1963 Fleer Extended Set

In my last post, I wrote about the 1963 Fleer set. Specifically, how it was just 66 base cards and not a complete baseball card set as we know it. So today I am speculating about what some of the other non- base cards would look.

One of the first omissions from the set is the manager card. Johnny Pesky guided the Red Sox in 1963 and 1964. Hand picked by Tom Yawkey, Pesky was a fan favorite. But the Sox finished in 7th in 1963 and 8th in 1964.

Harry Craft was the first skipper of the expansion Colt .45s in 1962. He coached there until his eventual dismissal late in the 1964 season. The Colts weren't the first team he'd managed. He was the K.C. Athletics manager from 1957-59 and was part of the Cubs "College of Coaches" experiment in 1961. In his 7 years managing 3 different clubs, he never finished above 7th place.

Since there wasn't a player pose for manager, I had to create one. With the help of photoshop, I lifted the outline of Casey Stengel striking a classic pose.

You know what else is missing? Good old-fashioned team cards. They are missing from current sets as well. I guess they just don't take those type of pictures anymore. Too bad, I miss them.

I picked a team from each league. The Angels in just their 3rd year and the Pirates, who had been around since the late 1800s. I was surprised to learn that the Pirates logo from this era was this cartoonish buccaneer. Topps continued to use their older "classic" logo.

Last but not least are the rookie cards. Topps used the phrase "Rookie Stars" on their cards. Fleer sets of the 80s used the term "Prospect" which seem more appropriate given some of the "stars" that appeared on Topps rookie cards.

I used the eventual 1963 Rookies of the Year as the subjects of these cards. In all they are all very good but only one was an eventual Hall of Famer. Dave DeBusschere is in the Basketball  Hall of Fame.

1971 Topps AL Stolen Base Leaders: Bert Campaneris, Tommy Harper, Sandy Alomar

Bert Campaneris's stolen base production dropped from 62 in 1969 to 42 in 1970. Yet he went from second place to league leader. The reason is that 1969 stolen base leader, Tommy Harper saw his numbers drop even more significantly. He went from 73 in 1969 to only 38 in 1970. By contrast Harper's home run production skyrocketed. He went from 9 in 1969 for the Seattle Pilots to a career high 31 with the Brewers. He was also the first Brewer selected to the All Star game in 1970. He was brought in as a pinch-runner and was thrown out by Johnny Bench trying to steal second. 

Sandy Alomar will always have a close place in my heart. Not because of his meaningless All Star at-bat in 1970, nor because of his 3rd place stolen base performance in 1970. Instead it was because of his kindness to my son at his first baseball game ever. It was the 2001 season and we had seats on the 3rd base line.  Right behind the Cubs bullpen. My  5 year old son was chatting with every player that came his way.  Including bullpen coach Sandy Alomar. And Sandy not only chatted with him but gave him a ball mid-game,  He also autographed it for him after the game. My son is away at college now but that autographed ball is still in his abandoned bedroom. He may have trouble remembering it because he was only 5 years old, but I will remember it forever.

Thank You Sandy. 

1970 Topps AL Stolen Base Leaders: Tommy Harper, Bert Campaneris, Cesar Tovar

The 1969 Seattle Pilots didn't have much to celebrate. The team had an old stadium with poor attendance and an older team. With an average age of over 28 years, they were older than most established MLB teams and considerably older than the other 1969 expansion teams.  But Tommy Harper provided Seattle fans with a reason to cheer. The lead-off hitter got the Pilots first hit ever and also scored their first run. Harper also led the Majors with 73 stolen bases.

After leading the AL in stolen bases for 4 consecutive years, Bert Campaneris fell to 2nd place. His 62 swipes still matched his career high from the 1968 season. Additionally he was only caught 8 times compared to 22 in 1968.

Cesar Tovar stole 52 bases in the regular season and 1 in the NLCS for the Minnesota Twins. 

1970 Topps Tommy Harper All Star

Milwaukee Brewers CTNW Fan Favorites #5

Here is a continuation on a theme of putting together 5 "Cards That Never Were" fan favorites from each team. These are not necessarily the 5 best players from the franchise. So as David Letterman used to say before Stupid Pet Tricks, "This is only an exhibition. This is not a competition. Please, no wagering."

Tommy Harper was the first player to represent the Milwaukee Brewers in the All Star game.  He came in to run for Harmon Killebrew and was thrown out stealing second by Johnny Bench. He was also the first Brewer to join the 30/30 club and only the 5th player in the history of Major League Baseball. Joining Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Bobby Bonds and Ken Williams of the 1922 St. Louis Browns.  

The Seattle Pilots' move to Milwaukee was finalized just 6 days before opening day 1970. There were no Brewers cards anywhere in the 1970 Topps set. I was going to make a regular Topps 1970 Tommy Harper card on the Brewers but the thought of an All Star pinch-runner card struck me as more fun.