Random Topps Card of the Day: 1967 Topps #245 Curt Flood

It's Retro Sunday!!! Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Sunday, December 15, 2013:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1967 Topps #245.
• Player Name, position, team: Curt Flood, outfielder, St. Louis Cardinals.
• Major League Debut: September 9, 1956.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1966 stats (Cardinals): 626 AB, 167 H, 21 2B, 5 3B, 10 HR, 78 RBI, .267 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Signed with the Redlegs as a Free Agent before the 1956 season. Traded by the Redlegs to the Cardinals 12/05/1957. Bats: right. Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 14. This is his tenth Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: "One of the steadiest players in the majors, Curt is always around the .300 mark in hitting. He is swift afoot and a defensive standout. Curt was honored by his teammates in 1965 when he was voted "The Most Valuable Cardintl." (sic)
• Commentary: A nice large picture, with the fonts used for the team name the only real design element for the front of the cards, the 1967 Topps set must have been a nice respite from all the designs used in previous years, and is a nice, and probably un-noticed, homage to the design used 10 years prior (the 1957 set also used a large picture). Before Curt Flood became the name most associated with what we now know as Free Agency (if you need to learn the story behind all of that, the History Channel has an easy-to-understand summary of the events that led to dramatic changes in the way the game is played off the field. Leaving that well enough alone, the focus of today's commentary should be about his 1967 season. Two years removed from what is now considered his "Best Year," (as was described on the back of the card), Flood was in the midst of another great season, hitting .304 with 4 home runs, 27 rbi's, and percentages of .361/.392/.753. But an arm injury put him on the shelf for three weeks. When he came back, not only did he not miss a beat, but he was a better hitter than before the trip to the DL. During the Cards' final 62 games, he went 85-228 (a .373 average), drove in 23 more runs (1 homer), and percentages of .400/.443/.843). He would finish the year with a .335 batting average, and on the heels of another outstanding year at centerfield (4 errors in 323 chances), he earned his fifth consecutive Gold Glove award. It was more than enough to help the Cards win the NL pennant. Although Flood would go 5-28 in the '67 World Series against the Red Sox, the Cardinals would go on to win the Championship in seven games. Curt Flood remained on the BBWAA ballot for consideration into Baseball's Hall of Fame. In 15 years on the ballot (1977-79; 1985-1996), he would get no higher than 15.1% of the vote. Curt Flood passed away on January 20, 1997, after developing pneumonia.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $2.50-$6.00.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 3.

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: 2010 Topps Update Series #US87. 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