60s Cardinals In 1964

This is going to be a pretty quick post.  I am excited to be here for my third post of the month!  I hope this isn't my last post of 2020, but it seems like a real possibility.  My quest to find older Durham Bulls cards skewed off course a few weeks back when I found a few really nice Cardinals cards for sale on Facebook.  All the cards are from 1964 Topps sets, some of the players are pictured as Cardinals, some are not.  

Let's start out with the 1960s Cardinals players who are pictured on other teams.  Both of these cards come from the 1964 Topps Pop-Ups. 

 

 

First up is long time Reds outfielder Vada Pinson.  He only played on the Cardinals in 1969 after being traded to the team for Bobby Tolan.  Pinson filled the hole in right field for the Cardinals after Roger Maris retired from baseball at the end of the 1968 season.  He was older at this point and had began to decline, so he was not the extra base machine he was for the Reds throughout the late 1950s and 1960s.  Pinson finished in the top 10 in doubles and triples eight times during his first 10 years, while hitting more than 20 home runs 6 times.  

Not a Hall of Famer, but a really good player from his era. 

 

Speaking of Hall of Famers, I also picked up a Topps Stand-Up of Orlando Cepeda.  He was a really good player while he was on the Cardinals, winning the National League MVP during the 1967 season.  That was after spending a decade being paired with Willie Mays in the middle of the Giants line-up.  I really like the picture on this card.  It took me a few minutes to figure out what was happening here, but I believe he is throwing ground balls warming up the other infielders before an inning, or taking infield practice before a game.  Not something you see very often on a baseball card.  

One more Topps Stand-Up. 

 

Former Duke basketball player Dick Groat.  

This is one of the worst airbrushed card of all-time.  The STL on the hat is something.   Clearly an old Pirates picture that was taken while he was wearing one of the sleeveless vest style uniforms like this......

Love that they got the gold stripes on the socks red and blue, the sleeves on his shirt red, but then left the gold and black piping around the arm holes and neck line of the vest.  Regardless, good player for the Cardinals and an important member of the 1964 World Series winning team.  

Last card, the best one in this post.  I don't need many words for this card.  

 

 

This is a 1964 Topps Giants Bob Gibson.  Great looking card of the Hall of Fame pitcher.  Love that light shade of gray the 1960s Cardinals had on their road uniforms.