1974 Topps Bill Virdon

After winning the World Series, A's manager Dick Williams had enough of Charlie Finley's interference and quit. Meanwhile in New York Ralph Houk also quit after the 1973 season. He was tiring of the Bronx Fans' constant booing a Yankees team that was no longer a perennial contender. Yankees' new owner, George Steinbrenner jumped at the chance to hire Williams. 

But Finley had the last laugh. Williams was still under contract for another year and Finley would not let him go.  This left both the Yankees and the A's manager situation in limbo when Topps went to print the 1974 set.

The Yankees eventually opted for Bill Virdon. Virdon had managed the Pirates to the division championship in 1972. But in September of 1973 with the Pirates 3 games back and 2 games under .500, Danny Murtaugh replaced Virdon at the helm. The 1974 Yankees finished in 2nd place with 89 wins. Bill Virdon was named The Sporting News Manager of the Year.

It's too bad Topps never got to make this card. It would have been nice to see a card that included a coaching staff of Whitey Ford, Dick Howser and Elston Howard.

1984 Topps Stadium Statues: Angels vs. Royals

A.L.D.S. Edition

The "Big A" in Anaheim is home to 2 statues related to the Angels. There is a statue of Michelle Carew, Rod Carew's daughter who lost her battle to leukemia in 1996. There is also a statue of Gene Autry, Hollywood's original "Singing Cowboy". Autry was the original owner of the 1961 expansion Los Angeles Angels. He ran the team until 1996 when he sold controlling interest to the Walt Disney company. The number 26 was also retired in his honor. "26" represented his contribution as the 26th man on the roster.

Dick Howser's statue in Kansas City shows him watching from the dugout steps. Howser guided the Royals to their only World Series victory which happened to be their last post season appearance. He was also an All Star shortstop for the Kansas City A's.

1963 Topps AL Stolen Base Leaders: Aparicio, Hinton, Wood, Charles, Howser

 In the spirit of full-disclosure, this card shows the top 4 SB leaders and 1 of the 3 players tied for 5th place. There were a couple leader cards in the 1963 set that had a 3rd player on the bottom row but none with 4 players. I just thought it wouldn't look right so I kept to a 5 player limit.

The average number of stolen bases for an American League team in 1962 was 56. The only 4 teams with more than 56 stolen bases are represented on this card.

The Chicago White Sox had 76 stolen bases led by Hall of Famer Luis Aparicio with 31. Jim Landis (who is not pictured on this card) was tied for 5th in the AL with 19 stolen bases.

The "new" Washington Senators led AL teams with 99 stolen bases. They were led by outfielder Chuck Hinton and had a total of 16 players with at least 1 stolen base.

The Detroit Tigers had a total of 69 stolen bases. 24 of them belonged to second baseman, Jake Wood.

The Kansas City Athletics stole 76 bases and had 3 players in the top 5 list. Third baseman, Ed Charles was #4 in the AL with 20. Shortstop, Dick Howser and rookie outfielder Jose Tartabull (not pictured) were in a three-way tie for 5th with Jim Landis

1962 Topps AL Stolen Base Leaders: Aparicio, Howser, Wood

Luis Aparicio led the AL in stolen bases again in 1961. He led the Al every year from his rookie season in 1956 until 1964. Dick Howser and Jake Wood were both rookies in 1961. 

While Aparicio's Hall of Fame career was in full stride in 1961. Both Howser and Wood arguably had the best season of their playing careers as rookies. They had career highs in most offensive categories including stolen bases. 

Dick Howser is more often remembered as the manager of the World Champion 1985 Kansas City Royals. His number 10 was retired by the Royals in 1987. 

Jake Wood was the first African American player to come up through the Tigers farm system to make it to the Majors. The Tigers were the second to last team to break the color barrier. The first non-white on the Tigers was Ozzie Virgil. Ozzie was a Dominican and had played played a few seasons on the Giants before coming to Detroit. The first non-Hispanic Black player on the Tigers was Larry Doby in 1959 a full 12 years after his debut in 1947. 

Follow this link and this link for more on Jake Wood and the reluctant integration of the Detroit Tigers