Random Topps Card of the Day: 1956 Topps #265 Sandy Consuegra

It's Retro Sunday!!! Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Sunday, August 29, 2010:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1956 Topps #265.
• Player Name, position, team: Sandy Consuegra, pitcher, Chicago White Sox.
• Major League Debut: June 10, 1950.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1955 stats (White Sox): 44 G, 126 Innings, 6-5, .545 PCT, 120 Hits, 42 Runs, 37 E.R., 35 S.O., 18 Walks, 2.64 E.R. Avg (yes, that's how the stat headers read).
• Any special information about player: Signed with the Senators as a Free Agent before the 1949 season. Contract purchased by the White Sox from the Senators 05/12/1953. Bats: right, Throws: right.
• Any special information about this specific card: Consuegra's first regular Topps card (total includes regular cards only). If you wanted to see older cards of Sandy Consuegra, you'd have to look for his Bowman issues, as this is his only Topps card. The 1956 Topps design differs from the one the previous year due to the fact that instead of a colored background with a cropped drawing of the player, you now have an action shot from a live game (albeit still in drawing form). The art on the front of the cards are beautifully done, even though many headshots of players are from the previous two years (see Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, et. al). Above the statistics is a large box for cartoons. Sandy has three cartoons depicting his career in the majors. The first reads that "in 1954, Sandy's .842 W-L percentage (16-3, .842) was tops in the AL and set a White Sox Record." The second shows that Consuegra had a 6-0 mark with the Senators in 1952. The third says, "Stingy about giving up runs, Sandy's posted less than a 3.00 ERA for the past 3 years." It's a shame that Topps doesn't have room anymore to use cartoons like these in a regular fashion, often relegating them to a trivia question, or a quick note about the player. Consuegra had himself quite a career going into the 1956 season. He was used mostly in relief, but did his fair share of starting. He went 48-28 going into the year. But his contract was sold to Baltimore in 1956, and he finished his season as an Oriole. Consuegra would pitch for just one more season (with the Orioles, and the New York Giants, who picked him up on waivers) before calling it a career.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $6.00-$12.00.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 0 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: 2008 Topps Updates and Highlights #UH321. 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