1962 Topps #35 Don Schwall vs WILT CHAMBERLAIN ?!?!!

Today our journey through the Rookie Cups takes us to the 1961 AL Rookie of the Year and 1962 Topps RHP Rookie Cup representative Don Schwall

1962 Topps #35 Don Schwall (RC)

A fine card with the familiar 1962T wood panel design that I have always liked and the old school Rookie Cup tophat. I have place Schwall on a page from Robby Incmikoski and Kyle Fager coffee table book "Sacred Grounds". The time has a bunch of large full page photos of stadia that should make for good card backdrops. 

But things get real interesting on the back...

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1962 Topps #35 Don Schwall (b-side)

First off I want to briefly cover that we have Don's Rookie of the Year Award mentioned in the comic.

Schwall earned the award by posting a 15-7 record with a fine 3.22 ERA (129 ERA+!!). The righthander's 15 Ws led all rookies while his W-L Pct and ERA both ranked 2nd. The most marginal number was Don's 92 strikeouts (5th). Perhaps Ken McBride has a complaint about Schwall's selection but that will need to be left to another column.  

Hoop

Now, lets move onto the juicy first line of the text:

"A former basketball star in college where he once OUTSCORED WILT CHAMBERLAIN" 

Yes, prior to signing a MLB contract with the Boston Red Sox Don Schwall was a lauded collegiate basketball player.

As a forward for the 1956-57 Oklahoma Sooners Schwall led the team in free throws while finishing 2nd in scoring overall. During Schwall's only full season with Oklahoma they faced the Kansas Jayhawks, who were led by future NBA HOF legend Wilt Chamberlain, three times.   

1961 Fleer #47 Wilt Chamberlain (IA/rc - image stolen from psa)

Wilt and the Jayhawks (24-3, AP #2 Overall) won all three contests, but the Sooners held their own. Specifically Don Schwall did quite well vs Kansas and outplayed Wilt in the season series: 

Above we have comparisons between the three meetings with the totals in the final column. at the Bottom right of Schwall's data we have enlarged Don Schwall's point total for the 3 games 73 which eclipsed Wilt by 4 points. By coincidence the two players had the exact same Foul Shooting numbers. 

Boxes

Thanks to the Des Moines Register  we have Columns & Box Scores from the three games:

Newspaper clippings from Des Mones Register (1957 Feb 19 via Proquest)

These first two clippings are from the February 18 1957 game where Don Schwall scored 30 points, Wilt Chamberlain fouled out with 11. It's blurry Oklahoma is the away team listed first, Schwall the fourth name "Schw'l". His line stands out with the 11 field goals as the only one in double digits. On the Kansas side we see Wilt listed 5th with the 5 fouls in the final column. 

 

 Newspaper clippings from Des Mones Register (1956 Dec 29 & 1957 Feb 19 via Proquest)

These are clippings also from the Des Moines Register for the other two games. Fortunately both of these boxes are clearer. 

1957+

Schwall returned to Oklahoma in the fall of 1957 but only played 3 basketball games before...

Newspaper photo and caption from New York Daily News (1957 Dec 12 via Proquest)

On December 10th Don Schwall withdrew from Oklahoma after signing a professional contract with the Boston Red Sox. The 50k listed in the above caption is $595000+ in 2026 dollars.  

Within four years Don Schwall would be pitching for the Red Sox. The following spring he appeared on his first baseball card - a Rookie Cup Card!

Sources & Links
1962 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Index
Wilt Chamberlain HOF Index

ProQuest: Des Moines Register 

ProQuest: New York Daily News

SABR Bio - Curt Smith

BallNine

baseball-reference

Sacred Grounds - Incmikoski & Fager

psa

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Inflation Calculator

Rookie Cup Series: 1961 Topps #395 Chuck Estrada

Chuck Estrada earned the RHP Rookie Cup award for 1960 by leading not just rookies but all of MLB in Wins with 18. At the time Estrada was the only rookie to ever lead the AL in wins and the first since 1932 (Larry Cheney) to lead either the NL or AL. He also led rookie pitchers in Strikeouts and Innings Pitched. His 7.0 Hits/9IP led all pitchers. 

Despite these superlative pitching numbers he did not win rookie of the year. He finished runner-up to Orioles teammate Ron Hansen (22/86/.255) 

1961 Topps #395 Chuck Estrada 

These seem like obvious qualifications to win the Rookie Cup, leading two of the triple crown categories and finishing 5th in Rookie ERA. However, modern stats may have swayed the vote. Estrada ranked 3rd in WAR among RHP behind Art Mahaffey (Phillies) and Don Lee (Senators). Estrada finished behind the pair in ERA & ERA+. Mahaffey bested the trio in Winning percentage. Mahaffey finished 3rd in the NL ROY voting. Lee did not receive any vote in the AL bracket

Flip

1961 Topps #395 Chuck Estrada (b-side) 

the third panel of the panel is kind of ironic as Chuck's attitude was mentioned in his SABR Bio as part of the reason he had trouble sticking in the majors after his incredible debut season. 

1961+ 

Unfortunately for Estrada his career peaked in 1960. He struggled with injuries the next few seasons and never regained his form. A 7 year career ended in 1967 with the struggling New York Mets. 

Chuck Estrada did make a career out of baseball serving as a pitching coach in several organizations. Among his mentees were Buzz Capra, Nino Espinosa, Craig Swan and fellow rookie cup winner Randy Jones

Subset Star

The 1961 Rookie Cup is not Chuck Estrada's Rookie Card. His RC is part of the 1960 Sport Magazine Rookie Stars subset from the previous years. Estrada's 18 Ws also earned him a spot on the very first AL Pitching (Wins) League Leader Card.

1961 Topps #48 LL Pitching (Wins) Chuck Estrada, Jim Perry, Bud Daley, Art Ditmar, Frank Lary

Estrada shared the 1960 Wins Title with Jim Perry who at the time was the only other RHP Rookie Cup winner. Jim Perry's Rookie Cup profile can be found here. 

Sources & Links 

1961 Rookie Cup 

SABR BioProject - David E Skelton

Trading Card Data Base

Baseball_ref

1962 Topps #218 Joe Torre

At age 86 Joe Torre is among our eldest Hall of Famers. He was the catcher for the 1962 Topps Rookie Cup Team, which also featured fellow HOF Billy Williams - who celebrated birthday 88 this summer.

 

1962 Topps #218 Joe Torre (image swiped from PSA)

Williams and Torre also ranked 1-2 in the NL ROY Voting:

While Torre led the two in WAR, Billy Williams clearly wins the traditional power numbers and that was good enough to earn him NL Rookie of the Year honors.  

Among position players Torre's 3.4 WAR led all 1961 rookies, although looking at those offensive numbers we must also note that a large chunk of that WAR is from defense. The ROY vote is interesting, in 1961 voters only got the opportunity to vote for a single player and close to a third of the ballots recognized the importance of the catching position. 

1961 Rookie Catchers

There were basically only two catchers in the running for the position on the 1961 All-Star Rookie Club, Torre & Red Sox backstop Joe Pagliaroni. 

Lots of catchers had over 100 plate appearances but Torre & Pagliaroni have 150 more than #3 Dick Bartell. Pagliano took two of the triple crown categories and had modern analytics been popular at the time it needs to be noted he also had a higher OBP than Torre. However Joe Torre had more extra base hits and although voters would not have known it at the time he also led in OPS+.  Based on those numbers I could see either player being chosen, my guess is that the 36 point batting average difference tipped the scales in favor of Torre.  

It is interesting that Torre finished 2nd in the NL RoY vote while Joe Pagliano did not get any votes on the AL side. This is likely due to Pagliano's battery mate Don Schwall winning the award and another teammate Chuck Schilling finishing 3rd in the voting.

Flip

1962 Topps #218 Joe Torre (image swiped from eBay) 

I am not of fan of the realistic style of the 1962T comic but do appreciated that this one is devoted to Torre's Rookie Cup win and love that fine rendition of the trophy. Nice mention of Frank Torre in the back text.  

Hall of Fame

Joe Torre was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Veterans committee in 2014. This was largely an acknowledgement of his 4 World Championships as Manager of the New York Yankees. However, I don't want this distinction to overshadow his accomplishments as a Player:

In addition to earning a 1961 Rookie Cup, Torre was the 1971 NL MVP and a NINE time all-star (at 3 different positions C/1B/3B). Joe Torre played with some good teams but never made the postseason. 

HOF Index 

This column will do double duty as an index to our Joe Torre columns

1965 Topps #200 (Braves v Cardinals SNB)

Source & Links

1962 Rookie Cup Index

Hall of Fame Index

Baseball-reference

PSA

ebay

Cup of Coffee: John Kennedy

Today our #CupOfCoffee Series features the Phillies first African-American player, John Kennedy, who debuted for the squad on April 22 1957.

Sketch of a 1957 Topps John Kennedy card on a disposable coffee cup

John Kennedy played five games for the 1957 Phillies. Since his Major League career was brief Topps never issued a card of Kennedy. 

We went with the 1957 Topps design which is minimalist - basically I just featured the player name across the bottom. I have chosen to omit the Phillies team name since they chose to ignore black players longer than any other NL team. I attempted to show John Kennedy glancing forward to the future. The hexagon background is a recurring theme in my work which I use to symbolize barriers that need broken. Kennedy's Barrier Breaking season is also noted by the broken coffee cup at the center top - with a coffee cup breaking in a lightning bolt pattern - the year 1957 written on the cup. 

The borders and text of the card are Orange & Green, the colors used on David Hammons African-American flag. 

Integration Pioneers

SABR has this page where you can find John Kennedy and the other Integration Pioneers with links to their biographies. There are a handful of other CupOfCoffee candidates here, hopefully we will get to makes cups for them in the future. 

Sources and Links

Cup of Coffee Index

John Kennedy SABR Bio - Michael Marsh

Baseball-reference

Cup of Coffee: Ralph Gagliano

Ralph Gagliano was the middle of three baseball playing brothers. The eldest, Phil, had a twelve year career which included a World Series Championship with the 1967 St Louis Cardinals. Younger Brother Paul went to Vanderbilt on a baseball scholarship and played for the Italian National team in several international competitions including the 1984 Olympics.   

At age 18 Ralph appeared in a single Major League game as a Pinch Runner for the 1965 Cleveland Indians. He entered the game with one out in the 9th inning and Cleveland trailing the Yankees by 5 runs. Unfortunately the ensuing batter, Richie Scheinblum, grounded into a force out at second and Ralph Gagliano's MLB career was over. A batter later New York recorded the final out and defeated Cleveland 9-4. 

Gagliano was sent to A ball in 1966, he had a mediocre season but that was not the biggest factor in ending his baseball Career. In August Gagliano received his Army draft notice. Ralph served three years in Germany rising to the rank of Lieutenant. 

Following his Service commitment Gagliano returned to the Indians organization for two seasons, but by then his baseball skills had eroded. 

Ralph Gagliano was out of pro ball at the age of 24.  

1965 Topps LT Ralph Gagliano on a disposable coffee cup

Ralph Gagliano is half of a 1965T High Number dual rookie card. The other subject of the diptych features fellow #CupOfCoffee alum Jim Rittwage whom we will cover at a later date. 

Below you can see the original card. A couple of minor modifications were made: 1) Added the Lieutenant title in front of Ralph Gagliano's name. 2) The team pennant was changed to the city name of Cleveland 3) Finally below the card we have the card we have the date of Gagliano's game 1965 September 21. 

The Original

1965 Topps #501 Ralph Gagliano & Jim Rittwage (image swiped from PSA)

The image of Ralph Gagliano is notable for having a completely white cap - likely an airbrush job to cover up a Minor League cap, possibly that of the 1964 Dubuque Packers. We made sure to keep the blank. 

Sources and Links

CupOfCoffee Index

Cleveland CupOfCoffee Index (cups inspired by SABR 54)

Once Around the Bases: Richard Tellis

Royals Review

Jim Rittwage Cup of Coffee

Phil Gagliano SABR Bio: Bill Nowlin 

Phil Gagliano BR bullpen

baseball-reference

PSA

Cup of Coffee: Cy Twombly

Next up in our Cup of Coffee Series is Pitcher and Longtime collegiate Athletic Director Cy Twombly. If the name sounds familiar for someone who pitched less than 30 career innings over a century ago it's likely because Cy Twombly is the father to the renowned pop artist of the same name. 

Sketch of Cy Twombly (the Elder) on a Disposable Coffee Cup 

This drawing echoes 1920s era tobacco cards. The dates of Twombly's first and last games June 25th and August 17th 1921 are written at the cups bottom. 

Four pictographs were added to note different facets of Twombly the elder’s post-baseball career. Clockwise from top right: Interlocking Washington & Lee university logo which is where Cy spent over 5 decades in various roles; The lower two icons are for Golf and Swimming, the two programs where W&L saw the most success while Twombly was Athletic Director at the University. The Natatorium is now named for Twombly. Finally top right we have a paintbrush as a nod to Cy Twombly the younger. 

The "card" on the cup is backed by a large crayon swirl which echoes the artwork of the younger Cy Twombly   

Sources and Links

Cup of Coffee Index

Gagosian - Cy Twombly (the younger)

Baseball-Reference

SABR Bio - Aidan Jackson-Evans

GeneralsSports - Washington & Lee University Sports

Rookie Cup Series: 1964 Topps #412 Ray Culp

 At 84 Ray Culp is likely the oldest among the Phillies Topps All-Star Rookie Cup recipients. 

1964 Topps #412 Ray Culp

Lots of things to like on the otherwise minimalist 1964 Topps card. First off the Rookie Cup completes the Red/Blue/Yellow primary color troika - IMO The PHILLIES team name being listed atop the card in black hurts the 1964 design. My favorite element of this card is Culp wearing the under jersey warm-up jacket - which even has a collar. 

Ray Culp earned the Rookie Cup by leading qualifying RHP in all three triple crown categories (14-11, 2.97 ERA,  176 K). Those numbers also led all NL Rookies regardless of handedness. This however was only good enough for third place in the Rookie of the Year vote behind Pete Rose (.273, 6 HR, 41 BI) and Ron Hunt (.272, 10, 42 and 13 HBP ). If the vote was held today Culp may fair better as he led the trio in WAR 2.5 Culp - 2.4 both Hunt & Rose. 

It should be noted Ray Culp's three pitching numbers were all 2nd to the LHP rookie leader, Gary Peters who played for the White Sox in the AL and easily won junior circuit Rookie of the Year.

Flip

1964 Topps #412 Ray Culp (b-side)

The back tells about Ray's Rookie Cup win and FIVE Shutouts. Times have changed and among active pitchers only Justin Verlander has more than 5 Shutouts CAREER. Verlander is on the IL and hasn't pitched since March. The last pitcher to record a 5 shutout season is Felix Hernandez in 2012, the Phillies Cliff Lee is the most recent NL pitcher, He had 6 whitewashes in 2011. 

Beyond 1963

Ray Culp had a career that started off great and cut short by injury. He was a two-time all-star pitching a clean inning in each (1963 & 1969) - recording outs vs Future HOF Al Kaline, Yaz and Tony Perez plus Pete Rose. 

Trivia

The trivia/comic at the bottom references a 1952 game where the Brooklyn Dodgers defeated the Cincinnati Reds 19-1.  There is a SABR game story you can read here. Among the many other records set during the 15 run inning were most two out runs (12), most BFP (21) and most consecutive batters to reach (19)

Sloppy Topps

However if we look close we have a sloppy topps candidate.  I realize it is lightly written, but can you spot the error in the answer to the trivia question? If not check our posting regarding the 1964T/2013 Heritage  Cardbacks here. 

Ray Culp Index

412 Ray Culp (2013 Heritage Preview)

412 Ray Culp (2013 Heritage Preview b-side)

Sources & Links

1964 Topps Rookie Cup Index

Baseball_Ref

SABR Games Project :1952 May 21 Reds 1 @ Dodgers 19 - Steven C Weiner