Topps All-Star Misses: 1961 NL Outfield

 The 1961 Topps "Sporting News" All Star cards were pretty close to accurate as far as reflecting what the cards purported to represent.  Topps had Aaron, Mays and Frank Robinson.  Three solid choices and future first-ballot Hall of Famers, all. Two of the three were actually The Sporting News All Star selections for 1961 (Mays and Robinson).  Topps was also two for three when it came to starters in the the 1960 All Star Games.  Mays and Aaron started both games in 1960. That being said these two Pirates could have been in that set just as easily.  Bob Skinner started in left field in both 1960 ASGs.  Roberto Clemente was selected to The Sporting News All Star team in 1961.

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: 1962 NL Outfield

 The 1962 Topps All Star NL outfield is a bit of mixed bag.  They had Aaron, Mays and Frank Robinson.  The actual outfield in both 1961 games was Mays, Clemente and Cepeda.  Now, Topps did have an All Star card of Cepeda at 1st base.  In 1962 he did move back to 1st and was the starter at 1st in both '62 games.  He was also a 1962 Sporting News All Star selection at 1st base in 1962.  So that checks out.  Frank Robinson was also a Sporting News All Star in 1961 and 1962. Still good so far. But Where is Clemente? He started all 4 ASGs in 1961 and 1962.  He was also a 1961 Sporting News All Star.  The other missing Star was Tommy Davis.  He was a starter in both 1962 games and was a 1962 Sporting News All Star.

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

Hank Aaron:

This almost feels blasphemous, but the Hammer probably didn't belong.  He was a reserve for all 4 ASGs in 1961 and 1962, but not a starter.  He wasn't a Sporting News All Star selection either year. 

Favorite Players A-Z (Part 1 of 3)

My mother (probably all mothers) used to say, "If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do it, too?".  Maybe.  I've seen a few bloggers make an A-Z list of favorite players. So I figured that I'd jump, too.  I'm more than a bit of a homer so look for an overabundance of Cubs and White Sox players.

For the most part, I'm including cards I had previously created for this blog.  I had to make one card specifically for this post (it's the letter "L") and there is one real card which might be my favorite card in my collection.

Right off the bat, I'm torn. Two of my all time favorite players have last names starting with A. So I'm cheating already.

Hank Aaron on a rejected Topps design.

1972 Topps Dick Allen In Action

1953 Topps Ernie Banks

1984 Topps Roberto Clemente Statue

1978 Topps Larry Doby

1972 Topps All Star Pitchers (Yeah, I know I spelled Dock wrong)

1964 Topps Nellie Fox All Star

1976 Topps Father/Son style Mark Grace Broadcaster

1968 Topps Frank Howard All Star

1957 Topps Monte Irvin

First ten cards and only 5 were Chicago teams, if you don't count Grace. Not bad. (For me).

To be continued....

1973 Alt-Topps Requests

 We've had a few distractions during this thread. Some were good, Alec Mills surprise no-no. Most were not, the passing of Tom Seaver, Lou Brock and Gale Sayers.  So finally, here are the requests:

 Just a few requests this time. "Rumple" wanted to see Willie Mays and Ken Boswell of the Mets.  I used the All Star Format for the aging "Say Hey Kid". It was his last All-Star start.  He was the replacement starter for Roberto Clemente. Clemente had just come back from 2 weeks off with an injury then played a 12 inning game against Cincy just before the All Star break.  Danny Murtaugh, both the Pirates manager and the All Star manager, gave him the night off to rest.  Sadly, that would have been Roberto's last All Star game, too.

"Bob" wanted to see if a longer team name would work in the horizontal format.  So I made a multiplayer card. These were more prevalent in the 60s but this pose looked like it was made for one of those cards.  The team name is compressed but I think it still works.

Since there are always requests for post-season cards, I couldn't pass up using these two great pictures from the 1972 Pennant Series.  The reaction of Dick Williams and Mike Hegan in the background as Tenace crosses the plate is priceless. The A's scored the winning run on an errant throw in the 11th inning to beat the Tigers in game 1 by a score of 3-2.  

Although Clemente took out Darrel Chaney in what would possibly be an illegal move today, The Pirates went down quietly 7-1 to the Reds in game 4 of the NLCS.

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Another note on this post. It wasn't showing up on other blog lists. So I had to delete and re-post it.  Has anyone else encountered this with the new blogger format?

Even More 1967 Alt-Topps

Traded, All-Stars, Leaders and World Series Cards

This set started with an Eddie Mathews prototype card.  It only seems right to include a card with him traded to the Astros.  Jim O'Toole was an elite pitcher in the early '60s. He was the NL starting pitcher in the 1963 All-Star game. By 1967, arm trouble left him a shadow of his former self.  He finished his MLB career playing for his hometown White Sox.  He made an attempted come back in 1969 with the expansion Seattle Pilots, but was cut before the start of the season.

For the All-Star cards, I decided to take another rejected Topps card.  This one may have been meant for a booklet cover or something similar.  Although it says Willie McCovey, he is obviously absent from either photo.

The black and white action shot could be either Bernie Allen or Graig Nettles.  Any other guesses?

 The inset photo is definitely Ollie Brown.  That photo originally appeared on his 1967 card with the Giants. An airbrushed version similar to the one used on this mock-up appeared on his 1969 Padres card. 

Here is the actual Willy McCovey.  Coinsidentaly, he was the starting first baseman for the NL in the 1966 All-Star Game.  For his AL counterpart, I made a card of the Halos 2nd bagger Bobby Knoop.

I went back to following Topps script with the design of the leaders card.  I also followed their lead by using "Bob" and "Richie" instead of their preferred names: Roberto Clemente and Dick Allen. Leading the NL in RBIs in 1966 was the "Hammer", Hank Aaron.

For the AL, I simply had to include the "Judge".  1966 was his Triple Crown year.  Here we have all 3 batting average leaders, Robinson, Oliva and Kaline.  Not a bad leaders selection. It contains both 1964 Rookies of the Year and 4 Hall of Famers.

Finally, for the World Series card, I used another Topps reject. The mock-up says Tom Siever (another inside joke?). I can't make out any of the black and white players on this card but that sure looks like Drysdale on the inset.  On my version, I kept the rounded corners with the little flourish and added a border for continuity.  I also added the 1966 World Series logo to the card. 

 Instead of a black and white inset with a blue background, I used a color head-shot. It seems as though the Dodgers offense took the Series off. They managed only 2 runs in the first game then went scoreless in the next three.  The O's outscored them 13-2 in a four game sweep.

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As usual, I will make a "requests" post before Spring Training ends.  Please post your requests in the comment section and I will try to accommodate as many as I can. Thanks.