1976 Topps Sportscaster Bob Uecker

Bob Uecker had an unremarkable baseball career but is a genuine superstar now. He has been the Milwaukee Brewer's radio broadcaster for over 40 years.  He was a regular on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson appearing over 100 times, starred in a sitcom (Mr. Belvedere) and the "Major League" movies. He has appeared in numerous television shows, movie and commercials.  

If you are of a certain age, I'm sure you remember him in the classic Lite Beer commercials. "I must be in the front row!" 

In 2003 he was given the Ford Frick Award by the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

1951 Gil Hodges - Football vs. Baseball

In the 1951 All Star game Gil Hodges had 2  RBIs and 2 runs scored with a single and a 2 run homer. His homer broke the 3-3 tie in the 6th as the Nationals cruised to an 8-3 victory. All Star game MVP awards were not given out until the 1962 season but I think a good case could be made for Hodges in 1951.

In 1991 Topps began using the same layout for its football cards as it used on their baseball cards. I decide to compare the baseball and football card formats of the past. 

 

The 1951 Bowman football cards were not that different from the baseball cards except that the player name was larger and there was a somewhat oversized team logo above the name.

 The 1951 Topps Baseball cards were part of a game that could be purchased in packs or as a complete 52 card game. Their football cards were collegiate and very plain looking but feature posed "action" shots in color compared to the black and white head shots on their baseball cards.

1957 Topps Joe Black

In 1952 the N.L. Rookie of the Year, Joe Black had 15 wins and 15 saves in the regular season and became the 1st black pitcher to win a World Series Game. After that he struggled, getting demoted to Brooklyn's farm team in 1954 and dealt to the Redlegs in 1955. After Cincinnati released him in 1957 he was picked up by the Phillies but never made it out of their farm system. He was aquired by the Senators late in 1957 and made his final appearance September 11, 1957. He gave up 3 runs including a 2 run homer to Detroit in a 12-2 loss. 

1975 Topps 1952 Rookies of the Year

We all knew this was coming, didn't we? It's officially a recurring theme.

 Too bad Topps didn't give the Rookies the same treatment as the MVP's in 1975. I think it would have made for some nice looking cards. Maybe the 2024 Topps Heritage set will include the ROY's. If it does, remember you saw it here first.

1952 Topps Harry Byrd

Harry Byrd narrowly won Rookie of the Year in 1952 beating out a relatively weak American League rookie field; Clint Courney of the Browns and Sammy White of the Red Sox. Meanwhile in the National League Joe Black beat out Dick Groat of the Pirates and 2 future Hall of Famers; Hoyt Wilhem of the Giants and Eddie Matthews of the Braves. Of all the Rookie of the Year contenders only Harry Byrd and Clint Courney did not have cards in 1952.

1978 Topps Larry Doby

In 1978 Lary Doby took over the White Sox managerial duties for fellow hall of famer Bob Lemon. In doing so he became the second black manager in the major leagues. Unfortunately, Bill Veeck did not retain him for the 1979 season, opting instead for player-manager Don Kessinger.  Kessinger fared no better than Doby and was replaced by Tony LaRussa mid-season.

1912 T202 Joe Wood and Ed Walsh

1911 saw 2 no hitters, one by "Smoky" Joe Wood of the Red Sox versus the St. Louis Browns and another by "Big" Ed Walsh of the White Sox versus the Red Sox. While both Walsh and Wood appeared on T202 cards they did not appear together. 

This was Joe Wood's only no-no but Ed Walsh pitched a rain-shortened 5 inning no hitter in 1907 beating the New York Highlanders 8-1. With rainstorms and hail looming the Highlanders began delaying the game purposely allowing players to reach base safely so as not to finish the 5th inning making it an official game. The White Sox players soon got into the act as well. With Highlanders manager Clark Griffin on the mound, White Sox Manager Fielder Jones tapped a grounder that Griffin let go through his legs. Then Jones refused to step on 1st base and the first baseman refused to tag him. The umpire finally ordered the first baseman to tag him out of forfeit the game. In the 6th inning the game was eventually called. Walsh gave up 2 walks and a wild pitch that scored a run but no hits.

1973 Topps Mickey Mantle

Time for another Mantle card. With Topps printing a 1975 Mantle as part of the 2011 Lineage set earlier this month, that leaves only 24 Topps baseball card designs that they haven't put Mantle on, yet. I just hope I get to them before they do. 

1973 Topps cards were filled with unique poses and great photography. I think this card would have fit in nicely in spite of having his back toward the camera. 

1976 Topps Sportscaster Ron Santo

Last Wednesday at Wrigley Field, the Cubs unveiled a statue of the great Ron Santo. I had originally planned on posting this card as my tribute to Santo.  Actually, I did post it then took it down and replaced it with another card which had a picture of the statue on it. I thought it was a great looking monument and I wanted to get a picture of it on my blog. 

In the process of coming up with a tribute to Ron Santo I stumbled upon a couple different themes that I might explore further. The Sportscaster Card which is based on the 1976 Topps Father-Son cards. Also the Monument Card which for Ron Santo was based on the 1963 Topps card but I think I could use a number of different card styles for that. Most if not every team has a former big-leaguer in the booth and many ballparks have monuments to their hometown heroes.  Lots of possibilities...

1951 Bowman Minnie Minoso

Minoso was the Rookie of the Year runner-up to Gil McDougald.  He had better numbers in every offensive category except home runs. McDougald had 14 Minoso had 10. In fact Minoso led the league in triples and stolen bases. Minoso also finished 4th in MVP voting McDougald finished 9th behind 3 Yankee teammates. Minoso was also selected to the All Star team, McDougald was not.

Sunday Shout Out

CSD's Custom Cards 

 

This site has hundreds of custom cards. If you are a White Sox Fan then this blog is for you. As of today there are 319 different custom White Sox Cards.

 

 Another feature is his Famous Lineage Cards which isremeniscent of the 1985 Topps Father-Son cards.

All in all some pretty cool custom cards and a great way to waste some time at work.

1969 Topps Checklist Ron Santo

Here is a list of the cards I made for my other blog. I made this checklist now because I've gotten a bit bored with the original idea for this blog. It sounded like a cool concept when I started but it really wasn't as challenging as I first thought. 

Along the way, I started making my own Ron Santo cards, and because I enjoyed that, I started this blog, and pursued that interest further. I may go back to that blog from time to time. I plan to continue with some of the ideas started on it, like the player manager cards or using football card formats on baseball cards. But most of my future creations will be posted right here.

Click this link to check out the Cards That Never Were that appeared on Six Degrees of Ron Santo.

1963 Topps Ron Santo Monument

I decided to go a different direction. I had posted a different Ron Santo card earlier today but I think this may be more appropriate.  Santo was a fan favorite both on the field and in the booth here in Chicago.  It was nice to see him honored with this great looking statue.

1975 Topps 1951 Rookies of the Year

1975 is the first time Topps made their own "Cards that Never Were". Their MVP cards featured 1951 and 1955 Roy Campanella cards and a 1962 Maury Wills card that didn't exist. In fact the 1955 card they made for Campanella not only used black and white photos instead of the color photos (or colorized photos) but he is wearing an LA Dodgers cap. Of course the Dodgers were still in Brooklyn in 1955. 

In their 1951 MVP card, Topps also printed the players' names larger and eliminated the rest of the text to make the card more readable. I didn't, but I can see their reasoning. I think if they had done the same thing for Rookies of the Year, they would have been really busy making new cards, especially in the early years.

Sunday Shout-Out

JOHNGY'S BEAT

Not long ago I had a post called "Upon Further Review..." in which I posted cards others had made before I made my versions. All of which I found after I posted my cards and called them "Cards That Never Were". Not only were they all published well before mine, the worst part was they were better than mine. At the end of the post I wrote "At least nobody else made a 1979 Bobby Douglass." 

Wrong again. Johngy beat me to it. Here is his version:

And here is my version:

Same year, same basic idea, even same picture but he posted it in September of last year. 

He found my blog and left a nice comment and I have since been following his 2 blogs Johngy's Beat and A Pack to be Named Later.  He has a number of homemade cards on his Johngy's Beat site. Some are made by him and some are made by his friends from other blogs. But his specialty is Celebrity Cards.

Being from Illinois, his site is loaded with Chicago related cards.

He also seems to have an eye for the ladies...

... but an unhealthy fascination with Mike Squires?

 I'm joking of course.  His site is loaded with cool looking cards, interviews, photos and interesting stories. Click on the links throughout this thread to check out his blogs.

1951 Topps Gil McDougald

Gil McDougald was the AL Rookie of the Year in 1951. Unlike his NL counterpart, Willie Mays, he didn't have a card in the 1951 Bowman set either. But after his performance in 1951 he appeared on 1952 Topps, Bowman, Berk Ross, Red Man Tobacco, Tip Top Bread and Coke cards. He played on the Yankees through the 1960 season and retired when it became apparent that he would be selected in the expansion draft.

1975 Topps Mickey Mantle

This was released today by Topps Lineage. Like I've said before it's just a matter of time before Topps releases a Mickey Mantle in every format. The also released a Mantle in the base set and in the 1964 Stand-Up format.

1951 Topps Willie Mays

It's no surprise that there wasn't a Topps card of Willie Mays in 1951 despite the fact that he was the NL Rookie of the Year. He actually spent the first part of the season playing for the Minneapolis Millers. In fact that is mentioned on the back of his 1951 Bowman card. The Bowman cards were printed in seven series with Mantle and Mays rookie cards appearing in the final series which came out in July. Topps of course, had only 2 series. I'm not sure when they were produced but with a total of 104 cards, it's not surprising that several notable players were absent.