1965 Alt -Topps

This was a design that I really like. It has the full sized photos with just a simple white border similar to the 1957 Topps design.  It also incorporates a very 60s-looking almost cartoonishly colorful team name and text bubble. Due to the players used in the prototype and the very 60s feel, I went with 1965 as my year of issue for this Alt set.

In what has become a typical quirk, the player named and the player in the photo don't match.  The photo is Jim Fregosi taken from his 1963 card. The name used, however, is Dodgers first baseman, Wes Parker. 

I made a card for each of these players.  In my cleaned-up version I reduced the size of the team name and text bubble.  I think it gives a cleaner look and allows more of the photo to show.  I could not find a font that matched the one used in the prototype, so I improvised.

My base cards are the eventual MVPs and Cy Young award winner of the 1965 season. Mays And Versalles were the MVPs.  As usual, I tried to keep the team colors similar to those used by Topps in 1965.

In 1965 there was still only one overall Cy Young award winner and that was Koufax. It wasn't until 1967 that there was one for each league. So through a little extrapolation, I included Eddie Fisher.  Fisher went 15-7 with 24 saves. He led the league in games, appearing in nearly half of them at 80 games. He also led in pitching ratio with 0.974. Koufax was the unanimous choice for Cy Young in 1965, thus no other pitcher received any votes. In the AL Fisher was #4 in MVP voting, the highest among pitchers.

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I'm going to take requests on this set now rather than wait until after I've published the other elements of this set.  That'll give me a little extra time to put them all together.

1966 Topps AL Stolen Base Leaders: Campaneris, Cardenal, Versalles

1965 was a big year for Bert Campaneris. In addition to leading the league with 51 stolen bases he was caught stealing more than any other player in the AL. He also led in triples and hit-by-pitch. On September 8, 1965 Campy played all 9 positions (click here) even pitching left-handed to Albie Pearson. One of the players who faced a right-hand pitching Campaneris was Jose Cardenal who was 2nd in the AL with 37 stolen bases. Campy got Jose to pop out to 2nd. The 1965 AL MVP, Zoilo Versalles was 3rd in stolen bases with 27.

1964 Topps All Stars - The American League Infield

1964 Topps Joe Pepitone AS

At the age of 22, Joe Pepitone made his only All Star start. He would be selected to the All Star team in 1964 and 1965 and win the Gold Glove at first in 1965, 1966 and 1969.  

1964 Topps Nellie Fox AS

In his 15th and final All Star game, Nellie Fox went 1 for 3 but was tagged out at home trying to score on a fly out by Al Kaline. A career .288 hitter, Nellie turned it up a notch on the big stage. He hit .375 in the 1959 World Series (his only post-season appearance) and hit .368 over 15 All Star games from 1951-1963.

1964 Topps Zoilo Versalles AS

Zoilo Versalles had only 2 official All Star at-bats in his career, but reached base 4 times. He had 1 hit, 2 walks and was hit by a pitch. He was the starting shortstop in 1963 and was an All Star reserve in his MVP season, 1965.

1964 Topps Frank Malzone AS

Frank Malzone was the runner up in the AL Rookie of the Year voting in 1957. He was a 3 time Gold Glove third baseman and an 8 time All Star from 1957-1964. In the 1963 All Star game he went 1 for 3 with an RBI ans a run scored.