TASR: 1967 Topps #90 Jim Nash

On Tuesday Night the Pirates Rookie Pitcher Paul Skenes will throw the first pitch of the All-Star game. It's a rare occurrence but so is starting your career 6-0. Skenes' name is being mentioned in the same sentence with Rookie phenoms such as Doc Gooden, Fernando Valenzuela, Mark Fidrych and Jim Nash.

Jim Nash?? 

The first three of those names are all folks casual fans know well and whose Rookie accomplishments are referenced frequently. However Jim Nash - well he's before my time and even though he is a member of the All-Star Rookie Cup canon I had to look into his accomplishments

1967 Topps #90 Jim Nash 

Nash was the RHP representative for the 1967 TASR squad and he earned it, 12-1 with a 2.06 ERA. He led rookies in both categories (100 IP minimum). Prominent pitchers in the Rookie class included Future HoFs Don Sutton (12-12, 209K, 2.99 ERA, 3.5 WAR) and Fergie Jenkins (6-8, 3.32 ERA, 150 K, 3.3 WAR)

Flip

Two things to point out from the back, first the last line in the text mentions Nash's TASR nomination and secondly I direct you back to the first comic - I want pitchers to be awarded a trophy with a giant '%' etched on the front. 

Cover Boy

At roughly the same time as the above card was issued Jim Nash was also the triple cover subject for Sports Illustrated. 

Sports Illustrated 1967 March 13

Yes in March of 1967 with 12 Career Wins under his belt Jim Nash made the cover of Sports Illustrated.  At 22 years of age he was the staff ace for an Oakland A's staff that included a Young Catfish Hunter and Blue Moon Odom. 

Phuture Phillie

Jim Nash's ended his career with 8 starts for the 1972 Philadelphia Phillies, He lost ALL 8 of those starts. The 97 Loss Phillies were really bad, however Nash's 6.27 ERA with the squad was a pretty large factor in those losses. 

1973 Topps #509 Jim Nash

 

This looks like an airbrushed shot of Nash.  Check his cap, I doubt he wore that number 23 with the Phillies.  According to baseball-ref both he and Oscar Gamble wore 23 in 1972, but their tenures with the club appear to overlap so I am thinking Nash wore the other number they have listed #42. 

Flip

The comic on the flipside mentions Jim Nash's rookie Win Streak. I also want to note the Weight listed as 220. That is likely Nash's Rookie number. Articles from the era mentioned the voracious appetite of "Jumbo" Jim Nash and that he had ballooned to 260 lbs at one point in his career. 

Best of luck to Paul Skenes on Tuesday Night. Right now I imagine he is the front-runner to be the RHP rep on the 2024(2025 card) Topps All-Star Rookie team - hopefully if he ever becomes a Phillie he does better than 0-8. 

Peanut Gallery

For more coverage of this card check out Jim's column on the 1967 Topps Blog.

Sources and Links

1967 Topps All-Star Rookie Index

1967 Topps Blog

Philadelphia Inquirer (1970 June 11, Sandy Padwe)

baseball-ref

1960s Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Tournament - Major Bracket Opening Round

 We have reached the Major Bracket of the tournament. 

The Bracket features 8 teams that will engage in a double elimination tournament to narrow the field to four teams that advance to SemiFinals. Here are the Major Bracket Day 1 Results:

Team Boog 1963 (2-1)	3 - 11 - 0
Charlie's Hustlers 1964 (0-0)	1 - 10 - 2
W: Al Jackson (2-0)	L: Gary Peters (0-1)
HR: Fred Whitfield 63 (1), Ed Charles 63 (1),

In the first game we have a HUGE Upset #8 Team Boog gets Home Runs from Fred Whitefield and Ed Charles in the 3-1 victory. The Bush Division Team Boog may be a threat to the Majors. 

Team Torre 1962 (2-0)	2 - 5 - 1
Little Joes 1966 (0-0)	3 - 12 - 3
W: Frank Linzy (1-0)	L; Don Schwall (1-1)
HR:Tony Perez 66 (1), Ron Swoboda 66 (1)

#2 Seed Little Joes earn their first W of the Tournament

Team Davey J 1967 (0-0)	4 - 9 - 3
Team Mad Hits Carew 1968 (0-0)	1 - 8 - 1
W Jim Nash (1-0)	L: Tom Seaver (0-1)
HR: George Scott 67 (1)

Jim Nash outduels Tom Seaver! the Davey J come up with a big Win over Mad Hits. 

1967 Topps Jim Nash

Bench No Drips 1969 (0-0)	0 - 5 - 2
Oliva's Army 1965 (0-0)	1 - 6 - 0
W: Wally Bunker (1-0)	L: Jerry Koosman (0-1)
HR: none

Wally Bunker tosses the tournaments first Shutout giving Tony's Cronies a narrow 1-0 Win. Tough day for for Jerry Koosman in hard luck loss. Turns out Al Jackson now 2-0 was the best Mets pitcher of the day. 

Thats it for our opening round Our next posting will feature the Winners and Elimination Brackets to determine who goes to the Semis

Round 2 Winners Bracket

The four Winners from the opening bracket now meet to determine the first 2 teams to advance to the 1960s Semis

Team Boog 1963 (3-1)	1 - 10 - 3
Oliva's Army 1965 (1-0)	4 - 12 - 3
W: Bill McCool (1-0)	L: Dean Chance (1-2)
HR: Tony Conigliaro 65 (1), Mike Brumley 65 (1)

Tony Oliva's Army becomes the first team to advance to the Semis with a Homer from another Tony (Conigliaro) and one from Mike Brumley. 

Team Davey J (1-0)	2 - 6 - 1
Little Joes 1966 (1-0)	6 - 7 - 0
W: Marcenio Lopez (1-0)	L: Woody Fryman (0-1)
HR: Tony Perez 66 (2), Curt Blefary 66 (1), Sonny Jackson 67 (1)

Tony Perez with his 2nd Home Run in as Many Games sends the Little Joes to the Semis as the #1 Seed. 

Team Boog and DaveJ are still in the mix, they will get a second shot in our next post after we resolve the elimination half of this round. 

On Deck

The Pitching matchups for the Elimination Bracket are as follows:

Bench No Drips 1969 (0-1)	Stan Bahnsen (0-0)
Charlie's Hustlers 1964 (0-1)	Ray Culp (0-0)
Team Mad Hits 1968 (0-1)	Dick Hughes (0-0)
Team Torre 1962 (2-1)	Jack Curtis (1-0)

1967 Topps #165 Cleon Jones

I often find the "Where are They Now" features on retired ballplayer fascinated. Particularly those that are accomplished off the field.

Recently I saw a a news item on 1960s-1970s era Mets outfielder Cleon Jones.

1967 Topps #165 Cleon Jones

Jones has returned to the community where he was raised, Africatown Alabama which is near Mobile. He is 76 now and is busy helping out townspeople and elderly folks fixing and painting their homes. Africatown is an historic town in the area which is attempting to build a museum to honor the communities past. To read about the towns history, I strongly recommend you read this Alabama Newscenter article to find out about Africatown and Cleon Jones' efforts.


1967 Topps
Seeing the story about Cleon Jones also gives us a chance to add a column to our All-Star Rookie Cup Series. Unless team Phungo returns to serious blogging the Series will remain unfinished, but I do think it is within the realm of possibility to get up a Rookie Cup from each year and all the Phillies.

For his 1966 Cleon Jones received a single Rookie of the Year vote, good enough to place him 4th in the voting which was won by Reds Infielder Tommy Helms. Jones played 13 years which is wear several of his 1966 Topps Rookie All-Stars mates fall. The leader for tenure appears to be Woodie Fryman (LHP 18 years), while George Scott (1B) led the crew in WAR (36.5, Jones = 18.5). 

1967 Topps #165 Cleon Jones (b-side)

No pressure here, just that the back of Cleon Jones' first solo card mentions Hank Aaron, Billy Williams and Willie McCovey (featured on the very first Topps All-Star Rookie Cup card)

Sketchy
One of the many reason blog output has been slow is I have diverted my hobby time to artwork - mainly sketching baseball cards. Cleon Jones off the field charity inspired me to create a 5x7 based off of his 1967T card coupled with his efforts in Africatown.

1967T Cleon Jones (Phungo Original 5x7 in 2019 06 24)

Chief among my customizations is changing the bat to a paint roller. I also added a different trophy, changed the Mets team designation to Africatown and gave Cleon a background of a refurbished home rather than Shea Stadium.

Sources and Links
1967 Topps Rookie Cup Index (1966 Winners)
Phungo Sketch Index
Alabama NewsCenter
Baseballl-ref BR-Bullpen

1966 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Team (1967 Topps Set)

This is an index to our postings related to Topps 1966 All-Star Rookie Cup Team. The subset was published in 1967 to honor the Rookies of 1966. 

1967 Topps #363 Dave Johnson

Randy Hundley, C, Chicago Cubs
George Scott, 1B, Boston Red Sox
Davey Johnson, 2B, Baltimore Orioles
Tommy Helms, 3B, Cincinnati Reds
Sonny Jackson, SS, Houston Astros
Tommie Agee, OF, Chicago White Sox
Byron Browne, OF, Chicago Cubs
#165 Cleon Jones, OF, New York Mets
#90 Jim Nash, RHP, Kansas City Athletics
Woodie Fryman, LHP, Pittsburgh Pirates

sources and links
All-Star Rookie Cup Master Index