Cup of Coffee: 2001 Topps Hugh Alexander

Cup of Coffee: 2001 Topps Hugh Alexander

Earlier this month Major League Baseball honored the film "Field of Dreams" by playing a game in Dyersville Iowa near the films shooting location. 

August 24th marks the 20th anniversary of significantly less noteworthy baseball film "Summer Catch" 

I have never watched the film but have seen bits and pieces. From what I gather Catch was basically a love story set during the Cape Cod League. 

Of interest to us at Phungo HQ is that one of the characters in the film was based on Cup of Coffee player, Hugh Alexander. The character is a Phillies scout in the film played by John C McGinley (Perry Cox on Scrubs).

John C McGinley (right) as Hugh Alexander, the other guy is some dude named Hank Aaron. 

At the age of 19 Hugh Alexander got into 7 games with the 1937 Cleveland Indians. Unfortunately during the off-season Alexander was involved in an accident while working on an oil well, the accident cost him his hand. His brief baseball career was over as well. 

The Indians stepped up and hired Alexander as a scout. Alexander would excel as a scout discovering several players including Don Sutton, Allie Reynolds, Davey Lopes, Steve Garvey, and Dale Mitchell.

Canvas

I went with the year of the "Summer Catch" release for the cup design, 2001 Topps. There are very few card issues for Alexander's playing year, 1937. The circled numbers below the card represent the five players mentioned above, 6 - Garvey, 21 - Reynolds, 15 - Lopes, 20 - Sutton, 3 - Mitchell. Alexander's glove is show extending out of frame to symbolize the hand he lost. 

Series 2

This is the 9th and final card of Series 2, we will be taking a few weeks off and returning with Series 3 in the fall. If you have an idea for a future Cup of Coffee subject please let us know. 

Sources and Links

Cup of Coffee Index

imdb

baseball-ref

ANNIVERSARY: Don Sutton 300 Wins - June 18 1986

30 Years ago on June 18th 1986 Don Sutton and the California Angels defeated the Texas Rangers 5-1.

It was also the 300th career Victory for the Future Hall of Famer.

1986 Donruss Highlights Don Sutton 300th Career Win

At the time Sutton was in the middle of a mediocre 1986 season. Other than a Shutout of the White Sox a few weeks earlier the win over the Rangers was probably his best pitching performance of the season. In the stellar outing Sutton went the distance allowing only 3 hits and pitching to two over the minimum.

The only blemish on the gem was a 2 out Home Run to rookie DH and future Phillies Outfielder Pete Incaviglia. One of the Rangers pitchers that day was another Rookie and Inky's 1993 Phillies Teammate Mitch Williams.

There was a Phillies tie on the Angels side as well. Don Sutton's Battery Mate for the game was Bob Boone and the Teams manger was Gene Mauch. Other Notable players that supported Sutton were Jayson Werth's Uncle Dick Schofield, Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson.

1986 Donruss Highlights Don Sutton 300th Career Win (b-side)

The back of the card gives a nice career and game summary. It was only Sutton's 7th W with the Angels but he would stay there long enough to win 21 more and make California his second longest tenured team.

The doomed 1986 Angels won the AL West but sadly lost the ALCS to the Boston Red Sox in a series that included the Donnie Moore game. Sutton did not pitch in that game but he did make a relief appearance in the final game of the series which was his final playoff appearance.

Sutton reached the postseason five times with three different teams (Dodgers, Brewers) and pitched in four World Series but never won  a ring.

Sources and Links
Phungo Don Sutton HoF Index
Baseball-ref

Don Sutton HoF index

This is an index of our posts related to Don Sutton and his cards

 

 

1966 Topps Bill Singer Don Sutton (rc)

1968 Topps #103
1986 Donruss Highlights #16 (300th Career Win - 30th Anniversary)


 

Sunday Night Baseball: Don Sutton 1968 Topps #103

Once again this week the Dodgers are featured on Sunday Night Baseball. If you count the the Australia globe trek it makes this the 3rd time the Dodgers have been the focus of the MLBs young 2014 season. Tonight we take a look at Hall of Fame pitcher Don Sutton

1968 Topps #103 Don Sutton 

Every time I debut a Hall of Famer here I think why haven't we gotten around to this guy before.

Don Sutton's career spanned 23 years, 16 of which were spent with the Dodgers. He amassed a total fo  324 wins. Among players born since 1940 there are a grand total of 5 pitchers with 324+ Ws: Maddux, Clemens, Carlton, Nolan Ryan and Don Sutton. Despite this it took five election cycles for the BBWAA to put Sutton in the Hall of Fame. With the exception of Clemens the other four were all first ballot qualifiers with Lefty getting in at the lowest pct 95.6% - well above the requisite 75%.

The big differentiating factor for Sutton are:
1) Unlike the other four, He never won a World Series, or Cy Young Award. It should be noted that while Sutton didn't win a WS ring, he participated in four World Series including 3 with the Dodger    2) Sutton was often accused of scuffing the ball - but never suspended.

Brewers
With the Brew Crew coming into Philadelphia this week, I just wanted to note that one of the four clubs Sutton played for post-Dodgers was Milwaukee. He was part of the 1982 squad that won the American League pennant and took the Cardinals to 7 games in that years World Series.

Dodgers #20
Sutton left LA via free agency in 1980, after which several players wore #20, until 1997. The Dodgers officially retired Sutton's #20 on August 14 1998. 

Braves
Don Sutton has spent most of his post playing career in the Broadcast booth for the Atlanta Braves. This season he is the color commentary half of the radio team which is led by Jim Powell.

1968 Topps
For me this set ranks right at the bottom among vintage Topps offerings.  The dotted brown borders remind me of an old musty suitcase. That being said, I am fond of the Don Sutton card. So much so that he made the Paul Lynde square on my 68T HoF Page

Phun Phact
Topps first two Don Sutton solo cards both mention Sandy Koufax on the flip side. One in the text (1967) and one in the -toon (1968)

Sources
Don Sutton HoF Index
Baseball-Ref
ESPN
Los Angeles Dodgers
Atlanta Braves
Baseball Card Database

NSCC Loot 1975 Topps Mini - HoFs

I have a bunch of scans from the NSCC way back in early August which I have yet to post.

1975 Topps Minis

As with a lot of other vintage collectors I am a sucker for 1975 Topps Minis. 

These were a buck a piece which is more then I would typically go for a 75 Mini, but the lot is all Hall of Famers.  I have no serious interest in building the whole set, but I have thought of collecting all of the sets HoF cards.  The August show was a huge step towards that goal.    

Couple of favorites here.  The HR League Leaders features two Phillies, Schmidt and Dick Allen who led the AL in 74 while playing w/ the White Sox.

The Mantle - Wills card features a Card that Never Was if my memory is correct.  Topps had yet to sign Maury Wills in 1962 and he was never issued a 62 Topps card.  For the 1975 MVP series the Topps simply created the card that never really existed.