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Monday, May 27, 2024

1960 Topps #324 Jim Perry

This is an entry in our effort to Chronicle the entirety of the Topps All-Star Rookie Cup canon. 

As of the spring of 2024 Jim Perry is the last living member of the original Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Team. The first class of ten members was awarded in 1959 and honored on cards #315-325 of 1960 Topps.

The penultimate card of that subset is Jim Perry

1960 Topps #324 Jim Perry

If you click here you can scroll down and see the Topps All-Star Rookie Cup awards banquet photo. Perry is the rightmost player present.  

Flip

1960 Topps #324 Jim Perry (b-side)

One of the things I love about 1960 Topps is the season timeline, thankfully this base set feature is also present on the rookie cup cards. Six of Perry's performances are listed on the card plus the October 29th rookie cup selection. 

The first game on May 12th is cited as a seminal moment in Perry's career in his SABR Bio authored by Joseph Wancho.  What the card doesn't mention is that among those 4 strikeouts are 3 HOF, Enos Slaughter, Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle. The fourth was the formidable Elston Howard. 

I also want to note the creativity in the comic which imagines a baseball bat as a military rifle and baseballs as shell casings. 

By the Numbers

Perry posted a 12-10, 2.65 ERA, 79 K season in 153 innings, which would have been an inning shy of the 154 IP League leader standards of the era. He led the 7 rookies with 100 innings in ERA by a margin of over 2 (Jerry Casale 4.31 in 179.2 IP).  Larry Sherry's 2.19 in 94 innings leads if we reduce the requirement a smidge. 

Perry's 12 Wins were 2nd only to Red Sox rookie Jerry Casale who had 13 of his 17 careeer Ws as a rookie. Perry finished 4th in Ks which was led by Ernie Broglio. 

Larry Sherry was the only RHP that finished with a better WAR than Perry, 3.6 v 2.4. While both players had successful careers, Perry had the most significant of the two longevity wise. 

However... 

The big name among RHP to debut in 1959 was Bob Gibson who had a much briefer MLB season than his Rookie cohort but did well (3-5, 3.33 ERA, 48 K, 75.2 IP, 1.5 WAR). 

Career numbers for the 1959 Rookie Class are of course led by Gibby: 251 Wins, 2.91 ERA, 3117 K, 81.7 WAR. Perry is 2nd in Wins (215) Strikeouts (1576) and WAR 38.4. His 3.45 Career ERA trails Gibson and 3 time World Champion Bob Miller (3.37)

Verdict

Overall the Youth of America got this one right when voting for the first All-Star Rookie Cup Team in 1959. Jim Perry's Win Total is comparable to Casale's with an ERA that is far above any of the competition. Larry Sherry's pre-analytics WAR is impressive but the innings matter. Bob Gibson lags behind the group. 

ROY

Jim Perry received 5 votes for the AL Rookie of the Year Award finishing 2nd to Senators Slugger Bob Allison. 

Baseball Card Pioneer

Topps All-Star Rookies is not the only subset in which Jim Perry participates in the debut series. A year later the Right Hander would find himself on the first Topps League Leader to honor AL Pitching (Wins). During his sophomore season Perry posted 18 Wins which tied him with the Orioles Chuck Estrada. 

The original LL cards are just crammed with faces so Perry and Estrada do not appear much more significant than the anyone else in the top 6 wins on the 1961 Topps LL card, however they do appear on the top line

1961 Topps #48 American League Pitching Leaders 

Jim Perry would return to League Leaders a full decade later in the 1971T LL set where on this podium card he appears to have finished 3rd in Wins 

1971 Topps #69 American League Pitching Leaders 

However all 3 pitchers Cuellar, McNally and Perry won an identical 24 games. If you want to read more about this card check out Night Owl Cards Topps 1971 column here

Not a Rookie Card

This is not Jim Perry's rookie card. He originally appeared in 1959 Topps High number series

1959 Topps #542 Jim Perry

If you want to read more about this card check out Topps 1959

Big League Brother

Jim is the older brother of Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry. Gaylord's debut was not nearly as successful as his brothers and he was bested by the Phillies Ray Culp for RHP rookie cup honors in 1964. As of press time we do not have much in our HOF file on Gaylord Perry, but an index to any future postings we have can be found here.

Sources and Links

1960 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Subset Index

1971 Topps Blog

1959 Topps Blog

Baseball-Ref

SABR Bio by Joseph Wancho

Sunday, May 26, 2024

Harry O'Neill (1917-1945)

This Memorial Day Weekend we honor one of the two MLB players killed during WWII, Harry O'Neill. The other was Washington Senator Elmer Gedeon.

O'Nelll's baseball career lasted one game, on July 23  1939 he came in as a defense replacement at catcher for the Philadelphia Athletics. The A's were down 15-3 when O'Neill entered the game, the deficit would expand by an additional run during his single inning of Major League play. 

O'Neill never batted in that game and his MLB career was over. 

In September 1942 O'Neill enlisted in the US Marine Corps. On March 6 1945 Harry O'Neill was killed in Action as a 1st Lieutenant at the Battle of Iwo Jima. He is one of an estimated 7,184 USMC deaths that occurred during the 36 day Battle.

The brief baseball career of Harry O'Neill does not appear to have yielded any cards during his playing days. 

As part of our #CupOfCoffee project honoring players with Short MLB Careers we created a cup for Harry O'Neill

Phungo Original: 1953 Topps Marines Harry O'Neill (2021)

We based our illustration off of one of the few photos we could find of Harry O'Neill. I turned around O'Neill's ball cap so that we can see the A's logo and added color to the B&W image. The stars and blue field are used as a background to give us a flag motif. 

On the nameplate we also added the shortened version of the Marine Corp Motto Semper Fidelis which is Latin for Always Faithful. 

Finally above and below the borders we have added #CupOfCoffee designation and the date of O'Neill's game 1939 July 23

The design is borrowed from the minimalist 1953 Topps Fighting Marines Set which features simple thin line frames of red and blue borders. For more on the 1953T Marines issues check out Cardboard Connection

1953 Topps #43 Iwo Jima! (tcdb)


To find out more about Harry O'Neill please read his SABR biography which can be found here

Sources and Links

Cup of Coffee Index

Harry O'Neill SABR Bio by BIll Nowlin, Gary Bedingfield and Frank Fitzpatrick

Pritzker Military Museum & Library

Marines.com

Cardboard Connection

On This Day in Sports

Wednesday, May 1, 2024

1965 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Team (1966 Topps Set)

This is an index to postings related to the 1965 Topps All-Star Rookie Team which was honored with cards in the 1966 Topps set. The Set includes Futures Philles and Hall of Famers Joe Morgan and Tony Perez. There is also Pat Corrales who I plan to honor in a posting if I ever return to regular columns. Jose Cardenal is among the Future Phillies on this squad. 

1966 Topps #72 Tony Perez

72TONY PEREZ HOFReds1B
195JOE MORGAN HOFAstros2B
376PAUL SCHAALAngels3B
298RICO PETROCELLIRed SoxSS
35RON SWOBODAMetsOF
460CURT BLEFARYOriolesOF
505JOSE CARDENALAngelsOF
137PAT CORRALES (Phils/Cards)CardinalsC
78FRANK LINZYGiantsRHP
155MARCELINO LOPEZAngelsLHP

SNUBS ? 

#93 Jim Lonborg Red Sox RHP (nope)

Sources and Links

All-Star Rookie Master Index

Baseball-Ref

2007 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Team

 This is an Index of our postings related to the 2007 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Team

2007 Topps #113 Nick Markakis
 

452007 TOPPS ANDRE ETHIER
65DAN UGGLA
113NICK MARKAKIS
139PRINCE FIELDER
160JUSTIN VERLANDER
421MELKY CABRERA
449FRANCISCO LIRIANO
463RUSSEL MARTIN
467HANLEY RAMIREZ
600RYAN ZIMMERMAN

1961 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Team (1962 Topps Set)

This is an index to postings related to the 1961 Topps All-Star Rookie Team which was honored with cards in the 1962 Topps set. The Set includes Hall of Famers Billy Williams and Joe Torre. No Phillies on the roster but there is Lee Thomas, architect of the 1993 Phillies NL Championship squad. 

1962 Topps #154 Lee Thomas

91J.C. MARTINWhite Sox1B
427JAKE WOODTigers2B
283CHARLIE SMITHWhite Sox3B
13Dick Howser no cupA'sSS
154LEE THOMASAngelsOF
288BILLY WILLIAMS HOFCubsOF
454FLOYD ROBINSONWhite SoxOF
218JOE TORRE RCBravesC
372JACK CURTISCubsLHP
35DON SCHWALLRed SoxRHP

Sources and Links

All-Star Rookie Index

Baseball-Ref



1977 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Team (1976 Season Honorees)

This is an Index to postings related to the 1977 Rookie Cup Team which honors rookies for their 1976 Season

291JASON THOMPSONTigers1B
359WILLIE RANDOLPHYankees2B
549JERRY ROYSTERBraves3B
161GARRY TEMPLETONCardinalsSS
58CHET LEMONWhite SoxOF
93TOM POQUETTERoyalsOF
397LARRY HERNDONGiantsOF
175BUTCH WYNEGARTwinsC
265MARK FIDRYCH 1st ASG Flair
TigersRHP
577JERRY AUGUSTINEBrewersLHP


Sources and Links

TASR Master Index

Baseball_ref

Topps.com




2023 Topps Rookie Cup Team

This is an index to postings related to the 2023 Topps All-Star Rookie Team which honored rookies from the 2022 season. 


470Joey Meneses (RC)Nationals1B
583Brendan Donovan (RC)Cardinals2B
347Jeremy PenaAstrosSS
334Bobby Witt JrRoyals3B
330Julio RodriguezMarinersOF
116Steven KwanGuardiansOF
226Michael HarrisBravesOF
302Vinny Pasquantino (rc)RoyalsDH
250Adley Rutschman (rc)OriolesC
602Spencer StriderBravesRHP
645Reid DetmersDiamondbacksLHP
369Alexis DiazRedsRP



Sources and Links
All-Star Rookie Index
Baseball-Ref
Topps.com
 

2024 Topps Rookie Cup Team

This is an index to postings related to the 2024 Topps All-Star Rookie Team which honored rookies from the 2023 season. 


77Yainer DíazAstrosC
485Spencer SteerReds1B
327Matt McLainReds2B
620Josh JungRangers3B
378Gunnar HendersonOriolesSS
156Corbin CarrollDiamondbacksOF
362James OutmanDodgersOF
374Nolan JonesRockiesOF
292Kodai SengaMetsRHP
214Andrew Abbott (RC)RedsLHP
158Yennier CanóOriolesRP
228Masataka YoshidaRed SoxDH


Sources and Links
All-Star Rookie Index
Baseball-Ref
Topps.com
 

1965 Topps Rookie Cup All-Star Team

This is an index to our postings related to Topps 1965 All-Star Rookie Cup team. The subset ran in 1965  honoring the Rookies of 1965. 


 
1965 Topps #460 Richie Allen

 
1965 Topps
224BOB CHANCESenators1B
118HAL LANIERGiants2B
460RICHIE ALLEN HOF??Phillies3B
266BERT CAMPANERIS RCA'sSS
55TONY CONIGLIARORed SoxOF
305RICO CARTYBravesOF
340TONY OLIVA HOFTwinsOF
523Mike Brumley (no cup)SenatorsC
290WALLY BUNKEROriolesRHP
18BILL MCCOOLRedsLHP