This is an index of our columns related to the 1989 Rookie Cup Winners which are honored in the 1990 Topps Set
Source and Links
Topps All-Star Rookie Card Master Index
trading card db FASportsCards
Monday, July 1, 2024
1998 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Subset (honoring 1997 Winners)
This is an index of our columns related to the 1997 Rookie Cup Team that was honored in 1998 Topps
Thursday, June 27, 2024
2024 Topps 1989 retro #89B2-10 Gunnar Henderson
I opened my first pack of 2024T series 2 a few weeks ago and sadly did not get any new Rookie Cup cards, However...
I did get one Rookie Cup from the 1989 Retro insert and it was a good one.
2024 Topps 1989 retro #89B2-10 Gunnar Henderson, Baltimore Orioles
Henderson was the unanimous selection for 2023 AL Rookie of the Year. He led an excellent Junior Circuit Rookie Class in Home Runs, RBI and WAR all while playing Shortstop for the Division Champion Baltimore Orioles.
And he is not suffering a sophomore jinx. He has 26 Home Runs mid-way through the season, second only to Aaron Judge. Gunnar is leading the league in WAR (5.9) and Runs Scored(70) and is in the top 10 in a bunch of other categories: RBI, Total Bases, Hits, OBP, XBH, BB, OPS.
There is only one Shortstop in MLB history to post a 50+ Home Run season, Alex Rodriguez (57 2002, 52 2001). If Henderson can match his first half the rest of the season he would join this exclusive club.
Picture This
We scoured Getty Images and found the original photo for the card. It was taken by Brandon Sloter who describes himself as a "Funtographer" on Instagram. According to the information attached to the image the picture was taken at Camden Yards during an Orioles 2-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox on September 28 2023. It was not a noteworthy game for Henderson who when 0 for 3 with a couple of strikeouts. Since the shot is of him fielding we will note that he had 3 assists in the game which helped Pitcher Dean Kremer to his 13th and final victory of the season.
In the image we can also see the Memorial Patch dedicated to 16 time gold glove winner Brooks Robinson, which feels appropriate on a card showing a player in the field.
1989 Topps
The 35 anniversary insert this year is 1989T. The shortstop on that year's Cup squad also took home Rookie of the Year Honors, Walt Weiss.
Weiss numbers were not nearly as impressive as Henderson in fact they are pretty pedestrian (.250, 3, 39) with a 2.8 WAR. However Weiss did play for the 1989 Oakland A's who won the World Championship.
We will tackle the 1989 AL ROY voting in the future, but I will summarize by noting only 2 players had double digit Home Runs, one of them batted .215 and the other was a DH that did not play into the 1990s. So it is safe to say that Walt Weiss won a ROY award but it was partially due to a pretty weak class.
Sources and Links
2024 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Subset Index
1989 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Subset Index
Monday, June 24, 2024
1962 Topps #288 Billy Williams
Today's All-Star Rookie Cup posting brings us to Hall of Famer Billy Williams who is the oldest living Hall of Famer to have also won a Rookie Cup.
The recent passing of Willie Mays has pushed the 86 year old Williams into 8th place among the eldest surviving Hall of Famers - and 6th among players.
1962 Topps #288 Billy Williams (image lifted from tcdb)
1962 Topps is one of my favorite designs - the novelty of the wood grain only used here and in 1987 keeps the idea fresh. I also like how the rolled up photo illusion slides our eyes into the full size Rookie Cup trophy.
Williams is captured here in follow through of his "Sweet Swinging" form - the rollup flows with the swing here as well. All this adds up to a really great early card of a Future Hall of Famer.
Rookie of the Year
Billy Williams earned NL Rookie of the Year honors by leading the 1961 freshman class with 25 Home Run 86 RBI and 256 Total Bases. However...
1962 Topps #288 Billy Williams (flip)
Little hard to make out but here we see the rest of Billy Williams numbers for his ROY campaign. The 146 games is noteworthy as that his a high number for a rookie by today's standards and the phrase "played everyday" definitely applied to Williams. For a decade from 1962-1971 averaged 161 games and was just below superlative threshold numbers (29 HR /98 RBI/.298 AVG)
I also want to point out in the demographics section that specifies Williams' Home as "Whislter, Ala." Which is of course the tail end of his nickname "Sweet Swingin' Billy from Whistler"
Always a fan of cards with comics. The presentation on 1962T is a bit different - it is more of an illustration than a comic. A lot of the rookie cup cards in the early era of the subset have comics focused on the cup. This one is ok - cup is a bit distant and I cannot tell which character is giving or receiving the award.
Note that the card makes no mention of Williams Rookie of the Year award.
More Rookie Iconogaphy
1962 Topps is not the only time that a Billy Williams card features rookie related iconography
1961 Topps #141 Billy Williams
In just 1961 and 1962 Topps added a Star Icon to a few of the rookies in the set. Other notables from 1961 were Carl Yastrzemski and Phillies Catcher Clarence Coleman. Hall of Famer Juan Marichal's rookie card is in 1961T but did not get a Rookie Star Icon.
Sources and Links
Saturday, June 1, 2024
1970 Topps Rookie Cup Team
This is an index to postings related to the 1970 Topps All-Star Rookie Team which honored rookies from the 1969 season.
Sources and Links
Baseball-Ref
Topps.com
Monday, May 27, 2024
1960 Topps #324 Jim Perry
This is an entry in our effort to Chronicle the entirety of the Topps All-Star Rookie Cup canon.
As of the spring of 2024 Jim Perry is the last living member of the original Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Team. The first class of ten members was awarded in 1959 and honored on cards #315-325 of 1960 Topps.
The penultimate card of that subset is Jim Perry
1960 Topps #324 Jim Perry
If you click here you can scroll down and see the Topps All-Star Rookie Cup awards banquet photo. Perry is the rightmost player present.
Flip
1960 Topps #324 Jim Perry (b-side)
One of the things I love about 1960 Topps is the season timeline, thankfully this base set feature is also present on the rookie cup cards. Six of Perry's performances are listed on the card plus the October 29th rookie cup selection.
The first game on May 12th is cited as a seminal moment in Perry's career in his SABR Bio authored by Joseph Wancho. What the card doesn't mention is that among those 4 strikeouts are 3 HOF, Enos Slaughter, Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle. The fourth was the formidable Elston Howard.
I also want to note the creativity in the comic which imagines a baseball bat as a military rifle and baseballs as shell casings.
By the Numbers
Perry posted a 12-10, 2.65 ERA, 79 K season in 153 innings, which would have been an inning shy of the 154 IP League leader standards of the era. He led the 7 rookies with 100 innings in ERA by a margin of over 2 (Jerry Casale 4.31 in 179.2 IP). Larry Sherry's 2.19 in 94 innings leads if we reduce the requirement a smidge.
Perry's 12 Wins were 2nd only to Red Sox rookie Jerry Casale who had 13 of his 17 careeer Ws as a rookie. Perry finished 4th in Ks which was led by Ernie Broglio.
Larry Sherry was the only RHP that finished with a better WAR than Perry, 3.6 v 2.4. While both players had successful careers, Perry had the most significant of the two longevity wise.
However...
The big name among RHP to debut in 1959 was Bob Gibson who had a much briefer MLB season than his Rookie cohort but did well (3-5, 3.33 ERA, 48 K, 75.2 IP, 1.5 WAR).
Career numbers for the 1959 Rookie Class are of course led by Gibby: 251 Wins, 2.91 ERA, 3117 K, 81.7 WAR. Perry is 2nd in Wins (215) Strikeouts (1576) and WAR 38.4. His 3.45 Career ERA trails Gibson and 3 time World Champion Bob Miller (3.37)
Verdict
Overall the Youth of America got this one right when voting for the first All-Star Rookie Cup Team in 1959. Jim Perry's Win Total is comparable to Casale's with an ERA that is far above any of the competition. Larry Sherry's pre-analytics WAR is impressive but the innings matter. Bob Gibson lags behind the group.
ROY
Jim Perry received 5 votes for the AL Rookie of the Year Award finishing 2nd to Senators Slugger Bob Allison.
Baseball Card Pioneer
Topps All-Star Rookies is not the only subset in which Jim Perry participates in the debut series. A year later the Right Hander would find himself on the first Topps League Leader to honor AL Pitching (Wins). During his sophomore season Perry posted 18 Wins which tied him with the Orioles Chuck Estrada.
The original LL cards are just crammed with faces so Perry and Estrada do not appear much more significant than the anyone else in the top 6 wins on the 1961 Topps LL card, however they do appear on the top line
1961 Topps #48 American League Pitching Leaders
Jim Perry would return to League Leaders a full decade later in the 1971T LL set where on this podium card he appears to have finished 3rd in Wins
1971 Topps #69 American League Pitching Leaders
However all 3 pitchers Cuellar, McNally and Perry won an identical 24 games. If you want to read more about this card check out Night Owl Cards Topps 1971 column here.
Not a Rookie Card
This is not Jim Perry's rookie card. He originally appeared in 1959 Topps High number series
1959 Topps #542 Jim Perry
If you want to read more about this card check out Topps 1959.
Big League Brother
Jim is the older brother of Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry. Gaylord's debut was not nearly as successful as his brothers and he was bested by the Phillies Ray Culp for RHP rookie cup honors in 1964. As of press time we do not have much in our HOF file on Gaylord Perry, but an index to any future postings we have can be found here.
Sources and Links
Sunday, May 26, 2024
Harry O'Neill (1917-1945)
This Memorial Day Weekend we honor one of the two MLB players killed during WWII, Harry O'Neill. The other was Washington Senator Elmer Gedeon.
O'Nelll's baseball career lasted one game, on July 23 1939 he came in as a defense replacement at catcher for the Philadelphia Athletics. The A's were down 15-3 when O'Neill entered the game, the deficit would expand by an additional run during his single inning of Major League play.
O'Neill never batted in that game and his MLB career was over.
In September 1942 O'Neill enlisted in the US Marine Corps. On March 6 1945 Harry O'Neill was killed in Action as a 1st Lieutenant at the Battle of Iwo Jima. He is one of an estimated 7,184 USMC deaths that occurred during the 36 day Battle.
The brief baseball career of Harry O'Neill does not appear to have yielded any cards during his playing days.
As part of our #CupOfCoffee project honoring players with Short MLB Careers we created a cup for Harry O'Neill
Phungo Original: 1953 Topps Marines Harry O'Neill (2021)
We based our illustration off of one of the few photos we could find of Harry O'Neill. I turned around O'Neill's ball cap so that we can see the A's logo and added color to the B&W image. The stars and blue field are used as a background to give us a flag motif.
On the nameplate we also added the shortened version of the Marine Corp Motto Semper Fidelis which is Latin for Always Faithful.
Finally above and below the borders we have added #CupOfCoffee designation and the date of O'Neill's game 1939 July 23.
The design is borrowed from the minimalist 1953 Topps Fighting Marines Set which features simple thin line frames of red and blue borders. For more on the 1953T Marines issues check out Cardboard Connection.
1953 Topps #43 Iwo Jima! (tcdb)
To find out more about Harry O'Neill please read his SABR biography which can be found here.
Sources and Links
Harry O'Neill SABR Bio by BIll Nowlin, Gary Bedingfield and Frank Fitzpatrick
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