Cardinals Team Trio #242 #218 #468

The 1960 Cardinals finished third in the NL behind the Pirates. They were in the second division (now, there's a term that dates me) for the first half of the season and then climbed as high as second, three games back, on August 12. That was the middle of a four-game series in Pittsburgh in which they'd won the first two. Then the Bucs came back to win the next two and the Cards dropped back, never to be that close again.

They were led by Ken Boyer who was more-or-less a one-man wrecking crew. He led the team in almost all offensive categories. Many by a significant margin. He was even third on the team in steals.

This was before Bob Gibson became Bob Gibson and the Cards' staff was anchored by 18-game winner Larry Jackson. Ernie Broglio won 21 games while appearing in 52, starting 24 and relieving in the rest. It was a different game back then. Lindy McDaniel was the team's closer.

Partially checked checklist back. I have no problem with checked checklists.

From my 5 Tool blog: Solly was in the second of three years (2.5 actually) as Cardinals' manager. A long time Cardinal, he had returned to St. Louis from a stint with the Phils and gave the role of player/manager a shot in 1959. He didn't play much, just getting 26 at-bats, but after finishing in 7th place he came back in 1960 solely as the skipper. His team finished third. He was let go as manager mid-way through 1961 with the Cards in fifth.

In his 1960 card, he props himself on the railing and gazes off into the middle distance. He's probably hoping Stan Musial will play a few more years.

Topps with the nice cartoon back as usual. Hemus is yelling at himself in his previous player-manager role. Clever.

The coaches' card has a couple of future managers and a couple of former Cardinals players.

Howie Pollet was the ace of the '46 Cardinals World Series-winning club. He also won a ring as the pitching coach for the '64 Cards. Harry Walker was the 1947 NL batting champ. He played for eleven seasons in the NL for the cards and three other clubs. He had managed the Cards for part of the 1955 season prior to being on the staff for this card. He later managed the Pirates and Astros as well as serving as UAB's first head baseball coach.

Johnny Keane never played in the majors thanks in no small part to a serious head injury he suffered as a player in the Cards' chain in 1935. He was on the club's staff as a coach beginning in 1959 and took over as manager midway through 1961. He put together back-to-back 93-win seasons on 1963/64, culminating in a World Series title. For that, he was shown the door but landed in New York as the Yankees manager. He was replacing his Series opposite, Yogi Berra, who was similarly fired after a pennant.

Ray Katt was a backup catcher for the cards and Giants throughout the 1950s. Despite what the card blub claims, Katt played in 15 games in 1959. He was a player/coach in that final year. Katt, a Texas native, went back to Texas in the early 60s and coached high school ball then became an acclaimed college coach over 22 years at Texas Lutheran.

Indians Team Trio #174 #216 #460

 The Indians finished fourth in the AL, a couple games under .500. 21 games behind the pennant-winning Yankees, and never really a factor. They had the youngest pitching staff in the league and that crew issued the most walks and gave up the most homers of the eight clubs. Not a recipe for success. Only Jim Perry had more than 8 wins (he had 18) and Johnny Klippstein was the closer. Don Newcombe, whose career was about to end was the elder statesman. I was surprised to see him on the roster. I never think of him with this club.

Their hitters combined for the second-best batting average and collected the most hits of any AL team but finished fifth in runs scored. When Woody Held leads your club in homers and WAR it's time to re-think your approach. They had traded Rocky Colavito before the season for Harvey Kuenn, a HIGHLY unpopular trade. They missed him.

Again I 'cheaped out' with a marked checklist. I live life with no regrets.

Joe Gordon had a Hall of Fame playing career but never approached that as a manager. In 1960 he was in his third season of managing the Indians. He had led them to a second-place finish in '59 but the team was headed nowhere 95 games into the year when he was traded(!!) to the Tigers for their manager, Jimmy Dykes. The backstory can be found here, among a dozen other sites.

For those interested, Gordon nor Dykes had any success in their new dugouts that year. Dykes, at least, got rehired in Cleveland, although he was canned during the following year.  Gordon was let go by the Tigers and landed in Kansas City where he was fired a couple of months into the '61 season. I hope he hadn't signed long-term leases anywhere.

Mel Harder was an outstanding pitcher for the Indians through the 30s and well into the 40s. He also was never beaten as a manager. He was 3-0 over two interim gigs in 1961 and '62. Bob Lemon followed Harder into Cleveland and won 207 games on the way to a Hall of Fame nod. He managed the Royals, White Sox, and Yankees between 1970 and 1981. His Yankees club won the 1978 World Series. 

Red Kress was a solid hitting infielder for several AL clubs from 1927 through the beginning of WWII. He had three 100+ RBI seasons. He coached for many years after his playing days and for a while had hopes of a comeback as a pitcher. Kress actually got into a game on the mound for the Giants in 1946. Jo-Jo White was an outfielder for several clubs in the 30s and 40s. He was a long-time coach and minor league player and manager. Interestingly he went to the Tigers with Joe Gordon when the trade for Jimmy Dykes occurred. Luke Appling, who had coached for Dykes, came over to Cleveland. So the trade actually was a swap of managers AND coaches.

Dodger Team Trio #18, #212 and #463

Los Angeles Dodgers Team Card #18

The 1960 Dodgers were, of course, the defending World Series champs. As so many teams do, they found it tough to repeat and they finished fourth, 13 games behind the Pirates. They again had plenty of pitching but were mid-pack in most important hitting categories.

Sandy Koufax was still a season away from blossoming into the most dominant lefty of his generation. Don Drysdale anchored the staff and his 15-14 mark is a result of the weak Dodgers attack more than anything he did. He had sterling numbers. Frank Howard won the Rookie of the Year award and led the team with 23 homers.  Maury Wills led the league with 50 steals. It was the first of six consecutive seasons he'd be the NL theft leader.

Obviously, the card is marked on the back. I have no issue with marked checklists.


Manager Walt Alston Card #212

I have already posted this Alston card over on my Five Tool Collector blog. Here what I said:

Alston has one at bat in the majors. One. On September 27th of 1936, as a member of the Cardinals, Alston entered the game at first base after Frankie Frisch pinch hit for the ejected Johnny Mize. He came up to bat later and fanned. Made and error at first as well. Never saw the field in a major league game again, as a player at least.

 That didn't deter him from having a standout Hall of Fame career in the Dodgers' dugouts in Brooklyn and Los Angeles. He took over the Dodgers from Charlie Dressen in 1954 and held the job for 23 seasons. His clubs won for World Series' titles and seven NL pennants. he managed 3658 games and won 2040 for a '558 winning percentage. Only four times out of those 23 seasons did the Dodgers finish in the second division of the NL.

The serious and studious looking Alston never signed more than a one year contract as manager of the Dodgers. As always he appears on his card looking like your favorite old uncle. 

It was pointed out in a comment that the card back has an error. The cartoon on the upper right has the dates incorrect. They should read '58 and '59. 

L.A. Dodgers Coaches  Card #463

Of the four coaches pictured Bobby Bragan is the biggest name although Pete Reiser was probably the best known at the time. He was a Dodger outfielder through the 40s known for crashing into outfield walls. 

Bragan managed the Pirates, Indians and most notably, the Braves from the mid-50s through mid-60s. He never won a pennant but spent a lifetime in the game and both Wills and Hank Aaron give him credit for improving their careers.

Greg Mulleavy had a brief big league career with the Red Sox and White Sox in the 30s and then was a coach and scout for the rest of his life. Joe Becker was a catcher who, according to Wikipedia is "a member of the relatively small fraternity of former catchers who became celebrated throughout baseball as a pitching coach (which included men such as Ray Berres, Dave Duncan, Rube Walker and Mike Roarke), Becker coached for four NL championship Dodger clubs, including the 1955, 1959 and 1963 world champions."

#537 Boston Red Sox #220 Billy Jurges #456 Red Sox Coaches

In 1960: Boston finished in 7th in 1960. They were in the throes of a downhill slide after finishing third in both '57 and '58. They slid steadily towards a ninth place finish in 1966 before bouncing back in the 'Impossible Dream' season, 1967.

In '60 the Sox were middle of the pack in most hitting categories but sat at the bottom when it came to pitching. Ted Williams was playing his final season and even at the age of 41 he led the club with 29 homers and his .316 average was just behind Pete Runnels' .320 mark. Vic Wertz drove in a team high 103 runs.

Bill Monbouquette anchored the starting rotation and went 14-11 with a 3.64 ERA and a 1.326 WHIP. Mike Fornieles closed for the club and had 10 wins and 13 saves and the best ERA (2.64) of anyone on the staff.

The Card: High number card that carried a slight premium despite the rough condition it was in. This is one of the last dozen or so cards that was on my wantlist. The soft corners are sort of balanced out by it having an unmarked back.

Manager's Card: Billy Jurges

Career: Billy Jurges only managed 122 games for the Red Sox in 1959/1960. He was at the helm for the last 80 games in 1959 and got the team into fifth place after taking the reins with them in the basement. But he lasted until June 7th in 1960 before being fired after a 12-3 home loss to the Indians. Overall he had a record of 59-63. This stint with Boston was his only managing job in the bigs but he coached and scouted for decades.

He was a three time All Star for the Cubs and Giants during a solid 17 year playing career.

The Card: It's way off center in both directions but even so it's one of the best cards in the subset. I love his 'foot up on the batting cage' pose.

Coaches Card: Rudy York was a seven time AL All Star who led the league in homers and RBI in 1943. Billy Herman was a ten time NL All Star second baseman with Brooklyn and Chicago among others. Three times he finished fourth or better in the MVP voting. Del baker spent fifty years in baseball. Along the way he managed the Tigers to the 1940 pennant. He retired at the end of the 1960 season so his last day in uniform was also Ted Williams' last day. Sal "The Barber" Maglie had a long and colorful career on the mound and as a coach. My post of his 1959 Topps card has links to SABR and other places well worth checking out.

#164 Cincinnati Reds, #219 Fred Hutchinson and #459 Reds' Coaches

In 1960: With the 'McCarthy Era' over the 'Red Legs' returned to being just the 'Reds' in 1960. But they were still a year away from their 1961 NL pennant run. The '60 Reds finished 6th, twenty games under .500 and 28 games behind the first place Pirates.

Frank Robinson and Vada Pinson formed a pretty serious 1-2 punch in the batting order and they ranked among the leaders in numerous hitting categories. Pitching was a problem. Bob Purkey won 17 for this mediocre club and the Jim Brosnan/Bill Henry duo had a good year out of the bullpen but the rest of the staff was sub-par.

The Card: Soft and dirty, not a good combo for a team or a team card. The 2nd Series checklist graces the reverse and except for the Yaz rookie there isn't a lot of 'star power' there.

Manager Card: Fred Hutchinson

Career: From my post on this card at Five Tool Collector..."Hutch" as he was called began his baseball life as a sensational 19 year old pitcher with the PCL Raniers in his hometown of Seattle. He won 25 games that first season and was named as Minor League Player of the Year by the Sporting News. After that his contract was purchased by the Detroit Tigers and Hutch got a pair of brief looks at the majors and he had another fine minor league season in 1941. But the Uncle Sam called and he spent four full years in the U.S. Navy.

Once back in civilian life in 1946  Hutch ran off a string of major league seasons with the Tigers that saw him rank near the top of several pitching categories. He went 87-57 between 1946 and 1951. He faded quickly as an effective pitcher but not as a leader and the Tigers named him manager in mid 1952 and he continued as a playing manager through '53. He managed another season before he was let go and he returned to Seattle to manage the Raniers to a 95 win season.

He was hired to manage the Cardinals and held that spot through 1958. He again managed the Raniers for a season before the Reds hired him to finish out the 1959 season. In 1961 he led the Reds to the national League pennant and a World Series match-up against the Yankees. The Yanks won it in five games. Hutch remained at the helm of the Reds until 1964. It was during that season the he was diagnosed with lung cancer that had spread to his head and neck. He left the club in July, returned for a week or so and then left for good, too ill to work. He died that winter.

The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center was founded by his brother Dr. Bill Hutchinson and is now one of the top facilities of it's kind. You can read more about Hutch on these two pages on the facilities' excellent site..... this page is an excellent bio of the late manager and this page discusses the Hutch Award given each year by MLB..

The Card: This is one of the better conditioned of the managers subset in my collection. As always, the cartoons make the card.

Coaches Card: The card back itself gives nice little bios of each of the three coaches. Of the three I was unfamiliar with Reggie Otero. Here is an entry with a short write up about him on the Cuba Beisbol blog.

The Card: Floating coaches heads!!

#494 Orioles Team, #224 Paul Richards & #455 Orioles Coaches

I've decided that since I've already posted the 1960 Managers cards on my regular blog I wouldn't repeat them here. But rather I'll 'piggyback' them with the team card and the Coaches card as well. Sort of a team trifecta. 

In 1960: After finishing no higher than 5th since moving from St. Louis in 1954 the Orioles flew to a second place finish in 1960. They were in 1st place in the AL on September 14 but then the bottom fell out and they slid to a finish 8 games behind the Yankees.

At the plate the Orioles were led in batting average by Brooks Robinson (.294), in RBI by Jim Gentile (98), and in homers by Ron Hansen....yes, Ron Hansen (22).

The pitching staff was led by a group of promising young guys including Steve Barber, Milt Pappas, Chuck Estrada and Jack Fisher. They were complimented by vets Hoyt Wilhelm and Hal Brown.


The Card: I had acquired all the Orioles related cards in this set many years ago. The large lot purchase I made to kick off my race to collect the whole thing brought me about 10 or 12, two or three of which were good enough to be upgrades over what I had. This team card was one of those. Not that the corners were any better but my original one had a badly marked checklist.

I'm fine with the condition of this one overall. I like that the orange reflects the O's colors. I wish team trainers still wore those white caps like they did way back.

Manager Card: Paul Richards

Career: Paul Richards managed the Orioles from 1955 to 1961. Before that he was a catcher with the Dodgers (1932), Giants (1933–35), Philadelphia A's (1935) and Detroit Tigers (1943–46). He managed the White Sox before and after he was at the helm in Baltimore. He also served as the General Manager for the Orioles, the Houston Colt .45s and the Atlanta Braves.

In Baltimore he was credited with developing many of the players that brought the Birds out of obscurity to a second place finish in 1960 including Brooks Robinson and several pitchers including Steve Barber, Milt Pappas and Jack Fisher who made up their young staff.

He also developed the over-sized catchers mitt that Gus Triandos and others used to handle Hoyt Wilhelm's knuckler. Although the Texan never won a pennant he managed 16 players who went on the manage in the big leagues.

The Card: His card provides the rare look at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium on a card from this era. My favorite stadium of all. This is the first of the vertical cards I've posted. The managers, coaches and some of the specials and World Series cards are the exceptions to the horizontal dominance of the 1960 set.

Coaches Card: Eddie Robinson played 13 seasons at first base for several American League teams. He made four All Star squads. I own one of his game used gloves and used it some back when I was playing.

Harry 'The Cat' Brecheen won 133 games for the Cardinals and Browns between 1940 and 1953. He was 4-1 in World Series games winning two rings. He earned three of the Cards four wins in the 1946 WS victory over the Red Sox.

Lum Harris pitched for the A's and Nats in the 40's and led the AL with 21 losses in 1953. He made his mark on the game as a manager and coach. He finished out the '61 season as O's manager after Paul Richards was moved out of the job. He managed the Astros in the mid 60's and then had a four and a half year run as skipper of the Braves. He led them to the 1969 NL East West title but were ousted by the Miracle Mets. Join the club, Lum!

The Card: I guess this was the first year that Topps issued dedicated coaching staff cards. I distinctly recall them from collecting as a nine year old. We thought they were weird. They are numbers consecutively in the set. I wish Topps had considered just doing a small cartoon for each of the coaches on the card instead of the 'wall of text' that they used. You can tell from the back of Paul Richards card that three or four cartoons could have easily fit. 

This Orioles' card is in pretty good shape. It's about as good as any of the ones I have.