1965 World Series: The Missing Topps Set

 For years I've been wanting to tackle this missing piece of the 1966 Topps set.  From 1960 to 1980, Topps has included World Series cards in their sets with notable exceptions of 1966 and 1979. Now 55 years later, I'm making my version of that missing 1966 set. 

Game one the Dodgers were without their ace, Sandy Koufax who was observing Yom Kippur. Instead, Drysdale faced Mudcat Grant.  Grant was coming off a career year with a league leading 21 victories.  But this game was no pitching dual. Each team had 10 hits and all but one starting position player had at least one knock. The Twins iced it early with a 6-run 3rd inning.

Koufax returned for game two but it was Jim Kaat's game. Not only did he deliver a one-run complete game, but drove in two insurance runs in the 8th inning.

Down two games to none, the series moved to Chavez Ravine.  Claude O'Steen pitched a gem, spreading 5 hits over 9 innings to get the shutout.

In Game four the Dodgers evened the series at two.  Despite giving up solo homers to Killebrew and Olivia, Drysdale mowed the Twins down.  For the second game in a row a Dodgers pitcher threw a complete game. 

In the pivotal 5th game, Koufax threw the Dodgers 3rd straight complete game.  He shutout the Twins as the Dodgers took the series lead 3-2.  Maury Wills went 4 for 5 plus a stolen base.  But he wasn't the Dodgers only base running threat, Willie Davis stole 3 bases in game 5.

Game 6 was the Twins turn to showcase their pitching.  Mudcat Grant not only delivered another complete game victory, but contributed with his bat.  He drilled a 3 run homer in the 6th to push the Twins lead to 5-0. Ron Fairly hit a solo dinger in the 7th to provide the Dodgers only tally.

With the series tied at 3, the Dodgers sent their ace to the mound. Koufax threw his second shutout of the series and the 1965 Cy Young Award winner added another World Series MVP to his trophy case.

Topps All-Star Misses: 1961 NL Infield

 There were two All Star Games in 1960 and in 1961 Topps had Panch Herrera as their All Star first baseman, Mazeroski at second, Ken Boyer at 3rd and Ernie Banks at short.  Only Maz and Banks started in the 1960 games.  Although Boyer didn't start in the 1960 ASGs he was the 1961 Sporting News All Star selection at 3rd base.  Here are a few cards that could have been included in that All Star subset.

At first Topps could have included Joe Adcock who actually started both 1960 ASGs.  They also could have had Orlando Cepeda who was The Sporting News actual 1962 All Star selection at 1st base.

At second, they could have included Frank Bolling.  He was the 1962 Sporting News All Star selection at second base.  And at third, his teammate, Eddie Mathews, started both 1960 ASGs.

At short, The Sporting News All Star was Maury Wills.  Of course, he was famously not under contract with Topps at the time.  So here is what could've been:

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

Frank (Pancho) Herrera:

Herrera was 2nd place in Rookie of the Year voting in 1960, far behind Frank Howard. He also led the league in errors at first base and had a then MLB record of 136 strikeouts.  He wasn't a 1960 All Star, nor was he a Sporting News All Star.  He is an interesting side note though.  He played from 1955-1974 in pro ball. Only parts of three seasons were at the Major League level.  In that time he amassed 305 homers at all levels.  He was elected to the International League Hall of Fame in 2008.

Topps All-Star Misses: 1962 NL Infield

 While the Topps 1962 "Sporting News National League All-Star" infield didn't quite match the 1961 MLB All Stars, it was very similar to the actual "Sporting News" All Star selections with one glaring omission.  TSN had Cepeda at 1st, Mazeroski at 2nd, Ken Boyer at 3rd and Maury Wills at short.  Topps had Cepeda, Maz, Boyer and Roy McMillan?? McMillan was last selected to the All Star team in 1957 when Reds fans stuffed the ballot boxes.  The four below represent the actual NL infield in both 1961 ASGs.  Around the horn we have Bill White at 1st, Frank Bolling at 2nd, Wills at short and Eddie Mathews at 3rd.

Who probably didn't merit inclusion in the 1962 Topps All-Star set, but was in it anyway?

Roy McMillan:

McMillan was undoubtably included due to Topps not having Wills under contract. And I suspect it was a big reason for the gap from 1963-1967 when Topps had no All Star cards at all.

More of the 1980 Donruss Set that Never Was

Rookies, Team Cards, Managers, and Award Winners

"Super" Joe Charboneau was the beer-drinking, softball-playing Rookie of the Year for the Cleveland Indians in 1980. His career was cut short by an injury sustained the following strike-shortened season. In 1980 he played 131 games and hit .289 with 23 homers and 87 RBIs. He only played 70 more games in his career (1981 & 82). He batted .211 with 6 homers and 27 RBIs. 

Steve Howe was the 1980 Rookie of the Year and an All Star Reliever in 1982. But he was plagued by substance abuse. He was suspended 7 times for drug policy violations, including the entire 1984 season. He was given a "Lifetime Ban" in 1992 which was overturned on appeal. He died in 2006 when he crashed his car. There was methamphetamine in hes system. 

As for the design, I used just base cards with the Rated Rookies logo that we came to recognize on Donruss cards.  Donruss didn't begin making "Rated Rookie" cards until the 1984 set.  Even then it wasn't the iconic logo that I am using on this imaginary set.  In 1984 it was a banner that was similar to the team name design that year.

For the team cards, I didn't stray far from the base. Simply went horizontal and dropped one of the pennants.

In 1980 the Angels were coming off a year in which the won the AL West division. It was their first post season appearance in team history. Although the loss of Nolan Ryan had to hurt, falling to 6th place 30 games under .500? 

The 1980 Braves were in their 3rd season under Booby Cox. After two last place finishes, the 1980 Braves would end the season one game over .500 and finish 4th. It wouldn't be enough to save him. By the end of 1981 Cox would be gone. He would, of course, return in 1990 for 21 more years managing the Braves.

Speaking of managers.  Donruss tended to just put managers on base cards.  I went a different way because I think the coaches can be interesting, too.

Particularly on this Mariners card.  Darrell Johnson was the manager of the 1975 Pennant winning Red Sox. He was named first manager of the expansion Mariners. But his coaching staff! Hall of Fame second baseman Bill Mazeroski.  All-Star shortstop, 1962 MVP, perennial stolen base leader and future  Mariners skipper, Maury Wills. The speedy All-Star outfielder Vada Pinson and veteran pitching coach of the Swingin' A's, Wes Stock.

The 1980 Expos also had ties to the Swingin' A's with Dick Williams at the helm. Their coaching staff included future Expos manager Felipe Alou. Norm Sherry was a coach under Williams for the Angels in 1976 and took over as manager after Williams was fired. Galen Cisco was a veteran pitcher and pitching coach. Ozzie Virgil Sr. broke the color barrier as a player for the 1958 Detroit Tigers. He went 5 for 5 in his first home game for the Tigers.

One of the things that Donruss did right from the start was make Award Winner cards. In my last post you can see the 1981 Brett MVP card and the 1981 Carlton Cy Young card.  So in this imaginary set from 1980, I included a card of the NL Co-MVPs from 1979, Keith Hernandez and Willie Stargell.

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As usual, I am taking request for cards based on this design. So if there are any players or even subsets you'd like to see in a future post, leave a comment.

1967 Alt-Topps Requests

I promised to have these done "before spring training ends".  But it ended rather abruptly.  I did at least manage to get these out before the regular season starts, if there is a season at all.  

This time around, there weren't as many requests as I usually get.  It's as though you might have had more important things to tend to.  In all seriousness, I hope that everyone is staying healthy and following the CDC guidelines.  Here's something to kill a few minutes of your self quarantine. 

I got a couple requests for more All Star cards, particularly Harmon Killebrew.  The Killer wasn't actually a starting All Star in 1966.  He was on the All Star roster, though.  Topps played pretty fast and loose with their All Star cards in the '60s. Often they referred to them as "Sporting News All Stars". Despite the title, sometimes the players on their cards weren't named to the Sporting News All Star team, either. So I have no qualms about including Killebrew in this Alt-Topps subset.  The Ron Santo card is one that I had made earlier, then decided to make a McCovey card instead.  After all McCovey's name was on the original mock-up, even though his image wasn't.  

I also got a request for a Phillies and an Orioles card.  The reason: both had yellow as their base colors in the real 1967 Topps set.  "Bob" thought yellow wouldn't work well in this design. He may have a point.  I found a decent head shot of Uecker wearing a Phillies uniform.  His real 1967 card was of the hatless variety.  For the Orioles, I dragged out one of my favorite players, Luis Aparicio.

As I said before, the request were few, so I had a couple that I wanted for myself.  I always like to add a card of "the Mick" whenever I can.  In 1967 he moved from the outfield and played first base exclusively.  His real 1967 card still listed him as an outfielder.  I also needed to add possibly the biggest trade of 1967, Maury Wills.  He not only moved from LA to Pittsburgh but also from shortstop to third base.  The Pirates already had a Gold Glove shortstop in Gene Alley

A request came in for the multi player cards that were a Topps staple in the '60s.  In this instance, the request was for the White Sox pitching rotation that included Tommy John, Joel Horlen and Gary Peters.  Although the Sporting News had all three on their cover in July of 1967, I could not find a similar color photo. But heck, two out of three ain't bad. I also made a card of the Alou brothers.  I used the term Family Affair. That TV show debuted in September of 1966. The Sly and Family Stone hit single of the same name wouldn't come out until 1971.

 

The same person wanted a rookie card that featured Fred Lasher and Cisco Carlos.  Both were late call ups that pitched for 2 of the 4 late-season AL contenders. (As late as September 6th, the Twins, Tigers, Red Sox and White Sox were all tied for 1st place). Lasher was a closer with 9 saves in 17 appearances in '67.  He also had 28 strikeouts in just 30 innings pitched.  Cisco Carlos was 2-0 with a 0.86 ERA and a strikeout to walk ratio of 3 to 1. He was good enough to be included with Johnny Bench on the cover of the 1968 MLB rookie edition of Sports Illustrated.  However in 1968 he went 4-14 for the Sox.

"Deogolf" wanted more World Series cards and I wanted to provide some equal time for the Dodgers.  But the reality is LA was pretty much absent from the 1966 Fall Classic.  Even the real 1967 Topps set had only Orioles on their World Series cards.  One of the better performances by the Dodgers was Claude Osteen's pitching in game 3.  He only gave up 3 hits in 7 innings. But one of those hits was a solo homer by Paul Blair.  The Dodgers gave him zero runs in support.  

1970 Topps NL Stolen Base Leaders: Lou Brock, Joe Morgan, Bobby Bonds

For the 4th year in a row, Lou Brock was the NL stolen base leader. He stole 53 bases for the Cardinals.  Joe Morgan once again was in the running with 49 stolen bases for the 1969 Astros. Morgan had missed most of the 1968 season after he was taken out by Tommie Agee breaking up a double play.  Bobby Bonds became the first 30-30 player since Hank Aaron in 1963. He stole 45 bases and hit 32 homers in 1969 for the Giants.

The real story of this card is whose photo is not on the card. After leading the league for 6 straight years, then placing in the top 3 from 1966-1968, Maury Wills fell to 4th in the NL with 40 stolen bases. He began the 1969 season as an expansion draft pick for the Expos. In June he returned to the Dodgers in a 4 player trade. In honor of this monumental achievement, here are all of his fake stolen-base-leader cards:

1969 Topps NL Stolen Base Leaders: Lou Brock, Maury Wills, Willie Davis

In 1968 Lou Brock led the N.L. in stolen bases again with 62. He also came in 6th place in MVP voting. He was behind 2 of his teammates, Curt Flood (4th) and Bob Gibson (1st). In all, 6 different player from the NL Champion Cardinals received MVP votes in 1968.

In 1968 Maury Wills returned to the lead-off position in the batting order. As a result his stolen base total went from 29 in 1967 to 52.  The Dodgers' center fielder, Willie Davis came in 3rd with 36 stolen bases.

1968 Topps NL Stolen Base Leaders: Lou Brock, Maury Wills, Joe Morgan

In 1967 it was Lou Brock atop the NL in stolen bases again, this time with 52. Brock also got his first All Star start in 1967. Maury Wills and Joe Morgan were tied for second with 29 swipes each. Although Wills stolen base tally was down, his other offensive stats were solid as ever. The speedster went from leading off and playing shortstop for the Dodgers in 1966 to batting second and playing 3rd base for the Pirates in 1967. Joe Morgan at 23 years old had the highest stolen base total of his young career with 29. He would eventually eclipse that total many times over.