Rookie Cup Series: 1964 Topps #412 Ray Culp

 At 84 Ray Culp is likely the oldest among the Phillies Topps All-Star Rookie Cup recipients. 

1964 Topps #412 Ray Culp

Lots of things to like on the otherwise minimalist 1964 Topps card. First off the Rookie Cup completes the Red/Blue/Yellow primary color troika - IMO The PHILLIES team name being listed atop the card in black hurts the 1964 design. My favorite element of this card is Culp wearing the under jersey warm-up jacket - which even has a collar. 

Ray Culp earned the Rookie Cup by leading qualifying RHP in all three triple crown categories (14-11, 2.97 ERA,  176 K). Those numbers also led all NL Rookies regardless of handedness. This however was only good enough for third place in the Rookie of the Year vote behind Pete Rose (.273, 6 HR, 41 BI) and Ron Hunt (.272, 10, 42 and 13 HBP ). If the vote was held today Culp may fair better as he led the trio in WAR 2.5 Culp - 2.4 both Hunt & Rose. 

It should be noted Ray Culp's three pitching numbers were all 2nd to the LHP rookie leader, Gary Peters who played for the White Sox in the AL and easily won junior circuit Rookie of the Year.

Flip

1964 Topps #412 Ray Culp (b-side)

The back tells about Ray's Rookie Cup win and FIVE Shutouts. Times have changed and among active pitchers only Justin Verlander has more than 5 Shutouts CAREER. Verlander is on the IL and hasn't pitched since March. The last pitcher to record a 5 shutout season is Felix Hernandez in 2012, the Phillies Cliff Lee is the most recent NL pitcher, He had 6 whitewashes in 2011. 

Beyond 1963

Ray Culp had a career that started off great and cut short by injury. He was a two-time all-star pitching a clean inning in each (1963 & 1969) - recording outs vs Future HOF Al Kaline, Yaz and Tony Perez plus Pete Rose. 

Trivia

The trivia/comic at the bottom references a 1952 game where the Brooklyn Dodgers defeated the Cincinnati Reds 19-1.  There is a SABR game story you can read here. Among the many other records set during the 15 run inning were most two out runs (12), most BFP (21) and most consecutive batters to reach (19)

Sloppy Topps

However if we look close we have a sloppy topps candidate.  I realize it is lightly written, but can you spot the error in the answer to the trivia question? If not check our posting regarding the 1964T/2013 Heritage  Cardbacks here. 

Ray Culp Index

412 Ray Culp (2013 Heritage Preview)

412 Ray Culp (2013 Heritage Preview b-side)

Sources & Links

1964 Topps Rookie Cup Index

Baseball_Ref

SABR Games Project :1952 May 21 Reds 1 @ Dodgers 19 - Steven C Weiner 

1969 Topps #237 Bobby Cox (1941-2026)

Over the weekend we got the sad news of Bobby Cox's passing. He is best known for his Quarter Century managing the Braves in two different stints that covered parts of SIX DIFFERENT DECADES. 

1969 Topps #237 Bobby Cox (image stolen from ebay)

Prior to his Managerial career Bobby Cox had two major league seasons with the New York Yankees in the late 1960s. His 135 games with the 1968 Yankees earned him the spot on the All-Star Rookie Squad. While none of his Rookie Numbers (.229/7/41) are impressive he led all three categories (for 3B). Well sort of - none of the 3B batted enough to qualify for the batting average title. I am giving Cox the nod since he had more than double the number of plate appearances the anyone who had a better average. Yes .229 was the batting leader among Rookie 3B in 1968, Freddie Patek batted .255 in 234 PAs compared to Cox's 490.  

AL Rookie of the Year

The 1968 Rookie of the Year Award went to Cox's teammate Stan Bahnsen who had very impressive Pitching Numbers (17-12, 2.05, 162 Ks). Only one other player received ROY votes, Del Unser. 

Not sure how Unser got 3 ROY votes his batting numbers are similar to Cox (.229/1/30) and honestly a touch worse. Del Unser started his career in CenterField and perhaps voters found that to be a more important defensive position than third base. Modern stats were not available in 1968, if they were voters would have been able to consider Bobby Cox's +0.9 WAR vs Unser's -1.5.

Flip

1969 Topps #237 Bobby Cox (b-side image stolen from ebay)

Couple of interesting things on the flip side. Looking at the text we find out that Bobby Cox was a player in the Braves organization a decade before he started managing Atlanta. The two seasons he played for Braves affiliates were 1966 Austin and 1967 Richmond. 

The other item that caught my attention is the comic, unfortunately I was unable to track down much information on Bobby Cox's Venezuelan League career. According to Tim Deale's SABR Bio Cox played in Venezuela from 1967-1970 

Other Voices

Check out this posting from our friend Jim from Downingtown who discussed this card and Bobby Cox's career as both a player & manager back in 2014.  

Bobby Cox HOF Index

1998 Topps #334 Andruw Jones  Cox Quote re: Jones

Source & Links

SABR Bio - Tim Deale

Baseball-reference

1969 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Index

Phungo HOF Index

Ebay

Ted Turner (1938-2026)

We learned of the passing of Ted Turner today. In terms of Baseball most of us know of Ted Turner the owner, but he was also a MLB manager... for ONE DAY. And that qualifies him for the Cup of Coffee Club. 

Sketch of Ted Turner on a Disposable Coffee Cup a la 1977 Topps

For the Ted Turner Cup of Coffee we used 1977 Topps for the design. This is the year of Turner's only game as manager - The Braves lost 2-1. 

In the background we see the logos for two of Turner's media outlets channel 17 which broadcast Braves games across the country via cable and his 24 hour news service CNN

The Ted Turner profile drawing is based upon a screen print done by Andy Warhol.

Sources and Links

Cup of Coffee Index

Phillips Auctions (Andy Warhol Painting of Turner) 

baseball-reference

Cup of Coffee: Bill Greason

This is part of our Original Artwork series dedicated to players who had a #CupOfCoffee in the Major Leagues.  

Sketch of Bill Greason on a Disposable Coffee Cup a la 1954 Topps

• In addition to Major Negro League experience Bill Greason played 3 games for the St Louis Cardinals in the 1954 National League.
• Prior to his baseball career Bill Greason served as a Marine during WWII, he was among the soldiers that landed at Iwo Jima.
• He became a Baptist Minister and was a parishioner at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church that was bombed on 1963 September 15 killing four young girls. Greason was not present the day of the bombing because he was in Tuscaloosa as part of an effort to get young people involved in Organized Baseball.
• Born in 1924 Greason is MLBs oldest living alumnus. 
• 1954 Topps is used here as this is the year Bill Greason played in the American League. The 1954 set typically contains a black & white action shot, here we see Greason wearing his Clerical Robe. 
• The USMC logo is present top Left where we would typically see a team Logo. 

Sources and Links

Cup of Coffee Index

SABR Bio - Frederick C Bush

Baseball-Reference

Baseball Almanac

1969 Topps Rookie Cup Team

This is an index to postings related to the 1969 Topps All-Star Rookie Team which honored rookies from the 1968 season. 

526	HECTOR TORRES	Astros	SS	1969
630	BOBBY BONDS RC	Giants	OF	1969
464	DAVE MARSHALL	Giants	OF	1969
579	DAVE NELSON	Indians	2B	1969
402	KEN BOSWELL	Mets	2B??	1969
90	JERRY KOOSMAN	Mets	LHP	1969
95	JOHNNY BENCH HOF	Reds	C	1969
338	DEL UNSER	Senators	OF	1969
361	GARY HOLMAN	Senators	1B	1969
237	BOBBY COX HOF RC	Yankees	3B	1969
380	STAN BAHNSEN	Yankees	RHP	1969

Sources and Links

All-Star Rookie Index

Baseball-Ref

CTB: 2019 Topps #1 Ronald Acuna Jr

We interrupt our Rookie Cup HOF coverage to discuss the WBC Champion Venezuela Squad's THREE ASR winners. 

One of those players is Jackson Chourio who we already featured. The other two players are both in the 2018 class that was honored in 2019 Topps, Ronald Acuna Jr and Gleyber Torres. 

We will first look at Acuna JR who played all seven games in right field for Venezuela and led the team in Runs Scored.

2019 Topps #1 Ronald Acuna Jr (Sports Collectors Daily)

I believe Ronald Acuna is only the 2nd player to represent card #1 with a Rookie Cup flair. Mike Piazza achieved the double win in 1994. Acuna Jr like Piazza won the NL Rookie of the Year Award the year prior. 

Ronald fell 3 votes shy of sweeping the award (Juan Soto 2, Walker Buehler 1). Acuna  & Soto's numbers are remarkably similar and I am surprised at the lopsidedness of the Vote.  

I assume the BBWAA writers were breaking ties with WAR by 2019 - although peeking inside the numbers Soto's Walk numbers are significant. On the other hand Acuna's Braves finished 8 games ahead of Soto's Nats. Regardless the two make for the start of an outstanding outfield. 

Guess the Game

Kind of thought this one looked like it may have been taken in Philadelphia and it was. According to Getty Images the Photo was taken 2018 April 29 by Rob Tringali who is responsible for a lot of Phillies pictures. 

Unfortunately for the Phillies (SP: Vince Velasquez) it was a good game for Ronald Acuna Jr and the Braves who won 10-1. 

Flip

2019 Topps #1 Ronald Acuna Jr (b-side also SCD)

On the back of the card we see the #1 top right and the stats mentioned above - however here we seed the oWAR of 3.7 rather than the 3.9 which apparently includes defense & positional adjustments. The text gives the Pirates Outfielder Starling Marte credit for dubbing Acuna "El Ambusador" (the Abuser) 

Sources & Links

2019 Rookie Cup Team

Topps #1 Club 

Game Dated Cards

Sports Collectors Daily 

baseball-reference

Rob Tringali

Getty Images

CTB: 1998 Topps #334 Andruw Jones (ASR)

Our Second of Three 1996 HOF Profiles featuring inductees who were also honored on Rookie Cup Cards is of Phillies Nemesis Andruw Jones.  

1998 Topps #334 Andruw Jones (image swiped from tcdb)

On this card we have a quality action shot of Andruw just prior to contact - something that would result in hits 1933 times during Jones 17 year career (2541 hits as a professional). His Career Home Run totals were even more impressive 434 MLB/550 Pro. 

Notice on the card that Jones is wearing the Jackie Robinson 50th Anniversary Patch that all players wore during the 1997 season. Andruw finished 5th in the Rookie of the Year Voting - an Award that has been named after Jackie Robinson since 1987.  Nice seeing Two Hall of Famers represented on a rookie cup (keep reading there's more!) 

Rookie Cup Credentials 

Before his 1997 rookie campaign even started Andruw Jones was already a World Series hero who hit a Pair of Home Runs vs the Yankees, albeit in a losing effort. 

To earn his ROY votes Andruw Jones played a full NL season in 1997 with 18 HR, 70 RBI but only a .231 AVG (93 OPS+ / +3.3 WAR) which was similar to the 3 Cup Team outfielders - Jose Cruz Jr (26/68/.248, 101/+2.2), Jose Guillen (14/70/.267, 82/-3.3). Mike Cameron has a Snub Beef (14/55/.259, 109/+4.4) as does Vlad SR (.302 BA, 117 OPS+). In fact the BBWAA ranked Guerrero ahead of Guillen by a handful of votes on the NL side and Cameron received more AL votes then Guillen did within the NL bracket.  

Flip

1998 Topps #334 Andruw Jones (b-side image also tcdb)   

First we want to look at the demographic info and note that Andruw Jones was the 3rd MLB player from Curacao, after Hensley Meulens (1989) and Ralph Milliard (1996). In the 3 decades since Andruw Jones the number of players born in Curacao has grown to 17 (that is a 560% increase for a territory that had ZERO players 40 years ago)

Moving down the text mentions Jones as both an Offensive and Defensive threat. And he was - Andruw just missed the 20/20 targets during his rookie campaign but did hit them 3 times in his early career. In the Outfield he earned 10 gold gloves. 2005 was his standout season where he led the league in HR & RBI with 51 & 128 respectively (+6.7 WAR) good enough for 2nd place in the NL MVP voting (Albert Pujols 41/117/.330 +8.4 WAR) 

We also get a quote from Andruw Jones' Manager Bobby Cox that invokes the name of another well known CenterFielder, Joe DiMaggio. If you're keeping score at home that is 4 HOF on a single Rookie Cup Card Andruw, Jackie, Bobby Cox (as a Manager) and Joe D. 

Andruw Jones HOF Index

1998 Topps #334 (Rookie Cup)

2001 Topps Stadium Club Pat Burrell (Game Dated Card/Phungo Challenge)

Sources and Link

1998 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Index

TCDB

National Baseball Hall of Fame

Baseball-Ref