2010 Topps Tribute Johnny Mize Jersey Card

Small post to start off the week.  I had the good fortune to pick up a card of a Cardinals Hall of Famer at the end of last week.  I am not sure exactly what hat Johnny Mize is wearing on his Hall of Fame plaque, but he started off his career as Cardinal.  I think that many people associate him with the Giants and Yankees, but card companies have issued a few nice pieces of cardboards with him pictured as a Cardinal.

Mize actually played his first six seasons in St. Louis during which he won a batting title, two home run titles, led the National League four times in slugging percentage, and three times in OPS.  The Cardinals traded Mize to the Giants where he missed a few years because of World War II, but still had a couple above average to great seasons before closing out his career with the Yankees.

I guess the Mize factoid that always sticks in my mind was that always sticks out to me was the fact that he held the Cardinals single season record for home runs (with 43 in 1940) until Mark McGwire's record breaking season of 1998.  That season now ranks 6th on the Cardinals all-time single season home run list behind McGwire's 1998 and 1999 seasons (70 and 65 home runs) and three Pujols seasons (49-2006, 47-2009, and 46-2004).

 As for the card, this is my second Mize card that I have added to my collection and the best one yet.  I like the jersey piece on the card since it is an actual old piece of jersey and not something he wore in some Old Timers game twenty years after he retired.  Upper Deck put out a few nice Mize cards around 2004-2005 and Topps put out several different cards during the 2010 and 2011 seasons.  I've got my eye on another Mize card, so hopefully I will have another one to post in a few weeks.