I am getting so much closer. I had hoped to finish off my 1964 Topps Giants set on this post, but there will be at least one more after this one. Before this post, I was down to 14 cards to complete the set, with only one Hall of Fame player left to find. I also already have all the short-prints. Maybe at some other point in my life, I would have already finished this set. Between kids, work, and garage doors, there has not been much time to find new baseball cards.
Here are the five new Topps Giants cards.
First up is Senators shortstop, Ed Brinkman.
The back naturally sticks to his defensive skills.
I like that the card mentions his time as a member of the Raleigh Capitols.
Next up, Mets infielder Ron Hunt.
All this stuff on the back is impressive, but Ron Hunt is actually from St. Louis. He went to the same high school as Jerry Reuss, just a few years earlier.
Next.
This is kind of a lame write up, considering that the Angels were in their third season when this card was produced. I need to go back and look at my 1999 Devil Rays cards to see if they acknowledge Randy Winn's triples record for their franchise at the time. It's still 9th all-time in franchise history, but all of those higher triple total seasons belong to Carl Crawford.
Next up is Ken Johnson.
The back of the card is interesting.
After reading about his no-hitter loss, I actually went and read a little bit more about his career. He actually seems like a decent pitcher who was on the wrong teams at the wrong times throughout his career.
For example, he ended up on the Reds in 1961 and was given a rotation spot during the second half of the season. He went 6-2 with an ERA of 3 and helped them make the World Series versus the Yankees. If you are into sabermetrics, he had several 3 and 4 WAR seasons, just screwed over playing on bad teams.
Last card is Leon Wagner.
Once Leon Wagner started playing, he was really good. He made a few All-Star Games, hit 30 home runs a few times, and received MVP votes in several different season. It's too bad the Giants or Cardinals did not have an open outfield spot while he was a little younger.
Updated checklist.
I am getting closer.
1 Gary Peters
2 Ken Johnson
3 Sandy Koufax SP
4 Bob Bailey
5 Milt Pappas
6 Ron Hunt
7 Whitey Ford
8 Roy McMillan
9 Rocky Colavito
10 Jim Bunning
11 Roberto Clemente
12 Al Kaline
13 Nellie Fox
14 Tony Gonzalez
15 Jim Gentile
16 Dean Chance
17 Dick Ellsworth
18 Jim Fregosi
19 Dick Groat
20 Chuck Hinton
21 Elston Howard
22 Dick Farrell
23 Albie Pearson
24 Frank Howard
25 Mickey Mantle
26 Joe Torre
27 Ed Brinkman
28 Bob Friend SP
29 Frank Robinson
30 Bill Freehan
31 Warren Spahn
32 Camilo Pascual
33 Pete Ward
34 Jim Maloney
35 Dave Wickersham
36 Johnny Callison
37 Juan Marichal
38 Harmon Killebrew
39 Luis Aparicio
40 Dick Radatz
41 Bob Gibson
42 Dick Stuart SP
43 Tommy Davis
44 Tony Oliva
45 Wayne Causey SP
46 Max Alvis
47 Galen Cisco SP
48 Carl Yastrzemski
49 Hank Aaron
50 Brooks Robinson
51 Willie Mays SP
52 Billy Williams
53 Juan Pizarro
54 Leon Wagner
55 Orlando Cepeda
56 Vada Pinson
57 Ken Boyer
58 Ron Santo
59 Johnny Romano
60 Bill Skowron SP
Johnson is part of some pretty cool baseball trivia. According to MLB.com... tossing a no-hitter and losing has only happened twice.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.mlb.com/news/pitchers-to-throw-no-hitter-and-lose
P.S. I'm curious behind Hunt's upper lip too.
That's really cool, Fuji. Thanks for the link. Good read.
DeleteI've thought about starting a Jim Fregosi collection for years, but so far it's just been a thought; though I do have a couple of neat cards of his. What's going on with this garage door of yours?
ReplyDeleteFregosi would be a cool collection. He had a significant career as both a player and manager. A bit of a personality too.
DeleteMy garage door is a story. I bought my house at the bottom of the market in 2009. The person who sold me the house had some financial pressures and had made a few hasty home repairs. One of them was the hockey stick bar on the garage somehow broke. She cut corners and used epoxy to reattach the bar. It snapped off shortly after I moved in and had a garage door person come look at it. The door originally broke because one of the bolts was stripped and needed to be reattached. He fixed it, but told me the door would last 3 to 4 years. Here I am 13 years later and the door finally gave out.
Nice post thank you Andrew
ReplyDelete