Friday, May 1, 2015

1963 Bazooka Dazzy Vance



Here's a trivia question for the desperate...What is the only Bazooka set NOT issues as part of the box itself? Your answer is the 1963 Bazooka All-Time Greats. This was a 41 card set that featured only Hall of Famers and came as inserts, five in a box of gum pieces.

I've never owned one of these, or even thought much about them but I had some PayPal money buring a whole in my eWallet so I set out to picking up a few cheap cards that struck my fancy.

I don't recall what ols Dazzy Vance here cost me but it wan't much more than a buck. The crease you see across the card isn't nearly as noticable in hand as it is in the scan.

Here is the checklist. It's obviously an impressive one since it's made up of nothing but greats from the game's early years. Most, but not all of these, can also be found with silver in place of the gold on the plaque.

1 Joe Tinker
2 Harry Heilmann
3 Jack Chesbro
4 Christy Mathewson
5 Herb Pennock
6 Cy Young
7 Ed Walsh
8 Nap Lajoie
9 Eddie Plank
10 Honus Wagner
11 Chief Bender
12 Walter Johnson
13 Three-Finger Brown
14 Rabbit Maranville
15 Lou Gehrig
16 Ban Johnson
17 Babe Ruth
18 Connie Mack
19 Hank Greenberg
20 John McGraw
21 Johnny Evers
22 Al Simmons
23 Jimmy Collins
24 Tris Speaker
25 Frank Chance
26 Fred Clarke
27 Wilbert Robinson
28 Dazzy Vance
29 Pete Alexander
30 Judge Landis
31 Willie Keeler
32 Rogers Hornsby
33 Hugh Duffy
34 Mickey Cochrane
35 Ty Cobb
36 Mel Ott
37 Clark Griffith
38 Ted Lyons
39 Cap Anson
40 Bill Dickey
41 Eddie Collins

As for Dazzy Vance, he was a dominant pitchers in his time for the Dodgers. He led the NL in strikeouts for seven straight seasons. Here, from Vance's Baseball reference Bullpen bio page is a list of his highlights:

Notable Achievements


  • NL MVP (1924)
  • NL Pitcher's Triple Crown (1924)
  • 3-time NL ERA Leader (1924, 1928 & 1930)
  • 2-time NL Wins Leader (1924 & 1925)
  • 7-time NL Strikeouts Leader (1922-1928)
  • 2-time NL Complete Games Leader (1924 & 1927)
  • 4-time NL Shutouts Leader (1922, 1925, 1928 & 1930)
  • 15 Wins Seasons: 7 (1922-1925, 1927, 1928 & 1930)
  • 20 Wins Seasons: 3 (1924, 1925 & 1928)
  • 25 Wins Seasons: 1 (1924)
  • 200 Innings Pitched Seasons: 9 (1922-1925 & 1927-1931)
  • 300 Innings Pitched Seasons: 1 (1924)
  • 200 Strikeouts Seasons: 3 (1924, 1925 & 1928)
  • Won a World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1934
  • Baseball Hall of Fame: Class of 1955

4 comments:

  1. When I saw the preview of this post, it almost looked like it was a Die-cut card - I don't think I've seen one from this set in the wild - are they pretty rare?

    Silver and Gold parallels! Pretty unique for a vintage set, and quite the checklist!

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    Replies
    1. Brian, I don't think it's 'rarity' that keeps these out of sight, more likely it's just lack of collector interest. They are sort of like the Fleer baseball Greats that came out at about the same time. I don't think kids much cared for players who were long retired or dead. And like those Fleer sets these are a cheap way to grab Hall of Famers

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  2. I've never heard of them but I may keep an eye out now. Wouldn't mind a Hank Greenberg of Christy Mathewson. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. If you guys are looking to pick up some, the shop I work at has a bunch in-stock. Give me orders to pull! ;)

    http://www.californiasportscards.com/browse.php/sport/1/year/1963/manufacturer/14411

    ReplyDelete