The 1962 Topps All Star NL outfield is a bit of mixed bag. They had Aaron, Mays and Frank Robinson. The actual outfield in both 1961 games was Mays, Clemente and Cepeda. Now, Topps did have an All Star card of Cepeda at 1st base. In 1962 he did move back to 1st and was the starter at 1st in both '62 games. He was also a 1962 Sporting News All Star selection at 1st base in 1962. So that checks out. Frank Robinson was also a Sporting News All Star in 1961 and 1962. Still good so far. But Where is Clemente? He started all 4 ASGs in 1961 and 1962. He was also a 1961 Sporting News All Star. The other missing Star was Tommy Davis. He was a starter in both 1962 games and was a 1962 Sporting News All Star.
Hank Aaron:
This almost feels blasphemous, but the Hammer probably didn't belong. He was a reserve for all 4 ASGs in 1961 and 1962, but not a starter. He wasn't a Sporting News All Star selection either year.
Well done on the Clemente and Davis cards. The NL was just too crowded with so many great outfielders. In 1966 when they changed the voting to select 3 outfielders as opposed to selecting a leftfielder, a centerfielder and a rightfielder, one of the reasons for the change was the fact that Aaron and Clemente both played rightfield. Now this is from my memory as a kid when it happened. I could be mistaken.
ReplyDeleteI hate to see a new card use "Bob" Clemente, even if it's historically accurate in terms of what Topps would have done. He always called himself Roberto.
ReplyDeleteI was a kid during Clemente's prime and he was a pleasure to watch along with several of the other great players during the 60's and early 70's. I didn't hear much about him being referred to as Bob on his cards or his dislike of it. I think that story developed over the years and more recently as a product of our over-hyped and over-senstitve society that somehow wants to be offended for other people. My brother's name is Robert and a lot of people call him Bob, but he was never offended. I thnk the Bob on his cards was just a natural response and maybe easier to fit on a card with limited space. Topps was always complimentary of his playing, so I don't think it was their intention to be disrepectful.
ReplyDeleteOld Cards, I agree that much of this controversy is manufactured by the PC crowd because they need something to complain about. (A perfect example of that is right here in these comments.)
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