Topps All-Star Misses: 1968 NL Infield

 After a relatively small group of potential All Star Cards That Never Were in my last post, this group is loaded. Here are the candidates:

Willie McCovey:

• 1968 Sporting News All Star selection
• Starter in 1968 All Star Game
• 1968 NL leader in HRs, RBIs, and slugging.
• 3rd in 1968 MVP voting

Bill Mazeroski:

• Starter in 1967 All Star Game
• Gold Glove second baseman 1967
• 1967 Sporting News All Star Selection

Tommy Helms:

• 1968 Sporting News All Star Selection
• Reserve in 1967 & 68 All Star Games
• 25th in 1968 MVP voting

Dick Allen:

• Starter in 1967 All Star Game
• 19th in 1967 MVP voting
• 2nd in NL Home Runs 1968

Don Kessinger:

• 1968 Sporting News All Star selection
• Starter in 1968 All Star Game
• Led NL shortstops in Fielding %, Assists and Double Plays in 1968.

Topps' 1968 NL All Star infield included mostly legit players.  At first was Orlando Cepeda, the 1967 ASG starting first baseman. Similarly, Gene Alley was the starting shortstop in the 1967 ASG.  Ron Santo was The Sporting News All-Star selection for third base in 1968.  But, as usual, there are some that just don't add up.

Who probably didn't merit inclusion in the 1968 Topps All-Star set, but was in it anyway?

Joe Morgan:

Morgan was not on the MLB All Star Roster nor the Sporting News All Star Roster in 1967 or 1968.  Although he had (at then) a career high of 29 stolen bases in 1967, he was injured most of the 1968 season. playing only 10 games.

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 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).

Series 2 Packs - Sold Out!!!

Here is the second pack of physical cards from this blog.  I am selling these through this site for $10.00 per pack plus $4.50 shipping. Please use the link:

Sold Out

I was hoping to have these done by opening day.  I just barely made it. This group is split between my "Barrier-Breakers" series and some of the baseball legends we lost this past year.  You can also buy them individually on eBay. My seller's name there is ctnwblog_8.

So, what's in each pack?

12 Cards That Never Were plus a special insert.

The insert card is a 1969 Joe Morgan Deckle.

All cards are professionally printed.

Front and Back.

The backs are formatted in a style consistent with their year.

The front of the cards are glossy.

The backs are not.

These are similar in look and feel to the Topps Archives cards.

This pack is made up of cards from my "Barrier-Breaker" series, featuring the first Black player on each team.

It also includes some legendary players that we lost this past year.

For those that wish to buy the cards individually,

They are currently available on eBay. 

My user name on eBay is ctnwblog_8.

Don't forget to comment on my give-away post for a chance to win a 1968 Gibson, or Seaver or BOTH!

1968 Topps Joe Morgan Game Insert

  

I decided to pay tribute (although belatedly) to Joe Morgan by adding him to the 1968 Topps Game Inserts.  He was on the Astros at that time and Topps was in a dispute with Monsanto over the Astros trademark.  So many Houston players appeared hatless or with the logo airbrushed. 

This was actually called out in the comment section when I had made a 1969 Topps Deckle card for Joe Morgan.  I had to agree with the accuracy of the comment and made a second version:

Of course Morgan's superstar status in the '70s made him a frequent subject on this blog. Here are some of the other Joe Morgan Cards That Never Were from past blog posts. 

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Just a side note:  I fought with this posting for hours.  The new google blogger is just awful.  I couldn't get the cards to line up properly.  So after a long battle, I gave up and stacked them.  Then my post wasn't showing up on other feeds.  I deleted it the re-made it, thinking all the reshuffling of images might've messed it up.  Still nada.  Finally it's showing up on others' blog rolls but it randomly used the 4th image instead of the 1st. I am so close to switching to a new platform.  Any recommendations?

1975 Alt-Topps

Once again, I am working from a black and white print. This one looks about 1975 vintage due to the Toy Cannon in Dodgers blue.  There was a lot going on here that I could not duplicate exactly.  I tried to find a glove shape that would allow enough space for a decent photo. The font was just impossible to duplicate but I think mine captures enough of the original gist. 

In typical fashion, I made some base card mockups using the Cy Young Award winners for the 1975 season. Jim Palmer won his second of 3 Cy Young Awards in 1975. He had career highs in victories (23), complete games (25) and shutouts (10). The NL also had a 3-time winner. Tom Terrific won his 3rd and final Cy Young. He led the NL in strikeouts (243) and wins (22).

The AL MVP, Fred Lynn, was also the Rookie of the Year.  I decided to substitute Lynn (and save him for later) with the runner-up MVP in the AL, John Mayberry.  Mayberry had career highs in home runs (34), RBIs (106), slugging (.547) and hits (162). He also led the league with 119 bases on  balls.  In the NL was Joe Morgan who won his first of two consecutive MVPs for the Big Red Machine.

Another departure on this set is the color selection.  In 1975 the Topps set was all over the place with many color combinations for teams.  For the Alt-Topps set I tried to match the team colors.

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Just a quick note to the usual suspects that have been following my blog these past years:

I've been trying to stay active on this blog but haven't been very successful lately.  You can probably tell by the post season cards I posted.  I missed the Wildcard games.  Somehow I managed to post for the Divisional Series but again missed the Championship Series and World Series.  So, I've got a bunch of half-finished projects that I may post at a later date.

Sometimes the real world comes crashing into the hobbies that were meant to take your mind off the real world.  Having said that, I managed to finish this 1975 Alt-Topps project and will try to create a few requests, as usual.  Just leave comments and I will do my best.

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.

1976 Alt-Topps

Still creating whole sets based on rejected Topps designs. This time all I had to work with is a rough black and white copy. It seems to have some elements of the 1971 Topps Football, 1975 and 1981 Topps Baseball.

And here is my cleaned up version with an action shot of Wayne Garrett striking pose similar to the mock-up.  After cleaning it up and creating more base cards, the final product looked less like a mainstream Topps product and more like a giveaway found in a loaf of Wonder Bread.

As usual, I also made base cards of the MVPs and Cy Young award winners from both leagues.  I went with a horizontal version for Randy Jones. 

For Munson I include a cameo of one of the most famous 'fros in baseball.

Speaking of hair, I used this cap-less shot of Palmer to show off his disco era locks.

I also tried to stay true to the team colors Topps used in 1976.  These colors worked for the Padres and the Mets.  They were passable for the Yankees. But the Reds and Orioles? Ugh.