'59 Topps Set Build: #1/572 Dick Drott

This is the 1st of 572 posts related to my quest to build the 1959 Topps set.  I plan on having a lot of fun doing these posts, and learning a little something about the players and the cards in this set.   I hope that you will have fun with these as well.

#15:  Dick Drott, Chicago Cubs

Career beginnings:  Dick was signed by the Cubs as an amateur free agent in 1954.

Awards/League Leader/Titles:  

• Dick placed 3rd in rookie of the year voting in 1957
• He led the NL in walks during the '57 season with 129
• He was not part of a championship club

Dick passed away from stomach cancer in 1985 at the age of 49.

Career Line:  27-46  4.78 ERA and 1.499 WHIP over 7 MLB seasons
Loved to face:  Bill Mazeroski (5/40  .125  1 HR 6K)
Hated to face:  Harry Anderson (11/24  .458  3HR 11 RBI)

How did he do in 1959?  1-2 with a 5.93 ERA in 8 appearances (6 starts), his season was limited due to arm issues.

• He pitched a complete game shutout vs. Milwaukee on June 14th, scattering 7 hits in a 6-0 win.

Ban the DH? (I will use this for pitchers, inspired by Pittsburgh broadcaster Bob Walk)  Dick was actually a decent hitting pitcher; two different seasons he hit .273, and he finished his career with a .168 average.   

About the card: 

• This is Dick's 2nd card release, his RC was card #80 in the '58 Topps set.  The cartoon on the back is kind of funny.  First, one usually thinks of strikeout pitchers as throwing flames, not lightning bolts (at least I do).  Also, are those boots he's wearing?  It has to be tough pitching with those on.

• The front of the card is a plain head shot, with Dick staring upwards at heaven knows what.  I've noticed from the first few dozen cards that I've acquired that this is a common theme. 

• The black front with yellow letters reminds is one of 13 different color combinations that I've identified in the first group of cards. 
• I picked this card up at a card show, which is where I imagine I'll end up getting the majority of the set.  I'll do my best to keep track of this as well.

 Thanks for reading, Robert

No cracked bats on these pictures

I came home today to another brown bubble mailer on my dining room table, courtesy of Julie from the A Cracked Bat blog.  Julie was able to knock a few more cards off of the massive Blue Jays want list, from a couple of different sets.

A sextet of Score Select from '95 made their way here, including the gold foil rookie of Shawn Green.  I've had so many of Green's cards come into my collection recently that I'm beginning to wonder if I should start a new PC (nope, not going to happen...).  I did a double take on the Roberto Alomar photo; I saw the red helmet and had to look closer.   It appears that Robbie is tagging out a Phillie in that photo, meaning that they snapped that pic during a preseason tilt, since interleague play hadn't started yet.

A trio of the 2002 Donruss Studio cards that I needed were also in the envelope.  Ironic that these show up a day after discussing how I've grown to appreciate the cards more over the years, huh?

I hadn't seen a Spirit of the Game insert from that season in the past, so the Shannon Stewart card was an especially nice inclusion.  The Reed Johnson is a serial numbered card, 1037/1500.  2002 was one of only 2 big league seasons that Corey Thurman enjoyed, both of them as a Blue Jay.  3 more off of the want list.

Now this final card, which is another "hit" for the Jays collection, is one that sent me digging.

Hmmmm....Chris Baker.....let's take a quick look at the back.

#'d out of 250...not bad.     Bio is nice, a 15 game winner in AA during the '01 season.  Still looking.

Then I realize why I don't chase after prospect sets that feature autographs of minor league players.

Chris Baker never threw a pitch in the major leagues.  Several seasons were spent during the 00's between AAA and AA.  No luck getting a call to the show.  I am definitely not trying to knock Chris Baker down here.   He did something that I never was able to accomplish, be drafted by a major league team, and put an effort in towards earning a shot in MLB.

Please don't misunderstand me here.   I really do appreciate this card.  There are a lot of collectors out there that really enjoy prospect autos.  More power to those people!!

But for me, it is diminished a bit because he never made it to the majors.  Not trying to run anyone down here, it's just how I feel.

But in the end, it's still a cool card to have, because there's somebody out there that saw this card and thought of me, and was generous enough to send it my way.

In the end, that's what this is all about right?  Doing your best to get cards into the hands of people that will really cherish them.

Julie, thank you for the envelope.   It is greatly appreciated!!  (Keep on writing!)

thanks for reading, Robert

By the page: Dave Stieb

I don't know why it took me as long as it did to find 9 cards of possibly the best pitcher in franchise history (it's between him and Roy Halladay, IMO), but I think I've got a good group of 9 for the owner of the best slider that Jays fans have ever seen.

Top row:  The early years

All 3 photos show the trademark Dave Stieb determined look, even the posed shot for his '83 Donruss card on the left.  I like the minimal writing on the front of the '85 Topps all star card on the right, no need to clutter up the card with fancy logos and such.  I wonder if that's Damaso Garcia or Tony Fernandez in the background photo bombing the card.

Middle row:  87 through 90

Had to include at least one Canadian issued card on the page, so the '87 OPC on the left does the trick.  I was never a big fan of the Classic releases, and misspelling his last name doesn't help matters any.  2 decades ago, you couldn't attach a pole vault pole to a javelin and still get me to touch a Donruss Studio card.  Over the years, the photography grew on me, and I appreciate them now a lot more than I ever thought I would.

Bottom row:  Later on in life

For a guy that was known for so many close calls when it comes to no-hitters, it was only fitting that the No-Hit Club card from Score '91 be on this page.  The Upper Deck checklist art has always been a favorite of mine, and the '92 UD that features Stieb in the Skydome with the CN Tower in the background is a classic for me.  The '93 Topps in the dark blues....you know how I feel about that particular jersey.

I managed to even make the page chronological.  Sometimes I surprise myself. 

I also find that it's easier to discuss cards from the mid 80's to mid 90's era.  I'm not sure why that is, but I just feel more comfortable discussing how I feel about each release.   Maybe it's because that was a time where I was really in tune with collecting, and the cards bring back a lot of memories for me.

thanks for reading, Robert

One more test run

After some comments from last night's post, I decided to try another post in preparation for the '59 set build.

This time, I decided to grab a rookie cup card from the '62 Topps set to feature.

1962 Topps #154  Lee Thomas

Career beginnings:

Signed as a free agent by the New York Yankees in 1954, the Angels acquired Thomas in a five player trade on 5/8/61 (according to baseball reference).  The back of Thomas' card states that the trade was a 6 player trade.

Awards/League Leaders/Titles:

• finished 3rd in rookie of the year voting in 1961
• was an All Star in 1962; also received MVP votes in both '61 and '62
• did not lead in any offensive statistical category during his 8 year career
• Thomas was director of player development for the Cardinals during their success in the 80's, and was part of their World Series championship management team in 1987.
• Voted Sporting News executive of the year in '93 as a member of the Phillies organization.

Military service:  None that I could find.

Career Line:  .255 average, 847 hits, 106 HR, 428 RBI in 8 seasons

Loved to face:  Ralph Terry (20/48, .417 average, 4HR, 11 RBI)
Hated to face:  Jim Kaat  (6/45, .133 average, 14 Ks)

How did he do in 1962? 

• .290 average, 26 HR, 104 RBI.   All 3 categories were career highs for a season.  The Angels were 86-76 that year, 76-70 in games that he started.
• Had a 5 hit game on 5/6/62, driving in 4 runs and scoring twice during a 15-7 win over the Orioles.
• His longest hitting streak was 13 games, and his longest on base streak was 34 games.
• Had a home batting average of .330

Lee had the nickname "Mad Dog", because of his temper.  He was the GM of the Phillies during their '93 World Series loss to the Blue Jays (yes, I had to get that in), but this story that I found shows that he could foresee the future.  During game 6 of the Series, the Phillies were up 6-5, and Lee Thomas turned to his wife and told her he wanted to leave.   She was confused as to why.  Lee knew what was coming, and couldn't bear to watch as Joe Carter hit a 3 run HR to win the series. 

To be honest, I had no idea who Lee Thomas was before today.   A little bit of research, and a baseball card, and I learned quite a bit.

I think I'm going to enjoy this....

thanks for reading, Robert

A practice run

In an attempt to start getting ready for my '59 Topps set build, I decided to do a test run today.   But instead of using a card from the '59 set, I decided to take a quick look at one of the '72 Topps cards I received today from Marcus at the all the way to the backstop blog.   The '72 set is something I want to put together, but right now is behind a few other sets that I am working on.

I plan on using this post as a way to generate ideas for the '59 Topps posts.  A practice run if you will.

Let's see how this goes....


1972 Topps Clay Kirby # 173

Career beginnings:  Drafted in the 3rd round of the 1966 amateur draft.  The Padres made him their 12th pick in the 1968 expansion draft.

Awards/League Leader/Titles: 

• Clay won no individual awards during his 7 year career.  
• He led the NL with 20 losses in 1969.   
• Clay was also one of 6 starters on the 1975 Cincinnati Reds team that won the World Series; however he did not appear in either the NLCS against the Pirates, or the World Series against the Red Sox.

Clay Kirby passed away in 1991 at the age of 43 from a heart attack.

The Padres lost his no hitter in the 9th, and the game, 3-1.

Career Line:  75-104, 3.84 ERA, 1.384 WHIP

Loved to face (career, min 20PA):  Garry Maddox--2 for 26 with 7 K's (.077)
Hated to face (career, min 20PA):  Davey Lopes--12 for 26 (.462)

How did he fare in 1972?  

• 12-14 with a 3.13 ERA for a Padres team that went 58-95.  
• On June 7th, Clay pitched the 2nd game of a doubleheader against the Pirates, going 13 innings (imagine that happening in today's game!!), and lost 1-0. That start was one of 4 (!) times that he pitched 10 innings or more during the '72 season.  My arm started to hurt just thinking about that. 

I found this auction on eBay; the cheapest card up for sale was $1.25 including shipping.

After previewing this post, I can see that some tweaks need to be made.  I'm pretty sure that the length of these posts will also vary, based on the player (star players like Mantle will have longer posts, while guys that didn't play as much will likely be a much quicker read...).

I welcome suggestions from anyone out there.  I'm sure that others may want to see things that I may not have thought about here, and those who have experience writing about sets likely will have thoughts that will be beneficial to me.

Marcus, thank you for the PWE that you sent today, the cards were really appreciated!

thanks for reading, Robert