1964 Phillies @ 50: Dick Allen (RC) 1964 Topps #243

Last week we may committed a bit of a fuax pas by marking a Mets 50th anniversary and overlooking a significant Phillies Anniversary

1964 Topps #243 Richie Allen & John Herrnstien (RC)

50 years ago last Thursday Dick Allen, then known as Richie, Hit his first career Home Run as the Phillies defeated the Cubs 10-8. The Homer was hit at Wrigley Field off of southpaw Dick Ellsworth.

The 18 run slugfest that day featured 8 Home Runs between the two teams, including 4 from 3 different Hall of Famers (Billy Willaims (2), Ron Santo, and Lou Brock). Phillies pitcher Art Mahaffey also hit his last of 3 career Homers that day.

1964T Rookie Card
We have featured both Allen and Herrnstein in our 1964 Phillies retrospective previosuly. I have been meaning to post this card to bring the two players together since posting each of them separately as part of the Phungo cross feature on 1965T/2014 Topps Heritage. Herrnstein was originally posted here on February 17, A week later we put together this posting on Dick Allen. 

   
Sources
1964 Phillies Series 
Dick Allen Player Collection Index
baseball-ref

2014 Heritage the Originals - 1965 Topps #534 John Herrnstein

In less than three weeks MLB teams will be in the heart of Spring Training and collectors will be talking about the latest edition of Topps Heritage. This year Topps will be moving on to the much loved 1965 Topps set.
 

1965 Topps #534 John Herrnstein

There is a lot to like about 65T. The pennants are dominant feature and almost always a winner. For 2014 I am sure the team logo will be updated, I will always be a fan of the Phillies Cap featured here. The blue border always works for Phillies colors and it is pretty close to the powder blue shade that the Phils wore for Roadies in the Late 70s and 80s. The player position is right there above their name. It is a very solid design, straightforward, colorful, simple yet elegant.

I am sure this will be one of the most anticipated edition of Heritage, even with plain designs (like 1964/2013) there is excitement around Heritage. Of course this level of excitement inevitably leads to disappointment upon release. Perhaps this is because we get over-excited for Heritage. Or maybe it is just the retro-fatigue. I tend to think it just Topps ignoring the brand. I have always liked 1962 Topps, but when the Heritage version came out in 2011 it was horrible. The pix were bland and almost all alike. I understand this is a nod to the look of the original set, but I think mixing up the image styles for Heritage and flagship would help both brands. 2014T has done pretty well with interesting shots, but the previous 2 years I think there have been to many action shots. Throw in a little variety, Headshots, bench, battersbox etc.

John Herrnstein 
In addition to introducing our feature  on the 1965T flashback, We are going to double duty this post for our 1964 Phillies feature. John Herrnstein was a rookie for the 64 squad, He batted .234 with 6 Homers and 25 RBIs across 125 games. His 64 games at first base were enough for him to lead the team at the position.

Unfortunately for Herrnstein those 125 games would be the most he would ever play in a season. After the 64 campaign Herrnstein batted less than 200 times at the Major League level. Early in the 1966 season The Phillies traded Herrnstein and future Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins to the Cubs for veteran pitcher Larry Jackson. I would have to think that trade is on the loser list for the Phils.  
 
Prior to his professional baseball career Herrnstein was a star Running Back at Michigan. In 1956 he led the Big Ten in TDs with 7 and the Wolverines finished ranked 7th in the nation. 

Following his career Herrnstein returned to his native Ohio and maintained a career in banking and finance. This past fall his grandson Justin Herrnstein was a member of the Division II Tiffin Dragons football team of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.  

Other Voices
The Great 1965 Topps Project - #534 John Herrnstein

1964 Philies Series 
Johnny Callison
Tony Gonzalez
John Herrnstein 
Tony Taylor 
Frank Thomas

 
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
The Year of the Blue Snow: The 1964 Phillies
Baseball-ref.com
Tiffin Dragons 

2013 Topps Heritage the Originals - 1964 Topps RCs #263 Richie Allen

This is the second post in our retrospective of 1964 Topps in anticipation of the upcoming 2013 Topps Heritage release.

In 1964 Topps issued Rookie Cards with pairs of players from the same team. One of the better RC in the set is of Dick (He should be a Hall of Famer) Allen.

1964 Topps #263 Richie Allen/John Herrnstein 

Early in his career Allen was known by or referred to as Richie Allen and that the way he is displayed on his 1964 Rookie Card. To Topps he didn't become Dick Allen until 1973 and he went through and interim period 1970-1972 as Rich Allen.

The 64 Rookie Design is solid.  The smaller titling of "1964 Rookie Stars" atop the team name looks stylish and fits in well with the base set design.  The solid black background for the nameplate mimics the base card nameplate as well.

I have featured Dick Allen hear nearly enough, but I think you may see him hear one or two more times while we look at 1964 Topps.

Most of you likely know about the fine site Dick Allen Hall of Fame which is in addition to being dedicated to Dick Allen also has several fine custom cards of many ball players.

1964 Topps Rookies 

Other Notable RCs in the set HoF #541 HoF Phil Niekro, #287 Tony Conigliaro, #146 Tommy John #244 Tony LaRussa, and #167 Lou Piniella.  The LaRussa card is a base card the other four are all two player cards similar to the Richie Allen card above.   

Additional 1964 features the 2nd year card of Pete Rose (#125). This is his first solo card - The 1963 Topps Rose card was a Quad (#537) 

Prior 1964 Topps the Originals Postings 

1964 Topps Design (Ray Culp, Lou Brock, Gus Triandos) 

More info on 1964 Topps

The full series is in the process of being covered at the 1964 Topps Blog 

The Phillies Room has a posting on the 1964 Topps Phillies as part of the ongoing Topps Phillies Series.

Dean's Cards

Beckett

Other Sources
Dick Allen Player Collection Index
Bob Lemke's Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards 
eBay
Surf Baseball Card Collectiblies, Philadelphia Phillies