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

Happy 75th Birthday Mick Jagger

Found out on via Twitter today is Mick Jagger's 75th Birthday.

2014 Topps Heritage #NF-TRS The Rolling Stones

The Stones made 2014 Topps Heritage as part of the retro-theme sets News Flashbacks Insert. The card celebrates the June 6 1965 release of the single "Satisfaction".

The inserts nod to the original 1965 set is the pennant in the bottom right corner plus a a 60s flavored color pallet. I find it odd that Topps elected to round 3 of the corners instead of four as in the orginal. Perhaps that better balances the design.

 Flip

2014 Topps Heritage #NF-TRS The Rolling Stones (b-side)

The backside of the card gives a brief history of the hit "Satisfaction". The 1965T theme carries through to the backside with the familiar light blue colors and a cartoon - As with all Heritage sets the same generic cartoon runs across the entire insert. 

"Satisfaction" was the closing encore by the Stones the only time I saw them in 2006. A week later it was one of three songs featured in their SuperBowl Performance.

Sources and Links
Rolling Stones Index
imdb
youtube 

Welcon to the Hall of Fame Vladimir Guerrero: 2001 Topps Gallery Heritage #GH10

Today's HOF Recognition posts goes to Vlad Guerrero. He is going in as an Angel but I will think of him more as an Expo. For this reason our Vlad HOF posting features the following Expos card.

2001 Topps Gallery Heritage #GH10 Vladimir Guerrero (image swiped from trading card db)

Topps Gallery returned this past fall and I found the cards pretty meh. For me the apex of  Topps Gallery is the 1965T Homage insert that was produced in 2002. Guerrero is the last of the 10 offerings in the set.

Bill Purdom
The artist responsible for the Guerrero portrait above is the late Bill Purdom who appears to have done the artwork for all ten cards in the set. The paintings are all well done and in my opinion superior to anything I have seen in the latest edition of Gallery.

Purdom has done a number of really cool pieces for various baseball entities including the Hall of Fame. His Phillies related subjects include Robin Roberts and Mike Schmidt during the teams 1976 season when the club hosted the All-Star Game

Mike Schmidt Lithograph by Bill Purdom

During the 1976 season the Phillies celebrated the Bicentennial, among the teams various decorations to honor the occasion is the Happy Birthday sign in Left-Centerfield.

1965 Topps
In addition to the original artwork I like how Topps has brought forward the classic 1965 Design. The colors on the card are really sharp and really pop off the cardboard.

Flip

2001 Topps Gallery Heritage #GH10 Vladimir Guerrero (b-side - image swiped from trading card db)

The design carries through to the back. The blue is significantly brighter than on the originals but that doesn't bother me. 

2001 Topps Gallery Heritage Checklist
GH1 Todd Helton
GH2 Greg Maddux
GH3 Pedro Martinez
GH4 Orlando Cepeda
GH5 Willie McCovey
GH6 Ken Griffey, Jr.
GH7 Alex Rodriguez
GH8 Derek Jeter
GH9 Mark McGwire
GH10 Vladimir Guerrero

I am thinking of building this Set and this posting will be an index for those cards. As things stand it appears this set will have 7 or 8 Hall of Famers. Todd Helton who debuts on the 2019 ballot  and A-Rod are the "Maybe" players while Mark McGwire appears doubtful.

Peanut Gallery
Dime Boxes 1998 Topps #5 and others (top 5)
Orioles Card o The Day 2011 Bowman #167
Sports Card Info 1995 Bowmans Best Refractor #2
Padrographs Custom

Vladimir Guerrero Index
1998 Topps #5 HOF Candidacy / Game Dated 1997 05 21
2012 Heritage #108  Pack Break
2009 UD Rivals #R9 Pack Break

Sources and Links
The Art of the Game
Andrews Mortuary
Tom's Old Days
ebay/brotherly love memorabilia
2014 Heritage/1965 Topps Index
Trading Card Database

Sunday Night Baseball: 1965 Topps #137 Bouton Wins Again

It would not be a stretch to say that I learned math from the back of baseball cards, nor would it be any further from the truth say that Jim Bouton taught me how to read.

Tonight the Yankees are visiting the Cubs on Sunday Night baseball, while this week the Phillies will host a rare series with the Mariners.

The player I have chosen to tie together these two series is Bouton.

1965 Topps #137 Bouton Wins Again

Bouton is remembered for two careers. The first was as a baseball player in the New York Yankees organization. His other career was as an author while employed by Seattle's first MLB tenant the Pilots.

1964 Yankees

The card above is from an eight card subset (#132-#139) in 1965 topps. Each of the first seven cards in the set represents a game in the series. Card #137 above speaks to game 6 which the Yankees won 8-3 behind Jim Bouton's strong pitching and a trio of Home Runs by Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle and Joe Pepitone.

Flip

1965 Topps #137 Bouton Wins Again (b-side)

The B-side gives a detailed box score which includes fielding stats but ignores RBIs (early SABRmaticians no doubt). In addition to the box the card text provides a concise synopsis of the games events.

After 1964 Game 6 the Yankees would not win another World Series game until 1977.


Ball Four
Jim Bouton is going to one of the guest speakers at this years SABR convention in New York City. In Preparation for the event I have just begun reading "Ball Four" for what I believe is the 3rd time. I first encountered the book when I was in my early teens. I re-read the book as an adult, probably in my 30s and now approaching my milestone 50th birthday I am giving the work a third pass.

I will always enjoy the anti-establishment humor of "Ball Four" and am looking forward to this reading.

I anticipate this will be my most enjoyable session with the book. Through my rediscovery of baseball cards I have become more familiar with the players and stories from the "Ball Four" era, hopefully this re-read will generate some fun posts.

May 7 1969
In his entry for May 7th Jim Bouton mentions a disagreement he had with manager Joe Schultz over his role on the team. Schultz (as well as pitching coach Sal Maglie) wants Bouton to mix in more fastballs and curves with his knuckler. Bouton counters that Phil Niekro throws mostly knuckleballs. The ensuing argument devolves into a petty negotiation over Niekro's pitch selection. 

That day Seattle lost 5-4 to Boston in a game that did not involve Bouton. Red Sox Shortstop Rico Petrocelli had a Home Run for the victors.  

not so Phun Phact
The pitcher who lost to Bouton in game 6 of the 1964 World Series was former Phillies southpaw Curt Simmons

Jim Bouton Index
1964 Topps (Fred C Harris)
1991 SI Greats of the Game Autograph
Seattle Pilots 40th Anniversary Reunion (2009)
50th anniversary of Ball Four (2019)

Sources and Links
Game Dated Cards
VittlesWords
Cardboard Connection
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

Monte Irvin (1919-2016)

Last week we found out about the passing of Giants Hall of Fame outfielder Monte Irvin.

2003 UD Vintage #89 Monte Irvin

One of the interesting things I found out about Monte Irvin is that he donated proceeds from his autograph signings to benefit his alma mater Lincoln University, a Historic Black College just beyond the edge of the Philadelphia suburbs.

2003 UD Vintage #89 Monte Irvin (b-side)

For their 2003 set UD swiped the design from 1965 Topps - which makes for a great looking card no matter who is in charge.

Card related Tributes and other Memorials
HELP!!! - I got pretty sick last week and was unable to collect as many of these links as I would have liked, if you have a posting please let me know

Arpsmith (1992 Front Row)
Baseball Happenings (GREAT personal recollection story, numerous autograph)
Bob Lemke (1952 Topps)
Cards that Never Were (1957 Topps - custom, 1949 Bowman - custom)
Paul's Random Stuff (HoF Postcard auto)

Cardboard Connection - Top 10 Monte Irvin Cards
Phungo Monte Irvin HoF Index


Sources and Links
Lincoln University
Lincoln Lions baseball-ref 

Phungo Monte Irvin HoF Index

SABR 45: Masanori Murakami

One of my favorite presentations at SABR 45 featured Masanori Murakami, the first Japanese born player to join the Major Leagues.

1965 Topps #282 Giants Rookie Stars Estelle and Masanori Murakami

A discussion of Murakami's life and career was moderated by Rob Fitts who has written a biography of the Japanese pitcher. 

The SABR panel in Chicago also included Yuriko Gamo Romer who is putting a documentary together on Murakami. A rough cut of the opening of the film titled "Diamond Diplomacy" was shown, the clip included footage of Murakami from both the US and Japan. 

Fitts' Questions for Murakami focused on how he learned baseball in Japan despite the objections of his family, his initial experiences in the states (spring training in Tucson), and his first game which was at Shea Stadium.

Murakami cited Giants coach Bill Werle as a significant early influence when he came to the states. During the course of the presentation it became clear that Mashi was the perfect candidate to play in the states. He had a fascination with Western Culture and films - specifically he had become a John Wayne prior to his arrival in the states. 

Mashi - Robert K Fitts

The Masanori Murakami biography was penned by Japanese baseball authority Robert K Fitts who is from Philadelphia and when to UPenn. Despite this the Mashi Book tour is not making a stop in Philadelphia. 

The title of the book is MASHI, apparently a nickname - likely shorthand for Masanori - notice on the 1965T card above that Masanori uses the shorter Mashi when autographing items. I also must point out the incredible quality of the penmanship. 

2015 06 27 Masanori Murakami 

After Murakami signed my baseball card, he was even nice enough to pose for this picture simulating a throwing motion. Thanks Mashi - I just wish I would have thought to give him a baseball to pose with. 

For a review of the Mashi book check out examiner.com journalist Nick Diunte here. There Examiner also has a companion interview. 

Sources and Links 

Phungo SABR 45 Index

Rob Fitts

Nick Diunte Examiner.com

Flying Carp Productions 

Baseball-ref

 

Sunday Night Baseball: Cubs HoF Billy Williams turns 77

With Sunday Night Baseball in Chicago we will take a look at the 1960s era Cubs Hall of Fame Left Fielder and Monday Birthday Boy Billy Williams

1965 Topps #220 Billy Williams

Pretty strong HoF Resume for Mr Williams: 426 Home Runs, 2711 hits, 1961 Rookie of the Year, 1972 Batting Champ, and 3 Time League Total Base Leader.

If it wouldn't be for Johnny Bench, Billy Williams would also have a pair of MVP awards on his mantle as well.

The only omission is his modest postseason contributions. Like all the big time Cubs of the era (or almost any era) Williams got shut out of the World Series until he moved onto another team. Williams finally got to experience the playoffs in 1975 at the age of 37 as a member of the Oakland A's.  Unfortunately his only playoff opportunity was brief as the A's were swept by the Boston Red Sox.

Flip

1965 Topps #220 Billy Williams (b-side)

Nice snap shot of Billy Williams number mid career. At 27 the man was established but still early in his career, He would hit 319 Homers after this card was produced. The cartoon is a nice nod to Williams Rookie of the Year award in 1961. He appears to be driving a VW Beetle, likely as nice a car as a rookie could afford in 1961 when Billy Williams pulled in an estimated $9500.


Post career Billy Williams returned to the Cubs as a coach but never got the chance to manage a club. In August 13th 1987 The Cubs retired Williams #26 just a few after his induction to the Hall of Fame. The Cubs drew 35,033 for the ceremony and the Fans got to see a W that day. 

Phun Phact
The trade that sent from Billy Williams to Oakland was for a package of players that included Manny Trillo - The second baseman for the 1980 World Champion Phillies.

Billy Williams HoF Index

1962 Topps #288 (rookie cup)
1965 Topps #220 (Year of the Tiger Birthday)
1965 Topps #4 (LL HR)

Statue at Wrigley Field

Sources and Links
Baseball-ref
SABR bio by Mark Armour
This Day in Chicago Cubs History

1965 April 9 - The Astrodome Opens

Fifty Years ago the Astrodome opened. Last year Topps honored the anniversary as part in the Heritage Baseball Flashbacks set.

2014 Topps Heritage Baseball Flashbacks #BF-A Astrodome

The card had the date and the venue's catchy nickname "The Eight Wonder of the World". The game played on April 9th was not the first official game played at the Astrodome, rather it was an exhibition game versus the New York Yankees.

2014 Topps Heritage Baseball Flashbacks #BF-A Astrodome (b-side)

The B-side covers the basics of the game. But there are a variety of fun facts regarding the game.

The game was a sellout (47876), First Pitch was thrown by former Phillies right-hander Turk Farrell.  The first batter of the game was Mickey Mantle who doubled and later hit the venue's first Home Run.

That was the sole run for the Yankees in a low scoring affair that went into extra innings tied 1-1. The Astros won the game on a 12th inning pinch single by Future Hall of Famer Nellie Fox who was beginning his final season. The first Astro to bat in the new ballpark was a Rookie Second Baseman who would also have a Hall of Fame career, Joe Morgan.

2010 Obak #77  Roy Hofheinz

One of the principle folks in getting Houston an MLB franchise was Roy Hofheinz. A former mayor of the city who also helped to get the Astrodome built.

In 2010 Tristar/Obak honored Hofheinz with a baseball card. The quirky series circumvents the MLB licensing issues by focusing on Former Players, Minor Leaguers and the History of the Game both on and off the field. 

2010 Obak #77  Roy Hofheinz (b-side)

The Flip side of the card briefly discusses the contributions of Roy Hofheinz to Houston baseball.

Astrodrome Today (er well in 2012)
Recently Deadspin ran an article based off of anonymous photos taken by a troika of brothers that had snuck into the dome. Click here to view the adventure.

Sources and Links
Astros Daily
Obak
Baseball-ref
deadspin

1964 Phillies @ 50 (now 51) Pat Corralles

This is our second 1964 Phillies related posting in the last couple of days and we have another manager related card.

1965 Topps #107 Rookie Stars Pat Corrales & Costen Shockley 

And like last weeks card today's entry is another Manager card, Pat Corrales was not the leader of the 64 club but he would helm the Phillies in the early 80s. He is also the man who connect the team series that we have run so far - Corrales played for the 1964 Phils and managed the 1983 Phils.

Corrales' contributions to the 1964 squad were negligible, He was a rookie who pinch hit in two games.  He remained with the Phillie for the 1965 season with whom he played a career high 63 games. The rest of his career was spent bouncing around the fringes for three different clubs, his final Major League game came in 1973.

As mentioned above Pat Corrales was a manager of the NL Pennant winning 1983 Phillies. However, he was not THE manager. Despite having the team in first place, Corrales was fired after the All-Star Break, Paul Owens took over and led the team to the playoffs. 

1965 Topps Rookie Stars
We featured the other half of this Rookie Stars card in this column last September

Sources & Links
1964 Phillies Index
Year of the Blue Snow (James Lincoln Ray)
baseball-ref 

Will Ferrell raises money to fight Cancer - will emulate Bert Campaneris

As part of a fundraiser to fight Cancer, Actor Comedian and Phungo Favorite Will Ferrell will be making a special Spring Training tour on Thursday. He will be playing in 5 Cactus League games.

1965 Topps #266 Bert Campaneris

One of Ferrell's goal is to play for all 10 teams playing in those five games. He will also attempt to play all 9 positions - a feat first accomplished in a Major League Game 50 years ago by Bert Campaneris.

On September 8th 1965 Campy started at shortstop for the Kansas City A's who were hosting the California Angels. He then went on to play all 9 positions including pitcher and catcher. As a batter he went 0-3 but did score a run off a walk. Campaneris pitched the top of the 8th inning giving up a single run off one hit and a couple of walks. He did Strike Out Bobby Knoop.

1965 Topps 
Nice card with a rookie cup - an award earned by Campaneris for 67 games in his rookie campaign of 1964. He batted .257 with 4 Homers and 22 RBIs. Good enough for an 86 OPS+ and +0.7 WAR

Sources & Links

1965 Topps All-Star Rookie Team
LA Dodgers
Baseball-ref

1964 Phillies @ 50: Costen Shockley 1965 Topps #107

As part of our 1964 Philles coverage you will get to see this Rookie Stars card a couple of times.

1965 Topps #107 Costen Shockley

Today we look at the lesser known side of the card which belongs to Costen Shockley. As noted earlier in the week the Philly Show will be in Valley Forge the weekend of September 26-28th.While most of the autograph portion of the show is focused on No-Hit pitchers, there are a handful of additional guests that will be part of the festivities.

Costen Shockley was signed by the Phillies out of a nearby Georgetown DE high school. At the age of 22 he made his Major League debut with the 64 Phillies squad. He only got into 11 games with the team, during the off-season Shockley was involved in a trade to the Angels that returned Bo Belinski.

Shockley made the opening day roster for the Angels but struggled at the plate. In June the Angels decided to send Shockley to the minors an assignment he refused. That was it - at the age of 23 Costen Shockley was done playing baseball.

He returned to his native Delaware and worked in construction until his retirement in 2005. He has no regrets about moving on from baseball and his fortunate to have several family members that have played the game at several different levels. His son Costen Jr was a member of the 1981 Senior Little League championship team.

Costen Sr is a member of several local sports Halls of Fame including the Delaware HS coaches and Delaware Sports Museum HoF.

Sources & Links
1964 Phillies Index
Year of the Blue Snow (Nelson 'Chip' Greene)
Baseball-ref

Checker Checking 2014 Heritage/1965 Topps Phillies

Topps Heritage is designed to homage an original Topps set from decades ago. There are several items that Heritage nods towards in replicating the originals. one of the obvious ones is replicating the design. A second is giving attention to the Checklist. Tonight I would like to take a look at how the Phillies 2014 Checker compares with the original from 1965.



That is a solid checker for the Phillies. 17 cards featuring 18 players. You would have to dig deep to find a snub, Pitchers AJ Burnett who came to the team late or Kyle Kendrick would be the closest. Carding Mayberry and Ruf could be seen as questionable. Halladay is either an honorarium or laziness on Topps part.

The original 1965T Phils team set checked 29 players on 27 cards (2 rookie pairs) plus a team card and the Gene Mauch manager card.

For 2014 Heritage, Topps chose to rhyme four subjects with the original set.

#20 Jim Bunning and Cliff Lee
This is a good pair, Bunning is a low tier Hall of Famer. Cliff Lee is an All-Star with significant Postseason exposure.

#107 Rookies Corrales/Shockley(65) Martin/Ruf (14)
I would like to think that the Ethan Martin Darin Ruf pairing will have a better career than the Pat Corrales/ Costen Shockley combo

#280 Dick Stuart and Ryan Howard
These two match on match on position, both were power hitters and both won World Series Rings - although Stuart won his with the Pirates. In fact on his 1965T card Stuart appears to be wearing Pirates threads. In addition to the similarities above the two share a reputation of poor play in the field, a rep that earned Stuart the nickname Dr StrangeGlove.

#310 Johnny Callison and Dom Brown
These two share a position and both were reigning All-Stars at the time of set production. Callison made 3 all-star games. At this point in his career Dom Brown's all-star selection appears it could be a one and only despite the outfielder being only 26.


Sources 
My Baseball Card Blog
Cardboard Connection
Team Sets 4 U
PSA Card
Baseball-ref

Happy Anniversary Jim Bunning 1965 Topps #20

This weekend will mark the 50th anniversary of Jim Bunning's Perfect Game.

1965 Topps #20 Jim Bunning

On Father's Day, Sunday June 21, 1964 the Philllies beat the Mets 6-0 at Shea Stadium. The Future Hall of Famer struck out 10 Mets in the contest finishing out with a pair of K's versus Pinch Hitters George Altman and John Stephenson. It was the first Perfect Game pitched since Don Larsen tossed one in the 1956 World Series and the first NL perfect game pitched since 1880.  

The perfect game was Bunning's second no-hitter. As a Tiger he had no-hit Ted Williams and the Boston Red Sox in 1958.

After his playing career Jim Bunning went on to represent the State of Kentucky in the US Senate. He likely got his taste for politics when as a player he was involved in the development of the players union.

Phun Phact
Jim Bunning appeared on the Ed Sullivan show following his perfect game. 
 
2014 Heritage
Earlier this year we ran off a bunch of postings related to 2014 Heritage and the related original 1965 Topps. As the second half of this feature I intended to take a closer look at Heritage, but still haven't gotten that started. I will mention here that Heritage likes to give a nod to the earlier set by sharing card numbers with similar players. Jim Bunning's modern day partner on card #20 is Cliff Lee. That is a solid match Cliff Lee is on the shelf right now, but either he or Cole Hamels would have to be considered the team's ace.

Jim Bunning HoF Index 
1964 Topps #265
1970 Topps #403
2010 Phungo BFI (with Robin Roberts)
   
1964 Philies Series 
1964 Topps #135 Johnny Callison  

Other Voices
The Great 1965 Topps Project

Sources
The Year of the Blue Snow
Baseball-ref
Baseball Hall of Fame

2014 Heritage the Originals - 1965 Topps Embossed #13 Al Kaline

Congrats to all who guessed Al Kaline

1965 Topps Embossed #13 Al Kaline

As I noted earlier today, I have no idea how you would figure out who this is without the name attached. Al Kaline is age 79 now, and if somebody told me the image on this card was of a 79 year old man, I would believe them. The image looks closer to a groundskeeper from "Eight Men Out" then he does to a mid-1960s All-Star ballplayer.  

The original 1965 Topps Embossed cards were inserted randomly to regular packs. Similarly their 2014 Heritage counterparts will be inserts. The set size is not very similar, In 1965 the set consisted of 72 cards. The present day checker consists of 15 cards, which leads me to believe that these will be a pretty tough Heritage pull. The Dodgers get 3 Reps in the small set, with the Tigers, Orioles and Yankees all posting 2. None of the 15 players in Heritage Embossed are Phillies, but they need not be upset - The World Champion Boston Red Sox and NL Champion Cardinals also came up empty as well.  

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

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

Phungo Challenge: 2014 Heritage the Originals - 1965 Topps Embossed

Do you have any idea who this is?

1965 Topps Embossed ????

Yes I have blurred out the player name and team. This is to demonstrate just how weak Topps Embossed was. The only way to differentiate the players is by reading the text.

Did baseball caps really look like that in 1965??? 

Tonight we will discuss this card further and it's relationship to 2014 Heritage.

2014 Heritage the Originals - 1965 Topps #4 League Leaders Home Runs

The typical format of the 1965 Topps League Leaders has been referred to by Night Owl Cards as Olympic Podium style. The League Leader on the Top, with two smaller photos of the 2nd and 3rd  place finishers. Of course in many categories there are ties. Take the 1964 Home Run Leaders

1965 Topps #4 League Leaders Home Run

This LL card is packed full of players - It is kind of a cool one for Phillies Fans. You get Johnny Callison plus 3 Hall of Famers.  I am sure it is a must have for Giants fans as well, I mean how many LL cards have 3 players from the same team.

Willie Mays and Billy Williams sort of get equal billing, although Mays had 14 more Home Runs then Williams (47-33). Callison and the other folks on the bottom tier each tallied 31 dingers.  This can all be seen on the flip of the card:

 

1965 Topps #4 LL Home Runs (b-side)

Kind of interesting feature here, the HR hitters are listed down to 18 and then we are presented with a separate list of all the players that hit a Grand Slam. The latter list includes the only career grand slam hit by Pete Rose, which was off the Phillies and Dallas Green.  

Traditional 1965T Olympic Podium

1965 Topps #3 LL Home Runs (image swiped from baseball card database)

The AL counterpart to our titular card is a fine example of the 3 man LL card, with some stellar reps in Harmon Killewbrew, Boog Powell, and Mickey Mantle. 

MLB 2013 did feature some ties in the LL categories, it will be interesting to see how this is handled for Topps in 2014 Heritage.

More Banished Chris Short
A few weeks ago we discussed the omission of Phillies pitcher Chris Short from Topps cards prior to 1967. The fine creative folks over at Cards that Never Were figured out that this meant that Topps had to create an NL ERA LL card without Short, who placed 3rd in 1964. CTNW put together their own custom card that is pretty sweet.  Cards that Never Were is on a bit of Chris Short binge - their example of the 1965T Chris Short card is here. (hat tip to Chris Short fan Jim From Downingtown for pointing me to the CTNW LL posting)

1965 Topps/2014 Heritage Index   

Base - #534 John Herrnstein 

Rookie Cup - #460 Dick Allen 

Rookie Stars - #282 Dick Estelle & Masanori Murakami 

2010 Topps Vintage Collection - #VLC2 Johnny Mize

World Series - #139 The Cards Celebrate

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

Sources

Night Owl Cards 

Cards that Never Were

baseball card database

baseball-ref.com

2014 Topps 

2014 Heritage the Originals - 1965 Topps #139 World Series The Cards Celebrate

There are two Subsets in 1965 Topps, the League Leaders cards that run #1-12 and the World Series cards which run #132-139. Today we look at the last card in the latter set.

1965 Topps #139 World Series the Cards Celebrate

The eight card 65T World Series Subset consists of one card for each game of the classic 64 series plus the single wrap-up card shown above.  The 2013 World Series Last year only went 6 games, I suspect Topps will short the Heritage subset to 7 cards. One other coincidence with the 2014 Heritage subber is that the Cardinals will be featured once again, except this time they will be on the losing side. 

Sources
Cardboard Connection

2014 Heritage the Originals - A Cardinal Problem

Trying to knock one more 1965 Topps post before Heritage goes live tomorrow. The 65T design is well liked and has been featured by Topps in several inserts and subsets. A few years ago I came across this abomination.

1964 Topps #415 Curt Flood

2010 Topps Vintage Legends Collection #VLC2 Johnny Mize 

The Abomination isn't the big red inkage on the top left of the vintage Curt Flood card. My issue is with the VLC Johnny Mize card. For me Topps mailed in the "CARDINALS" name on the pennant - it just doesn't look right.  I understand that there are legal/copyright issues involved in creating retros,  but it isn't the only place where the VLC Mize card is wanting. What is with the player name? the font is wrong and the color has been changed. Hell. the card is far enough off that if UD produced it, I am not sure Topps could sue them. 

As mentioned previously there are various other 1965 Topps copies throughout the years, during the Heritage frenzy we anticipate talking about some of them.

2010 Topps Vintage Legends Collection

Vintage Collection is a 25 card insert for 2010 topps with 24 Hall of Famers plus Thurman Munson appearing on card designs from outside of their playing careers. The Phillies rep in the set is Mike Schmidt who draws 1960 Topps

Other Voices 

The Great 1965 Topps Blog - As always Kevin does a nice job of summarizing Flood's career and struggling dealing with the MLB reserve clause
 

1965 Topps/2014 Heritage Index  

Base - #534 John Herrnstein 

Rookie Cup - #460 Dick Allen 

Rookie Stars - #282 Dick Estelle & Masanori Murakami

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

Sources

baseballcardpedia

2014 Heritage Rookie Stars: 1965 Topps #282 Dick Estelle & Masanori Murakami

We are a week away from 2014 Topps Heritage, today we bring you one of my favorite cards from the original 1965 set:

1965 Topps #282 Giants Rookie Stars Dick Estelle & Masanori Murakami

Masanori Murakami was the first Japanese MLB player way back in 1964. He preceded Hideo Nomo by three and a half decades. As a lefthanded relief pitcher Murakami pitched farily well for the Giants. Unfortunately due to a variety of contract issues and failed negotiations between the Giants, MLB and the Japanese League Nankai Hawks Murakami would return to Japan after a mere two seasons in the States.  

For further information, I highly recommend this Masanori Murakami biography that I believe was written by High School student in New York City. The Bio- further cites "Remembering Japanese Baseball: An Oral History of the Game" which as it's name infers is mostly Murakami commenting on his career - not terrific writing but an interesting read.   

Murakami was honored by the Giants in 1995, throwing out the first pitch prior to a game versus the Dodgers. Coincidentally the LA starter that night was Hideo Nomo who took a no-hitter into the 7th inning, Royce Clayton broke up the Nomo No-No which was the only hit for the Giants. 

1965 Topps
I had thought Masahiro Tanaka would have been a great candidate for the #282 card in 2014T Heritage, but Ben Henry as pointed out over at the Baseball Card Blog that Tanaka's signing may have happened to late for Topps to send the card to print.  I hope that Topps figures it out, Tanaka would be a nice bonus for 2014 Heritage.

1965 Topps featured a number of Rookie Stars cards including 3 and 4 player varieties. 

1965 Topps #597 Rookie Stars Twins
1965 Topps #561 Rookie Stars Dodgers

No idea why Joe Nosseck got the prime spot in the Twins card. Perhaps alphabetic order. Rich Reese had the best career of the three Players. As far as the Dodger card, Jim Lefebvre was probably the most successful - in 1965 he even beat out Joe Morgan for Rookie of the Year. 

Other Voices
The Great 1965 Topps Blog - Kevin has a lot more info on the Dick Estelle half of the above card.

1965 Topps/2014 Heritage Index
Base - #534 John Herrnstein
Rookie Cup - #460 Dick Allen
Rookie Stars - #282 Dick Estelle & Masanori Murakami

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

Sources
Baseball-ref.com
HSMSE Sports Journalism Blog
Sports Illustrated