coach. This card can be found on Uncle Doc's Card Closet. 

    A few cards on this list have been made by multiple collectors. #13 on the list is one of the more frequently produced. In fact I made a 1967 Sandy Koufax All-Star card myself not that long ago. This one comes from Bob Lemke's Blog. Bob is THE leader in creating Cards That Never Were. He has been producing them for years. 

 

     The #14 card on the list was created for White Sox Cards. As a White Sox fan and a fan of custom cards, I am a regular follower of this site. Robin Roberts was dropped by the Astros in July of 1966 after winning just 3 games in 12 starts. He didn't fare much better when the Cubs signed him 9 days later. He won 2 in 9 starts then hung up his cleats at the end of the season.  Still, it's always nice to see a Hall of Famer in a hometown uniform.

    Here is the list so far. The Black X represents cards produced by Topps, The red X represents those made by other baseball card geeks:

1.       1952 Joe DiMaggio X

2.       1956 Ralph Kiner

3.       1957 Bob Feller X

4.       1957 Phil Rizzuto

5.       1957 Jackie Robinson X 

6.       1961 Ted Williams X 

7.       1962 Jackie Jensen

8.       1964 Stan Musial X

9.       1964 Early Wynn

10.   1965 Duke Snider

11.   1966 Yogi Berra X 

12.   1966 Warren Spahn 

13.   1967 Sandy Koufax X 

14.   1967 Robin Roberts X 

15.   1968 Whitey Ford

16.   1969 Rocky Colavito

17.   1969 Roger Maris 

18.   1969 Eddie Mathews

19.   1970 Don Drysdale

20.   1972 Ernie Banks X

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

To be continued......

1953 Topps Ted Williams

Going Horizontal

I have always liked it when Topps turned the cards sideways especially when they added an action shot. In the 1952 set Topps had a handful of horizontal cards but it wouldn't be until the '70s that we would see them try it again. Even then they only did it in 1971, 1973 and 1974. After that we had to wait until 1991. In recent years, Topps frequently has been using a horizontal variations within their sets. But I'd like to see some of the more vintage sets with horizontal variations.

I know certain layouts don't adapt very well to a horizontal version. But take a look at these real  Topps cards. You have to admit they stand out.

There are quite a few vintage sets I think would look cool turned sideways. I might have to add horizontal cards to my seemingly never ending list of running themes. Any thoughts?