#478 Roberto Clemente

This is the last card to be posted from my 1959 Topps set. And this Roberto Clemente is one of my favorites. It doesn't show him an any sort of action pose which might reflect his skills but maybe more fittingly it's a portrait that has him with a half-smile focused off-camera. It's in 'fair' condition at best but given what they go for I think I'll pass up a chance to upgrade it. Hard to say where the shot was taken. Many Pirate cards have pictures from Seals Stadium in San Francisco but I get a vague 'L.A. Memorial Coliseum vibe' with this one.

You may have noticed that the card shows Roberto Clemente's first name as 'Bob'. I've always referred to as 'Roberto' so I'll go against my 'use what the card uses' convention and call him 'Roberto' here. I know Bob Prince called him 'Bobby' but... Bob Prince, well.... the less said the better. I understand that early in his career he was frequently referred to as 'Bob' but I have read that he didn't like it.

Just about anything I can say about the career and life of Roberto Clemente has been said in many places already by far, far better writers than me. Here are just a few highlights and a few memories of him.

From Clemente's Baseball Reference Bullpen page:

Notable Achievements

• 12-time NL All-Star (1960-1967 & 1969-1972)
• NL MVP (1966)
• 1971 World Series MVP
• 12-time NL Gold Glove Winner (1961-1972)
• 4-time NL Batting Average Leader (1961, 1964, 1965 & 1967)
• 2-time NL Hits Leader (1964 & 1967)
• NL Triples Leader (1969)
• 20-Home Run Seasons: 3 (1961, 1966 & 1967)
• 100 RBI Seasons: 2 (1966 & 1967)
• 100 Runs Scored Seasons: 3 (1961, 1966 & 1967)
• 200 Hits Seasons: 4 (1961, 1964, 1966 & 1967)
• Won two World Series with the Pittsburgh Pirates (1960 & 1971)
• Baseball Hall of Fame: Class of 1973

I'm not sure what else there is to say after reading that list. I won't try to sing Clemente's praises but rather I'll recall my three most powerful memories of him.

In the summer I moved to Houston I saw the Pirates in the Astrodome a few times. One night (and I can't find the exact game) Clemente grabbed a fly with a runner on second and threw the ball on an absolute rope to third to keep the runner from moving up. Sounds routine but to see that throw and hear the crowd buzz, well, you knew that Clemente was just special.

Next is a catch he made in 1969 at Shea Stadium. In a game that was to be the only no-hitter I've ever witnessed in person he went full speed across the right-field line as he grabbed a shot by the Met's Wayne Garrett in the 6th inning. I remember him hitting the railing along the stands after the catch.

And finally I remember how he just whipped the Orioles in the 1971 World Series. I was so happy when the O's came back to tie the Series up in Game Six in Baltimore. I figured my Birds had it won with ace Mike Cuellar starting on Sunday at home. But when Clemente homered to put the Bucs ahead I got a bad feeling that he was destined to have another World Series ring. And I was right.

Here is his Hall of Fame bio:

Roberto Clemente Walker's pride and humanitarianism won him universal admiration. Despite an unorthodox batting style, the Pirates great won four batting crowns and amassed 3,000 hits. He was equally brilliant in right field, where he displayed a precise and powerful arm. Clemente earned National League MVP honors in 1966, but achieved his greatest fame in the 1971 World Series, in which he batted .414. Tragically, Clemente's life ended at age 38 -- the victim of a plane crash while flying relief supplies to Nicaraguan earthquake victims.

Some other Clemente related links of interest:

• This is a terrific book written by David Maraniss that explores Clemente's life and death. I've read it and it's well worth the time. Amazon has used hardback copies for a penny plus shipping.
• MLB's Roberto Clemente Day page.
• Clemente's New York Times obituary.
• The Smithsonian Institute's Clemente virtual museum exhibit and classroom. 

Some Clemente pics from Corbis' Clemente page:

That's the last card, but not the last post on this blog. I'll have a wrap-up tomorrow and maybe a few things brewing down the road. As always, thanks for reading!

#430 Whitey Ford

Whitey Ford didn't pitch the first game of every Sunday doubleheader at Yankee Stadium that my father and I attended, it only seems that way as I look back. No doubt I saw the great lefty pitch more than any other starter in the years I've been going to games. The Astros' Don Wilson would likely be second.

Anyway, Ford was a favorite of my father's. Probably second only to Allie Reynolds as far as Yankee pitchers go. He signed with the Yanks in 1947. He was a local kid having grown up in the Astoria section of Queens and attending Aviation Tech High School. Three and a half seasons of very impressive pitching in the minors earned him a shot with the Yanks in July of 1950.

He was hit hard in his first appearance but when put into the rotation his numbers steadily improved and he won his first nine decisions. He finished that first season with a 9-1 mark and pitched the fourth and final game of the '50 World Series. He beat the Phils 5-2 with both Phillies' runs being unearned. He went 8 2/3 before giving way to Allie Reynolds for the final out. Coincidentally that out was the strike out of Stan Lopata mentioned in Lopata's entry day before yesterday. He was second in the AL Rookie of the Year voting (to Walt Dropo) despite pitching only half a season.

Ford, like so many players in that era, was called to military service and spent two years in the Army. When he rejoined the Yanks in 1953 he picked up where he left off and reeled off a career very worthy of his 1974 Hall of Fame induction. The highlights include:

• 8-time AL All-Star (1954-1956, 1958-1961 & 1964)
• ML Cy Young Award Winner (1961)
• 1961 World Series MVP
• 2-time AL ERA Leader (1956 & 1958)
• 3-time AL Wins Leader (1955, 1961 & 1963)
• 3-time AL Winning Percentage Leader (1956, 1961 & 1963)
• 2-time AL Innings Pitched Leader (1961 & 1963)
• AL Complete Games Leader (1955)
• 2-time AL Shutouts Leader (1958 & 1960)
• 15 Wins Seasons: 10 (1953-1956, 1959 & 1961-1965)
• 20 Wins Seasons: 2 (1961 & 1963)
• 25 Wins Seasons: 1 (1961)
• 200 Innings Pitched Seasons: 11 (1953-1956, 1958, 1959 & 1961-1965)
• 200 Strikeouts Seasons: 1 (1961)
• Won six World Series with the New York Yankees (1950, 1953, 1956, 1958, 1961 & 1962)
• All Time World Series Game Wins Leader (10)
• Baseball Hall of Fame: Class of 1974

His bio on the Hall of Fame site reads as follows:

Edward 'Whitey' Ford was the big-game pitcher on the great Yankees teams of the 1950s and early '60s, earning him the moniker The Chairman of the Board. The wily southpaw's lifetime record of 236-106 gives him the best winning percentage (.690) of any 20th-century pitcher. He paced the American League in victories three times and in ERA and shutouts twice. The 1961 Cy Young Award winner still holds many World Series records, including 10 wins and 94 strikeouts, once pitching 33 consecutive scoreless innings in the Fall Classic.

Not much I can add to all that other than to say that I knew (and if I didn't my Dad reminded me) that watching Ford work was watching a master craftsman.

Plenty of Whitey Ford links for those interested:

• His official website
• A Daily News article in which Ford discusses that 1950 Series win.
• A Daily News article in which he reminisces about his career as a Yankee.
• Some photos of Whitey Ford Field, a baseball facility near his home in Astoria.
• Ford's page on the Hall of Fame site.
• There is a Whitey Ford Street in, of all places, El Paso Texas.
• He has an interest in a private golf club in Florida
• Hardball Times story about his near no-hitter in 1953 (Early Wynn got the only hit, an infield single!)
• A fun blog post that discusses Ford's admitted use of mud, catchers' shin guard buckles and his own wedding ring to scuff the ball late in his career. 

I don't remember how much I spent on this card but I do know it was a bargain. It's about as nice as any of the non-graded cards I picked up for this set. It has just the slightest corner wear and the colors look as good as the day it came out of the pack. Plus, it's Whitey Ford at Yankee Stadium. I put a Yankee pin on my Dad's lapel just before they buried him. I wish now I had had a copy of this card to slip into his suit.

He sure liked the 'follow-through' pose didn't he?

Random cool pics from around the 'net.

Ford on the cover of Sports Illustrated in September, 1956

#560 Luis Aparicio The Sporting News All Star

Luis Aparicio makes his third appearance in the 1959 Topps set with this All Star card. It follows his regular issue card and his Keystone Combo special card appearance alongside Nellie Fox.In his career Looie make 8 All Star squads appearing in 10 games. His Hall of Fame career is not reflected in his All Star game numbers as he went 2 for 25 with one stolen base in those 10 games.

No way to tell if this shot was taken at the same time as his regular issue card photo but they were both taken at Yankee Stadium.

#553 Orlando Cepeda The Sporting News All Star

Can't blame The Sporting News and Topps for putting the up and coming Orlando Cepeda on the NL All Star card. He's a logical choice coming off his impressive rookie season of 1958. And unlike a couple of players in this subset (Wes Covington comes to mind) Cepeda actually made the '59 All Star team. He started the first of the two ASGs held that summer going 0-4 but he can say that he started while Stan Musial and Frank Robinson, both selected as first basemen, sat and watched. Cepeda did not play in the second of those games a month later.

He played on eight All Star teams in all. won the ROY as mentioned, an MVP trophy (1967), a World Series ring (also 1967, with St. Louis) and a Hall of Fame plaque. Not a bad career I'd say.

His regular card in this set is a nice one and while I'm not crazy about the design of these All Star cards this one gets points for a nice posed shot taken at Seals Stadium. I don't know why Topps didn't use this same 'show the background inside the frame' design on the team and special multi-player cards in '59. Or have you heard me gripe about that before?

#30 Nellie Fox

In October of 1949 Nellie Fox was traded by the Philadelphia A's to the Chicago White Sox for catcher Joe Tipton. I'm sure Tipton was a nice enough guy so I won't disparage his career. After all, the closest I've ever come to the big leagues was buying a ticket for a box seat. But when you look at his numbers and then look at Nellie Fox' numbers you realize that someone deserved to lose a job when they OK'd that deal.

Mull over these Nellie Fox facts from Baseball Reference's Bullpen page:

• 12-time AL All-Star (1951-1961 & 1963)
• AL MVP (1959)
• 3-time Gold Glove Winner (1957/ML, 1959/AL & 1960/AL)
• 5-time AL At Bats Leader (1952, 1955, 1956, 1959 & 1960)
• 4-time AL Hits Leader (1952, 1954, 1957 & 1958)
• 8-times AL Singles Leader (1952 & 1954-1960)
• AL Triples Leader (1960)
• 100 Runs Scored Seasons: 4 (1954-1957)
• 200 Hits Seasons: 1 (1954)

His 1959 World Series with the Sox was his only taste of the post season but he made the most of it going 9 for 24. Pretty darn impressive credentials. So impressive that I can't help but wonder why his Hall of Fame admission took so long to come to pass. Fox defined 'hustle' and scrappiness' before Pete Rose came along to turn those attributes into a cottage industry. He was tough to strike out. Whitey Ford claimed he only fanned Fox once and that was because of an ump's bad call. Fox finished his career with a season and a bit more in Houston as a member of the Colt 45s/Astros.

Fox coached for the Astros and Rangers after his playing days. Supposedly his tobacco chewing habit caused a problem in the Astrodome. Judge Roy Hofheinz, owner of the Astros and builder of the Dome didn't like tobacco juice stains on his 'rug' and sent down word to Fox in the dugout one day that he should quit spitting on the turf.

Fox certainly looks thoughtful on his '59 Topps card. It's a different pose for sure and makes this card stand out. Nellie Fox died of cancer at the age of 47 in 1975.

I found this video of the 1959 White Sox highlights while googling Fox. Pretty neat.

#300 Richie Ashburn

Richie Ashburn is one of six Hall of Famers born in Nebraska. The group consists of Bob Gibson, Wade Boggs, Sam Crawford, Grover Cleveland 'Pete' Alexander and Billy Southworth in addition to Ashburn.

Ashburn sandwiched a couple of years of burning up the Eastern League around a year of military service before breaking in with the Phillies in 1948. He batted .333 that year and led the NL in stolen bases. He finished third in Rookie of the Year voting.

He went on to have a great 12 year run as the Phils' centerfielder. He was a member of the 1950 Whiz Kids club that lost the Series to the Yankees. Through he career Ashburn played in the shadow of three great center fielders, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and Duke Snider. Except for the power those players possessed Ashburn was on a par with them in speed, average and roaming the outfield. He had the most hits of any player during the 1950s.

Traded to the Cubs in 1960 Ashburn played two seasons on the north side and was sold to the fledgling Mets for the 1962 season. He retired after a year in New York and soon went into broadcasting, a profession he had long had his eye on.

He broadcast Phils games from 1963 through his death in 1997. During that time he partnered with Bill Campbell, Byrum Saam and Harry Kalas. Baseball Almanac has a page of Richie Ashburn's quotes, most from his days in the booth. He was elected to the Hall by the Veterans' Committee in 1995.

I only saw Ashburn play in person once, as a Met in 1962. But the '59 card is how I (and most folks I'd expect) remember him. It's nice to see a picture in the set that wasn't taken in New York. Those red seats were a feature of Philadelphia's Connie Mack Stadium.

#350 Ernie Banks

Ernie Banks, Mr. Cub. Hall of Famer, baseball ambassador, revered by Chicagoans and pretty much everyone else who was a baseball fan during his era. I could spend a lot of time reviewing Ernie's on-the-field accomplishments but you can see them easily enough over on Baseball Reference or any number of other sites. Here is a list from BR's Bullpen page:

• 11-time All-Star (1955-1962, 1965, 1967 & 1969)
• 2-time NL MVP (1958 & 1959)
• NL Gold Glove Winner (1960/SS)
• NL Slugging Percentage Leader (1958)
• NL At Bats Leader (1958)
• NL Total Bases Leader (1958)
• 2-time NL Home Runs Leader (1958 & 1960)
• 2-time NL RBI Leader (1958 & 1959)
• 20-Home Run Seasons: 13 (1955-1962, 1964, 1965 & 1967-1969)
• 30-Home Run Seasons: 7 (1955, 1957-1960, 1962 & 1968)
• 40-Home Run Seasons: 5 (1955 & 1957-1960)
• 100 RBI Seasons: 8 (1955, 1957-1960, 1962, 1965 & 1969)
• 100 Runs Scored Seasons: 2 (1957 & 1958)
• Baseball Hall of Fame: Class of 1977

A few lesser known facts.... Ernie played for the Negro League Kansas City Monarchs before signing with the Cubs. He held the record for playing consecutive games at the start of his career (424.. since broken by Hideki Matsui)... he held the record for grand slams in a season as noted on his Topps card cartoon... he was the first black player for the Cubs and made up one half of the majors' first black dp combo when he was paired with secondbaseman Gene Baker... he finished second to Wally Moon in the Rookie of the Year NL balloting but ahead of Hank Aaron (4th).... he has a web page (pretty sparse) and released a wine that benefits his foundation... he has a statue in his honor outside Wrigley Field (see below).

Ernie's card in this set is one of my favorites. Nice picture, more than a routine portrait. I think it captures him pretty well. Green isn't a Cub color but it seems to show off his uni and expression. My copy has some soft corners but it's pretty darn nice overall, at least in the context of my non-graded collection.

I usually avoid editorializing but I'll make an exception here. I was reading (maybe a card blog?) the other day and the writer was implying that perhaps Ernie's numbers didn't really warrant making him a first ballot H-O-F guy. Maybe, maybe not, when it comes to pure numbers. But in my mind the Hall is more than numbers, or it should be. My favorite writer growing up was the Detroit Free Press' Joe Falls who had a column in the Sporting News for as long as I was a reader. He once wrote that he determined Hall worthiness by asking himself  "If I was writing a history of baseball would I have to include this player?". That may not be a perfect way to do it but I always think of it when the yearly Hall debate rolls around. I'll take it a step farther. If I have to include the guy in the opening chapters, he's a first ballot guy.

Ernie Banks would absolutely have to be included in a baseball history book and would have to have a whole chapter to himself. He was more than a great player he drew people to him and made being a baseball fan more rewarding. Look at more than numbers. Look at Ernie Banks and you'll want to say "Let's Play Two!"

Here are my sons, James and Brooks (who just had to toss in his Astros cap) at the Ernie Banks statute during Christmas week of 2010.

#561 Hank Aaron The Sporting News All Star

Again an miscut, but this one is still nice. Sharp corners and nice colors. Plus, it's Hammerin' Hank Aaron! What's not to love, right?

But there's a backstory to this one. Over the Christmas holidays I had a flurry of activity going on eBay. Grabbed several small lots of '59's, made a bunch of outright buys, grabbed more on Check Out My Cards and through the Beckett site. At some point I acquired an Aaron All Star for a decent price. Or I thought I did. I had marked it off my checklist but in late January when I went through my stack, putting cards in my binder, it wasn't there. I went back through my email, found the confirmed sale notice, the PayPal receipt and the "Your card has been shipped!" alert. It was obvious to me that I'd somehow lost the card. Looked all over for it and finally declared it 'gone', a casualty of overzealous spending and careless card accounting.

Back to eBay and won another one. Not a bad card and the price was right. Back came the Aaron All Star off the 'wanted' list and I wrote it all off to a lesson learned. But ...(can you see this coming?)... one week ago a padded envelope arrives. One I'm not expecting. Yes, my original #561 Aaron All Star. No explanation of why the card, supposedly shipped exactly three months ago, was just now arriving. I thought about it and decided not to bother asking the seller about it. What would be the point?

So now I have two Aaron All Stars. Could be worse. Could be two Kansas City A's team cards.

If you are interested I'd swap one of them for some decent 57's, 58's or 60's Topps. Nothing graded. Maybe an All Star card from the 1960 set. I like those a lot.

#20 Duke Snider

Edwin Donald "Duke" Snider died today at the age of 84.

The Duke of Flatbush played 18 seasons in the Majors. All but his last two seasons were with the Dodgers, eleven of those in Brooklyn. He, of course, is the 'Duke' part of "Mickey, Willie and the Duke" fame. Those three being centerfielders for the three New York franchises during the 1950s.

There will be a lot written about Duke Snider in the next few days so I won't attempt a real bio here but I do have one fact that will likely surprise, or even amaze, your friends. Who would you guess is the leading home run hitter during the decade of the 1950s? Willie Mays? Hank Aaron? Mickey Mantle? Nope, its The Duke.

This card was one of the first 'star' cards I acquired when I began this project. It's in better shape than the scan shows. Nice seafoam green framed shot of Snider in that iconic Dodger uniform taken in what I believe is the LA Coliseum. It even somehow conveys his reputation as one of the nicer guys in the game.

RIP Duke Snider