Happy Anniversary Prince Fielder 2009 Topps #1

September 6th 2019 marks the 10th anniversary of one of the more memorable moments of Prince Fielder's career.

2009 Topps #1 Prince Fielder

The Brewers defeated the Giants 2-1 in extra innings that day, the winning blow was a Walk-Off Home Run by Fielder. To celebrate the Brewers executed a choreographed bowling style celebration. The moment polarizes old and new school fans. I suppose if you want to pinpoint a moment where MLB decided that maybe it is ok to celebrate big Home Runs might have been Prince Fielder September 6 2009.

The image of that moment was honored by Topps with the lead-off card for their 2010 set.

I did some digging and I believe the photograph was taken by Morry Gash and can be found at AP-Images.  There are a number of similar shots across the net, but this is the only one that I was unable to find any discrepancies between the card and photo.

Flip

2009 Topps #1 Prince Fielder (b-side)

Fielder didn't get the #1 slot just for the September 6th Walk-Off.  He was a superstar player at the peak of his career. Checking his numbers on the card back we notice he lead the NL in RBI with 141. The 46 Home Runs trailed only Albert Pujols (47).

The text also mentions Fielders 2009 HR Derby victory.

2009 HR Derby Cards

As part of the Derby Topps created a set of jumbo cards that were on display at Citifield for the All-Star game.  I took the above photo at the Futures game.

Stray Observation
The pitcher that gave up the Home Run was reliever Merkin Valdez. In 74 career games Valdez only took the Loss in one game, this was the one. 

Sources & Links
Topps #1 Club
Game Dated Cards Index
AP Images - Morry Gash
baseball-ref

2018 HOF Candidate: Jim Thome

On December 6 2002 the Philadelphia Phillies announced that the long struggling club was ready for big time when they signed free agent slugger Jim Thome.

Things didn't work out as well as Phillies fans would have liked but the short-lived Thome era did have some fun moments. Over the course of his first two seasons in Philadelphia Thome hit 89 Home Runs including a league leading 47 in 2003. 

2004 Topps #1 Jim Thome (image swiped from Dean's Cards)

Topps honored the league leading season by putting Jim Thome on the #1 card of it's 2004 set (AL HR Leader Alex Rodriguez got 2004 Topps next hero card #100).

Good looking card and I am glad that Thome was recognized by Topps while he wore a Phillies uniform. The team didn't make the playoffs while Thome was here, but it is my opinion he was a key stepping stone to getting the team to a competitive level.

One of my favorite moments of Jim Thome's tenure in Philadelphia was his 400th career Home Run which came during a Phillies 10-7 victory over the Reds on June 14 2004. The game is briefly discussed in our 2006 Wall of Fame posting.  

2004 Topps #1 Jim Thome (b-side image swiped from Dean's Cards)

On the top left of the back of the card we can indeed see that this is the #1 card in the set. 
It also shows Thome's inaugural Phillies stat line which notes his league leading 47 homers in red (as well as his 182 Ks). The short text blurb touches on Thome's other strength, getting on base. The 60 game on-base streak was stopped by pitchers Kris Benson and Scott Sauerbeck during a 2-0 Pirates victory over the Phillies.

Phun Phact
Topps also put Jim Thome on the #1 card of the 2004 Heritage set.

Phungo Verdict
HOF - Big Fan, 600 Home Runs, Great Guy.

Sources and Links
2018 HoF Candidates
Jim Thome Player Collection Index
Dean's Cards
#1 Club

Baseball-Ref

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

Topps #1 Club: 1984 Steve Carlton Highlight

I am a numbers guy and have had a slight obsession with Hero Numbers, lately I have also been thinking about the first card in each set. This ramped up a bit more this spring when Derek Jeter's appearance in the Pole Position prompted a large degree of discussion.

1984 Topps #1 Steve Carlton Highlight

In a number of Topps Sets the first card is devoted to either a Highlight Card or a Record Breaker Card. If my history is correct we owe this to Hank Aaron who took the #1 Slot in 1975 with the a Record Breaker Card. The Previous year he also took the #1 with a special card but it wasn't technically part of a Record Breaker or Highlight set.

The 1984 Topps #1 Card honors two Steve Carlton milestones 1) Reaching 300 Wins 2) Setting the Strikeout Record. The Second accomplishment he essentially shared with Nolan Ryan for most of the 1983 before Nolan Ryan pulled away the following year. 

Flip

1984 Topps #1 Steve Carlton Highlight (b-side)

The backside is set in a psuedo-newspaper format with a Dateline in Philadelphia. The October 2nd date is the last day of the Phillies Regular Season, but it is also a Day that Carlton Didn't even play.

Carlton ended the season with 3709 Strikeouts the last of which was recorded on October 27, 1983. That game was preceded by Lefty's 300th Win in his previous start on September 23rd.

Phungo Topps #1 Index
1953 Jackie Robinson
1953 Jackie Robinson (b-side cartoon, special guest John Thorn)
1955 Dusty Rhodes
1961 Dick Groat 
1973 All Time HR Leaders Ruth Aaron Mays
1974 Hank Aaron
1975 Hank Aaron HL
1976 Hank Aaron RB
1982 Steve Carlton HL 
1984 Steve Carlton HL
1992 Nolan Ryan
1994 Mike Piazza 
2004 Jim Thome
2004H Jim Thome (rhyme w/ 1955T Dusty Rhodes)
2005 Alex Rodriguez
2010 Prince Fielder (Bowling Walk-Off) 
2015 Derek Jeter

2019 Ronald Acuna Jr

Other #1 Cards
2009 Topps WBC #1 Yu Darvish (Japan)

Vintage Twins/Junk Wax Twins research
Topps #1 Cards by WAR
#1 Cards by Other Major Brands (Fleer, UD, Donruss Etc)

Sources and Links
Steve Carlton HoF Index
Baseball-Ref
Junk Wax Twins