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

Happy 80th Birthday Willie McCovey and the birth of the Topps All-Star Rookie Team

On January 10th First Ballot Hall of Famer Willie McCovey celebrates his 80th birthday.

To mark the occasion I would like to take a look at McCovey's rookie card.

 1960 Topps #316 Willie McCovey

Not only is this a Rookie Card but it is also Topps first ever All-Star Rookie Cup card.

Therefore here we have a card that historic for not one but two reasons. The card is the beginning of some interesting Topps history. 

Check out the text at the top of the yellow circle. It specifies that McCovey was "Selected by the Youth of America"

What does that mean? Well Topps actually sent out ballots to the Boy Scout, YMCA, Boys Club of America and other youth organizations to vote on the All-Star Rookie team. I believe this was part of a greater effort to attract young collectors.

The Following Ad appeared in an issue of The Sporting News during the summer of 1959.

 The Sporting News 1959 Jul 15  

A couple of things to unpack here, first The trophy looks terrific. The clipart used for the Trophy on early Topps cards looks fine, but here we have a bit more detail, I mean who knew the pedestal was a Top Hat?

The text above is where I got the info on the clubs involved in the rookie all-star election.

Further down in the ad we have additional info:

 

The Sporting News 1959 Jul 15

 

Check it out there was an actual trophy presentation ceremony with an associated bonus of $125! According to the CPI Inflation Calculator that is a little bit over a grand in today's money.

To the right is a "Sample Ballot". Kids write in the players name, team and position, and send their vote to Topps Bazooka office in Brooklyn.

The final thing I want to point out is the "Honorary All-Star Election Committee" which consists of various media representatives plus JACKIE ROBINSON, who is referred to not as Major Leaguer, World Champion, All-Star, or Future Hall of Famer. Nope for purposes of this exercise he was Vice President, Chock Full O' Nuts, Inc.

According to a TSN article the 1959 All-Star Rookie election consisted of 1.5 Million votes. Topps eligibility requirements to make the team were no more than 45 Days in the Majors, 90 Plate Appearances, or 45 innings prior to the season.

Banquet

The Sporting News 1960 Apr 20

And there they are Topps Historic First All-Star Rookie Team. They are pretty much in the order that they appear on the 1960T checklist. Willie McCovey is on the left followed Pumpsie Green, Jim Baxes, Phillies Shortstop Joe Koppe (the shortest guy in the shot) Bob Allison, Ron Fairly, John Romano and Jim Perry. Willie Tasby and Jim O'Toole who could not make the outing are shown in an inset bottom left.

The Subset
The Initial All-Star Rookie subset is unique within the history of the on card award as it is the only time the cards are presented consecutively running from #316-#325.

They also run in position sequence using scoring notation, except they start at 1B rather than pitcher. I don't know if this is luck or if Topps wanted one of the two Rookie of the Year award winners to lead off the subber. The AL ROY was Bob Allison. Regardless if planned or happy accident it is a nice touch that the first All-Star Rookie card EVER went to a 500 Home Run guy and future Hall of Famer. 

 Flip

1960 Topps #316 Willie McCovey (b-side)

The back of the All-Star Rookies are essentially the same as the base backs. Note McCovey took home NL ROY honors despite only getting involved in 52 games. Perhaps it had to do with his HOT start. I always loved how 1960T bullet pointed highlights from the players 1959 season. Check ou the first five of these HighLights for Stretch. The man puts up notable games FOUR days in a row right at the top of his career

Sources and Links
Phungo Willie McCovey HOF Index
1960 Topps Rookie Topps Index
The Sporting News
Baseball Card Database
Cardboard Connection
Baseball-Ref
CPI Inflation Calculator

1960 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Team

This is an index to our postings related to Topps inaugural All-Star Rookie Cup team. The subset ran in 1960 to honor the Rookies of 1959. 

 

1960 Topps #316 Willie McCovey (rc)

1960 Topps

#316 Willie McCovey (including history of the first Rookie Cup Team, Pictured Below)

#317 Pumpsie Green

#318 Jim Baxes 

#319 Joe Koppe (Phillies) 

#320 Bob Allison

#321 Ron Fairly (2019 memorial SABR) 

#322 Willie Tasby

#323 John Romano 

#324 Jim Perry (Last living player in 1960T Cohort)

#325 Jim O'Toole 

Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Master Index

The 1960 Topps Rookie All-Stars

The Sporting News 1960 Apr 20