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

1973 Topps Rookie All-Stars (1972 Award 1973 Card)

This is an Index to our postings related to the 1973 Topps Rookie All-Star Team. The award is for the 1972 season with the cards issued in the 1973 season.

1973 Topps Tommy Hutton

	C	Carlton Fisk	Boston Red Sox	Hall of Famer
	1B	Tom Hutton	Philadelphia Phillies	Trophy omitted from card
	2B	Jack Brohamer	Cleveland Indians
	3B	Dave Roberts	San Diego Padres
	SS	Dwain Anderson	St. Louis Cardinals
	OF	Don Baylor	Baltimore Orioles	Trophy omitted from card
322	OF	Garry Maddox	San Francisco Giants	Trophy omitted from card
	OF	Buddy Bell	Cleveland Indians
	RHP	Dick Tidrow	Cleveland Indians	Trophy omitted from card
	LHP	Jon Matlack	New York Mets

-->
Sources and Links
Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Master Index
Baseball-Ref BR Bullpen

Babe Ruth Birthday: 1973 Topps #1 League Leaders Home Runs

Today we continue our #1 card obsession by noting the 121st anniversary of Babe Ruth's February 6ht birthday.

1973 Topps #1 All Time Home Run Leaders Ruth, Aaron, Mays

 Love how Topps had the foresight to realize that this card was in it's waning moment. The following year Aaron would be sitting at 713 at press time, and a month into the 1975 season Hammerin Hank would be atop the pyramid.

Willie Mays on the edge of retirement and retuning to New York is just icing on the baseball card cake.

1973 Topps #1 All Time Home Run Leaders Ruth, Aaron, Mays (b-side)

I kind of like what Topps did here, listing each of the three leaders with their annual Home Run totals. I still haven't gotten any 2016 Topps but I fear one of the things I will mention when I finally get my hands on some of this years cards is the lack of imagination in the new set. Of course back in 1973 Topps was significantly younger, I suppose the chance of producing pleasant surprises were higher.

#1 Club
This beauty has to be on the top end of the #1 club and it easily beats out the 2015 Derek Jeter card. 1973 is the first of four consecutive years in which Hank Aaron is featured on the #1 card, he also appeared on 1963T #1 as the fifth man in a quintet of Batting average leaders. Willie Mays previously appeared as the sole occupant on the 1966T #1 card. 1973 is Babe Ruth's only appearance in the top spot.

Sources and Links
#1 Club
Babe Ruth HoF Index
Hank Aaron HoF Index
Willie Mays HoF Index

2014 Playoff Cards Orioles Jim Palmer 1973 Topps #160

It is time to dial up some Oriole Magic.

The O's are facing elimination versus the Royals today and we are calling on some divine intervention from the Hall of Fame.

1973 Topps #160 Jim Palmer

Jim Palmer turns 69 today, and for me there would be no better way for him to celebrate then to see his bubble gum card on Phungo - well that and and an Orioles Victory. 

Palmer was a member of three different Orioles World Championship squads in 3 different decades, 1966, 1970, and 1983 (versus the Phillies). He also took home 3 Cy Young Awards (1973, 1975, and 1976). In 1973 his performance was good enough to place him 2nd in the MVP award voting behind only Reggie Jackson. Note: in 1975 Palmer's teammate Bobby Grich, Bert Blyleven, John Hiller and Gaylord Perry all had higher WAR numbers then Reggie Among Pitchers Palmer finished 5th.

Palmer, a six time all-star, played his entire 19 year career with the Orioles collecting 268 (36th in MLB hitory) victories and 2212 strikeouts (53rd). 

Among HoF pitchers Palmer ranks 35th in career WAR (69.4) just a tick below the average of  the 59 pitchers in the Hall. Among contemporary pitchers Palmer's WAR  compares closely to John Smoltz (69.5).

The Cartoon on the back of this card mentions that Palmer won a sports car in a golf tournament. In today's era of multimillion dollar contracts for the mediocre players that seems truly passe, yet I am pretty sure a new car remains the award for the World Series MVP

1973 Topps Jim Palmer 
The late Chris Stufflestreet dedicated a posting to the above Jim Palmer card as part of his 1973 Topps Series. Definteily check it out, anything written by Chris is worth reading - He mentions how the 1973T card displays Palmer's distinctive high leg kick and also goes into some greated detail on Palmer's career highlights.

Sources & Links
2014 Playoff Cards
Phungo HoF Index
Baseball-ref

2014 03 08 Card Show Valley Forge PA: Quarter Box - 1973 Topps #503 Phil Niekro

The Philly Show returned to Valley Forge this weekend and team Phungo was able to pick up a couple of bargains, fun cards and other oddities. I was primarily looking for Phillies, Hall of Famers, and subset checkoffs.

 1973 Topps #503 Phil Niekro

Found this one when I was walking out the door.  Vintage Mid-Number of a Hall of Famer. Phil Niekro picked up 318 career wins. Checking this b-side of this card one finds that going into the 1973 season Phil's hobby was basketball (cartoon) and he had 97 career wins. This card is nowhere near his rookie card but Niekro still had 221 wins in front of him when the card was published.

For 1973 Topps mid-number (397-528) commons 25 cents ain't a bad price - you sometimes find them in dime bins. But for an HoF that's a deal.

I picked up 7 other cards in the quarter bin to fill out a $2 purchase including a few 1971-72T Mid-His, as well as as some 1960T and 1966T commons.

We will have a few more card show postings over the next couple days. More Phils and Vintage on the way.

Phil Niekro Phungo HoF profile
1966 Topps #28 

Sources 
Baseball Card Database 
Baseball-ref

1983 NL Champions: Mike Schmidt 1973 Topps #615 (RC)

In today's edition of 1983 Wheeze Kids we present a Big Fish in any Phillies Fans Collection.

Mike Schmidt 1973 Topps #615 (RC)

The 1983 Phillies didn't have many standout hitting seasons on their roster. The exception was Mike Schmidt, He led the league in Home Runs, Walks and OBP . It was good enough for 3rd in the MVP voting behind Dale Murphy and Andre Dawson.

Schmidt's regular season carried into the NLCS which saw him bat .467 with a pair of doubles and a Home Run, for a nice .800 slugging number. Unfortunatley for the Phillies The Orioles pitching staff figured out the future Hall of Famer and Schmidt stuggled during the World Series only managing a single in 20 ABs.

For the Collector
I picked up the above card a little over a year ago for just under $42 via ebay.  At some point I will do a full FTC on the auction numbers for this card, but don't have my stuff together today.

In OtherWords

Night Owl Cards - A view of this card from a Dodger Fan.

HoF Index: Mike Schmidt
1973 Topps #615 (RC)
1974 Topps #283  (First Solo Card)
1975 Topps #70 & related Mini
1976 All-Star Program
1977 Topps #441 (70th Birthday)
1981 Fleer #645 Triple Threat Schmidt, Rose, Bowa
1981 Topps #206 Record Breakers (Single Season HRs for 3B)
1988 Fleer Superstars #33 
2002 Fleer GotG Dueling Duos #DD-27 (with HoF George Brett)
2005 UD Classic Moments #CM-MS (30th Anniversary 500 Home Runs)
2008 UD Baseball Heroes #138 (40th Anniversary of 4 Home Run Game - 1976 0417)
2013 Panini USA Baseball #34
2013 Topps Chasing History (gold) #CH-92 Mike Schmidt


Complete Phungo HoF Index
 
Sources & Links
1983 Wheeze Kids Index
Baseball-ref.com