1960 Topps Football Cards as Baseball Cards

This is a two-for-one Cards That Never Were post.  Continuing on with my posts of baseball cards using the Topps football card designs, I found something unusual.  In 1960 there was no card of that year's eventual MVP.  Norm Van Brocklin was in the final year of his Hall of Fame career. He led the Eagle to an NFL Championship that year.  So that needed to be rectified first.

Next onto the baseball version.  I chose the 1960 AL MVP, Roger Maris for this card.  I needed to alter it a bit by using a colorful baseball image instead of the colored football image Topps used on the 1960 card.  Ultimately, it reminded me of the 1964 Topps Giant baseball cards except with a colored baseball,

Cards I Made for Other Websites

Cleaning Out the Closet 

Here are some cards I found, going through some of my old stuff that never got published on this blog. Some of these, I don't remember where I published them.  Like this Bo Jackson throwing out the first pitch at a White Sox - Royals game.  Apparently he wanted to appear neutral by wearing a plain black cap and sweatshirt.  I added the Sox logos because I am not neutral. But I really don't remember where or when (or if) I posted this card. 

This card was made for Rich Klein of Sports Collectors Daily.  The Astros had the first pick of the 1992 draft.  Hal Newhouser, who was at that time serving as scout for Houston, tried to convince them to draft Jeter. After they picked Phil Nevin instead, Newhouser quit.  This was my attempt at a "What if?" card.

Phillies reliever Al Raffo pitched in 35 games in 1969, but never had a card.  Jim from Downington requested this for his 1970 Topps Baseball blog.

In 1967 there were several of these type of multi-player cards. These cards were an attempt at giving at least one to each team.  I had a hard time finding era appropriate photos and ultimately abandoned the project.

More requests from Jim from Downington.  These were the QBs missing from his 1971 Topps Football blog.

Topps All-Star Misses: 1962 AL Outfield

 The 1962 Topps All Star in the American League outfield reflected the actual MLB starting outfielders from the second ASG in 1961.  Kaline, Mantle and Colavito.  Kaline and Mantle were also named to the 1962 Sporting News All Star roster.  But there are two others that merit inclusion.  Roger Maris started in right field for the first All Star Game of 1961.  And Leon Wagner was also named to the 1962 Sporting News All Star roster.

************************************************

 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).

1969 Topps Roger Maris - 30 Tribute Card Project - Part 12

This part 12 of a continuing 30 tribute card project inspired by this article from Sports Collectors Daily. In previous posts I have shown 4 cards that Topps had produced and 15 cards that I have found on various blogs pages. Now I have my turn: 

Roger Maris's relationship with the New York media was notoriously rocky. While the aging Yankees were reduced from a perennial pennant winners to a fairly mediocre team, Maris was plagued by injuries causing his numbers to decline as well. This only made matters worse. He was traded to the Cardinals after the 1966 season for utility infielder, Charlie Smith. Maris never did return to his earlier greatness but he did contribute to the Cardinals World Series teams of 1967 and 1968.  Maris did make a cameo appearance in the 1969 Topps set. He is shown greeting Tim McCarver at home on the Game 3 World Series Card.

 Here is the list so far. The Black X represents cards produced by Topps, The red X represents those made by other baseball card geeks, and now the blue X represents the cards made by yours truly:

1.       1952 Joe DiMaggio X

2.       1956 Ralph Kiner X

3.       1957 Bob Feller X

4.       1957 Phil Rizzuto X

5.       1957 Jackie Robinson X

6.       1961 Ted Williams X

7.       1962 Jackie Jensen X

8.       1964 Stan Musial X

9.       1964 Early Wynn X

10.   1965 Duke Snider X

11.   1966 Yogi Berra X

12.   1966 Warren Spahn X 

13.   1967 Sandy Koufax X

14.   1967 Robin Roberts X

15.   1968 Whitey Ford X

16.   1969 Rocky Colavito X

17.   1969 Roger Maris X 

18.   1969 Eddie Mathews

19.   1970 Don Drysdale X

20.   1972 Ernie Banks X

21.   1973 Maury Wills X

22.   1974 Willie Mays X 

23.   1977 Hank Aaron X

24.   1977 Frank Robinson X

25.   1978 Brooks Robinson X 

26.   1978 Jim Wynn

27.   1980 Lou Brock

28.   1980 Thuman Munson X

29.   1984 Johnny Bench X

30. 1984 Carl Yastrzemski X

To be Continued......

1962 Topps AL RBI Leaders: Gentile, Maris, Colavito, Cash

Even if this card had been made by Topps in 1962, it would not have looked this way. In 1962 Roger Maris "Officially" had 142 RBIs and was considered the RBI Champ. It wasn't until 2004 that some "statistical  discrepancies" were discovered and in 2010 it became "official" that both Gentile and Maris had 141 RBIs and were AL RBI Co-Champions.

In stark contrast to the NL RBI Leaders card, this card doesn't contain a single Hall of Famer. It does, however, captures 4 great players at the top of their game. All 4 had career seasons in 1961. Most notable is Maris and his brilliant 1961 season when he broke the single season homerun record and won his second consecutive MVP award.

1963 Topps All Stars - The American League Outfield

1963 Topps Leon Wagner AS

Leon Wagner went 0 for 4 in game 1 but made up for it in game 2. He went 3 for 4 including a 2 run homer in the 4th to put the American League up 3-1. That gave the A.L. their first win since 1959 and what would be their last until 1972.

1963 Topps Roger Maris AS

Coming off his record breaking season in 1961, Maris was an easy choice to anchor the outfield. In game 1 he went 0 for 2 but hit a sacrifice fly in the 6th inning to drive in the A.L.'s only run. In game 2 he was 1 for 4 with an RBI double. He also scored both times he reached base. In the 7th when he reached on a fielder's choice, then again in the 9th.

1963 Topps Mickey Mantle AS

Although Mantle usually played centerfield with Roger Maris in right, for game 1 they switched positions. In game 1 Mantle struck out in the 1st then walked in the 4th inning. Rocky Colavito pinch ran for him. Colavito would then play left field with Leon Wagner moving over to right.

1963 Topps Rocky Colavito

Coming off the bench in game 1, Colavito was 0 for 1 with a walk. In game 2 he got the start in right field. He rewarded manager Ralph Houk with a 3 run homer in the 7th and an RBI sac-fly in the 9th.

1961 Topps A.L. RBI Leaders

Another new idea I wanted to explore was the Leader Card. In 1961 Topps started making multi-player league leader cards. But certain leaders weren't given their own cards until later.  Topps wouldn't include RBI leaders until 1964. They wouldn't include leaders in saves or stolen bases until 1973. Leader cards have always been a favorite of mine. They usually include some of the lesser semi-stars at the top of their game. They are also a cheap way to pick up cards of hall of famers.

The top 4 RBI leaders in 1960 all received MVP votes, with Maris winning his first of 2 consecutive MVP awards.  Maris, Lemon and Minoso were all selected to represent the American League in the All Star games.  In 1961 Maris would have his record breaking season.  He would also top his 1960 league leading 112 RBIs by hitting 29 more to lead the league with 141. The other 3 players, all in their 30s would be on the decline. Minoso would hit 23 fewer RBIs, Wirtz would drive in 42 fewer and Lemon would have 48 less RBIs in 1961.

1958 Topps Roger Maris

Kansas City Athletics CTNW Favorites #3

In many ways Roger Maris symbolizes exactly what was wrong with the first part of the Athletics' tenure in Kansas City. In 1954 the Philadelphia A's were on the verge of bankruptcy. Connie Mack and family sold the team to Arnold Johnson. Johnson was the owner of both Yankee Stadium and Blues Stadium in Kansas City which was the home of the Yankees farm team, The Kansas City Blues.  Johnson was forced to sell Yankee Stadium to avoid a conflict of interest but kept the stadium in K.C. and moved his newly acquired team there. 

From that point on the Kansas City Athletics seemed to operate as if they were still a farm team of the New York Yankees. They frequently traded young prospects like to the Yankees in exchange for aging players and cash. Roger Maris came to the A's in 1958 along with 2 other players who would be out of the majors by 1959. In exchange Cleveland got Woody Held and Vic Power who would play until 1969 and 1965 respectively. In 1959 Maris would have an All Star season for the A's then was traded to the Yankees in December of 1959.