1956 Topps - 1st Series Phillies Alumni

Similar to what I did recently with the 1965 Topps set and the Phillies Alumni within that set's first series, I wanted to post a gallery of the Phillies within the first 100 cards of the 1956 Topps set.  You can follow along as I document each card in the iconic 1956 Topps set here, and clicking on the links below each card will take you to that player's post.

#3

#7

#9

#17

#24

#46

#48

#49

#58

#60

#63

#67

#71

#75

#77

#78

#80

#81

1956 Topps #48 Jim Hegan

I'm considering this a crossover post as I've recently dusted off my other blog, chronicling each card in the wonderful 1956 Topps set. I hope to maintain a regular posting schedule and today's post features former Phillies player Gene Freese.  Please click on over there for all of the posts to date, including a look at all the Phillies Alumni featured in the set.



James Edward Hegan
Cleveland Indians
Catcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'2"  Weight:  195
Born:  August 3, 1920, Lynn, MA
Signed:  Signed by the Cleveland Indians as an amateur free agent before 1938 season
Major League Teams:  Cleveland Indians 1941-1942, 1946-1957; Detroit Tigers 1958; Philadelphia Phillies 1958-1959; San Francisco Giants 1959; Chicago Cubs 1960
Died:  June 17, 1984, Lynn, MA (age 63)

Interrupted by three years of military service during World War II, Jim Hegan played 17 seasons in the big leagues as an All-Star catcher and then as a dependable back-up catcher in his later years.  With the Indians in the late 1940s and early 1950s, he was named to five All-Star Games and received A.L. MVP votes in 1948 and 1954, the two seasons in which the Indians advanced to the World Series.  His best season came in 1948, helping the Indians to a World Series ring, and hitting career highs in both home runs (14) and RBIs (61).

Hegan appeared in 1,666 games and was a career .228 hitter.  He more than compensated for his low average with his work behind the plate, expertly handling the early 1950s Indians starting pitching rotation consisting of Bob Feller (#200), Bob Lemon (#255), Early Wynn (#187) and Mike Garcia (#210).

Following his playing days, Hegan served as a Yankees coach for 16 seasons from 1960 to 1973 and then again from 1979 to 1980.  His son Mike Hegan made his Major League debut with the Yankees in 1964, and the two Hegan's were together for parts of four seasons with the team.

Building the Set
July 31, 1993 in Ocean City, NJ - Card #116
This is one of five 1956 Topps cards I purchased at the Ocean City baseball card show during the summer of '93.  My notes indicate we paid $9 for the card, and like the other 1956 Topps cards we purchased that day this card is flawless.

I wrote about the summer of '93 and the first of five cards purchased in my post for Frank House (#32).

The Card
That's Hegan, wearing #4 and coming in spikes high at a play at second base.  Given where the fielder's glove is, I'm assuming the umpire was about to call Hegan safe.  The portrait photo is the same photo used on Hegan's 1954 and 1955 Topps cards.

The back of his card pays tribute to his status as one of the best defensive catchers in the league.  Hegan's record of having caught three no-hitters was later broken by Jason Varitek and Carlos Ruiz, who both caught four no-hitters.  (I commemorated Ruiz's record here over at The Phillies Room.)  Hegan was on the receiving end of no-hitters from Don Black in 1947, Lemon in 1948 and Feller in 1951.

1956 Season
1956 was to be Hegan's final year as a regular catcher, appearing in 122 games for the Indians at the age of 36.  He hit .222 with 6 home runs that season.  Prior to the 1958 season, with rookie Russ Nixon ready to take over regular catching duties for the Indians, Hegan was traded to the Tigers.

Phillies Career
On July 27, 1958, the Tigers traded Hegan to the Phillies for minor leaguer John Turk and cash.  The 1958 Phillies were going nowhere fast and they'd ultimately finish 8th in the National League with a record of 69-85.  Hegan appeared in 25 games for the Phillies, serving as a back-up to Stan Lopata (#183) along with fellow catchers Joe Lonnett and Jimmie Coker.  Hegan appeared in 25 more games for the Phillies in 1959 before being sold to the Giants on June 14th.  His Phillies career consisted of 50 games, where he hit .209 (23 for 110) with no home runs and 14 RBIs.

His 1959 Topps card features him with the Phillies, and the card holds a special place in my collection.  I wrote about it here, and this was my first truly "vintage" Phillies baseball card.  At the time of its acquisition, I remember marveling that something this old was now in my small but growing collection.  This is Hegan's one and only Phillies baseball card, and his last card as an active player.

1949 Leaf #28

1951 Topps Red Backs #12

1959 Topps #372

1973 Topps #116

1976 Topps #69

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1949 Leaf #28
First Topps Card:  1951 Topps Red Backs #12
Representative Phillies Card:  1959 Topps #372
Last Topps Card (as a player):  1959 Topps #372
First Topps Card (as a coach):  1973 Topps #116
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  1994 Topps Archives 1954 #29

92 - Hegan non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 4/13/19.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Phillies Room
SABR
The Trading Card Database

In some cases, the first and last cards listed above are subjective and chosen by me if multiple cards were released within the same year.  Most recent mainstream card may also be subjective and does not include extremely low serial numbered cards, buybacks or cut autograph cards.

1959 Topps Phillies

1959 Topps #39, #300, #175 and #85

Using basically the same pastel (and black) color palette from the 1958 Topps set, Topps made a few stylish tweaks for its 1959 offering. The player's photo is encircled and the player's name appears in all lower-case letters slanted across the top of the card.  Facsimile autographs make their return for the first time since 1956.  Topps also featured several "subsets" within the main set, including The Sporting News Rookie Stars of 1959, Baseball Thrills (featuring highlights from the 1958 season), and The Sporting News All-Stars.  

The Set

Number of cards in the set:  There are 572 cards in a complete set, the largest Topps set to date.

My very brief thoughts on the set:  If I was "forced" to pick another Topps set from the '50s to collect, I'd pick the 1959 Topps set.  I believe these are the first "old" cards I ever saw.

Notable competition:  Fleer released an 80-card set chronicling the life and career highlights of Ted Williams.

1959 Topps #372, #92, #382 and #178

1959 Phillies

Record and finish:  The Phils finished dead last in the National League with a record of 64-90.  It was the first time the team had lost 90 games in a season since 1947.

1959 Topps #39 (Back)

Key players:  First baseman Ed Bouchee was one of the few bright spots on the team, hitting .285 with 15 home runs and 74 RBIs.  Third baseman Gene Freese (.268, 23, 70) and right fielder Wally Post (.254, 22, 94) also added a little punch.  There weren't many bright spots on the pitching staff.  Robin Roberts went 15-17 with a 4.27 ERA and Turk Farrell led the team with just six saves.

Key events:  New general manager John Quinn traded away Whiz Kids Willie Jones and Granny Hamner during the season.  In his only season in the Majors, Sparky Anderson, the team's regular second baseman, hit just .218.  The team ranked last in the league in hitting and fielding.  Richie Ashburn overtook Ed Delahanty as the team's all-time hits leader.  Ashburn would finish the season with 2,217 hits, ten more than Delahanty's 2,207.

1959 Phillies in 1959 Topps

Cards needed for a complete team set:  36 cards!  There are 36 cards in the complete 1959 Topps Phillies team set.  The final tally of Phillies cards appearing in Topps base sets in the 1950s:  173.

1959 Topps #156

Who’s in:  This is actually impressive.  38 players suited up for the Phillies in 1959, and all but six of them have cards in the 1959 Topps set.  Included in the tally of 36 cards in a "master" team set are two multi-player cards - #156 featuring all-star pitchers Billy Pierce and Roberts and #317 featuring hitting kings Willie Mays and Ashburn.

Who’s out:  The six players not in the 1959 Topps set are - Back-up catcher Joe Lonnett (43 games, .172 average), catcher John Easton (3 games, 0 for 3), reliever Taylor Phillips (1-4 with a 5.00 ERA), starting pitcher Ed Keegan (0-3 in his 3 starts), rookie Chris Short (14.1 innings, 8.16 ERA) and pitcher Freddy Rodriguez (1 game, 2 innings, 3 runs).

Phillies on other teams:  The following players spent time with the Phillies in 1959 and appear in the set with other teams - Outfielder Jim Bolger (#29 with the Cubs), infielder Harry Hanebrink (#322 with the Braves), reliever Humberto Robinson (#366 with the Braves), and outfielder Solly Drake (#406 with the Dodgers).

What’s he doing here:  There are six cards featuring players who did not spend any time with the Phillies in 1959 - Ruben Amaro, Bob Conley, Pancho Herrera, Ken Lehman (all in the minors), along with Ted Kazanski and Stan Lopata (both traded to the Braves in March).

Cards that never were candidates:  Lonnett, Phillips and Short.  Short would eventually enjoy a 14-year career with the Phillies.

Favorite Phillies card:  The rookie card of future Hall of Famer George "Sparky" Anderson.  It's not in my collection yet, but it will be there one day.

2008 Topps Heritage #101, #57, #85 and #703

Other Stuff

Recycled:  I wish Topps would come back to this design more often.  It was featured as the basis for the 2008 Topps Heritage set.  Baseball Cards Magazine also used the design for its "Repli-Cards" series back in 1989.

Blogs/Websites:  Would you like to know more about the 1959 Topps set?  Click here.  UPDATE - I'm going to also link to a relatively new blog on one collector's journey to complete the '59 Topps set.

Did You Know?:  By the end of the 1959 season, the only Whiz Kids remaining were Roberts, Ashburn and Curt Simmons.  Ashburn was shipped to the Cubs in January 1960, Simmons was released in May 1960 and he signed with the Cardinals, and Roberts was sold to the Yankees in October 1961.

1950-1959 Phillies Want List

1951 Topps Blue Backs #3

1952 Bowman #52

1953 Bowman Color #103

1956 Topps #180

1959 Topps #372

The Jim Hegan card featured above was probably my first ever Phillies "vintage" baseball card.  I think we bought this card on the fly back at a baseball card show at the Y, or maybe Memorial Junior High.  In any event, I remember marvelling at the "oldness" of this card.  Prior to obtaining this card, probably the oldest card in my collection was from the early '70s.  What strikes me now though is that relatively speaking, when I obtained this card back in 1981 or 1982 (probably), it wasn't really that old. 

By way of analogy, me getting this card then would be like a 9-year-old getting his hands on a 1987 Topps Rick Schu card now.  That's kind of scary, isn't it?

1950 Drake's - 10 Sisler, 12 Waitkus
1950 Philadelphia Inquirer Fightin' Phillies - Ashburn, Bloodworth, Caballero, Candini, Church, Donnelly, Goliat, Hamner, Heintzelman, Hollmig, Johnson, Jones, Lopata, Meyer, Miller, Nicholson, Seminick, Silvestri, Simmons, Sisler, Waitkus, Whitman

1951 Fisher's Bread Labels (Bread for Energy) - Jones, Konstanty
1951 Topps Major League All-Stars - Konstanty, Roberts
1951 Topps Teams - Phillies

1952 Berk Ross - Ashburn, Roberts
1952 Dixie Lids - Ashburn, Seminick
1952 Red Man Tobacco - 18N Roberts
1952 Star-Carl Decals - 77A Ashburn, 77C Simmons, 89C Ashburn
1952 Tip Top Bread Labels - Hamner, Roberts, Waitkus
1952 Topps - 323 Church, 339 Meyer, 352 Drews, 357 Burgess, 362 Heintzelman, 383 Wilber

1953 Northland Bread Labels - Ashburn, Ryan
1953 Red Man Tobacco - 3N Ashburn, 11N Roberts

1954 Dixie Lids - Ashburn
1954 Red Man Tobacco - 1N Ashburn, 12N Simmons, 18N Roberts

1955 Armour Coins - Simmons
1955 Red Man Tobacco - 15N Hamner, 24N Simmons
1955 Robert Gould All Stars - 6 Simmons, 18 Hamner, 22 Ashburn
1955 Topps Doubleheaders - 81 Schell, 91 Ortiz, 108 Qualters, 122 Owens, 131 Wehmeier

1956 Topps* - Complete
1956 Topps Pins - Negray, Smith, Wehmeier

1957 Swift Meats - 17 Ashburn

1958 Hires Root Beer - 10 Ashburn, 14 Post, 28 Simmons
1958 Kahn's Wieners - Post

1959 American Motors Home Run Derby - Post
1959 Armour Coins - Ashburn
1959 Bazooka - Ashburn

*Going after these cards seems like a bit of overkill.  My Dad and I have successfully completed the 1956 Topps set, taking over 20 years to put it together.  Do I really need a separate Phillies team set in another binder?  Yes.  Yes I do.  (Although it will probably take another 20 years to do so.) 

I haven't included Phillies cards from the ridiculously scarce issues like the 1955 Felin's Franks set or the 1958 Hires Root Beer Test Set.

1940-1949 Phillies Want List / 1960-1969 Phillies Want List