More from the 1961 Topps MVP Subset

I thought I'd toss these up since I had them scanned. They span a decade of  MVP winners and include a bunch of well known players. Nellie Fox, for example. There he is with the chaw. He won his MVP while leading the White Sox to the '59 AL crown.

Al Rosen missed out on the Triple Crown in 1953 when he finished barely behind Mickey Vernon of the Nats for the AL batting title. But he was a unanimous choice for MVP.

The Pirates' Dick Groat won the batting title, a World Series ring and the MVP Award in 1960. In 1963, his first year with the Cardinals, he finished second in the voting to Sandy Koufax.

Ernie Banks won back-to-back MVPs. I'm sure he would have traded them both for a shot at a World Series. This card came at a discount because some kid was kind enough to add the name of Ernie's team below his name.

Hank Sauer is the 'least celebrated' player in the group. His winning year, 1952, saw him lead the league in HR and RBIs. Robin Roberts, pitching for a fourth place Phillies club, won 28 games, had an ERA of 2.52 and a WHIP of 1.021 and finished second in the voting. I might have voted for him.

1961 Topps MVP Mickey Mantle

At the risk of becoming 'Mr. Vintage Subset' I decided to chase the 1961 Topps MVP cards. I started with the Don Newcombe that I posted last Monday. I already had Jackie Jensen, Roger Maris and Bobby Shantz so it was a matter of finding the others in this 16 card subset.

I thought Mantle was going to be the tough one and I had figured that it would take me quite awhile to find one that was in my price range but still presentable. But I got lucky. Right out of the gate this one showed up with a reasonable price and a 'Make Offer' option. My offer was accepted and here he is.

The scan doesn't really show how nice this card is. It's off center but that doesn't detract from the condition in my eyes.

I'm down to five 'needs' in this little group of '61s and I'll get to those soon enough. I'm going to finish off the '63 Fleer set and add a few 1060 Topps before I worry about these.

A Great Gift...a signed Lenny Moore card

Hall of Famer Lenny Moore holds a special place in my heart. I haven't met many of the old Baltimore Colts but I was able to meet him briefly in the lobby of a hotel in Dallas quite by accident many years ago. He was very gracious and it didn't seem to bother him that some random fan came up to him and wanted to talk Colts while he was waiting to check out. I don't recall what I said to him but I was so in awe of meeting one of my heroes, one of the most exciting football players ever, that I probably mumbled something stupid.

I recently received a very nice surprise from my friend Mike McKay from Chicago. He's a prolific TTM collector and he was kind enough to send along a card he received back from Lenny recently. And I have the perfect place to slot this one.

Last football season as my fantasy team spiraled towards the worst record I've had in 35 years I went in to the league system and created a three custom players, Ray Berry, John Mackey and Lenny Moore. Then I picked them all up on waivers for one day just so I could put their cards in my fantasy football binder. Sure it's dumb but hey, you collect your way and I'll collect mine. ;-) And besides, there is precedent. I did the same thing for Johnny Unitas a decade ago.

Even unsigned I'd like this card. It's a 1988 Swell Gum card and the set commemorates the HoF's 25th anniversary. The shot is from a Colts-Rams game in the LA Coliseum and Johnny Unitas makes a cameo after handing the ball to Moore.

Mike included a copy of the letter he sent to Moore who answered his questions. Mike always customizes his letter with a logo or helmet like he did here. It's a nice touch. This Lenny Moore 'gift' isn't the first time Mike has been very generous, btw.

Thanks so much Mike. Let's work on meeting up next June in Chicago!

1961 Topps MVP Don Newcombe

Late in September Night Owl featured Don Newcombe in his 1956 Topps Card of the Month feature. It's a sweet card and it reminded me that Newk was included in the Topps MVP subset from 1961. It's a group of cards that I've been (very) casually collecting for what seems like decades.

I went out and found this copy on eBay and am very happy to add it to my collection. Don Newcombe is a often overlooked figure in the history of baseball in general and the Dodgers in particular. Night Owl outlined much of the story in his post.

I commented over there that Newk never got much consideration for the Hall of Fame and that's understandable I suppose. He got a late start in the majors due to a couple of factors. He came of age in a time when he wasn't going to be signed by a major league team. He spent a few seasons pitching in the Negro Leagues before Jackie Robinson broke through those barriers. And once signed by the Dodgers he had to climb up that incredibly deep farm system put together by Branch Rickey. In the end his numbers don't hold up to those pitchers enshrined in the Hall but his reach was much greater than just baseball stats. A recovered alcoholic Newk devoted much of his post-career time to assisting others to reach sobriety.

My father, a pinstripe-bleeding Yankee fan, had good things to say about Newcombe. And that was high praise considering that my old man lived just blocks from Ebbets Field and yet held the Bums in such low esteem that he never even walked the few blocks to see a game there until the Yanks played a World Series game in Brooklyn.

As for me I never saw Newk pitch but I do remember him being acknowledged one Sunday evening after his retirement as he sat in the audience at the Ed Sullivan show.

A few final random Newcombe thoughts:

• I couldn't find a Newcombe bio in a quick Amazon search. With as many baseball books as are published each year I'd have thought he would be the subject of one.
• He hit .271 as a major leaguer with 15 homers and over 100 RBI. The Astros have a first baseman who hits under .200. I'm just saying.
• He finished his career with a season in Japan as a first baseman/outfielder and hit 12 dingers and batted .262. Those numbers, at the age of 36, placed him 11th and 12th on the league leader boards in those categories. 
• Someone was kind enough to add the year of this card to the back. It doesn't bother me one bit. It shows that once upon a time someone cared.

Here is a checklist of the 1961 MVP subset. The ones I own are in red italics and I'm looking for the rest.

• 471 Phil Rizzuto - New York Yankees MVP
• 472 Yogi Berra - New York Yankees MVP
• 473 Bobby Shantz -Philadelphia Athletics  MVP
• 474 Al Rosen - Cleveland Indians MVP
• 475 Mickey Mantle - New York Yankees MVP (added Oct 19)
• 476 Jackie Jensen - Boston Red Sox MVP
• 477 Nellie Fox - Chicago White Sox MVP
• 478 Roger Maris - New York Yankees MVP
• 479 Jim Konstanty - Philadelphia Phillies MVP
• 480 Roy Campanella - Brooklyn Dodgers MVP
• 481 Hank Sauer - Chicago Cubs MVP
• 482 Willie Mays - New York Giants MVP
• 483 Don Newcombe - Brooklyn Dodgers MVP
• 484 Hank Aaron - Milwaukee Braves MVP
• 485 Ernie Banks - Chicago Cubs MVP
• 486 Dick Groat - Pittsburgh Pirates MVP

1963 Fleer Warren Spahn (and friends)

With Spahnie it's all about the angles. Smile tilted one way, nose bent another way, cap brim cocked to a different angle altogether. Add in the terrific Milwaukee Braves gear and the result is almost always one fine baseball card.

I'm now at 56 60 of 66 in my pursuit of the 1963 Fleer set. Spahn was the first 'star' card I picked up once I knocked off almost every common. To get those commons I set myself a goal of collecting them in decent shape and priced at $2 or less. I couldn't quite pull that off but I wasn't much over in most cases. I don't have all 60 in hand yet but with the group I nabbed off COMC last week in route it won't be long.

It may not appear so in the scan but the card of Glen Hobbie shown below is the worst of the 'commons' in terms of condition. That visible crease on the lower right is much longer and more pronounced in hand. But for a dollar card I'm good with it.

Sometimes my friends and I would be captivated by a player due solely to his name. Bill Monbouquette was one such player. We'd like to imitate Red Barber describing a Monbo outing against the Yankees. I can still hear that in my head.

With what I know of Turk Farrell I'm guessing he was a real blast to have as a teammate.

I dabbled with the Phillies as a NL team to follow way back when and Demeter was a favorite of mine. The crease on his card is pretty ugly. This one may some day get upgraded.

Dick Howser on a card that includes a bat rack and the iconic old Yankee Stadium facade and lights. Bonus points for the cool Athletics sleeveless tops. One of my favorite cards in the set. RIP Dick Howser. A baseball 'lifer' whose life ended much too short.

Bob Purkey in the Polo Grounds.

That's old Griffith Stadium behind Tom Chaney. I have no memories of those caps. This is another creased card. Since I bought this one I've seen others in better shape for $2 or less. Sometimes my impatience costs me.

I've posted my remaining needs for this set over near the top of the right side column. I have no illusions of someone discovering that they have a spare Joe Adcock and dropping it on me but, hey you never know.

Billy Pierce Sketch Card

I bought this on a lark. While I usually like oddball issues (and I have lots of Pierce oddballs) a 'sketch card' seemed kind of...I dunno...'out there' I guess. But I've bought some here and there and I liked this one and for the price I figured "why not?"

The artist has a lot of more limited types of cards on eBay but this is an 'unlimited' edition, whatever that means...probably that he made a bunch of them. I put in a bid for a numbered Johnny Unitas sketch card as well. That will be ending soon. It's rather nice and I'd like to win it. In fact the artist does some pretty good work. I've seen a lot of sports art and some of it is pretty awful but this Edward Vela has talent.

Anyway this is the first addition I've made to my Billy Pierce PC since his passing back on the 31st of July. It'll fit in nicely.

I guess I collect Frank Thomas (the old one)

I picked up this '58 card of 50's/60's slugger Frank Thomas a couple of weeks ago for a handful of change. I've debated collecting the '58 set for the longest time. Back when I first joined eBay I began finding and buying random cards '58s. I have noted before that this is the first set I remember seeing as a kid.

It's garish and has too many head shots for sure. Despite it's flaws it holds a great deal of appeal for me. I can't see myself collecting and blogging another vintage set any time soon, but who knows?

But back to Big Frank. His 1960 card was on my 1960 Topps blog in May. I wrote a long post about his when I featured his card on my 1959 Topps blog. You can read that post by clicking here. But here are the highlights if you'd rather not click thru here are a couple of notes of interest:

-He was traded by the Phillies to Houston in 1965 for starting a fight with teammate Dick Allen on the field. Now considering that Thomas supposedly earned his nickname because of his lousy people skills a fight with the charisma impaired Dick Allen was probably a hot wager in the Phillie clubhouse.

-Bill James's win shares (of which I am clueless), sez he was the worst fielding third baseman ever among those among the top 300 in innings played at third.

I never cared much for the abbreviated stat format on the backs of some Topps issues but it does leave room for a lot of other issues and some classic cartoon art.

Not a bad card for fifty cents.