Barrier Breakers: Ernie Banks, Chicago Cubs

January 31, 1865 the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery passed in Congress. Coincidentally, January 31st is the birthday shared by Ernie Banks and Jackie Robinson. Mr. Cub broke the color barrier for the Chicago Cubs more than 6 years after Jackie Robinson did the same for all of Major League Baseball.  The Cubs were the third NL team to integrate, and Banks was the third Negro League turned MLB player enshrined in Cooperstown behind Robinson and Monte Irvin. When he was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama, he presented the first Black President with a bat used by Jackie Robinson. 

On and off the field, Banks was known for his friendly, joyous demeanor.  "Mr. Sunshine" was his nickname even before he became "Mr. Cub".  After his passing in 2015, Jesse Jackson described his cheerfulness as a thermostat that helped control the temperature of his times. He was beloved by fans and teammates alike. His enthusiasm was infectious. 

I also have to mention Gene Baker who was acquired by the Cubs prior to Ernie Banks but made his MLB debut 3 days later.  The two were the first black double play combo in the Majors.

Barrier Breakers: Bob Trice - Philadelphia Athletics

 

My new project is to create cards of each MLB team's first black player.  Some are well known  superstars others are not as well known. I will be posting these in alphabetical order by team, starting with the Athletics, ending with Yankees.  There are just 16 teams as by the 1961 expansion all teams had integrated to a degree.  The cards themselves will be from the year of their first MLB appearance.  This will require me to take a little artistic license.  I will re-imagining certain cards that are pre-Topps/Bowman/Leaf.

Bob Trice was a September call up in 1953.  By that time he had already won 21 games for the Ottawa A's.  He won 2 of his 3 starts for the major league A's in 1953. A former member of the Homestead Grays, he would only play 3 MLB seasons all for the Athletics, two in Philly and one in Kansas City. 

1975 Topps M.V.P. and R.O.Y. Cards: 1951-1959

Now that I have finally finished my run of Rookie of the Year cards as they might have appeared on 1975 Topps MVP cards I thought I would look back and see how they stacked up.

Neither Gil McDougald, nor Willie Mays had 1951 Topps cards so these were some of my earliest works. To Topps' credit, a '51 Campanella didn't exist either. For the MVP card they also modified the existing Yogi Berra card.

They increased the size and darkened the font of his name and eliminated the other text. They followed suit on the Campy cards as well. I tried to stay true to the original but it made the card harder to read. Topps made the right move.

For the 1952 card I needed only to create the Harry Byrd card. 

For the 1953 card I chose to use the Kuenn card Topps created for the 1991 Archives set. Kuenn did not have a card in the original 1953 Topps set.

Once again I used the Archives card for this one. Bob Grim was not included in the original set but was in the 1994 Archives set.

1955 shows 3 "Cards That Never Were". The first being the Campanella card Topps created for the 1975 MVP. Both photos black and white and what is worse, he is wearing an L.A. Dodgers cap. On the ROY card I used the 1955 Herb Score card that was created by Topps as a V.I.P. give-away at the National Sports Collector's Convention in 2005. The Virdon card was mine.

Mantle, Newcombe and Aparicio all had cards issued by Topps in 1956. The Robinson card was also a Topps creation. Once again I used a VIP card from the Nationals, this time from 2006.

For the first time all 4 cards were actually issued in the original set.

Ditto for 1958.

For the 1959 card I needed to create a McCovey rookie card. In this case I decided to make it look like a regular issue card as opposed to the Rookie Stars card like Bob Allison. If Topps had issued these cards they might've gone the other way because the standard 1959 set was already well represented on the MVP card. I felt that as a stand-alone card I needed to show off the standard set.

1953 Topps Ted Williams

Going Horizontal

I have always liked it when Topps turned the cards sideways especially when they added an action shot. In the 1952 set Topps had a handful of horizontal cards but it wouldn't be until the '70s that we would see them try it again. Even then they only did it in 1971, 1973 and 1974. After that we had to wait until 1991. In recent years, Topps frequently has been using a horizontal variations within their sets. But I'd like to see some of the more vintage sets with horizontal variations.

I know certain layouts don't adapt very well to a horizontal version. But take a look at these real  Topps cards. You have to admit they stand out.

There are quite a few vintage sets I think would look cool turned sideways. I might have to add horizontal cards to my seemingly never ending list of running themes. Any thoughts?

1953 Topps Sam Jethroe

Boston Braves CTNW Favorites #5

Here is a continuation on a theme of putting together 5 "Cards That Never Were"  favorites from each team.  I broke the Braves down into 3 separate eras. Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta. Here are the favorites from the Boston era.

Sam Jethroe was the first black player in Boston. He was selected Rookie of the Year in 1950 at the age of 33 although he was believed to be only 28 at the time. He led the National League in stolen bases in 1950 and 1951. In 1952 he came in second to Pee Wee Reese and in 1953 he spent the season playing for the Braves minor league team in Toledo. He batted .309 with 28 homers and 27 stolen bases. At the end of the season he was traded to Pittsburgh where he saw limited action in 1954. He would continue to play minor league ball in Toronto until 1958.

1975 Topps 1953 Rookies of the Year

 

Another in the recurring theme giving the ROY's the 1975 Topps MVP treatment. 

There wasn't a 1953 Topps card of Harvey Kuenn.  Topps made this one for the 1953 Archives set that was issued in 1991. It's not a very good representation of the '53 set, but using it here is somewhat reminiscent of the 1955 MVP card with Roy Campanella. On that card Topps used black and white photos instead of color. They also put him in an L.A. Dodgers cap instead of Brooklyn, but we won't get into that.

Harvey Kuenn, an 8 time all-star, led the league in hits in 1953 and took 23 of the 24 Rookie of the Year ballots cast. The remaining vote went to Tom Umphlett. A place holder for Ted Williams while he was serving in Korea, Uphlett hit .283 in '53, .219 in '54, .217 in '55 then spent the next 13 years in the minors.

Jim Gilliam won with fewer than 50% of the vote with 6 other rookies receiving votes. Gilliam led the league in triples in '53 and remained a Dodger for his entire career.