A Giant Project

My first project for 2021 is going to be assembling a complete set of 1964 Topps Giants cards.  I do not own a complete set from the 1960s, so this is something different for me.  It's a small checklist and the usual really expensive players in the set are not really all that expensive.  

I posted one card from the set last week.  

I have four more that have shown up in the mail during the first part of this week with several more on the way.  Here are the first four new cards.   

First up is a pair of Milwaukee Braves.  I bought these two cards together.  I viewed it as a good sign that I was able to find a Hall of Fame pitcher and great player from the era for $7.  Here is the Joe Torre.....

I wish I knew the 1960s stadiums a little better. Torre is wearing a road uniform, but I cannot figure out the stadium in the background.  I had thought that the square object behind him might be a blurred out Anheuser-Busch sign that was in left field at Sportsman Park in St. Louis, but I think the scoreboard was under the sign.  Not quite right.  

Back of the card.  

Next.  

The centering top to bottom is a little off here, but no complaints.  This was from the end of Spahn's career, definitely looking older here.  Love the hat brim. 

Next up is a St. Louis native.  

I have picked up a few Elston Howard cards over the years.  St. Louis produced a lot of baseball players during the 1950s and 1960s, kind of a fun to pick up their cards from time to time.  Elston Howard is not a Hall of Famer, but definitely a great from his era. 

Nice write-up on Elston Howard's 1963 American League MVP season on the back of the card.  

Last card for this post.  

I think Freehan was in the 1963 Topps set, but it had three other players on the card.  So, 1964 was the first year he had a stand alone card.  His regular Topps card is a really goofy posed shot where he is half squatting down, but half-heartedly.   This is a much better card.  

and the back.  

I know that it is not going to be too difficult to find the majority of the cards, but I am going to put this project at roughly 6 months.  There are short-printed cards in the set and there is also a budget here.  The wife is not going to be happy if I drop a couple hundred dollars on some high grade copy of the Mickey Mantle card.  Here is the checklist.  Cards I own are highlighted in red.  

1 Gary Peters
2 Ken Johnson
3 Sandy Koufax SP
4 Bob Bailey
5 Milt Pappas
6 Ron Hunt
7 Whitey Ford
8 Roy McMillan
9 Rocky Colavito
10 Jim Bunning
11 Roberto Clemente
12 Al Kaline
13 Nellie Fox
14 Tony Gonzalez
15 Jim Gentile
16 Dean Chance
17 Dick Ellsworth
18 Jim Fregosi
19 Dick Groat
20 Chuck Hinton
21 Elston Howard
22 Dick Farrell
23 Albie Pearson
24 Frank Howard
25 Mickey Mantle
26 Joe Torre
27 Ed Brinkman
28 Bob Friend SP
29 Frank Robinson
30 Bill Freehan
31 Warren Spahn
32 Camilo Pascual
33 Pete Ward
34 Jim Maloney
35 Dave Wickersham
36 Johnny Callison
37 Juan Marichal
38 Harmon Killebrew
39 Luis Aparicio
40 Dick Radatz
41 Bob Gibson
42 Dick Stuart SP
43 Tommy Davis
44 Tony Oliva
45 Wayne Causey SP
46 Max Alvis
47 Galen Cisco SP
48 Carl Yastrzemski
49 Hank Aaron
50 Brooks Robinson
51 Willie Mays SP
52 Billy Williams
53 Juan Pizarro
54 Leon Wagner
55 Orlando Cepeda
56 Vada Pinson
57 Ken Boyer
58 Ron Santo
59 Johnny Romano
60 Bill Skowron SP

I Love The 1990s Cardinals Part 36 - Joe Torre

There is a really good chance that you remember Joe Torre's second managerial position during the 1990s better than his first gig.  Between 1996 and 1999, Torre managed the Yankees to three different World Series titles, which occured in 1996, 1998, and 1999.  Between the middle of the 1990 season, and the middle of the 1995 season, Joe Torre once got the Cardinals to finish second.  That happened in 1991 when they finished a mere 14 games behind the Pirates.

Torre did not take half a season off, from the middle of 1995 until the start of the 1996, and magically learn how to manage a baseball team.  He was not actually half bad with the Cardinals, especially considering that the team's ownership, August Busch III, was cheap.  Just only so much you can do with Bryn Smith taking up a spot in your starting rotation.  

For example, in 1993 the Cardinals were actually 16 games above .500 at the All-Star break, within five games of the eventual division winning Phillies team.  Most teams would take that sort of success as a sign to improve their roster and push for the postseason.  The 1990s Cardinals?  Not so much.  Lee Smith was broken and there were several other suspect arms in front of him in the bullpen, which was one of the major shortcomings of the 1993 team.  Rather than trading for a quality relief pitcher, the Cardinals picked up Todd Burns from the A's. 

Burns appeared in 24 games for the Cardinals and gave up 21 runs.  The most brutal stat I could find was that he struck out only 10 batters in those 24 games, but managed to give up 8 home runs.  Don't know if I have ever seen a 1:1 ratio on home runs, but Burns almost pulled it off.  Burns did not even make it to the end of the season, the team released him in September, and even went as far as trading off Lee Smith.  

Not Torre's fault.  

I am not a Yankees fan by any stretch of the imagination, but it was nice to see Torre go somewhere and do well after getting shafted by the Cardinals ownership.  I hear all the arguments about the Yankees having high payrolls and good talent, that it would not actually be hard to get those sorts of teams deep into the playoffs.  However, after watching the Cardinals the last five years, with Mike Matheny managing, or mangling, some really good teams, it's to hard to brush off the manager as completely irrelevant.   

Here are my three favorite Joe Torre cards with the Cardinals, while he was the manager.  If there were player cards in this post, there would be a Kellogg's card.  Since he won an MVP Award with the Cardinals though, I will still post the cereal card as a bonus.....

Those are sideburns.  Why won't any cereal companies put cards into boxes anymore?  Now back to the manager cards.  

I really like these Studio cards, also liked that they put some of the managers in the set.  The Topps base set was always a slam dunk for having the team managers, but the other card brands that started to pop up at this time in the early 1990s were hit and miss on these cards.  The black and white photographs on the Studio cards were always nice with the color reddish colored frames on the 1991 set.  Torre actually appeared in the Preview cards of the set.  Tony LaRussa is in the regular set, if you are into Cardinals managers and the whatnot.  

Another 1991 card, this one is from the Topps set.  Something has always seemed off on this card.  I have never quite decided whether Topps airbrushed in Torre, or the background with the other players and coaches are on some sort of Olan Mills photo studio backdrop.  Just something off about the card.  There are only two Topps solo base cards of Torre as the Cardinals manager, the other is in the 1992 set, but this is my favorite of the two.  

Last card.  

 Generally, I hate these dual managers cards.  They make the managers seem like an afterthought.  This one is actually really cool though.  Torre and Piniella are two of the more recognizable managers from the 1990s, so it's nice that they are on the same card together.  While Lou is not a Hall of Famer, both have won at least one World Series, feel like everyone always forgets that Piniella was with the Reds who won in 1990, both won Manager of the Year multiple times.  For what it's worth, Lou actually won the award three times to Torre's two times.

Friday Five: Top 5 Cardinals Third Baseman

Honorable Mention-  Albert Pujols 

Third base is a hard position.  Albert Pujols makes my honorable mention list based on his one season as a Cardinals third baseman.  It also happens to be one of the better rookie seasons ever, so there's that.  Again, third base is a hard position.  Without giving away the rest of the list, in one season as the Cardinals third baseman Albert Pujols posted a WAR of 6.0.  Terry Pendleton, who is also on this list, posted a WAR of 4.9 for the Cardinals in 7 seasons.  Pujols also had 47 doubles, 37 home runs, drove in 130 runs, and posted a slash line of .329/.403/.610.  The rookie third baseman also won the National League Rookie of the Year, made the All-Star team, and finished fourth in MVP voting.

5. (tie) Joe Torre 

Joe Torre spent one season as the Cardinals full time third baseman in 1971.  Turned out pretty well.  If I can put Pujols on here for one Rookie of the Year season I can also put Joe Torre on here for one really good MVP winning season.  In 1971 Torre posted a slash line of .363/.421/.555 with 24 home runs, 137 RBIS, and 230 hits.  The RBIs, hits, and batting average all lead the National League that year.  He posted an OPS+ of 171 and an oWAR of 8.6.  Torre spent a fair number of games at third again in 1972 before the Cardinals used him almost exclusively as a first baseman his last few seasons in St. Louis.  While his 1972 season was a far cry from his 1971 season, Torre still posted a .289/.357/.419 line with 11 home runs, 81 RBIs, and an OPS+ of 122.

4.  Terry Pendleton 

Pendleton was an important cog on the 1980s Cardinals.  Some times the Whiteyball era players can be a little tough to judge.  While Pendleton went on to win a batting title and an MVP award with the Braves, he was not that player while he was on the Cardinals.   In 7 seasons as a Cardinal Pendleton hit .259/.308/.356 with only 44 home runs.  He also only stole 99 bases as a Cardinal and almost all of those happened during his first four seasons on the team.  Pendleton is here for defense.  During those 7 seasons as a Cardinal Pendleton posted a dWAR of 10.7 which included a 1985 season of 2.9 and two seasons of 2.3 in 1986 and 1989.  It's not Ozzie Smith, but it's closer than you think.  For example, in 1985 Ozzie Smith led the National League in dWAR.  Pendleton was second.  In 1986 Pendleton finished fourth.  In 1985 Pendleton led the National League in Total Zone Runs with 24 and finished second in Range Factor.  In 1986 he finished second in Total Zone Runs and led in Range Factor.  In other words, if you hit the ball on the ground to the right side of the Cardinals infield, with Smith and Pendleton playing, you were likely out.  

3.  Scott Rolen 

I could have lived with Rolen at two or three on this list.  I think that the peak of Rolen was actually higher than my player at my two spot, but Rolen's lows as a Cardinal were really low.  Plus there is always the whole World Series ring.  Rolen has one ring from 2006.  He won it while pouting on the bench.  My player at two has three rings.  Now, on with Scott Rolen.  Rolen was probably already the best third baseman in the National League when the Cardinals picked him up from the Phillies in 2002.  He had a shot at an MVP award in 2004 when he hit .314/.409/.598 with 34 home runs, 124 RBIs, and Gold Glove defense.  He just decided to have his career year the same year that Jim Edmonds had a career year and Pujols was Pujols.  He finished fourth in the voting, but could have easily won many other years.  For his Cardinal career Rolen posted an OPS+ of 127, but only spent six years in St. Louis.  At his peak he could have been first on this list, but his Cardinals career was too short to move him past this spot on my list.  He was traded to the Blue Jays after the 2007 season was spent feuding with Tony LaRussa over playing time and health concerns with Rolen's shoulder which was injured in a weird play at first base in 2005.  The play involved Hee Seop Choi who seemed to run over a lot of people in the mid 2000s.  Ask Mark Prior.  Rolen ended up being a good player the rest of his career, but probably could have been the best Cardinals third baseman and a Hall of Famer in a perfect world.

2.  Whitey Kurowski 

Kurowski had a short career, but played on several important Cardinals teams that won three World Series titles.  Whitey was not just along for the ride either, but was an important part of the team.  The four time National League All-Star won the World Series with the Cardinals in 1942, 1944, and 1946.  He also helped the 1943 Cardinals to a National League pennant.  During his 9 year career, all spent with the Cardinals, he averaged 19 home runs and 94 RBIs with a career slash line of .286/.366/.455. He is one of those rare players who actually walked more in his career (369) than struck out (332).  His best season was probably in 1945 when he hit 21 home runs, drove in 102, and hit .323.  While JAWS ranks him as the 85th best third baseman to ever play the game, his OPS+ of 125 puts him in the top 30 of all-time even with Hall of Famer Ron Santo.  

1. Ken Boyer 

Boyer is the only Cardinals player, with their number retired, who is not in the Hall of Fame.  Basically, the most common argument is that he and Ron Santo are really the same player.  If Santo got in then Boyer should be in too.  Boyer was a really good and consistent player for the Cardinals for a decade starting in 1955 running through 1965.  During that time Boyer was always good for 25 to 30 home runs, 90 to 100 RBIs, a .290 to .300 batting average, an OBP over .350 and a SLG near .500.  He won the National League MVP in 1964 and hit a grand slam in the World Series to help the Cardinals defeat the Yankees, but in my opinion his best year was actually 1960.  During that season Boyer hit .304/.370./562 with 32 home runs, 10 triples, 32 doubles, 97 RBIs, and won a Gold Glove.  The problem with Boyer's Hall of Fame candidacy in my opinion is his post Cardinals years.  He bounced around with the Mets, White Sox, and Dodgers before calling it quits.  There were some rough years in there.  Still, as a Cardinal he played at a high level and is a pretty easy choice for the first spot on this list. JAWS ranks him as the 14th best third baseman of all-time.

2002 Topps Gold Label MLB Awards Ceremony Joe Torre Jersey

I've spent the past six months doing a 30 Year Top 50 countdown were I picked out the best sets of that time.  I almost thought about turning my countdown into a year long celebration of cool cards from the past thirty years, but settled for the countdown format instead.  If I had picked out a few sets every week to write a blog post on the 2002 Topps Gold Label set would have definitely made an appearance somewhere along the line.  The base cards in the set are alright.  Glossy and high end in appearance.  The relic card set is really cool though.  

2002 Topps Gold Label MLB Awards Ceremony Joe Torre

Meet the latest addition to my collection, which comes from the 2002 Topps Gold relic set.  The whole concept behind the relic set revolves around former MLB Award winners.  Hence the name of the set, MLB Award Ceremony.  Topps actually ran this same set in the 2001 Gold Label release, but greatly improved the set the following year by adding in older players from the 60s, 70s, and 80s.  I own several other cards from this set including a sweet Bill Buckner and Bill Madlock, so I was happy to add this copy of Joe Torre.  The card recognizes Torre as the 1971 National League MVP and features a piece of grey polyester jersey.  

The cards can be condition sensitive so be sure to check the card over carefully before plunking down good money or cards for one of these in purchase or trade.  The left hand side of the card has a silver metallic finish that is often scratched on these cards.  The relic pieces are also held in place by a thin, flexible piece of plastic (it almost feels like plastic wrap) and can also wear.  Lots of great names in this set and cool cards.  Be sure to check them out and add a few to your collection.