This is an index to our postings related to the 1995 Topps All-Star Rookie subset. Players were awarded based upon their performance during the 1994 season which was shortened by a lockout.
Sources and Links
Monday, July 1, 2024
Canada Day - TASR: 1970 OPC #238 Jose Laboy
Happy Canada Day folks. To honor the occasion we are featuring the first All-Star Rookie Cup awarded to the Montreal Expos.
1970 OPC #324 Tony Taylor (tcdb)
1970 Topps #238 Jose Laboy (flip/tcdb)
1970 OPC #238 Jose Laboy (image stolen from tcdb)
Jose "Coco" Laboy had a shared Rookie card in 1969, The 1970 shown here is his first solo. I have always wanted to cover this card - There is just something cool about bat rack cards. This one is particularly interesting as Laboy is in motion, he is picking out a bat trying to find the one that with a Hit in it no doubt. None of the bats have numbered knobs, but we can clearly see Laboy's #39 on his jersey.
In addition to Rookie Cup honors Laboy was also named the Sporting News NL Rookie Player of the Year. This is a different award than the more widely recognized BBWAA ROY which went to the Dodgers Ted Sizemore. The BBWAA vote was not even that close. Sizemore tallied 14 of the 24 votes, while Laboy garned only 3. This is despite the fact that Laboy, a third baseman hit 18 HR and a rookie leading 83 RBI while second baseman Sizemore's hit a more pedestrian 4 HR and 46 RBI. Ted Sizemore did lead rookies with a 4.2 WAR - of course this was unknown to 1969 era scribes, but apparently he passed the eye test.
1970+
Coco Laboy played four additional seasons in the majors but never matched the success of his Rookie campaign. He retired as a career Expo with 420 games played 28 home runs and a -0.9 WAR.
His decline may have been due to his advanced age for a MLB rookie, he was well past his 28th birthday. Laboy's Minor League career was spent in the Giants and Cardinals organization where he racked up 138 Home Runs and a career .294 average in well over a 1000 games. Despite these impressive numbers he never got a Major League opportunity until...
Bat Rack Connection
In 1969 Coco Laboy was selected in the expansion draft by the Montreal Expos. Manager Gene Mauch picked Laboy largely due to the recommendation of Puerto Rican League teammate Tony Taylor (who played for Mauch with the Phillies)
In a trading card coincidence Tony Taylor is also a member of the 1970 Topps/OPC bat rack club.
Flip
Noticed since this is a Canada column we are using an OPC card - or course since it's 1970 we won't see much difference from Topps until we flip the card over.
1970 OPC #238 Jose Laboy (flip/tcdb)
Checking the text of the card we quickly spot the French language translations that are present on OPC. We also see Coco's long minor League career which dates back to the 1950s including a couple of 20 Home Run seasons.
Comic: Unfortunately we were unable to find any record of Laboy pitching for Springfield in Baseball-Ref.
Topps
Here is the standard Topps card. Beyond the language difference we can also see that the text on Topps is completely contained in the blue box, while OPC put this below the demographics section.
Peanut Gallery
For more on this card check Jim's column over at 1970 Topps Baseball.
Sources and Links
Coco Laboy SABR Bio (Brian Joseph)
retrosimba (Mark Tomasik)
1990 Topps Rookie Cup (honoring 1989 Winners)
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
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
a thousand words
2008 World Champions