1956 Topps - 4th Series Phillies Alumni

After 10 years and exactly 342 posts for each of the 342 cards in the set, my 1956 Topps blog is coming to a close.  Within the next few weeks, I'll wrap up the final few posts and put the finishing touches on both a 4th Series review and an overall review of this wonderful baseball card set.  

As I've done with the prior three series, I wanted to display a gallery of Phillies Alumni from the set's fourth series, or cards #261 to #340.  Here are those 16 players who either played, coached or managed the Phillies.

 

#261

#266

#269

#274

#275

#282

#290

#293

#296

#297

#308

#321

#331

#334

#335

#337

Phillies Alumni in 1956 Topps Set

1st Series - 18

2nd Series - 14

3rd Series - 14

4th Series - 16

1952-69 Philadelphia Phillies Photocards Want List

Please see this post for a summary of this multi-year set. 

1. Rich Allen - Glasses 2. Rich Allen - No glasses, Phillies visible 3. Rich Allen - No glasses, cropped              4. Harry Anderson 5. Richie Ashburn 6. Jack Baldschun 7. Dennis Bennett 8. Ed Bouchee 9. Johnny Briggs 10. Jim Bunning       11. Smoky Burgess 12. John Buzhardt 13. Johnny Callison 14. Doug Clemens 15. Jim Coker (see below) 16. Gene Conley 17. Wes Covington 18. Ray Culp 19. Tony Curry (see below) 20. Clay Dalrymple - With glove 21. Clay Dalrymple - Portrait 22. Clay Dalrymple - Portrait, cropped 23. Jacke Davis 24. Don Demeter 25. Dick Ellsworth 26. Del Ennis 27. Dick Farrell - '50s version

28. Dick Farrell - '60s version 29. Chico Fernandez 30. Woodie Fryman 31. Tony Gonzalez - Phillies visible         32. Tony Gonzalez - Phillies partial 33. Dallas Green 34. Dick Groat 35. Granny Hamner 36. John Herrnstein  37. Larry Hisle 38. Grant Jackson 39. Larry Jackson - Phillie visible 40. Larry Jackson - Cropped 41. Deron Johnson 42. Jerry Johnson 43. Willie Jones 44. Jim Konstanty 45. Stan Lopata 46. Art Mahaffey 47. Gene Mauch MG 48. Jack Meyer (see below) 49. Don Money 50. Don Money 51. Wally Post 52. Robin Roberts 53. Cookie Rojas

54. Mike Ryan 55. Ted Savage 56. Eddie Sawyer MG - Facsimile auto 57. Eddie Sawyer MG - No auto 58. Andy Seminick 59. Ray Semproch 60. Chris Short - Phillies visible 61. Chris Short - Phillies partial 62. Roy Sievers 63. Curt Simmons 64. Dick Sisler 65. Bob Skinner MG - Stands behind 66. Bob Skinner MG - No stands 67. Bobby Gene Smith 68. Charley Smith 69. Frank Sullivan 70. Gary Sutherland (see below) 71. Tony Taylor - Facsimile auto 72. Tony Taylor - No auto (see below) 73. Earl Torgeson 74. Gary Wagner 75. Bill White - Portrait 76. Bill White - With bat (see below) 77. Bobby Wine - Phillies visible         78. Bobby Wine - Phillies partial 79. Rick Wise

Special Note:  Fellow collector Rick pointed out to me via text that some of the cards included above are not in fact true team issues.  These are either smaller in size, feature action poses or in some cases are printed on a thicker stock of cardboard.  Rick notes the cards listed above that are almost certainly not team-issued are as follows:  Jim Konstanty, Jack Meyer, Gary Sutherland, Tony Taylor (no auto) and Bill White (with bat).  Collectors should also be aware there are photo cards of similar size and paper stock featuring action shots of Jim Bunning, Chris Short and Rick Wise.  Finally, there's a Mike Ryan card available that is slightly smaller in size than the team-issued version.

1970 to 1979 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards Want List

1958 Topps Phillies

2002 Topps Archives #141, 1958 Topps #171, #348 and #433

Of all the Topps cards from the past 60 years, I'm perhaps the most unfamiliar with the 1958 Topps set.  In my younger collecting days, I had somehow managed to obtain samples of baseball cards from all of the Topps base set offerings from 1952 onwards, with the exception being this set.

1958 Topps #387

The Set

Number of cards in the set:  The set is numbered to a whopping 495, but card #145 was never issued due to Ed Bouchee's suspension for the first half of the 1958 season.  (See below for further details.)

My very brief thoughts on the set:  It's similar to the 1954 Topps set, with its bright backgrounds and portrait shots and it's a step up from the 1957 Topps set, despite the basic design and the mugshot-like fronts.  I dig the player's name appearing in large font at the top of the card.  And to borrow from Section 36's comment to my 1957 Topps Phillies post, this set seems more classic and less "old."

Notable competition:  Hires Root Beer released a 66-card set, available on the side of the soda's cardboard cartons.  There are 11 Phillies featured, and the set uses the "knothole" design which apparently had been in the running as the design for the never-released 1956 Bowman set.

1958 Phillies

1958 Topps #387 (Back)

Record and finish:  Kicking off a dark period in the franchise's history, the Phils finished in last place with a 69-85 record.  They would remain in the basement until 1962, when expansion teams and the hapless Chicago Cubs helped to elevate the Phils to a 7th place finish out of 10 National League teams.

Key players:  Richie Ashburn won his second National League batting title, going 3 for 4 on the final day of the season and raising his average to .350 to top Willie Mays and his .347 average.  The Phillies Encyclopedia calls Ashburn's season "one of the finest seasons of any player in modern Phillies history."  He led the league in hits, walks, triples and outfield putouts.  Left fielder Harry Anderson had an outstanding year, hitting .301 with 23 home runs and 97 RBIs.  Rookie pitcher Ray Semproch went 13-11 to start the season, but then won only two more games from mid-July through the season's end.  Robin Roberts had a comeback year of sorts, going 17-14 with a 3.24 ERA.
Key events:  The Phils acquired slugger Wally Post from the Reds in December 1957 for Harvey Haddix.  His 12 home runs in '58 marked a career low since he had become a regular with the Reds in '54.  Manager Mayo Smith was fired in July, and he was replaced by the team's manager from 1948-1952, Eddie Sawyer.  The team went 28-41 following Sawyer's return to the team.

1958 Topps #353, #181, #116 and #186

1958 Phillies in 1958 Topps

Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are 29 cards in the team set, bringing the cumulative eight-year total to 137 Phillies cards.

Who’s in:  7 of the regulars, 9 bench players, the 5 top starting pitchers, 5 relievers, 2 guys in the Phillies minor league system that year (Chuck Harmon and Dan Landrum) and a team card.

Who’s out:  First baseman Ed Bouchee was supposed be card #145 in the set, but Topps pulled his card after he was suspended for indecent exposure.  (See Wrigley Wax for required reading.)  Apparently rehabilitated, Bouchee returned to the Phillies in mid-season.  Reliever Seth Morehead got left out again, even though he pitched in 27 games.

Phillies on other teams:  There are three players who appeared with the Phillies in 1958, but appeared in the 1958 Topps set on different teams.  Tom Qualters appeared in just one game with the team in April before being sold to the White Sox.  He appeared as a member of the White Sox in the set's high series.  Catcher Carl Sawatski (card #234) was acquired from the Braves in June, and catcher Jim Hegan (card #345) was acquired from the Tigers in July.

What’s he doing here:  Mack Burk appeared in one game for the 1958 Phillies, striking out in his lone plate appearance in a game in June.

Cards that never were candidates:  Bouchee's #145 (obviously) and Morehead (again).

Favorite Phillies card:  Post had spent the first six seasons of his career wearing a Reds uniform, and he appears on his first Phillies card wearing the Reds' sleeveless vests from 1957.  It's perhaps the first Topps Phillies card to poorly mask a player switching teams in the offseason.

2007 Topps Heritage #45, #230, #310 and #326

Other Stuff

Recycled:  Topps used the 1958 Topps design for its 2007 Heritage set.

Blogs/Websites:  I am amazed and impressed that Cardboard Junkie is trying to put this set together.

Did You Know?:  The most valuable card in the set is a super rare variation of Frank "Pancho" Herrera's rookie card without the "A" at the end of his last name.  An internet search shows that examples of this variation have sold for thousands of dollars.

1961 Topps #111 Jack Meyer

We're not going to collect the 2010 Topps Heritage set.

Beginning in 2001, Topps began producing Topps Heritage - a set completely based on a baseball card design from its past. The 2001 Topps Heritage set used the 1952 Topps design, and each year after has chronologically tracked the Topps' designs through its early years. For its 2010 offering, Topps is now up to its 1961 baseball card design.

The reason we're not collecting the set isn't because I don't appreciate the 1961 Topps design. To be clear, I think this is a gorgeous set and the scans I've seen of some of the base cards and the various insert sets are impressive. Topps has taken the extra step of including players who switched teams over the winter in their new uniforms, even though they've never actually worn those uniforms. As such, the set includes the first official Roy Halladay as a Phillie baseball card.

We're not collecting this set because Topps insists on including short prints within the set. Topps would tell you this is an effort to replicate the collecting conditions in the '50s and '60s when the high-numbered series were always more difficult to find. By the time Topps released its 6th or 7th series of baseball cards back then, kids had already moved on to the next year's football card releases. But I'm not buying it. (Pun intended.)

From 2002 through 2008, we bought several boxes of each year's Heritage sets. To date, we've managed to complete master sets of the 2002, 2003 and 2007 offerings, but we're still tracking down several elusive short prints from the 2004-2006 and 2008 sets. Last year, I made the call to stop the Topps Heritage set-collecting streak and the decision stands again this year. All this could change of course if Topps decides to forgo the short prints in 2011, or if it decides to fast forward 14 years to 1975. At that point, all bets are off and I'd probably buy a case of the stuff.

The Real One: In lieu of collecting this year's Heritage set, I'm going to focus on collecting the actual Phillies cards from 1961. I have 14 Phillies cards from the set, including this Jack Meyer card, but I need 16 more to complete the team set.

1960 Topps #64 Jack Meyer

Recent purchase from Pitchout Baseball Cards in Avalon, NJ

I previously posted Jack Meyer's 1956 Topps Phillies card, and I just added his 1960 Topps card to the collection. The cartoon on the back of this card makes mention of his attendance at both Wake Forest and Delaware Universities.

Jack pitched in only 7 games for the Phils in 1960, going 3-1 with a 4.32 ERA.

1956 Topps #269 Jack Meyer

Jack Meyer was a Wake Forest Demon Deacon before signing with the Phillies in 1951. Originally from Philadelphia, Jack pitched with the Phils from 1955 until 1961. He retired after the 1961 season due to complications from a lingering back injury. Wearing #42, Jack's best season was his rookie season of 1955 when he led the NL in saves with 16. Sadly, Jack died of a heart attack at the age of 34 in 1967.

This was another Hummell's purchase from February 1988.