Spoils of the show--1962 Topps

It felt good yesterday.  I hadn't been to a card show in a couple of months, and I can say that I've missed the experience.   I enjoy sitting at a table in front of a half dozen boxes of 50's and 60's vintage, just poring through the cards, looking at all the history in what has to be the greatest two decades of baseball history (my opinion).

It's even better when I sit in front of those boxes and stick to the plan.  1964.  1962.  1968.  1973.  Yes, I bought cards from each of those 4 sets, and I loved every minute of it.

I even resisted picking up a 50 count box of 58's for $15 (something I'm sure I'll regret down the road).  But I felt I had to stick to what I've been building.  Trying not to blow my budget completely out of the water before some very big shows that are coming over the next few months. 

In the end I did quite well, and wound up with some decent cards.   Today I thought that I'd show off the 1962 Topps cards that I purchased.   I only bought 7, but that's 7 closer to my goal of 30% by the end of the year.  I only need 26 more to accomplish that.

This card is my favorite, #37 in the set.  The Tribe Hill Trio consists of :

• Barry Latman, who had a 13-5 record in '61 with 45 appearances and 5 saves.  Barry also started 18 games and had an ERA of 4.02.  Barry made the AL all star team in '61 as well.
• Dick Stigman, who actually wound up pitching for Minnesota in 1962, and leading the AL in winning percentage with a 12-5 record.  
• Jim Perry, who you may or may not know as the older brother of Gaylord Perry.  Jim had the longest career of the 3 hurlers, pitching for 4 teams over a 17 year span.  Perry won 20 games in back to back seasons, which included a 24 win, Cy Young award campaign with the Twins in 1970.

Another multi player card that I bought with this AL hitting leaders card, #51.

Horribly centered, but still cheap at $1, this came home happily.  What's great is on the back the card lists the top 50 qualifiers for the batting title, which remarkably sees the 50th best qualifying average drop to .248!

The league leader, Norm Cash, had a great season.  .361 average, led the AL in hits, average, on base percentage and OPS.  Norm also hit 41 HR and 132 RBI's, and yet with all those stats, he only finished fourth in MVP voting.  Care to guess who the top 3 were?  Answer at the end...

Finishing 9th in the AL batting race that year was Terry's dad...

Yes, I had a thing for off center cards yesterday, but at 50 cents, I couldn't pass this up.  Until looking up his stats, I had no idea that Francona was born just 30 miles to the south of where I live, in Aliquippa, PA.  You might know Aliquippa as the home to a more famous football player, Mike Ditka.  I found it interesting that Tito was traded for the same player twice (Larry Doby).

This next guy managed two thirds of the players in the question I posed about the MVP race in 1961.

Yep, off center again.

Herb Score was never the same after being hit in the face by a line drive off the bat of Gil McDougald in 1957.  Herb only pitched 4 games in 1962 before retiring and becoming a broadcaster, eventually being inducted into the Ohio broadcaster's HOF in 1998.
Jim Pagliaroni had a decent 11 year career with 4 teams, including the Seattle Pilots in 1969, which would be his last season in the bigs.
Don Blasingame also had a solid career in baseball, playing for 5 teams over 12 seasons, including a couple of years with the Reds in the early 60's.

Norm Cash finished 4th in the MVP voting, having a career year only to be overshadowed by

1. Roger Maris' 61 Homers
2. Mickey Mantle and his 54 Homers, .317 average
3. Jim Gentile, who surprisingly came 3rd ahead of Cash even though he surpassed him in only 1 category (Gentile had 46 HRs)

A great bunch of cards, mostly cheap, but it's 7 closer to the 30% goal.   I'm sure I'll get there.

Thanks for reading, Robert