Let's Talk Tobacco

Two years ago, I worked on putting together a set of 1964 Topps Giants cards. It took me roughly a year to complete, but was fairly inexpensive compared to other 1960s baseball card sets. Giants was a fun project for three reasons:

1.The set was small

2. The cards are inexpensive outside of a few short prints

3. It's a good looking set. 

I have decided to work on another card project based largely based on the fact that it largely fits the same criteria as the Topps Giants set. So, for the next year or so, I will be tracking down cards from the 1952 Red Man Tobacco set trying to put together a complete run of 52 cards. 

The good news is that I already have three cards from the set, which leaves me with 49.  

Here are the three, all of which are missing their bottom tab.  

Obviously Stan is one of the better cards in the set and I have a really clean copy. I would love to upgrade to a clean copy with the tab attached to the bottom of the card, but that is low on the priority list. In fact, I am fine collecting cards without the tabs. Feels like that may make this an easier project, less expensive too.  

There is also Eddie Stanky.  

This is another very clean card.  Love the pinkish background.  

Last.....

Alright, Red is a little rough around the edges with a few other creases. He's going to get replaced at some point during this project.  

So, here is where we stand on this project.  

I need 49 cards. I have:

National League: 

16. Stan Musial 

19. Al Schoendienst 

23. Eddie Stanky 

Friday Five: My Favorite 1988 Topps and Topps Traded Cards

I got a copy of the 1988 Topps set from my parents for Christmas that year. I was excited about getting a complete set, so I opened the set box and sorted out all of the cards. Everyone from the 1980s knows you are supposed to leave your complete Topps sets sealed, right? I was in fifth grade and baseball cards are fun, of course I opened the box. Also, it's the 1988 Topps set.  You can probably find a copy of the set at your local thrift shop for $5.  

There are probably multiple copies for less than $5 at your thrift shop.  

Is the 1988 Topps set unpopular because it's really that bad, or because it lacks a signature rookie card Truth be told, I kind of dig the 1988 Topps set. The design is underrated.  

Topps is using the 1988 design as an insert set with the 2023 Topps set. Many have not liked the 1988 Topps set for the past thirty years, but you're going to love it now and buy all the retail packs from Target and Wal-Mart.  

I personally like the Nolan Arenado card.  

Now, let me get to the countdown. I am going to include cards from the 1988 Topps Traded set in this post, because there are some good cards in there and it is also a $5 set.  

Shall we?  

5T. 1988 Topps Traded Andy Benes #14T 

5T. 1988 Topps Traded Ron Gant #39T 

I did not touch the 1988 Topps Traded set until the Cardinals signed Andy Benes and Ron Gant as a free agents before the 1996 season. There was a high-end card store that was a few minutes from my house back in the 1990s. When the Cardinals signed Benes and Gant, they set out a huge stack of 1988 Topps Traded sets on one of their counters with all the sets costing $10. I bought the set expecting it to have a Ron Gant rookie and a bunch of junky cards. 

Not the case.  

As a Cardinals fan, I got cards of Jose DeLeon, Luis Alicea, and Tom Brunansky on top of Gant and Andy Benes. There was also David Wells, Jim Abbott, and Roberto Alomar amongst others. It's a pretty good set and I have no idea how it is only crispy Alexander Hamilton.  

4. 1988 Topps Traded Robin Ventura #124T

Robin Ventura is not quite a Hall of Famer. One of the best third baseman from the 1990s and early 2000s, just a step below players like Scott Rolen. In the aftermath of the 1982 Topps Traded set, every Topps Traded set had a potential Cal Ripken waiting to rising from the checklist. This was the "it" card from the 1988 Topps Traded set. Not sure it was every really all that expensive at any point, but the fact that the card costs less than a dollar is insanity.  

This card should cost at least a dollar at a minimum.  

3. 1988 Topps Vince Coleman #1 

I loved the design of the Record Breakers cards in the 1988 Topps set. That red background really pops and it was great to see a Cardinals player on the first card of a Topps set.  The Record Breaker was for Coleman's third consecutive season with more than 100 stolen bases. I believe that Topps has reused this design in one of their Throwback/Customer Direct products.  

Here is the moment.......

The previous record was held by Rickey Henderson.  

2. 1988 Topps Mark McGwire #580 

Mark McGwire with a Topps All-Star Rookie logo in the corner. It was a no-brainer. No goatee or crazy muscles, just skinny Mark McGwire holding a bat and posing for a picture. This is one of my favorite early McGwire cards. Topps also used a picture from this same photo shoot on McGwire's 1988 Glossy Mail-In card and the A's Team Leaders card.  

I am sure if I looked hard enough, Topps has probably recycled these photos on modern McGwire cards as well. It would be borderline shocking if they have not.  

1. 1988 Cardinals Leaders #351 

Great picture here with long-time Cardinals player, manager, and coach Red Schoendienst standing next to catcher Tony Pena. Most coaches do not get cards, so it was nice to see someone as high-profile as Red get the nod from Topps. It is somewhat surprising that Pena appeared on this card over some of the more popular 1980s Cardinals players like Ozzie Smith, Willie McGee, or Vince Coleman. 

Still, not a complete reach.  

If you weren't around for 1980s baseball, Pena was the premier defensive catcher in the league and the Cardinals were loaded with Gold Glovers. The Cardinals had outfielders to spare, but no catcher. Prior to the 1987 season, the Cardinals traded Andy Van Slyke to the Pirates for Pena. The Cardinals ended up winning the National League that season, but injuries caught up with them in the World Series and they lost in seven games. 

A card back.  

Solid numbers on the Cardinals Team Leaders. I am sure Red helped somehow, someway. 

The Best Cardinal Without A Card

It has been painful to watch the Cardinals the past few years.  There is the obvious fact that they have been passed by the Cubs as the rulers of the National League Central, but in my opinion there has been far more wrong with the team beyond the improvement of the Cubs on-field performance.

The team has been incredibly sloppy and deeply flawed in many different ways...

Bad defense.  

Bad baserunning.  

Bad pitching.  

Not sure there is a video clip, or picture, that could sum up the poor quality of Matheny's poor in game strategy.  It's horrible.  After spending my life watching Whitey Herzog, Joe Torre, and Tony LaRussa there is no doubt that I have been spoiled by quality managers......

but even by mediocre manager standards Matheny is still bad.  

There have been plenty of Matheny cards that have been made since he took over the Cardinals managing gig in 2012, but I have posted none of them.  He is one St. Louis player/manager I can live without in my collection.  I have posted Tate Matheny cards.......

but I am not touching Mike.  He's got some cards in my collection, but only what I need to finish the sets that I have in closet.  There are not really any "cool" Matheny cards floating around in my baseball card room.  

How did we get here?  The three managers before Matheny, there were short-term managers between Herzog and Torre and Torre and LaRussa, the Cardinals did things the right way.  The teams always did a great job of fielding....

Played good defense in the outfield....

on the infield.....

they ran the bases well....

and they had timely hitting.  Oh, and they ran the bases well after the timely hitting.  

Not to excuse Matheny, he's still a garbage manager, but the three previous managers had someone on their staff in common.  In fact, he started out with the Cardinals in the early 1940s before World War II as a player in their Minor League system, did some managing in the Minors with the Cardinals after his playing career flamed out before the Majors, and eventually settled into a role with the team as a roving instructor.  

The Cardinals organization referred to him as "The Professor"

In the late 1960s he worked with former Phillies infielder George "Sparky" Anderson as he transitioned over to managing Minor League teams for the Cardinals.  He apparently went on to be a pretty good manager.  He also ended up working with former A's utility infielder Tony LaRussa as a player during his final year with the New Orleans Pelicans, a Cardinals Minor League team at that time.  

George Kissell might be one of the most important members of the Cardinals organization that nobody knows much about outside of St. Louis.  He did work on the coaching staff of Red Schoendienst for a time in the 1970s and made it onto the bottom of a baseball card as a coach.....

Kissell did not ever get his own card though since he was only a coach.  You would think that with all of the gimmicky cards that Topps comes up with every year that we could get a card of coach that was with a team through seven World Series Championships.  How can he not get some sort of card?  That's more World Series winners than all the other Major League teams outside of the Yankees, A's, Giants, and Red Sox.  

We've had a card with George W. Bush photoshopped into the crowd and Mickey Mantle into the dugout....

we've even had a squirrel get a baseball card with Skip Schumaker's shoe.....

It's hard to believe that George Kissell is cardless.  

I was fortunate enough to spot something last week and I honestly thought that some other Cardinals collector would jump on it and push it to a place I was unwilling to go in terms of cost.  I was surprised in the end that nobody else touched it.  

An actual George Kissel card.  Not with Red Schoendienst, but all by himself.  

It's actually the photo proof card that Topps used to make the 1974 Red Schoendienst card at the top of the post.  It's not necessarily a baseball card in the traditional sense, but it's still something.  Considering their is not an actual stand alone George Kissell card this is as close as it gets for the moment.  

Maybe one day someone at one of the card companies will wake up and decide to give George Kissel a card.  Sadly, he passed away after a car accident in Tampa in 2008....

While it would be a little bit late for Kissell to enjoy his own card, I am certain that it would likely be a hit with Cardinals collectors.  I am sure that if Topps can make a card with Abe Lincoln and Ryan Dempster they can find a spot in a set for a coach like George Kissell.  

Friday Five: Top 5 Cardinals 2nd Baseman

5.  Julian Javier 

Javier played 12 seasons for the Cardinals from 1960 through 1971.  He spent his final season as a Red.  During his 12 years as a Cardinal Javier made two National League All-Star teams and helped the Cardinals win two World Series titles (1964 and 1967) and win another National League pennant (1968).  Julian Javier was known much more his defense than offense and also excelled during the Cardinals appearances in the World Series.  In 1967, he batted .360 in the World Series and had a big home run in game 7 of the series.  In 1968, Javier batted he batted .333 against the Tigers in a losing effort.  

4.  Tom Herr

Herr was an important cog in the 1980s Whiteyball Cardinals.  He was always a really good player on those teams, just never really the best player on any of the teams.  In my opinion, his best year was the 1985 National League Championship team when he hit .302/.379/.416 with 110 RBIs and 31 stolen bases.  Herr also was the starting second baseman on the 1982 World Series winning team and the 1987 National League Championship team.  The Cardinals traded Herr to the Twins in 1988 for Tom Brunansky.  In 10 seasons with the Cardinals he had more than 1000 hits, 400 RBIs, and 150 stolen bases. 

3.  Red Schoendienst 

Schoendiesnt was the Cardinals second baseman most of the late 1940s through the 1950s until he was traded away to the New York Giants.  After a stop off with the Braves, Red returned to the Cardinals for the 1962 and 1963 seasons before taking over the reigns of the team as the manager.  In 15 seasons with the Cardinals Schoendienst made a total of 8 All-Star game appearances and recorded over 1000 runs scored and almost 2000 hits.  He helped the Cardinals win the 1946 World Series, but his best season as a Cardinals was probably 1953 when he posted a .342/.405/.502 line with 15 home runs.  He finished fourth in MVP voting that season.  Red was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1989. 

2.  Frankie Frisch 

Frisch started his career with the Giants in 1919 and was traded to the Cardinals for Rogers Hornsby after playing 8 years for New York.  The Fordham Flash ended up spending 11 years with the Cardinals helping the Gashouse Gang Cardinals win the 1934 World Series against the Athletics.  Frisch also made 3 All-Star teams and won the 1931 National League MVP Award.  Overall during his time as a Cardinal, Frisch had almost 200 stolen bases, 1500 hits, and almost 300 doubles.  He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1947. 

1.  Rogers Hornsby

Hornsby is one of the best second baseman of all-time and started out with the Cardinals in 1915.  He was traded to the Giants for Frisch, but ended up back in St. Louis at the end of his career.  JAWS rates him as the best second baseman of all-time and he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1942.  During his thirteen seasons as a Cardinal Hornsby posted over 2000 hits, over 1000 runs, 367 doubles, 193 home runs, 118 stolen bases, and an OPS+ of 177.

2012 Topps Tier One Red Scheondienst White Ink Autograph

I am always on the look out for cool Hall of Fame autographs of Cardinals players, but had difficulty this past year in trying to track down several of the Cardinals signers in the Topps Tier One set.  One such autograph belonged to Hall of Fame second baseman Red Schoendienst.  The "Redhead", as he is affectionately known to Cardinals fans, signed several different cards for the Tier One set.

2012 Topps Tier One White Ink Red Schoendienst Autograph

The main difference between the autographs in the Tier One set is that one set of a players autograph appears on a vertical card, while another appears on a horizontal card.  Of course, each version of the parallel and vertical card has variations in the foiling and serial numbers.  My favorite cards in the set are the white ink cards.  Topps actually put out several dark background cards this year and had players sign the cards with white paint pens.  I had yet to add one to my collection, so the black card design with the white signature was an added bonus on top of adding an autograph of a Cardinals Hall of Famer.  

30 Year Top 50: 2000 Fleer Greats of the Game

#9- The second entry from the Greats of the Game line comes in one spot ahead of the original set.  There aren't many things to complain about with the original set, but Fleer did a great job of making the second run of this set even better.  Let's start with the best set.  The original Greats of the Game set was tied to the photography and covers of Sports Illustrated.  The 2000 set dropped the Sports Illustrated name and featured a much simpler base card.

2000 Fleer Greats of the Game Ralph Kiner Autograph

The older players in the base set were pictured in black and white photos and the more modern players were pictured in color.  The simple border and picture made the clean design of these cards a favorite of mine.  The borders of the cards were susceptible to dings and chipping making the base cards a condition sensitive set.  

2000 Fleer Greats of the Game Dale Murphy

If you compare the edges of the Dale Murphy card below to the Ralph Kiner card above you can see the slight white dings along the edges of the Murphy card.  When I first opened a box and a few packs of these cards back in 2000 I was able to complete an entire base set.  However, it took my another year to complete a mint version of the set.  The single cards can be found for less than dollar on the secondary market, but many have the same problems as my Dale Murphy card.  

2000 Fleer Greats of the Game Red Schoendienst Autograph 

One of the biggest changes in the 2000 set is the autograph insertion rate.  The 1999 set featured one autograph per pack, but the 2000 set featured one autograph per six packs, or four per box.   Fleer issued a total of 93 autographed cards, but Fleer offered little details about short prints.  It's widely believed that several cards in the set are harder to find then others.  A few of the cards were purposely shirt printed, but others were signer created short prints.  For example, Dave Concepcion signed his cards in both red and black ink even though the signers in the set were all provided black pens.  

2000 Fleer Greats of the Game Bruce Sutter Autograph

Overall, the quality of autographs was spectacular.  The plain design of the cards lent for an excellent space for the players to sign, as opposed to the 1999 set which featured a small white square with a Sports Illustrated Cover or Photograph.  Fleer did a great job of getting a wide variety of different signers for the set.  This Bruce Sutter autograph is one of my personal favorites.  While Sutter has had several different certified autographs over the years, this was the first one I ever owned.  Love the picture with the polyester Braves uniform and the shaggy beard.  

2000 Fleer Yankee Clippings Willie Randolph Jersey

Beyond the base set and great autograph set in the 2000 Fleer Greats of the Game set, collectors also flocked to this set for the Yankee Clippings jersey cards.  The 15 card set featured a variety of great Yankees players from different periods of time.  When the 2000 Greats of the Game set was first released this cards were hot sellers and could easily push the autographed cards on price.  As time has passed, some of the lesser stars in the set have become easier and cheaper to find.  My Willie Randolph card is my only Yankee Clipping card and cost me right around $10 shipped last summer.