More 1965 Alt -Topps

Rookies, Team Cards and Managers

Love them or hate them, here they come.  First is the multi-player Rookie Stars card.  For the rookie card I let the photos take a backseat to the design and went with a 1963 rookie card feel.  I know people dislike the multi-player design because for every card with a "Steve Carlton" you get a "Fritz Ackley".  But with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, these are loaded.

The AL card has the top two Rookie of the Year nominees, Blefary and Lopez. It also has 1966 ROY Tommie Agee and Skip Lockwood. Lockwood came up as a 3rd baseman. He batted .121 in 33 at bats in 1965. He went back to the drawing board and was reborn as a pitcher. He pitched for 12 years in the majors from 1969-1980.

Once again in the NL, I have the players with the most ROY votes. Lefebvre, Morgan and Linzy. The fourth was future Hall of Famer, Fergie Jenkins. In 1965, Houston was transitioning from .45s to Astros. During spring training they had several cap logos.  This shot of Morgan has the plain embroidered star. There also were a couple variations with just an 'H' and a few sewn-on-patch variations before the final version.

The team cards are about as basic as they get. I used the same script and a simple white border.

The Manager cards are the same as the regular issue cards.  I went with a pair of teams that will surely upset Yankee fans.

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I got a lot of good requests for this set so far.  Some of them are a bit challenging, but keep them coming.

1967 Topps All Star Cards : National League Infield

1967 Topps Willie McCovey All-Star

Willie McCovey  batted cleanup in the 1966 All Star game. The N.L. beat the A.L. 2-1 in 10 innings. Each team had only 6 hits. "Stretch" went 0 for 3 but drew an intentional walk in the 6th and was forced out at 2nd on grounder of Ron Santo's bat.

1967 Topps Jim Lefebvre All-Star

In his only All Star appearance, the 1965 Rookie of the Year, Jim Lefebvre started at 2nd base. He played the first 5 innings, and hit 2 pop ups to left field.

1967 Topps Chico Cardenas All-Star

Coming off his Gold Glove season in 1965, Leo Cardenas made a statement with his bat in 1966. He hit career highs in Homers (20) and RBIs (81) in 1966. Cardenas was a 5 time All Star but 1966 was his only start. He went 0 for 2 but turned a 3-6-3 double play with Willie McCovey.

1967 Topps Ron Santo All-Star

Ron Santo was a lifetime .333 hitter in 9 All Star games. In 1966 he was 1 for 4 but he made his one hit count. He drove in Willie Mays to put the N.L. on the board in the 4th inning.

1975 Topps 1965 Rookies of the Year

The first thing that strikes me when I look at this card is "did I run spell-check?"  The second is that the 1965 Rookies of the Year faced each other in the 1966 World Series. The Orioles swept the Dodgers in 4 games. Neither of these players were much of an impact. Lefebvre hit a solo home run in a 5-2 loss in game one. He had only one other hit in the series batting .167. Blefary had a hit in his first World Series at bat. It was a 2 out, bases empty single, he was stranded at first.  He wouldn't get another hit in the series batting .077. 

By 1973 both player would be out of the Major Leagues. Blefary would be playing in the minors for the Braves. Lefebvre would be in Japan playing for the Lotte Orions. He would become the first person to play on a team that won the American World Series and the Japanese World Series. He would also go on to manage several teams including the Chinese National Baseball Team in the Olympics and the 2006 World Baseball Classic.

1965 Topps Jim Lefebvre

Jim Lefebvre's career in L.A. wasn't limited to baseball. If you tune into TVLand you might catch him playing bit parts on classic TV shows. He had small roles on Batman, Gilligan's Island, M*A*S*H, Knight Rider, Alice and several others. In his rookie season he was one of 7 Dodgers receiving MVP votes.  He hit .400 against Minnesota Twins pitchers in the 1965 World Series and won Rookie of the Year honors beating out another second baseman, Joe Morgan.

Update 4/5/12

Thanks to Vonnoosh for pointing out Lefebvre's actual first card. See comments below.