1963 Fleer Extended Set

In my last post, I wrote about the 1963 Fleer set. Specifically, how it was just 66 base cards and not a complete baseball card set as we know it. So today I am speculating about what some of the other non- base cards would look.

One of the first omissions from the set is the manager card. Johnny Pesky guided the Red Sox in 1963 and 1964. Hand picked by Tom Yawkey, Pesky was a fan favorite. But the Sox finished in 7th in 1963 and 8th in 1964.

Harry Craft was the first skipper of the expansion Colt .45s in 1962. He coached there until his eventual dismissal late in the 1964 season. The Colts weren't the first team he'd managed. He was the K.C. Athletics manager from 1957-59 and was part of the Cubs "College of Coaches" experiment in 1961. In his 7 years managing 3 different clubs, he never finished above 7th place.

Since there wasn't a player pose for manager, I had to create one. With the help of photoshop, I lifted the outline of Casey Stengel striking a classic pose.

You know what else is missing? Good old-fashioned team cards. They are missing from current sets as well. I guess they just don't take those type of pictures anymore. Too bad, I miss them.

I picked a team from each league. The Angels in just their 3rd year and the Pirates, who had been around since the late 1800s. I was surprised to learn that the Pirates logo from this era was this cartoonish buccaneer. Topps continued to use their older "classic" logo.

Last but not least are the rookie cards. Topps used the phrase "Rookie Stars" on their cards. Fleer sets of the 80s used the term "Prospect" which seem more appropriate given some of the "stars" that appeared on Topps rookie cards.

I used the eventual 1963 Rookies of the Year as the subjects of these cards. In all they are all very good but only one was an eventual Hall of Famer. Dave DeBusschere is in the Basketball  Hall of Fame.