2011 Managers of the Year

The selection of 2011 Managers of the year surprised no one. Madden and Gibson were the favorites but I had a sneaky feeling that LaRussa would somehow get the nod out of sentimentality. I have to admit the Gibson card was made for the NL Championship Series but never got posted because they were eliminated. But the Madden card is freshly made.

2011 Rookies of the Year

I posted these cards last week of what I perceived to be the favorites in the Rookie of the Year running. I also posted a poll asking who you though should win the ROY.

For the National League Kimbrel won the poll and also the Rookie of the Year award. In the AL the winner was Jeremy Helickson but I never put him on the Rookie Stars card or include him in the AL poll. There was one vote for "Other" but whoever cast that vote didn't leave a comment.

Here are the complete results:

National League

Kimbrel 3

Espinosa 2

Worley 1

Other 1

Freeman 0

American League

Trumbo 4

Hosmer 3

Nova 1

Other 1

Walden 0

1961 Topps Baseball Thrills Johnson & Vance

The last time pitchers from both the National League and American League won the Triple Crown was 1924.  Hall of Famer Walter Johnson led the A.L. with 23 wins 158 strikeouts and an ERA of 2.72 for the World Series Champion Washington Senators.  Another Hall of Famer, Dazzy Vance had 28 wins 262 strikeouts and an ERA of 2.16 for the Brooklyn Robins who came in 2nd in the N.L.

2011 Topps Pitching Triple Crown Winners

The Cy Young Awards will be announced this week. Justin Verlander and Clayton Kershaw both led their respective leagues in victories, strikeouts and ERA, the pitcher's equivalent of the triple crown.  Does this make the shoo-ins for the Cy Young award?  I think Verlander will be the unanimous winner but Kershaw has some competition.  Since the creation of the Cy Young Award in 1956, no  triple crown winner was denied the award. The last time there was both an American League and National League triple crown winner was in 1924.

1963 Topps Checklist - Cards That Never Were - 3rd Series

Here is my 3rd checklist already. This one went by even faster with all of the playoff and World Series cards. As far as checklists go, the 1963 Topps was pretty bland. Also this was the first time all 25 cards that I made used Topps Baseball format.