Monday, February 29, 2016

2016 Topps the Originals: Duos

Today we take a look at the rather random Dual Player cards of 1967 Heritage
 

1967 Topps #334 Twin Terrors Bob Allison and Harmon Killebrew
Four our cover card we picked this one because the Dual Player cards typically feature 2 players and it’s a Twins Card – get it?

However I am thinking Topps may dump the 'Terror' portion of “Twin Terror” for this cards Heritage counterpart.
 

Future Hall of Famer and 500 HR club member Harmon Killebrew was an obvious choice to represent the Twins. Bob Allison’s qualifications were a bit more wanting, he was coming off of a 70 game 1966 season in which he hit 8 Home Runs, well down from the 28 he averaged from 1959-65.

Flip

#334 Twin Terrors Allison Killebrew (b-side)

Nice bios of each players on the back of the cards. Although 2/3 of the text is dedicated to the lesser accomplished Allison. Regardless it is about twice as many words as I expected to see on the upcoming Heritage Card.
  
More Duos

 The Tigers card features a couple of mega prospects one of which is in the Hall of Fame. 

The White Sox came up with one of the weaker combos in the subset. Don Buford is acceptable but Pete Ward is coming off a 1966 season where he batted .219 with 3 dingers.



But for mre the Indians card is the worst of the 1967T Multi-Player subset. "Tribe Thumpers" is NOT alliterative!

Menke would spend some time as Hitting Coach for the Phillies, We probably should dedicate a post to him at some point.

Pretty strong one here - Donn Clendenon batted .299 with 28 Home Runs in 1966. He was just a step behind Willie Stargell (.315, 33 HR), but both were outpaced by teammate Roberto Clemente who won the MVP award in 1966.

We will Definitely be returning to this card in a future posting. 

Over at the 1967 Topps blog there is a write up on the #423 Giants Fence Busters Card that features Mays and McCovey.

Checklist
1967 is a decent edition of this subset, you may recall the 1966 duos were very random and consisted of just five cards. There is a great deal of Randomness in 1967 as well, but it's size (12 cards) and talent makes it a stronger set.

Team
1967 Topps 
2016 Heritage
Cardinals
#63 Card Clubbers Brock/Flood
#63 Stephen Piscotty - Matt Carpenter
Indians
#109 Tribe Thumpers Colavito Wagner
109 Francisco Lindor - Jason Kipnis
White Sox
#143 Sox Sockers Ward Buford
#143 Josh Reddick (Oakland Athletics)
Mets
#186 Mets Maulers - Kranepool Swoboda
#186 Curtis Granderson - Juan Lagares
Tigers
#216 Bengal Belters Cash Kaline
#216 Ian Kinsler - Miguel Cabrera
Pirates
#266 Pitt Power – Stargell Clendenon
#266 Starling Marte - Andrew McCutchen
Phillies
#309 Hurlers Beware Callison Allen
#309 Maikel Franco - Ryan Howard
Twins
#334 Twins Terrors Allison Killebrew
#334 Miguel Sano - Byron Buxton
Braves
#396 Altanta Aces Menke Cloninger
#396 Nick Markakis  (solo?)
Giants
#423 Fence Busters – Mays McCovey
#423 Brandon Belt (solo?)
Indians
#463 Hill Aces McDowell Siebert
#463 Josh Hamilton - Texas
Orioles
#521 Bird Bombers Powell Blefray 
na
Orioles
#1 Robinson Bauer Robinson
#1 Moustakas Escobar Hosmer








Last week we got a glimpse at the 2016 Heritage Checker for comparison. We have added the list here for comparison. To me the originals win on almost every card - the exceptions are possibly #109 Indians, #216 Tigers (close call), and amazingly Phillies (2008 WSC puts Howard over Dick Allen). 

Quick note on the Mets card, Topps has a run of Rookie Pairs that run from 161-190 that they interrupted to match Granderson/Lagares with Kranepool/Swaboda. One may make the argument that the Heritage card should win the Met battle, for me the 1999 SI Greats of the Game card w/ Ed Kranepool eating the Fried Chicken Dinner gives the edge to 1967T.

Sources and Links
1967 Topps/2016 Heritage Index
Harmon Killebrew HoF Index
1967 Topps Blog
Cardboard Connection 
Terapeak
Baseball-ref
Pnilly Inquirer

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Card Show Report: Valley Forge 2016 02 27

Just a couple of highlights from this weekend's Card Show at Valley Forge.


1951 Bowman Eddie Waitkus

Card collecting wasn't dead at the Valley Forge convention center this weekend. It was very alive - or at least Autograph Chasing was. Much of the large crowd was likely due to Brian Dawkins being at the show, but I would like to think that while there some of the patrons took a look at some cards and other memorabilia

For a year or two I sponsered Eddie Waitkus' Baseball-Ref page. He is better known as the subject the story Malumud's "the Natural" was based. 

1961 Topps MVP Ernie Banks

Slowly working on putting together the 1961 MVP Subber. The above Banks card was an upgrade $7.

1962 Topps LL Ws Whitey Ford, Frank Larry, Steve Barber, Jim Bunning

I picked up a LOT of HoF League Leader Cards. This is thee earliest of the bunch. All went for $1 or $2, I think this was from the Dueces.
 
1967 Topps
1967 Topps Duos Twin Terrors Bob Allison and Harmon Killebrew

Our research into the 2016 Heritage/1967 Topps led us into a couple of purchases of the original cards. Mostly Hall of Famers and Subset cards like the Special of the Killer above.

1967 Topps #103 Checker Mickey Mantle 

The 1967T bounty included this Checker for $2. Little steep for a Checklist except this one features a floating head of MICKEY MANTLE - and it is UNCHECKED.


1954 Topps Johnny Podres 

I have been working on 1954T at the last couple of shows. Checked about a half dozen commons on Saturday, plus this semi-star. Podres went for $5. I also picked up a more significant 1954 Card of one of a fellow Dodger teammates, which I am teasing here for a future post.


1971 Topps Johnny Briggs, Rick Wise, Jim Lonborg, Dick Drago

There was a dealer that had 1971 Topps for a dime a pop. I picked up 40 of them. The selection was solid and included HI NUMBERS, Dick Drago in the bottom right is card #752 which is the last card in the set.



1956 Topps Mickey Vernon

Local Hero and Gentleman Mickey Vernon. Just one of the many pickups I made while thumbing through cheap bins $2.

1976 OPC #500 Reggie Jackson

This is for an upcoming Phungo Pheature $2.

 2015 Topps JJ Hardy

I spent a record almost no time in dime bins for current cards, We will return to this card at a future post.

1974 Topps Washington Padres

2 Bucks for a team card of club that never existed.

Thursday, February 25, 2016

2016 Topps first Phillies Card: #237 Carlos Ruiz

There are two Phillies on the current roster that were on the 2008 World Series Championship team Ryan Howard and Carlos Ruiz.

2016 Topps #237 Carlos Ruiz

The first Phillies Card we pulled from 2016T was this nice looking one of Carlos Ruiz. The emphasis on action shots has been great for catchers. In a run of pitching and batting photos the pictures of catchers often stand out - and this one is not an exception.

In fact this may end up being the best catcher card in 2016T S1. There are bigger catchers like Buster Posey but I will take this shot over any I have seen. 

Guess What Day it Is

One issue I have with the tight shots in recent Topps is it makes it hard to play “Guess the Game”. Many of the pictures give so few clues as to the location that they could be anywhere, a ballgame, a studio, or on Mars.

However, we now have access to Getty Images!

For me scouring Getty for the matching picture isn’t as much fun as identifying an opposing player in the background and cross-referencing their game dates to figure out the exact moment a photo was snapped. Regardless after a little searching we were able to find the matching image on Getty. The Photo of Ruiz was taken during a Phillies Yankees contest on June 24, 2015. It was a 10-2 Phillies loss which was typical of last years squad. Ruiz caught Cole Hamels that day and went 0-4.

The photo may have been taken in the 2nd inning of the game on an attempted sacrifice by Didi Gregorious. Unfortunately for Carlos Ruiz and the Phillies Gregorious did better than a sacrifice as he reached first on the bunt and was credited with a single. Ruiz only had one assist in the game and it was later in that 2nd inning as part of a 5-2-5-1 rundown which put out a runner from third base (who happened to be Gregorious). Judging from the angle of the shot and Ruiz’s posture, I am guessing this is not during the run down.

Those are the two possibilities I see in the Play by Play. Outside of the recorded PxP a third possibility is that Ruiz is fielding a ball that was ruled foul. 

According to Getty the Photo was shot by Jim McIsaac, a busy sports photographer who appears to specialize in Hockey and be an avid bobblehead collector.

Sources and Links
2016 Topps Index
2016 Topps Phillies
Getty Images
Baseball-ref
Instagram @FourStanleyCups (Jim McIsaac)
Zoominfo Jim McIsaac

Checklist 2011 Phungo

This is the checklist for 2011 Phungo Cards

 
2011 Phungo #1 Roy Halladay

The Checklist will hopefully be added at a future date.

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Philly Show February 26 - 28



The Philly Show returns to Valley Forge this weekend.



1991 Topps #603 Wes Chamberlain

For autograph hunters this edition of the show is stronger for football fans than baseball. Saturday is for the Grid Iron Heroes including Jeremiah Trotter and Brian Dawkins with the Big name being Hall of Famer Deion Sanders.
Sunday features a couple of reps from the Phillies 1993 NL Pennant Winners including Kevin Stocker, Danny Jackson, Tommy Greene, Jim Eisenreich and Wes Chamberlain (above)
 

1991 Topps

Chamberlain was a rookie when this 1991T card was released thus the profile shot. The bat knob appears to specify “48”, while his Jersey sleeve looks like either “2” or a number in the 20s. As a major leaguer Chamberlain’s Phillies numbers were 31 and 44. 
 

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1991 Topps #603 Wes Chamberlain (b-side) 

Just wanted to post the back of this early Wes Chamberlain card for the text, a one line statement that notes Chamberlain was the Eastern League MVP in 1989.  

This piqued my interest a bit more than usual because Jim Salisbury just published an article on the Most recent EL MVP Brock Stassi, who happens to be in the Phillies current spring camp. Stassi had a great year but at age 26 he is a bit advanced in age to still be considered a prospect. Couple that with the fact that he is a Left Handed hitting first baseman in the Phillies Org and it is pretty easy to see that his future with the club is pretty cloudy.

Regardless Brock Stassi is a 33rd round draft pick on a 40 man roster with a possible chance to make a big league roster. That is overcoming some long odds.

Philly Show Discount
This likely doesn't mean much if your going to blow a couple of hundred bucks at the show, but if you can find a copy of a Friday or Sunday Philly Inquirer they often have a dollar off coupon.


Sources and Links


Checklist 2012 Phungo

This is the Checklist for 2012 Phungo

 2012 Phungo #1 Harry Kalas
 
(checklist upcoming someday

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Happy 60th Birthday Eddie Murray: 1979 Topps #640

Eddie Murray played for five teams during his career but to me he will always be an Oriole and one of my favorites. Tonight we mark the Hall of Famer's 60th Birthday on Wednesday with a look at his 1979T card.

1979 Topps #640 Eddie Murray

This is 2nd year card of Eddie Murray which followed his first All-Star Season in 1978.  Despite the fact that he only DH'd in one game that is still the first position listed on Murray's 1979 card. Of course this is balanced out on the last couple of Eddie Murray's Topps cards he is listed at First Base despite being primarily a DH.

During the 1978 season the slugger actually played more games at 3rd base (3) than that single game at DH - but he has never been listed on any card as a Third Baseman. Murray played a grand total of 6 games at 3rd, His only 3 as a starter were during that 1978 season.

Flip
1979 Topps #640 Eddie Murray (b-side)

Despite being listed as a DH and All-Star First Baseman and the 1977 AL Rookie of the Year the text blurb on back of Eddie Murray's card drones on about a bunch of defensive stats accrued in the single-A Florida State League.

This is not uncommon for 1979 Topps, Many of the cards for the sets younger players reference either minor league, college or High School accomplishments. For Murray I think neglecting the RoY award is a pretty glaring omission.

Baseball Dates
The B-side flair for 1979T are trivia Qs related to random dates in Baseball History. The Eddie Murray Card references a Mets Astros game from April 15 1968. The 24 inning marathon was finally won 1-0 by the Astros when Bob Aspomonte reached on a Bases Loaded Error by shortstop Al Weis. Alsponte went 0 for 9 in the game.

Lots of other fun facts from the box. The Starting pitchers were Tom Seaver and Don Wilson but Astros Reliever Jim Ray may have been the star of the game. He recorded 11 Strikeouts despite not entering the game until the 14th inning. The Mets used seven relievers in the game, a dozen different players occupied the 9 spot in the batting orders for New York.

Bob Aspomonte did not have the worst 0-Fer in the game - Mets Tommie Agee and Ron Swoboda each went 0 for 10. Each team batted .139 for the game (11/79) and they were a  collective 1-23 with runners in Scoring Position.

Ed Kranepool came close to racking up a games worth of Putouts with 25 at first base for the Mets. His counterpart Rusty Staub logged 23.

Tom Seaver was the only future Hall of Famer who played in the game. Big names involved in the game other than those mentioned above include Cleon Jones, Bud Harrelson, Jimmy Wynn, Doug Rader, and Former Phillies GM Lee Thomas. The Mets manager was Gil Hodges.

Sources and Links
Eddie Murray Phungo HoF Index
Baseball-ref

2014 Heritage the Originals: 1965 Topps Index

This is an Index to our posting related to 2014 Heritage and the set it homages 1965 Topps
 
1965 Topps/2014 Heritage Index   


Base - #534 John Herrnstein 

Rookie Cup - #460 Dick Allen 

Rookie Stars - #282 Dick Estelle & Masanori Murakami 
League Leaders - #4 HRs Mays, B Williams, Callison, Cepeda, Jim Hart
World Series - #139 The Cards Celebrate
2010 Topps Vintage Collection - #VLC2 Johnny Mize
 


More info on 1965 Topps
The entire 1965 Topps Series was covered by Kevin B of Orioles Card "O" the day on
The Great 1965 Topps Project
Cardboard Connection Sports Collectors Digest (TS O' Connell) Golden Age of Baseball Cards Dean's Cards
Beckett

PSA

Hall of Famers
Jim Bunning
Joe Torre
Billy Williams

Monte Irvin (2003 UD Vintage)
Johnny Mize (2010 Topps Vintage Legends)
Al Kaline (Embossed Insert)

Sources & Links
Phungo Al Kaline HoF Index
Cardboard Connection
Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards

Monday, February 22, 2016

2016 Heritage the Originals: 1966 Topps League Leaders

Today our 2016 Heritage Preview takes a look at the 1967 Topps League Leader cards.

1967 Topps #242 NL League Leaders RBI Aaron Clemente Allen

In a better world this card would have Three Hall of Famers on it. Unfortunately we live in the cruel universe where Dick (nee Richie) Allen resides on the edges of the Hall.

Regardless, I LOVE THIS CARD!!! What Phillies fan would not?

Dick Allen with two of the all time great Hall of Famers, Hank Aaron and Roberto Clemente. Oddly on this card we have two players who were bestowed different names for the early portion of their careers. Roberto Clemente is listed as the Americanized Bob while Dick Allen is listed as Richie.

The 1967T LL cards are pretty vanilla but strong. This format is very similar to the the 1966T LL cards. If I had a quibble with the design it would would be the use N. LEAGUE rather than NL.

The 2016 Heritage version of this card will feature Nelson Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt, and Anthony Rizzo. I am pretty comfortable stating the panel on the original will be remembered a lot longer than the upcoming Heritage LL card.

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1967 Topps #242 NL League Leaders RBI Aaron Clemente Allen (b-side)

Solid listing of players on the back of the card. Five of the seven players over the 100 RBI threshold are in the Hall, the other two played for the Phillies :(

There are a dozen league leader cards in 1967 Topps, six cards for each league: ERA, Pitching (wins), and Strikeouts for pitchers; Batting (Average), RBI, and Home Runs for Hitters. In addition to appearing on the RBI card, Dick Allen is also the center panel on the HR card between Aaron and Willie Mays (WOW!). Jim Bunning occupies the 2-spot on the NL Strikeouts Leaders card.

I am a little curious if Topps will do anything with NL Wins LL card, Bob Gibson and Gaylord Perry tied for third place in Ws with 21 each in 1966 so they had to split the final spot on the #236 card.

There Will not be any Phillies on the 6 NL Leader cards in 2016 Heritage.

Sources and Index
2016 Heritage/1967 Topps Index
Dick Allen Player Collection Index
Hank Aaron HoF Index
Roberto Clemente HoF Index
baseball-ref

Player Collection Index: Dick Allen

This is an index of our postings related to Dick Allen Cards. Hopefully someday we will be able to migrate this index over to it's rightful place amongst our Hall of Fame guides.


1965 Topps #460 Richie Allen
1964 Topps RC (1964 Phillies Series)
1964 Topps RC (2013 Heritage Preview)
1964 Topps Custom solo
1965 Topps (1964 Phillies Series)
1966 Topps (2015 Heritage Preview)
1967 Topps (2014 Golden Era HoF Ballot)
1969 Topps LL Home Runs (w/ McCovey, Banks)




Sunday, February 21, 2016

2016 Topps First Pack!

Earlier this week I got a Text from Lady Phungo – and it was one that I was excited to get.


Of course I meant “On the Box”. Regardless, that is how I FINALLY got my first cards of 2016.  She picked up a Blaster – Note the boxes don’t say “Bryce Harper” anywhere on the packaging. But as she noted the guy on the box “had a Nationals Cap on and looks like a Jerk” so she figured that was close enough.

And The first card of the year is….

2016 Topps #51 Dustin Garneau

I now know a lot more about Dustin than I did 24 hours ago. Last year he debuted as a 27 year old rookie catcher. Played 22 games and hit a pair of home runs including a 3 run shot in the 7th inning of a 0-0 game versus Seattle, September 11 2015. The Rockies held on to win the contest 4-2.

Other than that I can tell you Mr Garneau went to Baseball Powerhouse Cal-State Fullerton and is from Torrance – anytime I hear that somebody is from Torrance I think of Burt Reynolds greeting Mark Wahlberg in Boogie Nights.

I like the look of 2016 Topps a little better than I do on-line. I had concerns about to many tight shots and a lack of variety in the Photos. After opening a blaster full of cards I have less reservations about 2016 Topps. There are some fun pictures and not all the pitcher cards look alike etc. Take the Dustin Garneau Shot above. I mean, it would be stretching it to call this an action shot by 2016 standards, but I do feel as though we are dealing with a picture that may not tell a story, but speaks at a minimum. It captures one of those thousands of moments where you see a catcher acting as a field captain despite the fact that he is only a rookie who didn’t make it to the bigs until he was 27.

It also makes me smile to see that a catcher is on Card #51. The number worn by the Phillies own catcher on their 2008 World Series squad. 


2016 Topps # Twins Team
2016 Topps # Coco Crisp

For those of you that track collation I drew the Coco Crisp card prior to the Twins Team card but reversed the cards here because I like to position cards with the action moving towards the center.

When Topps first went the highlight direction on Team Cards a few years ago I wasn’t excited about it, but this year had turned me around. The Twins card shows an exciting walk off moment that looks like it could have been part of the Perspectives Insert if there was a bigger star involved.

The most important think I can say about the Coco Crisp is that this card isn’t as memorable as Topps 2014T offering.

2016 Topps # Twins Team
2016 Topps # Coco Crisp

That 2014T Crisp is Cardboard HOF worthy. If you have a chance to check out 2014 Topps take a peek at the A's cards, there are a couple of fun photos in that team set, However there is a LOT of YELLOW.

Inserts

2016 Topps Pressed Into Service Garrett Jones
2016 Topps MLB Debut Matt Harvey

Once again for the collation purists the Jones card preceded the Harvey Debut in 2016T Pack 1.

MLB Debut is the retail only insert for 2016 Topps. Only complaint on this specific card is that it is of a Met.

Mixed feelings on Pressed Into Service. I like the idea, however, Three of the cards are Yankees, two Rangers – this means half the sets cards are devoted to two teams.

Josh Hamilton
John Lamb
Denard Span
Jaff Marisnick

I am kind of tired of hearing stuff about Josh Hamilton.

Apparently John Lamb had some sort of off-season surgery (is getting a Tattoo considered Surgery?) that the Reds were keeping hush-hush. Other than that this is another RC logo card of a player I know nothing about.

I believe that Denard Span is the only base card in the pack where the team is misrepresented – Span is on the San Francisco Giants roster now.

Good to see the Astros getting cards after a few years in baseball purgatory. They even have exciting semi-stars like Marisnick that are making contributions. Maybe it is just me but I find a lot of Bright orange on a card garish when the team stinks. Now that the Astros are on the upswing I find that same brightness exciting.

These four cards are all fine photos, but they do sort of fall under the standard shot for hitters and pitchers umbrella that I fear, although I do like the Span shot.

Last Card First Pack

Heartbreaking Cards posted a video of Keith Olbermann opening his first pack of 2016 and he mentioned that other the top card of the pack the 2nd most important card is the bottom card. I suspect that this is because you get a glimpse of that card when you rip open the pack anyway. Well that card in my Pack 1 happened to be Former Oriole and current brave Nick Markakis.

2016 Topps Nick Markakis

Well that is a step up from card one from the pack. Markakis is coming off a down year, but I am pretty sure that is still the best card in the pack. 

Here are links to past years first cards/packs. 
2015 Bryce Brent
2014 Matt Davidson
2013 Brian McCann
2012 Mariano Rivera

Sources and Links

WAR Stories: Phillies 2016

Last year I was way optimistic on my WAR Projections. This year I am scaling back the project. Instead of dedicating postings to the Phillies WAR projections, I am just going to tack a single sentence/paragraph onto existing posts and see hot that goes.

This is an Index to the Phillies 2016 WAR postings. xxxx Prior to the player name means that I haven't thought about the WAR for that player yet.

2016 Topps #237 Carlos Ruiz

We will start of the one sentence previews right here with Mr Carlos Ruiz - Projected WAR +0.5

xxxx = Jeremy Hellickson
xxxx = Aaron Nola
xxxx = Charlie Morton
xxxx = Jerad Eickhoff
xxxx = Vincent Velasquez
xxxx = David Hernandez
xxxx = Jenmar Gomez
xxxx = Luis Garcia

xxxx = Cameron Rupp
+0.5  = Carlos Ruiz

xxxx = Ryan Howard
xxxx = Cesar Hernandez
xxxx = Maikel Franco
xxxx = Freddy Galvis
xxxx = Darin Ruf
xxxx = Andres Blanco

+2.6 = Odubel Herrera
xxxx = Peter Bourjos
xxxx = Aaron Altherr
xxxx = Cody Asche
xxxx = Darnell Sweeney

+50.0 = Replacement Team

+53.1 = 2016 Phillies



Thursday, February 18, 2016

2016 Heritage the Originals - 1967 Topps Rooke Stars Grant Jackson & Billy Wilson

Tonight we return to our 2016 Heritage PrepWork and take a look at the Rookie Stars suberset from the original 1967 Topps Set.

1967 Topps #402 Rookie Stars Grant Jackson & Billy Wilson




The word Rookie applies in Card Lingo to Billy Wilson here as this appears to be his first Topps appearance. However this is NOT Grant Jackson's debut, he appeared on 1966T #591 card with Dodgers infielder Bart Shirley.

Grant Jackson debuted with the Phillies in 1965 and represented the club in the 1969 All-Star game, sadly Jackson did not see any game action in what was his only invitation to the mid-summer classic. In 1970 The Phillies traded him to the Orioles as part of a multi-player deal that yielded Roger Freed. Grant Jackson would go on to see playoff action with both the O’s and Yankees and eventually won a ring with the 1979 Pirates.

Billy Wilson made it to the big leagues in 1969 and stuck with the Phillies (his only major league club) through 1973, he pitched in 179 games all relief appearances

 

1967 Topps Rookie Stars
As mentioned in our opening posting of the 1967 Topps retrospective the set does not have many design elements. This leaves few opportunities to tie the dual panel Rookie Stars to the base cards.

Topps kept the font of the team name, but changed the color. I do like the contrast of the Phillies red on a yellow background. The Yellow is a nice look for Rookie Stars, but really bears no connection to base. The player name appears to echo 1966T more than 1967, Although they did keep the dot followed by the player position. Facsimile signatures (returning after a seven year hiatus) appear on both card types.
 

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1967 Topps #402 Rookie Stars Grant Jackson (rc) & Billy Wilson (rc) 

The card backs have a short paragraph followed by career minor stats. The last line of Billy Wilson's bio is pretty sad. The author could come up with nothing more than the league Wilson played in and his Height Weight demographics - That little info likely tells you that a player is doomed to a mediocre playing career. 

There are two variations of the Jackson/Wilson card. This is the more common of the two, there rarer version does not have a complete line drawn across the bottom of Billy Wilson's stat line. 

1967 Topps HoF Rookie Stars
The two big RCs in 1967T are Rod Carew (#569, with Dick Allen’s Brother Hank) and Tom Seaver (#581) which are both members of the Rookie Stars Subset.


Sources and Links
2016 Heritage / 1967 Topps Index
Baseball Card Database
Baseball-ref
Cardboard connection
baseball almanac
Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards - Bob Lemke 

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

1984 M&M Olympic Heroes #31 Jesse Owens

We are marking the release of this weekend's release of the film "Race" by featuring a card from the 1984 Olympic Heroes set sponsored/produced by M&Ms.

1984 M&M Olympic Heroes #31 Jesse Owens

I imagine the film was timed to come out in advance of the 2016 Rio Olympics which will most likely occur this summer.

It appears the movie will be set in 1936 at the Berlin Olympics. The key event appears to be the 100 meter dash, an event Owens won with a World Record tying time of 10.3 seconds.

During the 1936 Olympics Jesse Owens would win a then record 4 gold medals. The other wins victories were in the 200 Meters, Long Jump and 400m relay. Each of the Golds was won with an Olympic Record tying or breaking time. 

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1984 M&M Olympic Heroes #31 Jesse Owens (b-side)

The event mentioned on the back of the card is the relay, won easily by the Americans who set a world record for the 400 meters. It also the event that gave Owens his record setting fourth Medal.

The Olympic-ref results and description of the 1936 Men's 400m Relay can be found here

1980? 1983? 1984? Olympic Heroes Trading Cards
Yeah these cards look like they were rushed to market. Sorry for the blurry pix, but I ain't retaking them now. The box front above has a year of 1980 and specifies LA Olympics. Well the 1980 Olympics happened in Moscow and were boycotted by the US.

If you check the back of the Owens card above, near the bottom it specifies 1983, which is a little closer....



Finally on the back of the box we get a 1984, which is the year the Olympics occurred in LA. So yeah one card set 3 different years - I went with 1984 since that is the year the LA Olympics actually occurred.

Checker
I think I found this for a buck or two somewhere - well worth it. Great Checklist The Boxers alone are Cassius Clay, Joe Frazier and George Foreman. Other notables includes Jim Thorpe, Dorothy Hamill, Bruce Jenner, Bill Toomey, Mike Eruzione, Sonja Henie, Oscar Robertson, and Jerry West.

Sources and Links
imdb Race
Jesse Owens
Olympic-ref

a thousand words

a thousand words
2008 World Champions