Who is the best Topps Rookie Cup Team of the 1960s?

Since 1959 Topps has named 63 All-Star Rookie Cup Teams. The first 10 of the teams were honored in the 1960-1969 Topps Sets. 

These teams have featured Hall of Famers, Stars, World Series heroes, One year wonders, defaults and everything in between.  From Willie McCovey to Woody Fryman to Wander Franco. 

I have always wondered which of these teams was the best, worst, and had the most impact. 

But how does one determine the Best Rookie Cup Team. 

I could simply give you charts of the best team by WAR,  All-Star Appearances, or Championships. 

For the 1960s these tables would appear like this:

But what does this really tell you? Unless you know that Willie McCovey was a member of the 1960* Squad, then you would be reminded he never won a World Series. 

But what is the fun in all these tables and numbers? 

How does one determine the best Rookie Cup team form the 1960s in a fun way? 

TOURNAMENT! 

Yes we had Phungo HQ have put together a tournament to determine the best Topps All-Star Rookie Team from the 1960s.

Over the next couple of weeks we will be posting the tournament results. The tournament should run around 25 games over 3 weeks. 

Seeding

To give each team a personality we have given each team a name and a captain. Here are the seedings for the tournament:

I will get more into game play below but basically games will be decided in a variety of statistical categories with WAR being the most dominant vector. The above seeds are based off a combination of each teams collective WAR for the rookie cup season and the teams career WAR. 

Structure

10 is an odd number of teams to run a tournament, so the format is is a bit convoluted. Basically we will have a pair of Double Elimination tourneys that will get us to the top 4 teams who will play a pair of Best of 3 Semi-Finals. The two winners will compete in a Best of 5 Final.  May the best team Win

The Teams

A brief description of the teams

1960 the Stretchers Captained by Willie McCovey Seed 10

    Strengths: Much Better Career Numbers than Seasonal Numbers 

    Weaknesses: Very Poor Rookie Cup Season numbers, team Speed, defense

    Notables: McCovey, Jim Perry, Bob Allison Ron Fairly

1961 Santo's Squad Captain by Ron Santo Seed 9

    Strengths: Lifetime Power

    Weaknesses: Pitching, Season Speed

    Notables: Santo, Frank Howard, Ron Hansen

1962 Team Torre Captained by Joe Torre Seed 8

    Strengths: Season Batting

    Weaknesses: Pitching

    Notables: Torre, Billy Williams, Don Schwall

1963 Team Boog Captained by Boog Powell Seed 7

    Strengths: Season Power

    Weaknesses: Speed, Career Power

    Notables: Boog, Ed Charles, Dean Chance

1964 Charlies Hustlers Captained by Pete Rose Seed 1

    Strengths: Season WAR, Pitching

    Weaknesses: Power Hitting

    Notables: Rose, Gary Peters, Rusty Staub, Tommy Harper

1965 Oliva's Army Captained by Tony Oliva Seed 4

    Strengths: Season Hitting 

    Weaknesses: Career Pitching

    Notables: Tony Oliva, Dick Allen, Bert Campaneris, Rico Carty

1966 Little Joes Captained by Joe Morgan Seed 2

    Strengths: Speed, Lifetime Power

    Weaknesses: Career Pitching

    Notables: Morgan, Tony Perez, Rico Petrocelli, Frank Linzy

1967 Team Davey J Captained by Davey Johnson Seed 6

    Strengths: Defense, Season Speed, 

    Weaknesses: Lifetime Power

    Notables: Davey Johnson, Tommie Agee, George Scott, Jim Nash, Woody Fryman

1968 Mad Hits Captained by Rod Carew Seed 3

    Strengths: Pitching, 

    Weaknesses: Season Hitting (everybody but Carew)

    Notables: Carew, Tom Seaver, Rick Monday, Reggie Smith, Lee May Dick Hughes

1969 No Drips Captained by Johnny Bench Seed 5

    Strengths: Fielding, Pitching

    Weaknesses: Season Powe

    Notables: Bench, Jerry Koosman, Stan Bahnsen, Bobby Bonds, Del Unser 

Okay enough set up, Tomorrow we will move on to actual games!

Details

If you really want to know more about the key vectors used to determine game outcomes click here. 

*NOTE - The All-Star Rookie Cup is recognized on cardboard the year AFTER the award was won. ie: the 1959 Rookie Cup Team is on 1960 Topps Cards. For purposes of my discussions I typically refer to a team in the year of the card not the award - so the latter of the two years. 

Sources and Links

TCDB - Topps Rookie Cup List by FASportsCards

baseball-ref

Cup of Coffee: 2007 Topps Jeremy Brown

Welcome to Cup of Coffee Series 3. Our first player is somebody who's story you may know even if you don't recall him. 

2007 Topps Jeremy Brown Cup of Coffee

Jeremy Brown is the fat catcher from the book/film "Moneyball". Billy Beane made Brown the 35th overall pick of the 2002 draft. Brown played six games for the 2006 Oakland A's logging 3 hits in 10 ABs. despite the solid .300 Batting Average Jeremy Brown never returned to the majors, he retired following the 2007 season. 

Moneyball

Jeremy Brown was a major character in the book Moneyball - Author Michael Lewis dedicated an entire chapter to Brown. 

However Brown barely made it into the movie, present as a moment of comic relief towards the end of the film. 

The film "Moneyball" was released a decade ago today, September 9 2011. By then the books was 8 years old and the successful players were mid-career - while others like Jeremy Brown were finished. 

Some things haven't changed: BIlly Beane is still in Oakland (as club president) and Tony LaRussa is still managing - in Chicago. 

Canvas

2007 Topps is one of the very few card of Jeremy Brown. My biggest addition to the card is a baseball that echoes the cover of the "Moneyball" book. We went with a lavender border color rather than black just to brighten things up a bit. The image is a bit tighter than on the actual card. 

Sources and Links

Cup of Coffee Index

Momeyball Index

baseball-ref

imdb

Cup of Coffee: 2001 Topps Hugh Alexander

Cup of Coffee: 2001 Topps Hugh Alexander

Earlier this month Major League Baseball honored the film "Field of Dreams" by playing a game in Dyersville Iowa near the films shooting location. 

August 24th marks the 20th anniversary of significantly less noteworthy baseball film "Summer Catch" 

I have never watched the film but have seen bits and pieces. From what I gather Catch was basically a love story set during the Cape Cod League. 

Of interest to us at Phungo HQ is that one of the characters in the film was based on Cup of Coffee player, Hugh Alexander. The character is a Phillies scout in the film played by John C McGinley (Perry Cox on Scrubs).

John C McGinley (right) as Hugh Alexander, the other guy is some dude named Hank Aaron. 

At the age of 19 Hugh Alexander got into 7 games with the 1937 Cleveland Indians. Unfortunately during the off-season Alexander was involved in an accident while working on an oil well, the accident cost him his hand. His brief baseball career was over as well. 

The Indians stepped up and hired Alexander as a scout. Alexander would excel as a scout discovering several players including Don Sutton, Allie Reynolds, Davey Lopes, Steve Garvey, and Dale Mitchell.

Canvas

I went with the year of the "Summer Catch" release for the cup design, 2001 Topps. There are very few card issues for Alexander's playing year, 1937. The circled numbers below the card represent the five players mentioned above, 6 - Garvey, 21 - Reynolds, 15 - Lopes, 20 - Sutton, 3 - Mitchell. Alexander's glove is show extending out of frame to symbolize the hand he lost. 

Series 2

This is the 9th and final card of Series 2, we will be taking a few weeks off and returning with Series 3 in the fall. If you have an idea for a future Cup of Coffee subject please let us know. 

Sources and Links

Cup of Coffee Index

imdb

baseball-ref

Cup of Coffee: 1951 Eddie Gaedel

This past March when we introduced our Java feature on Twitter. One of the first comments was from @HeavyJ28 who mentioned a very notable Cup of Coffee player, Eddie Gaedel.

Five months and 17 cups later we grant HeavyJ His Wish.

1951 Topps Eddie Gaedel

Today marks the 70^th Anniversary of the Eddie Gaedel game. 

On August 19^th 1951 Gaedel pinch hit for Frank Saucier in the bottom half of the first inning of a St Louis Browns Game versus the Detroit Tigers. The 3’7” Gaedel walked and then was removed for pinch runner Jim Delsing. The strategy did not help the Browns who lost 6-2.

His SABR Biography is worth a read, sometimes inspiring but mostly tragic (https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gaedeed01.shtml)

Canvas:

1951 Topps, the same year as the game. The image is based off of the AP Photo most baseball fans should find familiar. 

Eddie Gaedel 

For the game portion of the card we chose "WALK", in the top right we have Gaedel's uniform number 1/8, and across the bottom we have the date of the Game. 

Sources & Links

Cup of Coffee Index

baseball-ref 

LA Times

SABR BIo

Cup of Coffee: 1963 Topps John Paciorek

The column has been quiet because I have been spending my free time with a sketchbook. 

This does not mean I have given up on baseball or card collecting, most of the sketches are of baseball cards. 

One of the projects that I have been working on is a series of "Cup of Coffee" players drawn on, yes, Coffee Cups. 

The first subject of the Series was John Paciorek who at the age of 18 had a perfect batting day during a Houston Colts 13-4 victory over the New York Mets.  Paciorek started in Right Field went 3-3 with a pair of walks and scoring four times. 

 

                Phungo Original: 1963T John Paciorek

That game was played on September 29 1963, John Paciorek would not play another Major League Game. 

He already had a bad back that would only get worse the following spring. He eventually had spinal fusion surgery which helped his back but hurt is game. In 1968 he retired from professional baseball. 

John Paciorek was never issued a baseball card during his career however he was immortalized in a comic:

1980 Topps #481 Tom Paciorek (b-side)

John's brother Tom also made it to the majors, he was fortunate enough to have an 18 year career. The comic on the back of Tom's 1980 Topps card features a nod to John's game with the 1963 Colts.  

Canvas

Since John did not have a baseball card, i needed to create one for the cup. Going with 1963 Topps was an obvious design choice, for the cards image I used a photo that was on the cover of John's biography. 

That's right, there is a biography of John Paciorek, a Cup of Coffee player who appeared in a single major league game. 

Perfect - Steven K Wagner

Beyond that I wanted to add the phrase "Cup of Coffee" to each Cup and the date of the players game. For John Paciorek I put the date on the lid. 

To date we have put together 16 Cups featuring 18 subjects which I have been releasing periodically on Twitter. I hope to also post the cups here to create a more permanent record of the players and their accomplishments. 

If you have an idea for a Cup of Coffee player, please let us know and we will put them on the roster. Thanks Team Phungo.  

Sources & Links

Cup of Coffee Index

Basenall-ref

MLB

Kronozio

Goodreads

#CupOfCoffee Index

 This is an Index of our #CupOfCoffee Postings

Phungo Original: 1908-09 Rose Company Postcards (PC760) Archibald "Moonlight" Graham

Archie "Moonlight" Graham: the epitome of Cup of Coffee Players.(1908-09 Rose Company Postcards - PC760)

Jeremy Brown: Catching prospect from "Moneyball" (2007 Topps)

Eleanor Engle: Signed a contract to play for the 1952 Harrisburg Senators (1953 Topps)

Eddie Gaedel: 3' 7" pinch hitter for the St Louis Browns (1951 Topps)  

Bill Greason: Negro League Player that served at Iwo Jima (1954 Topps)

Harry O'Neill: Killed in Action World War II (1953 Topps Fighting Marines) 

John Paciorek: Perfect Hitting Day in only Major League Game (1963 Topps)

Sidd Finch: Fictional Character from 1985 Sports Illustrated (1985 Topps)

Ted Turner: Owner of the Atlanta Braves who Managed One Game (1977 Topps)

Other #CupOfCoffee that have been created but not yet documented

Joe Cleary

Erskine Thomason 

Doc Daugherty

Larry Colton

Dick Thoeren

John Carden

Lino Urdaneta

Sam Hairston

Johnny Hairston

Rafael Quiricos

Lariel Gonzalez

Al Lamacchia

Tom Chism

Phungo Artwork Index

1997 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Subset (honoring 1996 Winners)

This is an Index of postings related to the 1996 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup team that was honored in the 1997 Set.

1997 Topps #22 195 Jason Kendall

13	DEREK JETER	SS
17	F.P. SANTANGELO	OF
22	BILLY WAGNER	LHP
177	TODD HOLLANDSWORTH	OF
195	JASON KENDALL	C
216	JOE RANDA	3B
239	JERMAINE DYE	OF
344	TONY BATISTA	2B
351	ALAN BENES	RHP
406	TONY CLARK	1B

Sources and Links
B-R Bullpen Baseball-Ref
Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Master Index