Who is the best Topps Rookie Cup Team of the 1960s?

Since 1959 Topps has named 63 All-Star Rookie Cup Teams. The first 10 of the teams were honored in the 1960-1969 Topps Sets. 

These teams have featured Hall of Famers, Stars, World Series heroes, One year wonders, defaults and everything in between.  From Willie McCovey to Woody Fryman to Wander Franco. 

I have always wondered which of these teams was the best, worst, and had the most impact. 

But how does one determine the Best Rookie Cup Team. 

I could simply give you charts of the best team by WAR,  All-Star Appearances, or Championships. 

For the 1960s these tables would appear like this:

But what does this really tell you? Unless you know that Willie McCovey was a member of the 1960* Squad, then you would be reminded he never won a World Series. 

But what is the fun in all these tables and numbers? 

How does one determine the best Rookie Cup team form the 1960s in a fun way? 

TOURNAMENT! 

Yes we had Phungo HQ have put together a tournament to determine the best Topps All-Star Rookie Team from the 1960s.

Over the next couple of weeks we will be posting the tournament results. The tournament should run around 25 games over 3 weeks. 

Seeding

To give each team a personality we have given each team a name and a captain. Here are the seedings for the tournament:

I will get more into game play below but basically games will be decided in a variety of statistical categories with WAR being the most dominant vector. The above seeds are based off a combination of each teams collective WAR for the rookie cup season and the teams career WAR. 

Structure

10 is an odd number of teams to run a tournament, so the format is is a bit convoluted. Basically we will have a pair of Double Elimination tourneys that will get us to the top 4 teams who will play a pair of Best of 3 Semi-Finals. The two winners will compete in a Best of 5 Final.  May the best team Win

The Teams

A brief description of the teams

1960 the Stretchers Captained by Willie McCovey Seed 10

    Strengths: Much Better Career Numbers than Seasonal Numbers 

    Weaknesses: Very Poor Rookie Cup Season numbers, team Speed, defense

    Notables: McCovey, Jim Perry, Bob Allison Ron Fairly

1961 Santo's Squad Captain by Ron Santo Seed 9

    Strengths: Lifetime Power

    Weaknesses: Pitching, Season Speed

    Notables: Santo, Frank Howard, Ron Hansen

1962 Team Torre Captained by Joe Torre Seed 8

    Strengths: Season Batting

    Weaknesses: Pitching

    Notables: Torre, Billy Williams, Don Schwall

1963 Team Boog Captained by Boog Powell Seed 7

    Strengths: Season Power

    Weaknesses: Speed, Career Power

    Notables: Boog, Ed Charles, Dean Chance

1964 Charlies Hustlers Captained by Pete Rose Seed 1

    Strengths: Season WAR, Pitching

    Weaknesses: Power Hitting

    Notables: Rose, Gary Peters, Rusty Staub, Tommy Harper

1965 Oliva's Army Captained by Tony Oliva Seed 4

    Strengths: Season Hitting 

    Weaknesses: Career Pitching

    Notables: Tony Oliva, Dick Allen, Bert Campaneris, Rico Carty

1966 Little Joes Captained by Joe Morgan Seed 2

    Strengths: Speed, Lifetime Power

    Weaknesses: Career Pitching

    Notables: Morgan, Tony Perez, Rico Petrocelli, Frank Linzy

1967 Team Davey J Captained by Davey Johnson Seed 6

    Strengths: Defense, Season Speed, 

    Weaknesses: Lifetime Power

    Notables: Davey Johnson, Tommie Agee, George Scott, Jim Nash, Woody Fryman

1968 Mad Hits Captained by Rod Carew Seed 3

    Strengths: Pitching, 

    Weaknesses: Season Hitting (everybody but Carew)

    Notables: Carew, Tom Seaver, Rick Monday, Reggie Smith, Lee May Dick Hughes

1969 No Drips Captained by Johnny Bench Seed 5

    Strengths: Fielding, Pitching

    Weaknesses: Season Powe

    Notables: Bench, Jerry Koosman, Stan Bahnsen, Bobby Bonds, Del Unser 

Okay enough set up, Tomorrow we will move on to actual games!

Details

If you really want to know more about the key vectors used to determine game outcomes click here. 

*NOTE - The All-Star Rookie Cup is recognized on cardboard the year AFTER the award was won. ie: the 1959 Rookie Cup Team is on 1960 Topps Cards. For purposes of my discussions I typically refer to a team in the year of the card not the award - so the latter of the two years. 

Sources and Links

TCDB - Topps Rookie Cup List by FASportsCards

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