ANNIVERSARY 1968 OCT 02: Bob Gibson Sets World Series Strike Out Record

I missed the 50th anniversary of this a year ago so we are catching up today.

1969 Topps #162 World Series Special Game 1 Gibson Fans 17

Yes 51 years ago Bob Gibson Struck out 17 Tigers in Game one of the 1968 World Series.

Number of things to like on this card:

- Newsprint style format
- Gibson's face is a bit in the shadow, but overall I think this is a good photo from the era
- Great headline, subheader and synopsis
- Sponsorship by The Sporting News
- It's BOB freaking GIBSON

Gibson's 17K day broke the previous record set by Sandy Koufax 5 years prior, also on October 2 and in a game 1, Gibson struck out every Detroit hitter in the starting lineup at least once with the 3 & 4 Htiters Al Kaline and Norm Cash each whiffing 3 times. Other notable victims include Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews who went down on strikes as a Pinch Hitter, Bill Freehan and Willie Horton.

According to Baseball Almanac the record still stands today.

Flip

1969 Topps #162 World Series Special Game 1 Gibson Fans 17 (b-side)

The back of the card has a box score for the Cardinals 4-0 victory. Note the 17 Putouts credited to Tim McCarver. Lots of other big names on the Cardinals, HOF Lou Brock's hit was a Home Run which accounted for the single run in the 7th.

While the Cardinals won this battle, the Tigers would eventually win the War taking the 1968 Series in 7 games.

1968 Topps World Series Special Subset
The subber for the 1968 World Series runs 8 cards from #162-169, one for each game plus a summary. Hall of Famers earning cards in the set other than Gibson are the aforementioned Kaline and Brock.  

Sources and Links
1969 Topps Baseball
Bob Gibson Hall of Fame Index
1969 Topps World Series Special Subset
baseball card database
Baseball-Ref
Baseball Almanac

Sunday Night Baseball: 1961 Topps #35 Ron Santo

With Cubs on national TV tonight prior to hosting the Phillies this week I felt it was a good time to honor Hall of Famer Ron Santo.

1961 Topps #35 Ron Santo (rc)

Due to Topps diligence (and traded sets) it is rare that a player of Santo's stature gets a Rookie Cup on his actual rookie card. I took a glance at the list and among Hall of Famers the only other rookie cup/ rookie card combos I found were Willie McCovey (1960) and Eddie Murray (1978).

There are three other players that qualify, however they won their Rookie All-Star awards in years when Topps chose not to adorn winners cards with the rookie cup icon: Ozzie Smith(1979), Ryne Sandberg(1983), and Kirby Puckett (1985).

Sy Berger on Topps and Santo

1961 February 22 The Sporting News (JT Spink)

In a 1961 interview in "The Sporting News" Topps executive Sy Berger addressed the omission of both Willie McCovey and Ron Santo from the 1959 and 1960 sets respectively.  Regardless both were properly honored with Rookie All-Star cards that also happen to be Hall of Fame Rookie Cards.

1961 Topps #35 Ron Santo (rc - bside)

The center panel of the cartoons mentions Santo's Topps All-Star rookie award. Of the 10 All-Star Rookie cards in the 1961 Topps Set, seven of them have cartoons mentioning their selection.

The text notes that there was a Vote by "Youngsters". As part of an outreach program to raise interest in trading cards Topps sent out ballots via various youth organizations including the Boy Scouts, Boys Clubs of America and the YMCA. The Results of the voting were the early All-Star Rookie teams.

The origins of the Topps Rookie All-Stars is worthy of it's own posting and we hope to elaborate on this at some point.

Phungo Ron Santo HoF Index
1966 Topps Year of the Dragon Birthday
Obituary/Retired Number (2010)

Sources and Links
1961 Topps All-Star Rookies Index
Cards that Never Were
BR Bullpen
The Sporting News (1961 02 22, 1959 07 15)
baseball-ref

2008 Topps Heritage News Flashbacks #NF3 Fidel Castro

I honestly did not think I had any Fidel Castro cards but came across the one when doing some weekend paging.

 2008 Topps Heritage News Flashbacks #NF3 Fidel Castro

The Card Title "Fidel Castro Becomes Prime Minister of Cuba" pretty much sums it up. The Back goes into a bit more detail and briefly alludes to Castro's baseball career. 

2008 Topps Heritage News Flashbacks #NF3 Fidel Castro (b-side)

One of the benefits of a SABR membership is access to the Paper of Record archives which includes back issues of "The Sporting News". The late 1950s articles on Cuban baseball are pretty interesting, The Havana Sugar Kings were a pretty successful team playing in a very uncertain environment.

As you can see on the card above Castro took power on February 16 1959. The issue of "The Sporting News" that hit the stands two days later included the following:

The Sporting News (1959 02 18)

The Sugar Kings President Bob Maduro appeared to truly believe that Havana would eventually get a Major league baseball team. According to future issues of the Sporting News Castro did hold up his commitment to throw out the first pitch at the Havana opener.

However any trust between Maduro and Castro quickly ended. In 1962 Maduro fled the country after the Castro Regime confiscated all of his assets.

Bobby Maduro immigrated to the United States and remained in Baseball. He held a variety of different positions with different minor league clubs and worked for Major League Baseball as a liaison with Latin American Leagues and ballplayers. 

Sources and Links
SABR Bobby Maduro Biography - Rory Costello
New York Times