The Grizzled Veterans of 1973 Topps

Playing 15 seasons in the majors is an impressive accomplishment. Not only do you have to be a talented player, but a lot of other things need to go right for you to reach the decade-and-a-half mark. Getting a timely call-up to the majors, staying relatively healthy throughout your career, and having marketable value into your late thirties are some of the requirements. Fifteen years in the majors also makes for a great back-of-the-baseball card for those companies that dare try to cram all those seasons onto the back. I, for one, am thankful for those companies. So much so that I have a binder featuring only cards of players with 15 or more seasons of MLB stats listed on the back. Call it a fifth-tier mini-collection, because it doesn't get a lot of attention.

In my 1973 Topps pursuit (down to 3 cards!) I wanted to see how many of these grizzled old veterans featured in the set had played 15 or more seasons entering the 1973 campaign. By my unofficial count, it turns out the number is 19. I'm sure you could name some of these players if you sat down to brainstorm (and feel free to quiz yourself, because I will reveal all of the names). But I imagine, like me, there are some you never would have guessed. 

I'll highlight them here in order of card number, giving you some images and tidbits along the way for some of the players.

29 - Tony Taylor

19 major league seasons

Final season: 1976

46 - Lindy McDaniel

21 major league seasons

Final season: 1975

50 - Roberto Clemente

18 major league seasons
Final season: 1972

Clemente was the only 1973 veteran to not play during the 1973 season. He died on December 31, 1972, when the plane he was on crashed at sea. He was on his way from Puerto Rico to Nicaragua to deliver relief supplies after an earthquake. 

70 - Milt Pappas

17 major league seasons

Final season: 1973

75 - Vada Pinson

18 major league seasons

Final Season: 1975

90 - Brooks Robinson

23 major league seasons

Final season: 1977

Robinson made his last two All-Star team in 1973 and 1974, his 17th and 18th appearances of his career.

100 - Hank Aaron

23 major league seasons

Final season: 1976

Aaron played a majority of his games in 1972 at first base, but Mike Lum took his spot there in 1973, with Hank moving back to the outfield. 

125 - Ron Fairly

21 major league seasons

Final season: 1978

Fairly lasted the longest of the 1973 veterans, wrapping up his career in 1978 with the California Angels.

165 - Luis Aparicio

18 major league seasons

Final season: 1973

170 - Harmon Killebrew

22 major league seasons

Final season: 1975

A great card of Killer. 

175 - Frank Robinson

21 major league seasons

Final season: 1976

One of those unique angles that only 1973 Topps can provide. You either love it or hate it, it seems. I love it, of course.

277 - Bob Miller

17 major league seasons

Final season: 1974

280 - Al Kaline

22 major league seasons

Final season: 1974

Something about Al Kaline still playing in 1973 seems crazy to me. I always thought he was a guy that probably retired in the late 60s, but here he is. And still providing some value it seems, too.

305 - Willie Mays

23 major league seasons

Final season: 1973

Mays is the super veteran of the group. His 1951 debut with the New York Giants is the earliest debut of any of the veterans of 1973.

485 - Norm Cash

17 major league seasons

Final season: 1974

TCDB tells us that this card incorrectly states that Norm Cash was a 1st round draft pick of the Chicago Bears. He was actually drafted in the 13th round. 

490 - Claude Osteen

18 major league seasons

Final season: 1975

535 - Johnny Callison

16 major league seasons

Final season: 1973

560 - Frank Howard

16 major league seasons

Final season: 1973

Howard had a decent season in Detroit in 1973 before hanging it up. 

650 - Felipe Alou

17 major league seasons

Final season: 1974

According to Wikipedia, Freediving, free-diving, free diving, breath-hold diving, or skin diving is a form of underwater diving that relies on breath-holding until resurfacing rather than the use of breathing apparatus such as scuba gear.

Other random observations:

• Just 3 players out of the 19 were not given a "star" number, that is, a card number ending in 5 or 0 (Tony Taylor, Lindy McDaniel, and Bob Miller). 
• The group of 19 also featured 8 eventual Hall of Famers (Clemente, B. Robinson, Aaron, Aparicio, Killebrew, F. Robinson, Kaline, Mays).
• Johnny Callison, Frank Howard, and Felipe Alou fell in the dreaded high number series, though none of them were too difficult to obtain.
• Al Kaline, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron are the only players to appear in both this set and my other set project, 1955 Bowman.

Incidentally, if you have any of these 73 Topps cards lying around, feel free to connect with me for a possible trade:

• 380 - Johnny Bench
• 610 - Rookie Pitchers (Freeman/Hough/Webb)
• 615 - Rookie Third Basemen (Cey/Hilton/Schmidt) --- going to have to save up for this one.

A 1955 Bowman Birthday: Red Schoendienst (A New Series)

Boosted by a Christmas gift card boom, I have been adding to my 1955 Bowman set build. Between eBay, COMC, and TCDB, I have added a big chunk of cards in the last couple of months. I'm now at 242 out of the 320 card set. Recent notable additions include:

Nellie Fox

Lou Boudreau

Bobby Thomson

Bobby Shantz

Enos Slaughter

Gil McDougald

Phil Cavarretta

Roy Campanella 

Carl Erskine

Bob Lemon

Carl Furillo

Early Wynn

There were some high number acquisitions along with a few commons, too. But today's featured card is another recent find, card #29 Al "Red" Schoendienst, another Hall of Famer. Why am I featuring this card today? Well, today would have been Red's 100th birthday. I plan to feature all the cards I have of players that would have turned 100 this year. This gets a little tricky, though, because a not insignificant number of cards have the wrong birth year for the player. But some cross-referencing never bothered me. In fact, it will be necessary for this series, as I try to provide some interesting info about the players.

Here's my actual card of Red Schoendienst:

Date of Birth: 

February 2, 1923

First Year in Organized Baseball:

1942 with the Albany (GA) Cardinals and the Union City (TN) Greyhounds, both Class D teams in the St. Louis Cardinals organization. 

Link to a Really Old Baseball Guy:

Schoendienst's manager in his first MLB season (1945) was Hall of Famer Billy Southworth, who was born in 1893 and began his minor league playing career in 1912.

Definitely not a card I own.

Link to a Much Younger Guy:

Managed Ray Lankford on the 1990 Cardinals. 

1990 Upper Deck - Ray Lankford

Interesting Facts: 

• Red was actually inducted into the Hall of Fame as a player in 1989 by the Veterans Committee. Most people still around today would better remember him as a manager. He managed a total of 14 years in MLB, leading the Cardinals to the World Series title in 1967. His managerial success no doubt boosted his Hall of Fame case. 
• 10-time All-Star
• Played or managed in the Cardinals organization in 32 separate seasons.
• Died June 6, 2018 at the age of 95.

There appears to be 11 more 100th birthdays from the 1955 Bowman set to celebrate this year (pending double-checks of their birth years). Quick math tells us these players would have been either 31 or 32 during the 1955 season. As a result, no coach cards or umpire cards will be featured. I'll try to get to those in other posts. 

A Hall of Fame Bunch

For a while now, I've been plugging away at a new project: A Hall of Fame Frankenset. Every card #1 to #799 features a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. The set is actually complete in the sense that there is a card in every slot. But there are a couple of "upgrades" I'm now trying to make on the set:

Balancing the representation of players in the set. For example, right now I believe Sandy Koufax has two cards in the set and Carlton Fisk has 11. So, there's some work to do in that area.

Adding some vintage cards to the binder. I am now on the lookout for affordable vintage cards of Hall of Famers. The acquisitions below should arrive in a few weeks from COMC. I was able to get them all for $2.50 or less. Most were less than $2. 

With these additions, I'm closing in on 100 cards in the set that were issued before 1980. Not too shabby I'd say. The oldest card in the set, if you're curious, is a 1951 Bowman Billy Southworth. 

There are a couple of cards featuring multiple players, one of which is card #731. 

My goal is to have no multi-player cards, but I'd have to replace it with this one, which I can't find any cheaper than $6.25 right now, and I can't justify paying that for this card: 

This has arguably been my favorite project I've ever worked on, and I think it will be an ongoing project. I recently snagged some vintage Hall of Famers from Diamond Jesters' Time Travel Trade that should arrive any day now, and I picked up another (Tony Perez) from Nick from Dime Boxes in a giveaway he did for his 11th blogiversary:

I also claimed a replacement from my Minnie Minoso player collection, because that 1977 Topps card went into the Hall of Fame Frankenset. The other gem of the group was my first Grover Alexander Cubs card. And the Billy Williams was a throw in. Thanks Nick!

1973 Topps: The Sneaky Hall of Famers

A short, long-overdue post as I have been working on completing the 1973 Topps set. I'm down to 15 cards (including the Mike Schmidt rookie, unfortunately). 

I've decided I like approximately a million different things about the 1973 Topps baseball set. Well, maybe that's an exaggeration, but there are so many little things that are unique to this set, or things this set does really well. One of the features of the set (and at least a couple other Topps vintage sets), is the manager cards that feature the coaches, too. On first glance, you may have missed it, but there are five different Hall of Fame coaches hidden among the small pictures on these cards. 

If you are familiar with the set, you might know a couple without looking, but here they are:

#81 - Cubs Field Leaders (Whitey Lockman / Hank Aguirre / Ernie Banks / Larry Jansen / Pete Reiser)

Mr. Cub kicks off our list. 

#377 - Expos Field Leaders (Gene Mauch / Dave Bristol / Larry Doby / Cal McLish / Jerry Zimmerman) 

Larry Doby was the first black player to play in the American League. He also replaced Hall of Famer Bob Lemon as manager of the White Sox, finishing the 2nd half of the 1978 season with a 37-50 record. 

#449 - Indians Field Leaders (Ken Aspromonte / Rocky Colavito / Joe Lutz / Warren Spahn) 

Spahn is the all-time wins leader among left-handed pitchers.

#517 - Pirates Field Leaders (Bill Virdon / Don Leppert / Bill Mazeroski / Dave Ricketts / Mel Wright) 

Maz finished up his career in 1972, then went straight to the coaching staff for Pittsburgh.

#569 - Dodgers Field Leaders (Walt Alston / Red Adams / Monty Basgall / Jim Gilliam / Tom Lasorda)

The only manager/coach card from this set in which both the manager and a coach are Hall of Famers. Alston was inducted in 1983, Lasorda in 1997.

Merry Christmas!

Multitasking - The Pros and Cons of Working on 7 (or more) Collecting Goals at Once

Well, it's been a month since my last post. The general craziness and challenges of life explain much of my absence. I've still been working on my collection, but in kind of a haphazard way that reflects the general chaos I feel around me on a daily basis. I thought I'd update everyone with a rundown of the randomness that I've been working on the last month.

Frankenset and Mini-Collection Builds:

You may or may not know that I've already completed a Frankenset. So why does this say I've been working on a Frankenset build? Because I started a second one, of course! Yes, even though I have failed to chronicle the first Frankenset in any manner resembling completeness, I've embarked on Frankenset #2. (Side note - I plan to post all the cards in Frankenset #1 in full-page form. Done with two pages so far!)

I've alluded to Frankenset #2 in the past. There are a couple main differences between the first Frankenset and this one. Mainly, there are a few additional categories that I've added (Throwback Uniforms and Wrong Team are the two I can think of right now.) "Wrong Team" means the player is pictured in a different uniform than the team name listed on the card. Also, I'm including the back of cards in this set, so a card can qualify based on the picture/text on the reverse side (this was strictly forbidden in my first Frankenset). The cards that qualify based on their back are displayed as such. Otherwise, it's mostly the same categories as the first set. And I'm again going for 800 cards this time, but with the goal of not filling a single number with a checklist. Wish me luck!

In addition to the new Frankenset, I've been picking up new cards of some lesser knowns. Off the top of my head, this list includes: Reggie Jackson (a pitching coach), Todd Blyleven (Bert's son), and James Lofton (not the NFL wide receiver). There are several more I'm forgetting. 

2003 Multi-ad Savannah Sand Gnats - Reggie Jackson

All-Time Cubs Team:

I'm over 910 different Cubs for my All-Time Cubs Team set. The march to 1,000 will be a slow one, with many of my needs at this point coming from either vintage or obscure sets. I'll usually pick up no more than 5 new cards in any order these days, though Sportlots is showing some promise for me. Thanks to Nick for the tip to check them out, and to search by seller to save on shipping. With all my random collections, I can find a lot to order from one seller, so I'll be throwing in Cubs cards along the way.

Cubs Legend Al Lary (1983 Fritsch's One Year Winners, #118)

Local Players/Teams:

This is where I've gone a bit nuts lately. Looking for autographed cards, autographed index cards, and just regular base cards for players either from North Dakota or who played for a team in Fargo. I plan on putting the autographed cards in a display and using the cut signatures to create some photo displays. I plan to try to get to the library at some point and find pictures of some of the old-time players in a Fargo uniform from the local papers. 

Through the Mail Autographs:

I'm also interested in the stories/memories of some of the local players, so I've written to a few of them asking them for their autograph on usually two cards and also asking if they have memories of Fargo. I plan to do more of this in the coming weeks/months. The guys who played here in the 1950s and early 1960s for the F-M Twins are a priority, as they are all in their 80s at this point. I've sent to five players who played for the F-M Twins and also appeared in the major leagues. 

The top three (Travis Hafner, Rick Helling, and Andy Young, as well as the bottom right, Tim Olson, are recent eBay pickups. The Coste is from Tom from Angels in Order, the Strahm was a cheap eBay pickup last year, and the Goltz was through the mail.)

Starting a display of players who played in Fargo. The Dick Stigman was obtained through the mail. The faded Coste and Akers autographs are from my childhood. Kes Carter and Correlle Prime (bottom right) are recent eBay pickups. 

Cooperstown, ND native Floyd Stromme - played 5 games for the 1939 Indians

Hall of Famers:

Shout out to Tom from Waiting Til Next Year who sent over four customs of non-players for my Hall of Fame set. Thanks Tom!

Player Collection Builds:

Still chipping away at these, too, usually throwing in a few Sandberg or Grace cards with other orders if I find new ones for my collection.

Hall of Fame Frankenset:

I almost forgot! An idea that I'd been tossing around for a while was a Hall of Fame Frankenset. It's truly insane that I'm putting together a third Frankenset, but even more insane that I almost forgot to include it in this post. I'm trying to find a card picturing a Hall of Famer for every card number 1 through 800. I've established that nearly every card number has a card that would qualify (still need to research a few of the high 700s in more detail). I started with less common players, because you don't want to fill card #7 with Wade Boggs when you need to put your one and only Mule Suttles card there. So I'm going for as broad of a representation of players as I can. 

So as you can see, I've had my hands in a lot of different projects. I going to try to narrow my focus and try to work on them more on a "one at a time" basis, but it's tricky when you know there are cards scattered among your various want lists that you can add to an order. I hope to provide more updates on some of these projects in the future.