A Giant Project: Update #4

I have slowed down a bit this month with my 1964 Topps Giants project.  I am nearing the half way point with the set, but still need a few more cards to get there.  This past week, I managed to track down two more cards for my set.  One Hall of Famer, the other would be considered a great player of the era. 

The Hall of Famer is up first.  

The small cost of these cards amazes me, but I was surprised to land a clean card of Harmon Killebrew from the prime of his career for less than $5.  It's not Billy Ripken, but the number 29 caught my attention when I saw this card.  Killebrew wore 3 with the Twins.  After digging into the 1963 Minnesota Twins roster, this bat likely belongs to long-time Reds outfielder Wally Post, who ended his career with the Twins.  

The write-up on this back of this card is actually incorrect.  In 1963, Killebrew did win his second consecutive home run crown, but it was his third overall.  He led the American League in home runs during the 1959 season, but missed out in 1960 and 1961 to Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris.  Killebrew won the home run crowns in 1962 and 1963.  Unless, they are not counting the 1959, because he tied with Rocky Colavito.  

Last card.  

I always think of Frank Howard as a Washington Senator.  It's easy to forget about him on the Dodgers during the first half of the 1960s.  Those teams had so much pitching, but Frank Howard was the Dodgers  best offensive player.  He won the 1960 National League Rookie of the Year and hit more than 20 home runs in every full season he played with the Dodgers.  That does not sound that impressive, but the National League was loaded with pitching at this point in time.  

The back of this card is another where half of the space is spent on his Minor League career, but I still found it interesting.  The fact that Howard was in the Minors for a season, hit .333 with almost 40 home runs, and the Dodgers let him play a whole season there would never happen today.  Topps mentions the high batting averages in his second season, but he got up to 43 home runs.  Crazy to think about those sorts of numbers in a single Minor League stop these days.  

Updated checklist.  21 out of the 60 cards.  

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

A Bargain, All Because Small Children Are A Hazard To Baseball Cards

There are two children who share the same roof as my baseball cards.  The older of the two, who is currently seven, has been great around my baseball card collection.  He went through a short phase with one of my 2001 Topps Sean Casey cards taking the brunt of his cardboard curiosity.....

He dabbles in baseball cards and helps me open packs from time to time.  There is a 1986 Sportsflics cards that shares space on his dresser with Ben the Beta Fish.  There is a Tony LaRussa bobblehead up there somewhere too.

Then there is the one year old.

This picture isn't current, mainly because I do not want to encourage the destruction of cards, which is already a huge issue with this one.  She's mobile, curious, and not afraid to break things.  I try really hard to keep my cards put away, or at least out of reach.  However, about a month ago she figured out how to pry open one of the shoebox storage boxes where I keep my autographs.  The carnage was limited to a Topps Archives Jose Cruz.

It was Jose Cruz, so it could have been much worse.  I also wasn't too worried about replacing card.  I think I had originally picked up the card because it was $2 at a card show.  Well, that was until there was a really good deal posted on a Facebook card group with a Jose Cruz Archives auto.

In fact, there were two....

and a whole bunch of other cool Archives autographs too.

Some of them are kind of blahzay.  Randy Jones was cool for about two years in the mid 1970s, but I am not sure about the rest of his career.  He's got a nice signature.  That's a positive.  Outside of this Randy Jones card, I was really happy about the rest of the cards in this lot and I paid roughly $2 a card after shipping.

Frank Howard on a blue bordered parallel.  It's numbered out of 199, which is high in today's world of baseball cards, but I always like getting autographs of the 1950s and 1960s players.  I believe that "The Capital Punisher" ended his career in the early 1970s, but I always think of him as a Dodger and Senator.  The bad version of Frank Howard, 1970s, was on the Rangers and Tigers.

On to cards with connections with teams I follow....

Jeff Conine, not a Cardinal and not a Durham Bull, but his son plays for Duke and should be a high draft pick next summer.  Apparently Jeff hangs out and takes in a few Duke games.  I don't bother people during baseball games, especially parents, so this seems like a safe route to pick up a copy of his autograph.

Most of the cards in this post are from the regular Archives sets, but this one is from the 65th Anniversary set last year.  Kind of a hot mess of a set.  Cool looking card fronts with mismatched card backs.

Eduardo Perez.  LaRussa era bench player and current, I think, ESPN employee.  Although, they've fired all of their employees, so I am not sure Eduardo is actually still there, or if he's off announcing a 1-AA college football game somewhere.....

Long time Astro, one time member of the Cardinals.  His Cardinals career last two months: September and October of 2006.  This happened.  Jose is on the right side of the picture wearing jersey number 13.

Two more Cardinals from the 1960s.  

Curt Simmons spent most of his career with the Phillies, but he had a great year with the Cardinals in 1964 helping the team win the World Series.  This is from the 65th Archives Anniversary set.  Simmons signature looks a little shaky, but it's still a great looking card.

I posted another copy of this card, it was a blue framed parallel, a few weeks ago.  Not a Cardinals card, but Francona was on the team for a year or two in the mid to late 1960s.