1974 Topps #80 Tom Seaver (1944-2020)

I learned a lot about Tom Seaver while researching “The Andy Warhol Triple Play”. My focus was Warhol but I learned a lot about his subjects, one of which was Tom Seaver.

The more you learn about Seaver the more interesting he becomes. He was more than a ballplayer, He was a devoted family man, a vintner, and a connoisseur of the arts.

One of his many interests popped up recently when I saw the cartoon on the back of Tom Seaver’s 1974 Topps card. 

1974 Topps #80 Tom Seaver (b-side)

Tom Enjoys Playing Bridge. Mildly interesting… Then last night while re-reading my notes from the Warhol Project I came across an enjoyable blog posting written by Phillip Richter, a schoolmate of Tom and Nancy’s daughter Sarah. An excerpt from the column read:

While walking and talking and tending to the vineyards, Tom made the comment that pitching is like playing bridge. To be a really successful pitcher you have to get inside the mind of the batter. Is he having a good day? Will he wait for a fat pitch or just aggressively strike at anything served to him? What are his goals? How consistent a player is he? Your goal as a pitcher is to control the outcome. Tom said that it was his job to control where the ball was going to go should the batter connect with the ball and make a hit.  I know next to nothing about baseball but Tom’s complex and astute thesis was logical and so well articulated. It made all the sense in the world. I would never have seen parallels between the game of bridge and the art of throwing a baseball at high speed. Tom knows that I’m not a crazed baseball fanatic but I have always had huge admiration and respect for his many incredible accomplishments. Back in the day I was around for a lot of his career highlights–like when he got his 300th win in 1985. 

Tom Seaver just doesn’t play bridge, he plays bridge the way he pitches or pitches the way he plays cards. The article was written in 2016, Seaver would have been 71 years of age – 30 years removed from his final pitch, yet here he is making parallels between two games he loves. 

1974 Topps

1974 Topps #80 Tom Seaver

I have always loved this card, great action shot of an absolute legend - good use of the landscape format in the mainly portrait style 1974T set. 

The card re-drew my attention earlier this summer as part of a Project2020 inspired activity spearheaded by @_gritz_ of Project 62.  Gritz posted a randomish page of 9 noteworthy trading cards. Similar to Project2020 the assignment to the world of amateur artists was to redesign the card – Project2020 for the common folks.

One of the cards posted was the 1974T Seaver. 1974 has the best -toons and I had to flip the card over. That is where I spotted the comic. Once I saw it I knew that was the route I was going:

 Phungo Original: 1974T Tom Seaver

In creating my own Tom Seaver card I kept the 1974T design – in a simplified format. The original comic is more portrait – I have changed it to Landscape format which necessitated moving the copy. I added a touch of color to the lines – keeping the Mets 1974T flavors. My biggest remaining modification was identifying the card being pitched by Seaver as the Ace of Diamonds – which he truly is.   

It was a fun card to do and I think of Tom Seaver as a happy individual who was able to pass that joy on to those around him, I hope this Phungo Original captures that vibe.

In Memoriam

Links to other folks that have Tom Seaver Memorial Postings:

1960s Baseball (1968T)

Cards that Never Were (1968T Seaver LHP w/ Bob Gibson LHP)

Starting Nine (41 Scans for #41)

Sources and Links

Andy Warhol: Tom Seaver

Phungo Tom Seaver HOF Index

Turtle Garage

@_Gritz_

Project 62

 

 

Happy Birthday Mike Schmidt: 1977 Topps #140

On September 27th Mike Schmidt will celebrate his 70th birthday. To mark the occasion we are examining a card that was issued back when Schmidt was 27 just on the cusp of hitting his prime.

1977 Topps #140 Mike Schmidt

In 1976 the Phillies wore a Bicentennial/All-Star Game patch on their left shoulders. The 1977T card which displays the patch most prominently is Mike Schmidt's.

That is probably my favorite aspect of the card. I have two other photo observations:

1) I believe this is Shea Stadium which is the setting for several Phillies cards in the era.

2) Schmidt appears to be swinging a Rawlings bat. Adirondack/Rawlings bats from the middle 70s carried a ring on the bat handle in the team color - seen in red here.

However, during a Louisville Slugger tour I took a few years ago I found out something interesting:

Louisville Slugger Museum

Above we have four Louisvlle Slugger Bats. Schmidt's lumber is the 3rd one from the top, notice the Red ring. Schmidt had an exclusive contract with Rawlings, however at times he felt the need to change bats. To hide the switch, Schmidt disguised the Louisville Slugger bat by creating his own red ring using tape. More detail on this can be found at the PSA Card site.

The four bats top to Bottom are Cal Ripken, Eddie Murray (HR #501, last as an Oriole), Schmidt and George Brett (note the Pine Tar).

 Flip

1977 Topps #140 Mike Schmidt (b-side)

This is the first card issued following Schmidt's Four Home Run game on April 17 1976 and the text leads of with that fun fact. The blurb closes mentioning that Schmidt had 11 Homers in April which is a record - not sure if this is for any month or specific to April. Regardless both records have been eclipsed since 1976. Sammy Sosa holds the MLB Record for HR in a month with 20 (June 1998), While the April Record of 14 is shared by Albert Pujols (2006) and A-Rod (2007).

Talkin Toons
Always good to see a cartoon on the back of the card. The subject of today's comic is Yankees Slugger Hank Bauer and his17 game Wolrd Series hitting streak( 1956 OCT 3 - 1958 OCT 4).  At the time this card was released Bauer had held the record for 18 years. Here we are almost 42 years later and he still holds the record. the 2018 World Series marked the 60th Anniversary of the record.

Bauer's 17 game hitting streak is also the record for consecutive postseason games as well. He shares the record with Derek Jeter (1998-1999) and Manny Ramirez (2003-2004).  The Astros George Springer has an active streak of 14 games

Bauer Toons
A couple of Hank Bauer own cards have comics that feature the record including 1960 and 1961.  My favorite is a manager card from 1969.

1969 Topps #124 Hank Bauer (b-side / baseball card datbase)

Rather than featuring a lengthy text bio the Manager cards from 1969 featured a full size cartoon that include a nice profile sketch.

Artsy
Speaking of sketches and bringing this back to our original subject, I created my own version of the 1977T Schmidt card.

1977T Mike Schmidt (Phungo Original)

Drawing 1997 Topps doesn't present any unusual challenges. The Team names are italicized which is a minor hassle. I like the drop shadow on the pennant.

I elected to leave the team logo and number off the uni, which are largely covered in the original - unfortunately this leaves a lot of blue space on the drawing and elongates Schmidt's Torso.

1980 Phillies
I am including this post as part of our 1980 Phillies Series. I hope to return to Schmidt again next year as he is not only one of the  most significant members of that particular team but also the franchise history.

Sources and Links
Mike Schmidt HoF Index
1980 Phillies World Champs Index
Phungo Artwork Index
Baseball Almanac
PSA Card
baseball card database
mlb.com / Astros 
Baseball-Ref

1961 Topps #262 Tony Curry

Last night with Cubs featured on Sunday Night Baseball we featured a Rookie Cup card of Hall of Famer Ron Santo. Tonight we feature one of the Phillies representatives from the same Topps Rookie All-Star squad that featured Santo.

1961 Topps #262 Tony Curry

Tony Curry was the second player born in the Bahamas to reach the majors (following Andre Rodgers 1957). Curry had a decent debut with the Phillies batting .261 with 6 Home Runs in 95 games. Unfortunately those would be the only six Homers that Curry would hit in the major leagues.

Due to a contract dispute and personal issues Tony Curry would only play 15 games with the Phillies after his rookie season. Prior to the 1962 season he was traded to Cleveland and would only return to the majors one more time for a brief stint in 1966.


Toons

1961 Topps #262 Tony Curry (b-side)

A few notes on the cartoons. I want to start on the last panel first. As mentioned in our Ron Santo posting yesterday, of the 10 Rookie All-Star cards in the 1961 Topps set seven of them have cartoons that mention the Topps award. Next I want to go to the middle frame. I realize those were different times but "One of the fastest men in the Big Leagues" stole a grand total of ZERO bases in his major league career. Minor league records are spotty but baseball-reference lists Curry's single season minor league high as eleven stolen bases.


1960 Topps Rookie Cup All-Star Team
This column will serve as an Index of our postings related to the 1960 Topps All-Star Rookie Team. The players were honored with cards in the 1961 Topps Set. Here is a checklist of the 1960 hoorees

35	Ron Santo (HoF RC) - 3B
77	Dick Stigman - LHP
144	Jimmie Coker - C
148	Julian Javier - 2B
168	Tommy Davis - OF
240	Ron Hansen - SS
262	Tony Curry - OF
280	Frank Howard - OF
395	Chuck Estrada - RHP
559	Jim Gentile - 1B

Sources & Links
Topps All-Star Rookies Index
Baseball-Ref Bullpen
Baseball-ref
SABR Bio - Rory Costello

1976 ASG +40: Catfish Hunter 1988 Topps 87 ASG #11

We have a lot going on with our Sunday Night Baseball posting this week. 

ESPN is back in New York for another Red Sox v Yankees match up. The Big Apple venue gives us a chance to discuss one of the sadder of our 1976 All-Star Game subjects, Jim "Catfish" Hunter.

1988 Topps 87 All-Star #11 of 22 Jim Hunter

The 1976 All-Star game was the final of Catfish Hunter's eight appearances on the Mid-Summer Classic Roster. He represented the A's six times and the Yankees twice.

Overall 1976 was a mediocre season for Catfish, his ASG roster spot was earned with four consecutive top-4 Cy Young finishes in the seasons prior. His 1975 Cy 2nd included leading the league with 23 Wins and 30 Complete Games. His the most recent player to break the 30 CG mark and will probably be the last of my generation

Hunter was the 2nd AL pitcher to take the mound in the 76 ASG. He pitched the 3rd and 4th innings giving up a pair of runs on a 2-run bomb by Reds Outfielder George Foster. Hunter faced 3 HoF players in the two innings:

Joe Morgan - Singled and scored in front of  Foster's Home Run
Johnny Bench - Stuck Out to end the 3rd Inning
Tom Seaver - Stuck Out to end the 4th Inning

So really he faced only 2 HoF Hitters, we are being precise here - blogging is important.

The sole Phillies batter he faced was Greg Luzinski who flew out to Left.

1988 Topps All-Star Commemoratives
Picked this card because Catfish was not issued an All-Star card as a Yankee during his playing days.

The 1988 Topps Commemoratives which were placed in rack packs included two 1987 ASG Honorary Captain cards. Hunter represented the AL while Billy Williams received the honor for the NL. The two were inducted into the Hall of Fame later that summer.

Sloppy Topps
Details kids, the 1987 All-Star game was held in Oakland and Catfish wore the colors of his original team the A's for the occasion.

Catfish Hunter All-Star
Catfish Hunter spent his entire career in the AL during an era when the NL dominated the All-Star Game. The Junior Circuit lost all eight games in which he was on the roster, and truth be told he didn't help the AL very much.

Hunter pitched in six of those eight games including a fine performance in his first ASG in 1967. The game went 15 innings and Catfish pitched the final 5. Hunter only gave up two hits through his first four innings, unfortunately he gave up a Home Run to Tony Perez in the 15th.

The games outcome is noted in the -toon on the back of Hunter's 1969T card.

1969 Topps #236 Jim Hunter (b-side)

In today's terms giving up a run in an All-Star game seems about average, the cartoon neglects to mention that the single run occurred in an outing that went 5 innings.

And an Anniversary
Turning our attention to the text, the card mentions Catfish Hunter's No Hit Perfect Game. Today happens to be the anniversary of that Perfect Game a 4-0 A's victory over the Twins on May 8 1948. Hunter's 1969 Topps card is the first one issued after the game, therefore the first of his cards to include the words "Perfect Game". I imagine that prior to this card the only Topps Cards that mentioned "Perfect Game" were dedicated to Don Larsen, Jim Bunning and Sandy Koufax.

According to Baseball-Ref Catfish Hunter made $23,500 in 1968. Assuming that is his post bonus number, the $5,000 raise mentioned on the card is an increase of 27%. The US Department of Labor Inflation Calculator estimates that five grand is the equivalent of $34,000 in 2016 Dollars.

Here is a look at the front o the card

1969 Topps #236 Jim Hunter

Hunter's other ASG appearances were all mediocre at best

1966: DNP
1967: See above
1970: 3 Earned runs including a Home Run to Dick Dietz, while recording only a single out.
1972: DNP
1973: His Best ASG 1 1/3 no runs 1 hit, no walks. outs recorded vs HoF Joe Morgan and Hank Aaron plus Pete Rose.
1974: 2 Innings allowed a Home Run to Reggie Smith, Struck out 3 batters including Perez.
1975: Allowed 2 ER in 2IP - although the runs were both allowed in by Goose Gossage after Hunter exited the game without recording an out in the 9th.
1976: See Above

Sources and Links
1976 ASG 40th Anniversary Index 
Catfish Hunter HoF Index
No-Hitter Index
Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards - Bob Lemke  
Getty Images
YouTube - 1976 ASG
Baseball Almanac
Baseball-ref 
Bureau of Labor Inflation Calculator

1953 Topps #1 Jackie Robinson and the First Topps Cartoon

To mark the anniversary of Jackie Robinson birth on January 31, 1919 We are going to take a look at the opening card of the 1953 Set.

1953 Topps #1 Jackie Robinson

We previously covered this card in 2013 and it now serves as the anchor posting for our Jackie Robinson HOF Index. That posting is largely a price guide for the card.

Today I want to take a look at the back of the card.

Cartoons first appear on the backs of cards in 1953. As the resident of the #1 slot in the set Jackie Robinson also has the honor of being the face of Topps first -toon. Ok this isn't in the same stratosphere of the Hall of Famers other accomplishments, but it is of interest to the card collector in me.

The first -toon is an interesting one, I doubt I would have even noticed it on a less noteworthy players card, but Jackie Robinson will make sure I look.

When I read the card I questioned the veracity of the information in the text. It specified that the original Home Plate was made of iron.

Fortunately in the 21st century via the magic of Twitter we can go right to baseball historians who have done much research around such topics.  Here is the question I posed to the MLB official Historian John Thorn.

1953 Topps #1 Jackie Robinson #1 (b-side)

Soon afterward John Thorn replied!

And he filled in some details. Yes the Plate was originally Iron, and he added some bonus info.

That is a lot of critical historical info in under 140 characters. 

It doesn't end there. One of Thorn's followers fleshed out some details on Home Plate. Those details  were then further elaborated on by John Thorn.

 So there we have the reasons for why we call the base Home Plate and the chronology of from the 1845 disc shape to the present shape.

Topps #1
We have recently been obsessed with #1 Cards. This posting will be a second entry for 1953T #1, which to me is the greatest of all the Topps #1 cards.

Sources and Links
Jackie Robinson HoF Index
Topps #1 Club
Our Game John Thorn
Twitter John Thorn
Twitter Peter Alexis

1970 Topps #358 Pedro Borbon

Gotta wonder if Topps would put out the same Rookie Card for Pedro Borbon today.

The front of this card is perfectly fine. 

 1970 Topps #358 Pedro Borbon (Image Swiped from Baseball Card Database) 

Not sure the B-Side cartoon gets produced in 2012.   

1970 Topps #358 Pedro Borbon (b-side)

Borbon was a memorable player from my youth who won a couple of World Series Rings as a member of the Big Red Machine.  Farewell Pedro Borbon.