Topps All-Star Misses: 1959 AL Outfield

In 1959 Topps' AL All Star outfield consisted of Mickey Mantle, Al Kaline and Roy Sievers. Of the three, only Mantle started in the 1958 ASG. Al Kaline was 9th inning defensive substitute for Ted Williams. The other two starting All Star outfielders were Bob Cerv of the Athletics and Jackie Jensen of the Red Sox.

In 1958 for Topps credited the All Star Selections to "Sport Magazine".  (They would repeat this in 1960.)  In 1959 the All Atar selections were supposedly from The Sporting News. This wasn't accurate either as Ted Williams was the only Sporting News All Star in 1958 to represent the American League outfield.  In 1959 the only AL outfielder selected was Minnie Minoso, who at that time was playing for the Cleveland Indians.

Who probably didn't merit inclusion in the 1959 Topps All-Star set, but was in it anyway?

Roy Sievers

He was not an All Star in 1958, but he finished 6th in MVP voting playing left field for the Senators. Sievers was primarily a first baseman in 1959. He was named a reserve in both All Star games that year, he only saw action in the first game as a pinch hitter. 

Roberto or Bob?

 In my last post I made a 1962 All Star card for Roberto Clemente.  I went back and forth on whether to use the name that Topps used for Clemente back in that era or his chosen name of Roberto.  I opted for the one that was more historically accurate. This caused some discussion in the comments.  Was this a micro-aggression? Was Topps trying to anglicize his name to appeal to a broader audience? Or was this "Just Topps being Topps"?  Perhaps a little of each? 

When he came into the league his first two Topps cards had his name as Roberto Clemente (1955, 1956).  In 1957 they changed it to Bob.  A name that he did not like.  The kept this practice through 1969, and a few insert cards of 1970.

Occasionally Topps would accidentally refer to him as Roberto in the bio on the back of the card (Topps being Topps).  This was understandable as most people in the media and otherwise, called him by his given name of Roberto. Here are the backs of a 1959 Topps card featuring Clemente, Bob Skinner, and Bill Virdon:

Here is the back of his 1962 Topps card:

Also whenever his facsimile autograph appeared on a card it was a beautifully written "Roberto Clemente". 

In an odd twist the 1967 Topps card abbreviated his facsimile signature to "Rob" Clemente.  Possibly to justify referring to him as Bob all along?

The other card makers during that time almost exclusively referred to him as Roberto.  These were mostly food issues or local team issues. The only exceptions I found was the 1961 Post cereal card.  He was referred to as Bob in 1961 but Roberto in subsequent issues. And the 1966 East Hills Shopping Center card.  Here are some food issue cards from that era; 1962 Post, 1963 Jello, 1966 Kahn's and 1969 Nabisco:

Here's a couple more oddballs from that era:  1962 Salada Tea coins and a 1968 Atlantic Oil card:

Even the 1963 Fleer set had a "Roberto" Clemente card:

Here is an interesting article on the subject. Click Here. In it the author states that he searched newspapers.com for the year 1956 looking for uses of the name "Bob Clemente".  He then searched the same for "Roberto Clemente".  "Bob" had 706 hits, "Roberto" had 5,156 hits. While it was not unheard of, Bob was used approximately 12% of the time when referring to Clemente in 1956, the year Topps changed his name to "Bob".  I have no data to back this up, but would wager that as Clemente became more famous (ie: the sixties) that 12% usage of "Bob" in the media diminished. By 1970 Topps (with the exception of a couple 1970 insert cards) finally used his given name on the front of their card.

I recently saw a 1966 Clemente card on twitter drawn by Gummy Arts (@gummyarts).  In his own inimitable style he recreated the card accurately but instead used Clemente's given name.  I loved it, and told him so.  There is no real need for card creators to be historically accurate at the cost of simple dignity.   He was fiercely proud of his heritage and preferred to be called Roberto. 

Even Topps in their Project 70 series of cards reimagined the 1969 card with Clemente's given name:

Does that make me part of the "woke" politically correct crowd?  I honestly don't care.  Those type of labels mean nothing to me personally.  I think we should treat all people with dignity and respect.  If they are offended by something you say, do your best not to offend them.  Especially something small like a name.  Whether we're talking about "Bob" Clemente, "Richie" Allen, the Washington Redskins or the Cleveland Indians.  Most times it costs you nothing.  Other times it could be a marketing bonanza.  Just think how many new jerseys, t-shirts, hats, etc. the Guardians will sell this year. 

I have been collecting cards since 1974.  By then Clemente was gone, but I had never heard him referred to as "Bob".  It was odd when I found older cards that had that name.  By 1970 even Topps was calling him Roberto.  For me to refer to him as "Bob" in an effort to be historically accurate to what Topps would have done, is counter to what I put at the very top of this blog.  "What cards would look like if I had my way".  So with my apologies to Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker, here is the card I should have made:

I think it looks just as good as my previous "Bob" Clemente card. And it cost me nothing to show simple respect.

Topps All-Star Misses: 1959 NL Battery

 In 1959 the Topps "Sporting News" All Star cards featured the 1958 ASG starting pitcher, Warren Spahn and also the first right hander to come in relief, Bob Friend.  They were also bot selected to the 1958 Sporting News All Star team.  But the 1959 recipients were left out. The Sporting News All Stars for 1959 were Sam Jones the righty, and Johnny Antonelli, the lefty.  Both were pitcher for the San Francisco Giants. 

 

In case you're wondering about the catcher, Topps got it right.  Del Crandall was the 1958 MLB All Star. There was no 1959 NL catcher on the Sporting News roster. Back then it was a combined AL and ML roster. Their selection was Sherm Lollar of the White Sox.

Topps All-Star Misses: 1959 NL Outfield

 In 1959 Topps got it nearly right in the NL outfield. They had Aaron and Mays who were not only the starters from the 1958 All Star Game, but also selected to The Sporting News All Star roster. In 1959 The Sporting News All Stars weren't separated AL and NL and the 3rd outfielder was the great Ted Williams. But the 1958 ASG starting left fielder Bob Skinner was left out.

Which begs the question why Covington? Topps included Wes Covington in their All Star Subset although he never made an All Star team in his career. He also was never named to The Sporting News All Star team.  He had a career year in 1958 with personal bests in batting average, homeruns and RBIs, but only his HR total broke the top ten in the NL.  He even was 16th in NL MVP voting, coincidentally just one behind Bob Skinner.  Another Topps mystery.

Topps All-Star Misses: 1959 AL Battery

    My latest project is making All Star Cards That Never Year for the years 1958-62 and 1968-70.  During those years Topps decision making on these cards was haphazard and a mystery to everybody but Topps. They were NOT based on the current season's "Sporting News All Stars" nor the previous season's ASG starters.  So I've made additional cards based on this criteria.   

What started as an idea for a small project, ballooned to over 150 cards so I'll be posting these in small doses.  I'll be breaking it down by year, league (NL or AL), and positions (battery, infield and outfield).

************************************************

Early Wynn:

• 
  1958 All Star reserve.  Got the Win.
• 1959 Cy Young Award winner.
• Started 1959 All Star Game 1.
• 1959 All Star Game 2 reserve.
• Selected to 1959 Sporting News All Star team.
• Led AL with 22 wins in 1959.
• 3rd in MVP voting 1959.

Billy O'Dell:

• 1958 All Star reserve.  Got the Save.
• 1st Lefty to appear in 1958 ASG.
• 1959 All Star Game 2 reserve. 
• 1st Lefty to appear in 1959 ASG 2.
• Best AL Strikeout to Walk Ratio in 1958.

Sherm Lollar:

• 
  1958 & 1959 Gold Glove.
• 1958 & 1959 All Star Reserve.
• Selected to 1959 Sporting News All Star team.
• 9th in 1958 MVP voting.
• 9th in 1959 MVP voting. 

Who probably didn't merit inclusion in the 1961 Topps All-Star set, but was in it anyway?

Billy Pierce:

Once again, I gotta call out my own team, another White Sox player.  Billy Pierce was an All Star reserve in both 1959 and 1959 but never left the bullpen. He also wasn't selected to the Sporting News All Star team in either of those years.

Barrier Breakers: 1959 Pumpsie Green - Boston Red Sox

 

Twelve years, three months and six days after Jackie Robinson made his debut with the Dodgers, the Red Sox begrudgingly became the last MLB team to integrate.  Only under the ongoing investigation and charges of violating Massachusetts's Fair Employment Law, did the Sox relent. Pinky Higgins the Red Sox manager was quoted as saying "There’ll be no n* on this ball club as long as I have anything to say about it.”  He was replaced by Billy Jurges exactly 2 weeks before Green was called up.

Enough about Yawkey's  Red Sox and what was referred to at the time as "Aryan Acres" and more about Pumpsie Green.  He platooned as a middle infielder his whole  career.  He batted an adequate .246. He played pro ball from 1951-1965.  But his MLB career was just from 1959-1963.  He was named to Topps Rookie All-Star team in 1959. He appeared on Topps cards from 1960-1964.

I have chosen to depict him on a 1959 Rookie Stars card.  In 2008 Topps gave him a 1959 style insert as part of that season's Heritage issue.  Although his career stats don't bear it out, his accomplishments and sacrifices has endeared him to fans everywhere.

Stretch

Willie McCovey
1938-2018

Yesterday we lost another legend. Willie "Stretch" McCovey.  I put together one more 1972 Alt-Topps card in his honor. Additionally, I have included all of the cards I've made of McCovey over the years for this blog. 

1959 & 1960 Topps Chris Short

If you have been following this blog you know that I stumbled upon a player who like Maury Wills, started in 1959 but (possibly) because of contractual problems with Topps had no cards until 1967. There have been several takes on the missing Will cards. A couple of those coming from Topps themselves. If you want to see all of them in one place follow this link to the Garvey-Cey-Russell-Lopes blog. He has created some very nice versions of Wills' missing cards.

For my part I plan to double up on my Chris Short cards. Frankly there is not as much to say about Short as there is Wills. But I am not good enough to crank out 8 cards at once and still keep my day job.

I went with the "Rookie Stars" format for his 1959 card. Short was hardly a "star" in 1959. He appeared in only 3 games getting no decisions but surrendering 3 homers and 13 earned runs in just over 14 innings. But that puts him right in league with the other riff-raff that made up the "Rookie Stars of 1959". This was a very cool looking subset with mostly mediocre rookies. To my count 9 of the 31 players featured in this subset didn't even play in 1959. Several others saw very limited play.

In 1960 Short made the squad on a more permanent basis. He played 3 games in AAA Indianapolis then  appeared in 42 games for the big league club. Most of his appearances were in relief but he did manage 6 wins, 3 saves and a respectable 3.94 ERA.

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.