#148 Mike McCormick

As alluded to in the card's cartoon, Mike McCormick was one of the 'bonus baby' signees back when he was penned to a big contract by the New York Giants in 1956. McCormick was fresh out of high school and only 17 years old when he joined the club for his mandated two year roster stay. In those two years he had a total of 27 appearances including 7 starts. In '56 he didn't get into a game until September 3rd. 

He took a spot in the Giants' rotation beginning in 1958 and had double digit wins for four straight seasons. He led the NL in ERA in 1960 and was a member of the NL All Star teams in 1960 and 1961. He developed shoulder problems the next season and was traded to the Orioles for whom he pitched for two seasons. 

Traded again, this time to the Senators proved a tonic for McCormick and his numbers improved. In December of 1966 the Nats traded him back to the Giants for Cap Peterson and Bob Priddy. Turned out to be a steal for San Francisco. McCormick had the best season of his career in 1967 winning 22 games, posting a 2.85 ERA and winning the Cy Young. 

I found two interesting facts about McCormick's '67 season. He was the first Cy Young winner for the Giants' franchise and the only one prior to Tim Lincecum. Hard to believe that Juan Marichal never took home that hardware. Burden of pitching in the pitching-rich 1960s I guess. And McCormick was one of 17 pitchers to win the award without having made their league's All Star team in that season. This article lists those pitchers. It's from 2010 but I have checked the subsequent seasons.

McCormick had a couple of solid seasons following his 1967 zenith and then his numbers fell off. He finished his career with short stints with the Yanks and Royals before pitching in the minors to close out his active career. 

Two final tidbits:

On July 14, 1968 McCormick gave up Hank Aaron's 500th homer.

On June 12, 1959 he threw a rain-shortened "no-hitter" versus the Phillies. He allowed a hit in the 6th, which was eliminated from the official records as rain cancelled the game and the official game became a five inning affair.

The red railings in the stands behind McCormick on this card signify Seals Stadium.

#312 Don Newcombe

First things first.... I love this card. I'm partial to the black border cards in this set and this is one of the better ones. Newk's red and white uni just looks good here. More on the uni in a bit.

Don Newcombe began his career with the Newark Eagles in the Negro Leagues as a youngster in 1944. After signing with the Dodgers he pitched pretty impressively in their chain with Nashua and Montreal before debuting with the big club in 1949. And an impressive debut it was. Newk went 17-8 with 5 shutouts, made the All Star team and collected Rookie of the Year honors. 

And he only got better winning 98 games in the next five seasons. He did that wrapping those five seasons around a two year stint in the military. His best year was 1956 when he won 27 games, lost only 7, had a WHiP below 1.0 and took home the Cy Young and MVP trophies. That makes him the only pitcher until Justin Verlander to have won the three most prestigious trophies in his career. 

Although he never did win a World Series game himself, his Dodgers were in the Series three times and took the 1955 Series from the Yankees. 

Newcombe was traded to the Reds in June of 1958. He stayed in their rotation (and bullpen at times) until he was purchased by the Indians in June of 1960. He spent '61 with the Indians' top farm club and then pitched in Japan in 1962. In 1970 he joined the Dodgers front office and has served in several capacities ever since. The Los Angeles Times spoke to Newcombe following the recent news that the club had a new ownership group with Magic Johnson as part of it. Newk was very happy with the deal.

The photo on this card was taken in the LA Coliseum based on the tall sloping stands in the background. Newcombe was traded to the Reds in 1958 so it's possible that the photo was taken during one of the Reds' two trips to the West Coast following the trade. But it's also possible that the shot is airbrushed, something Topps did a lot of back then. If it is airbrushed it's one of their better jobs. I blew the card up and can't tell one way or another. Doesn't matter I guess. The card looks terrific anyway. It's a little worse for wear with being off center and having some soft corners but no matter. It's one of my favorites in the '59 set.

#260 Early Wynn

I present Hall of Famer and 300 game winner Early Wynn. Does this guy personify 1950's baseball or what? By the 1959 season Wynn had long ago established his resume. He'd had numerous 20 win seasons, an AL championship ring, many All Star appearances, etc. He'd pretty much split his time in the bigs between the Senators and Indians and served a year (1945) in the military during WWII. Along the way he had built a reputation as a durable hard-nosed headhunter with a blazing fastball as well as a variety of other pitches.

Some thought he was on the decline when the Indians traded him to the White Sox for 1958 (although it should be noted a lot of Indian fans disagreed). Wynn showed that he had some life left in his powerful arm and led the Sox to the '59 World Series to cap off a year that saw him win the Cy Young Award. He had a good year again in 1960, winning 14, but by '63 he was hooking on with the Indians again at mid-season in an effort to get his elusive 300th win. He picked it up on July 13 in Kansas City with a shaky five inning effort. It was his last win. He retired after the '63 season and spent time as a pitching coach and broadcaster for several big league clubs.

Wynn is another guy who is identified with different club by different people. To me he's an Indian mainly due to my managing the '54 Tribe in Strat-O-Matic. This despite having seen him live as a White Sox starter. 

That's the Yankee Stadium scoreboard to the right of this shot on the '59 card. Can't quite make out the Ballantine sign or the Longines clock but they are there someplace. The White Sox cap with the red outlined S-O-X took me years to track down in my size (or any size for that mater). I don't consider it traitorous to my Oriole roots. It's just a great cap. I have a Milwaukee Braves cap, too. 

Finally, here is the Bowman Early Wynn card from their 1953 set. No other comment needed.

#5 Dick Donovan

Dick Donovan had a nice career. He's was three time All Star and posted double digit wins seven times. In 1957 he was second to Warren Spahn in the Cy Young Award voting. In the '59 World Series he lost Game Three on a 3-1 decision to the Dodgers despite allowing only a pair of hits and a like number of walks in 6+ innings. But Dick came back a couple of days later to save Game Five. In that appearance he came in to a tough spot, protecting a 1-0 lead and the bases full of Dodgers in the 8th. He got the final two outs in that frame and had a 1-2-3 ninth.

And in this shot he's wearing one of my favorite non-Oriole caps, the classic S-O-X 'stairstep' logo with the red outline. I looked for one of those for a long time before finding one from a custom cap supplier last summer. In fact I love the whole look of the Sox road uni of the era. Striped stirrups, shoulder numbers, plain block lettering. Good stuff.