1963 Topps Project - This is a big one.

It's been awhile since I did a 1963 Topps Project post.  And that's because I hadn't acquired any new 63's in a while.  So on a slow day I was pursuing what ebay had to offer and ended up picking up a lot of LA Angels  in EXMT condition for under a buck a card delivered.  And then I got a bug up my butt and decided to look at picking up one of the bigger cards in the set and one of my favorite players of all time.  

#390 "Hammerin" Hank Aaron

What's not to love about a vintage Hank Aaron card.  Hank entered the Hall of Fame in 1982 with 98% of the vote.  Hank amassed 755 home runs, 3771 hits, 2297 RBIs, and had  life time batting average of .305!

Hank was a 21 time all-star, almost every year he played, won a World Series Ring in 1957,  3 time Gold Glove winner, 2 time batting champion, 4 time home run champion, was the 1957 NL MVP, and had 17 consecutive seasons with 150 hits or more.  Whew.

Sure the card is off center and the corners aren't razor sharp. This is still a high grade copy of a living legend, and I got it for a steal.  A great addition to the set and to my collection as a whole.

Wheeeeeeee!

1963 Topps Baseball Project - Law, Landrith, and Pascual

Ah, while the card bloggosphere is abuzz with breaks of this years Bowman release. I've decided to abstain from Bowman. Except for getting my team set, I don't plan on buying any at all.  No boxes, packs, no value blasters, nothing if I can help it. So I'm going to post some more vintage in another installment of the 1963 Topps Project.

First up we have Vern "The Deacon" Law. I'm not sure if it was more common in the 50's and 60's, but Vern was a franchise player for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Playing all 16 of his years with the team.  1960 was the big year for Vern. He earned an All-Star appearance, the Cy Young, and took home a World Series ring. After baseball Vern went on to coach with the Pirates for two years before taking an assistant coach position with Brigham Young University for 10 years.  He also went over to Japan to coach for Seibu Lions for 3 years. And I don't know how current the information is, but Vern was coaching the Provo High School baseball team.  Vern is a spry 82.

#209 Hobart "Hobie" Landrith

Where Vern Law was the model of the Franchise Player, Hobie is the model of the opposite. Hobie spent much of his career in the back ground as the second or third string catcher. In 1949 Hobie signed with the Reds and got his first start in a couple games in 1950. The rest of his time with the reds he was up and down  from the Majors. He was traded to the Cubs in late 1955 where he won the starting catcher position and played the most games in one season he ever would with 111. He was traded to the Cardinals in late 1956 and would compete for starting catcher both years he was there before being traded to the Giants in late 1958. Then in 1959 Hobie worked his way up to starting catcher for the Giants. He would go on to play 2 more years with the Giants before the Mets took him as their first pick in the 1961 expansion draft. And would be slated as their starter, but got hit by a bat in Spring Training and the Mets ended up using 7 different catchers their first season. In June of 1962 Landrith was sold to Baltimore.  He eventually sold to the Senators a year later and that's where he would retire from playing baseball, but returned the next year in 1964 to coach with the team.  After baseball Landrith went on to be the director of sales for over 45 VW auto dealerships.  He's still kicking at the ripe old age of 82.

And last up we have #220 Camilo "Little Potato" Pascual.

Pascual had a nice long career. Starting out with the Washington Senators and then moving with the team to Minnesota and became the Twins from 1954 to 1966.  Later he would play for the second Senators team.

Between 1959 and 1964 Camilo would win at least 12 games a season and Ted Williams even commented on how devastating his curve ball was. Camilo would end up being a 7 time All-Star. In 1966 Camilo was traded to the new Washington Senators where he would play for two years before playing for the Reds, Dodgers and Indians a year each till he retired in 1971.  After retiring Pascual was the pitching coach for the Twin for a couple of years, but then started scouting for Oakland A's and New York Mets. From what I could find he is still scouting Venezuela for the Dodgers.  Camilo is the scout who signed Jose Canseco. Camilo is 78.

1963 Topps Baseball Project - Rojas, Leppert, and Linz

Been a while since I had project post so here are a few more '63's from the collection.

#221 Octavio Victor "Cookie" Rojas

Cookie came up through the Reds minor league system getting his first Major League at bats in April of 1962.  After the '62 season he was traded to the Phillies, hence the great airbrushing on this card.  Cookie would go on to play 7 seasons with the Phillies before being traded to the Cardinals in 1970 who then traded him to the Royals.  And it would be in Kansas City that Cookie found his home.  Making 4 consecutive All-star appearances as a Royal in 1971, 1972, 1973, and 1974 and added stability to the young team. Cookie was released by the team in 1977, signed with the Cubs for the 1978 season, but never played and finally retired.  He went on to manage a few years. In 1988 he managed the Angels and in 1996 managed one game for the Marlins.  Cookie is currently the Marlins Spanish language announcer at the ripe old age of 73.

#243 Don Leppert

Don's Major League career was a short one.  He only played 4 seasons up in the Bigs. Playing 2 years for the Pirates in 1961 and 1962 and then two years with the Senators in 63 and 64.

He did go on to a much more prolific coaching career. Coaching Pirates, Blue Jays and Astros from 1968 to 1985 and managed in the Twins minor league system.  Don's still around and he's 80.

#264 Phil Linz

Phil played for the Yankees from 1962 to 1965, and then went onto Phillies and the Mets for two years each.  Not an incredibly great player he's best known for an altercation on the Yankees team bus that let to Yogi Berra getting fired at the end of the 1964 season and is partially blamed for the Yankees losing the 1964 World Series do to his ineffectiveness at shortstop for the Series.  Phil is also still around at 72.

1963 Topps Project Hubbs, Smith, and Duren

I just realized it's been awhile since I update the 1963 Topps Project.  I haven't bought any if a few months but I still have quite a few to post about.  Here are three low numbers in order for you.

#15 Ken Hubbs.  Kens story is tragic.  Ken signed as an amateur free agent in 1959 with the Cubs.  He proceeded to play in the minor league ranks until 1961 when he was called up to help out at second base.  After Zimmer was drafted in the expansion draft and Jerry Kindall traded away the starting second base job was Hubbs.  While not a spectacular hitter Ken was honored with the Golden Glove award and Rookie of the Year in 1962.  Ken had a fear of flying and to confront that fear he started taking pilots lessons and eventually got his pilots license.  Sadly Ken was killed in a plane crash in February of 1964 when the plane he was flying never made it to his destination, he was 22.

#16 Al Smith.  Al Smith was a two time All-Star that played with the Indians, White Sox, Orioles, and Red Sox.  Al was actually traded in 1963 to the Orioles with Luis Aparicio.   Al's best year statistically was 1955, but the year before he was crucial in helping take the Indians to the World Series, unfortunately the Giants swept the series. Al's final year was 1964 where he divided his playing time between Boston and Cleveland.  After baseball Al went on to be supervisor of parks for Chicago.  Al past way in early 2002 at the age of 73

#17 Ryne Duren.  Cool fact about Ryne Duren, the character Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn (Charlie Sheen) from the movie Major League as inspired by him.  Ryne was know for his blazing fast ball and huge thick glasses.  In Ryne's 11 years in the Majors, he played for 8 different teams, never staying one place longer than 2 years before he was traded.  While featured here in a Angels jersey, Duren actually played with the Phillies in 1963. Ryne was named an All-Star 4 times and help the 1958 Yankees win the World Series.  Ryne Sandberg is also named in honor of Duren.  Duren pasted away in early 2011 at the age of 81.

1963 Topps Baseball Project - Sisler, Rudolph, and Carreon

It must be tough having a dad who's in the Hall of Fame.  That's a tough act to follow.  Dave's dad was of course George Sisler.  Dave came from a baseball family with both of his brothers involved at some level of the game.  Dave's old brother Dick was a outfielder/ first baseman in the 40's and 50's for a handful of teams and his much older brother, George Jr., was a manger in the minor league system.  Dave started his career with the Red Sox and while solid was not really all that spectacular and was traded to Detroit in 1959.  He had some good fortune with the Tigers, and was selected by the Senator's in the 1960 expansion draft. Dave was fairly solid the first half of the 1960 season, but his productivity quickly dropped off and he was dealt to the Reds in Nov of 1961.  Reuniting Dave with his brother Dick who was the first base coach.  Dave didn't have a great season and though he was signed through the 1963 season was sent down to the minors where he finished his career.  After baseball Dave went on to become an executive with the investment firm AG Edwards.  Dave pasted away early in 2011 from prostate cancer at the age of 79.

Don broke into baseball in 1950 playing for D level Jesup in the Georgia State League.  And was called up from time to time.  Spending most of his time in the minor league system before 1962 when he was added to the regular rotation for the Senator's.  Don retired from baseball in 1966 feeling misused and underappreciated.  Don is probably better known for marrying burlesque star Patti Waggin.  Sadly Don was killed in a truck accident in 1968 at the age of 37.

Cam was a California native who started out in the D and C level Minors, but quickly worked his way up to AAA and in 1962 a starting catching job with the White Sox.  In 1964 he tore tendons in his right arm and was put on the DL.  In 1965 he was traded to Indians and then in 1966 to the Orioles.  After the '66 season Cam played in the minors for a few more years till 1967 and then retired to Tucson. But when the Tucson Toros joined the Pacific Coast League Carreon came out of retirement for the 1969 season to help with catching duties and then went on to coach till the 1972 season.  Cam passed away in 1987 from a fight with cancer at the age of 50.  Cam's son Mark went on to play in the major league as well.

1963 Topps Baseball Project - Fernandez, Brown, and Rigney

#278  Humberto "Chico" Fernandez Perez..  Chico started his major league career with the Dodgers in Brooklyn, but with Pee Wee Reese at shortstop had no shot at being a regular starter. In 1957, he was traded to the Phillies for 5 players and a butt load of cash.  Chico became the Phillies regular shortstop for 2 seasons, until he was traded to the Tigers in 1959.  1963 would be Chico's last year as a Tiger as he was traded to Mets in May of that year.  He only played 58 games for the Mets till he was traded to the White Sox, but never ended up playing a game for the Sox.  He finished his career in Japan playing for the Hanshin Tigers.  Chico is still kicking at the ripe old age of 79.

#289 Hal "Skinny" Brown.  Hal broke into the Majors with the White Sox in 1951, moving to Boston in 1953, being traded to the Orioles in 1955, where he would play the bulk of his career.  1960 was his best year finishing 12-5 with 36 shut out innings. In 1962 he was traded to the Yankees, who's uniform he's featured in here in 1963, but his stay in New York was short and ended up being sold to Houston at the end of the 1962 season.  He would finish he's 14 year career with the Colt .45's in 1964.

Hal's still around at the age of 87.

#294 - Bill Rigney.  Bill had a 26 year career in the  Majors as both a player and a manager.  As a player Bill played his whole career with the New York Giants. Bill would go on to Manage the Giants from 1956 to 1960.  He then went on to manage the Angels from 1961 to 1969.  Bill was fired from the Angels in early 1969 and went to San Fransico to join the Giants broadcast team. In 1970 Bill was in Minnesota and would take the Twins to the AL West Chamionship.  We as replaced in 1972.  Bill went onto to scout for the Padres and Angels in 1973 and 1974 before returning for one final managial stint with the Giants in 1976.  In the 80's Bill was a front office consultant and TV and radio announcer for the Oakland A's.  Bill passed away in 2001 at the ripe old age of 83.

1963 Topps Baseball Project - Terry, Hall, and Willey

Sounds like a law firm in the title.  Back with another three commons from the 1963 Topps set I'm slowly building.

First up # 315 Ralph Terry

1962 was by far Ralph's best year in baseball.  He won the World Series MVP title, the Babe Ruth award and was selected an All-Star.  Of course Ralph is also remembered for giving up the game winning home run to Bill Mazeroski in the 1960 World Series.  And in 1963 the Yankees got swept by the Dodgers.  But Ralph had a pretty good career.  After his final year in New York, 1964,  Ralph bounced around the league with the Indians, Athletics, and finished his career back in New York, but with the Mets.  After retiring from baseball Ralph went on to play professional golf into the late 1980's.  He's still around at the ripe old age of 76.

Next up a nice number for those of you who are into those things.  #526 Dick Hall.

Dick broke into the Major with the Pirates in the mid 50's but it was with the Orioles that he had his most success. Dick helped the Orioles take the 1966 and 1970 World Series'.  Dick ended his career as an Oriole but also made stops in Kansas City and Philadelphia.  He ended with a record of 93-75, with 741 strikeouts, and 68 saves.  Dick also got the distinction of being the oldest active player in the American League for both 1970 and 1971. Dick's still around too at the grand old age of 81.  

Another high number from one of my first lots I won, #528 Carl Willey.

Willey came up through the Braves minor league system and just missed getting in on the Braves 1957 World Series win being called up in 1958, but did pitch one inning in the 1958 rematch that the Yankees won. In 1963 Carl was traded to the Mets, it's nice that he didn't have a hat on so Topps didn't have to try and air brush the Mets logo on it, but from the photo you can tell he's in a Braves uniform.  After a few years with the Mets Willey retired in 1965.  After baseball he did some scouting for the Phillies and returned home to Cherryfield, Maine.  Willey passed away in 2009 from lung cancer.  

1963 Topps Baseball Project - Old Blue Eyes makes another appearance and Gil Hodges

Nothing I like more than crossing a card off the checklist of two greats.  Here we get a card of Duke in his Dodger's uni and Gil in his Mets. 

1963 would be Gil's last year as an active player. After 11 games with the Mets he was traded to the Senator's and replaced Mickey Vernon as Manager.  He managed the Senator's till 1967 and in 1968 was back managing the Mets. In 1969 he took the Mets to the World Series and won, beating the Orioles, who were heavy favorites, in 5 games.  Gil passed away in 1972 at the height of his managing from a heart attack while playing golf at the age of only 47.

1963 Topps Baseball Project - High-numbered Rookie Goodness

#549 Rookie Stars - Lopez, Lovrich, Plaskett, and Ratliff.

Ever since I decided to try and slowly put together this set it's given me new ambition to troll eBay for the good deals.  This bad boy was one of those good deals.  The seller actually had a couple 63 pick auctions going on.  I missed out on the low numbered common pick 8 auction, but ended up winning his pick 1 high number common auction.  After looking through what he had to offer I settled on this one for a couple of reasons.  One it's slightly more valuable that the other high numbered commons.  Two you get 4 for the price of 1. And three, well there was no three.  He also offered that you could pick as many more from the list as you wanted for 6 bucks a card with no extra shipping.  Seems like a deal.  All the card were suppose to be EXMT to NRMT in grade and that's over half price.  But my winning bid for this bad boy was .99 plus 3.00 bucks shipping.  Hmm now 6 bucks a card seems a little high.  Needless to say I didn't take him up on the offer.  

Let's start my Marcelino Lopez.  Lopez played 10 years in the majors and only appeared in 4 major league games with the Phillies in 1963 before being sent back down to the Minors where he spent all of 1964 before being traded to the Angels in 1965.  In 1965 he finished second in the rookie of the year balloting.  Lopez only threw nine innings in 1967 before he was out with a shoulder injury and then was traded to the Orioles.  Lopez would get a World Series ring with the 1970 Orioles team and made a very brief appearance in game 2 to face Bobby Tolan.  In 1971 he was traded to the Brewers where he started as a reliever, but eventually moved up to starter.  Lopez finished his career with the Indians making just 4 appearances in September 1972 before being passed around in the minor leagues between 3 different team's systems.  Lopez passed away in 2001 at the age of 58.

Pete Lovrich career was short and well short. Here only appeared in 20 games for the Athletics and ended his major league career 1-1. He played a few years down in the minors, but as far as I can tell was out of baseball by 1965.  And 1963 was the only year he was up in the Bigs.  

Elmo Plaskett equally had a short stint in the Majors, but played quite a bit in the minors. Starting his career in 1957 with Pittsburgh's D level teams.  Elmo made 7 appearances for the Pirates in 1962 and another 10 in 1963.  And then went back down to the minors where he stayed till he retired in 1969 in the Athletics system.

Elmo passed away in 1998 at the age of 60 in home on the US Virgin Islands.

And finally we get to Paul Ratliff. Ratliff made the opening day roster in 1963 at the ripe old age of 19, but only played in 10 games before being demoted back to the minors where he would stay till 1970.  In 1971 he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers and appeared in only 45 games total his 2 years in Milwaukee, then in July of '72 was traded to the Angels where he would finish his career in their PCL minor league team.  Paul is still around at the ripe old age of 68.

1963 Topps Baseball Project - The Senator's Athletic Tiger!!!

Chuck didn't have all that long of a Major League career as a player.  He started out with the Braves in 1959 then was traded to the Tigers and then to the Senators in 1961. Stayed with the Senators till 1965.  He played in Hawaii and Seattle PCL from 1966 to 1968 when he was picked up by the Angels and finished his career there in 1969 after he suffered an Achillies tendon injury.  After playing Chuck helped out in the dug out as a coach for the Mets and Mariners and then in 1984 took over as General Manger of the Mariners for a couple of years.  He didn't fair so well and was fired in early 1986 after the first 28 games and the Mariners in last place with a record of 9 - 19. After Seattle Chuck coached with the Mets, Orioles and Phillies.  He is currently a special assistant to the general manager of the Washington Nationals at the age of 76.

Speaking of short careers in the Majors.  Mike started out with the Boston Braves organization in 1952, but after the Braves moved to Milwaukee in 1953 Mike never got any playing time wallowing in the minors. He was traded to the Tigers in 1959 and toiled in the minors till 1961 when the Tigers called him up to the big leagues. In his 4 seasons in the majors Mike was always the second string catcher, being used mostly for bull pen duty.  After the 1964 season Mike became the bullpen coach for the Tigers and then the Angels till 1969. Then returned to the Tigers in 1970 as a pitching coach. From 71 to 77 Mike worked as a Minor League manager and pitching instructor until coming back into the majors for the Cubs as a pitching coach.  He also worked with the Cardinals, Padres, and Red Sox until he retire after the 1994 strike-shortened season. Mike is still around at the ripe old age of 81.

I couldn't find too much information on Bill here.  He played 6 years with the Athletics and then went on to play two years with the Yankees and his last year with the Senators in 1968.  He had much better minor league career but finished his major league career with only a .216 Batting Average, 41 home runs most coming in his 64 and 65 seasons and 125 RBI's.  Bill's is also still with us, somewhere, at 73 years young.

Not a 2012 Topps post a 1963 Topps Baseball Project post

Well it looks like the only thing we're going to be talking about for a while is 2012 Topps. And I guess rightfully so.  Football is almost over and for the most part not too much going on in Hockey or Basketball, neither of which I blog that much about anyways.  And I will have plenty to say in the next few days when I finally get my grubby hands on some sweet, sweet new baseball. Until then we'll continue with my ongoing 1963 Topps Baseball set series.  Enjoy a non 2012 post while you can.

First up is a few new guys I got in the mail a few days ago.

#44 Terry Fox

Terry started his big league career with the Braves, but only appeared in 5 games.  He was traded in a big deal with the Tigers the next year and that's were Terry would spend most of his short 7 years in the majors. Terry would be the Tigers main closer for two years and had a very good first two years with the Tigers.  1963 wasn't nearly as good, but he still managed 11 saves.1966 would be it for Terry as he posted a career high 6.30 ERA and was released and then signed with the Phillies were it didn't get much better and at the end of the 1966 season Terry was done.  Terry's still around at the ripe old age of 76.

You might not realize it by looking at him but Bill "Moose" Skowron has 5 World Series rings to his name.  Four with the Yankees and one with the Dodgers.  As a matter of fact his 1963 stint with the Dodgers is the only year he played in the National League and help the Dodgers win it all in 1963 against his old team.  Not only did the Dodgers win the World Series in 1963, but they swept the Yankees. Bill was bought by the Senator's in 1964 and traded to the White Sox later that year. He played a couple of years with the Sox and then was traded to the Angels in 1967, where he finished his career. This 8 time all-star is still around at 81 and lives in Schaumburg, Illinois.

Manny Jimenez was brought up from the Mexican Leagues by the Braves in 1957 and then traded to the KC Athletics in 1962.  As the story goes Manny was having a hell of rookie season when the Athletics owner, Charles O'Finley had a talk with Manny about hitting for homers instead of hitting for average.   Manny went into a two month slump and lost 30 points on his batting average.  After his rookie season he ended up splitting time in Triple-A and the majors the rest of his career. In 1967, Manny went to the Pirates and ended his career in 1969 with the Cubs.