Random Topps Card of the Day: 1962 Topps #374 Gene Mauch

It's Retro Sunday!!! Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Sunday, September 5, 2010:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1962 Topps #374.
• Player Name, position, team: Gene Mauch, manager, Philadelphia Phillies.
• Major League Debut: April 18, 1944. Managerial Debut: April 16, 1960.
• Last Line of Statistics: n/a (no statistical to speak of except in bio) 1961 Phillies: 41-107.
• Any special information about manager: Hired as Manager 04/15/1960.
• Any special information about this specific card: Mauch's third regular Topps card, second as a manager (total includes both Topps and Topps Traded cards). The 1962 Topps set was the first to use a wood grained design. Norm Abram would have been proud to use the wood for a bench or something. I never noticed the 3-D effect Topps tried to pull until I saw the cards up close for the first time. The picture curls up on the bottom right corner, exposing the player's name, team, and position that would have been hidden underneath it. The resulting curl is grey, and I thought that was to show that the picture was surrounded by a metallic frame. What a trick. Gene Mauch was a manager for 26 seasons, first with the Phillies, then with the expansion Expos, the Twins, and finally the Angels. It is said that a team can only get better after having a really bad year. Truer words could not be spoken for the Phillies in the early 60's. The 1961 team finished with an abysmal 41-107 record. But the following season, finished above .500 at 81-80, beginning a streak of five winning seasons for the Phil's. He even got to manage an All-Star Game (in 1965 when they played two ASG's a year). He finished his term with the Phillies in 1968, and left Philadelphia with a 646-684 record. The back of his 1962 card features a bio that takes up almost the entire card. It starts with the fact that Mauch spent 17 seasons in both the minors and majors before becoming a manager. IT talks of his playing days (from the Dodgers to the Pirates, back to the Dodgers, Cubs, Braves, and Cardinals). He joined the Red Sox in 1957. He gained his managerial experience with Minneapolis of the American Association before coming to the Phil's.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $4.00-$10.00.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 10 cards.

In case you're actually wondering, I don't own this card, but was able to get a crystal clean copy of the image from the from the Baseball Card Cyber Museum. So thank you Joe McAnally and the folks at the BCCM.

Well, it's back to normal on Monday. Tomorrow's card will be: 2009 Topps #235. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Come on back then to see what the Topps Card Randomizer gets us to look at then.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama