Random Topps Card of the Day: 1955 Topps #189 Phil Rizzuto

It's Retro Sunday!!! Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Sunday, January 5, 2014:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1955 Topps #189.
• Player Name, position, team: Phil Rizzuto, shortstop, New York Yankees.
• Major League Debut: April 14, 1941.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1954 stats (Yankees): 127 Games, 307 At Bat, 47 Runs, 60 Hits, 11 2B, 0 3B, 2 HR, 15 RBI, .195 B.Avg; 185 PO, 294 A, 16 E, .968 F.Avg.
• Any special information about player: Signed with the Yankees as a Free Agent before the 1937 season. Bats: right. Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 6. This is his fifth Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: "The Dodgers never thought the kid they turned down because he was 'too small' would develop into a great shortstop. That's exactly what happened to Phil and his long list of baseball feats proves size has nothing to do with ability. In his 1st year as a Yank he hit .307 and his .350 mark in '50 won him the A.L.'s Most Valuable Plyaer Award. He's played in 8 World Series."
• Commentary: I made a mistake. Last week, I said that the 1954 set had the least amount of cards for a Topps Baseball product. The 1955 set had room for 210 cards, but only 206 were released, with four being held back thanks to the Bowman vs. Topps baseball card wars. Eventually, Topps won out, and the first monopoly on the baseball card market began the following year. So much has been written about Philip Francis Rizzuto's career that all I can offer is a brief summary of what he had done up until this point and what he did during the 1955 campaign. Although his career in Yankee pinstripes lasted 16 years, he only played for 13 seasons. The other three were spent wearing the uniform of the US Navy from 1943-45. An All-Star by the time he joined the armed forces, he did not miss a beat upon his return. By the 1955 campaign, Rizzuto was a five-time All-Star, perennial MVP candidate, winning the award in 1950. His career was already winding down by the time this card appeared in Series 2 of the 1955 Topps product. "Scooter" appeared in 81 games for the Yankees that year, hitting .259 with a home run and 9 rbi's. He also made his debut at 2nd base that year. In the World Series against Dodgers, Rizzuto held his own with 4 hits and 9 walks in 20 plate appearances. The Bums from Brooklyn did win it all in a seven-game affair though. Rizzuto finished his playing career in 1956 with a career average of .273, 38 home runs, 563 rbi's, an OPS of .706, and seven World Series titles. Not soon afterwards, Rizzuto joined the Yankees broadcasting team, beginning a 40-year career telecasting Yankees games on TV and radio. Never elected by the BBWAA, Rizzuto was voted into Baseball's Hall of Fame by the Veteran's Committee in 1994. Phil Rizzuto passed away on August 13, 2007, at the age of 89. At the time, he was baseball's oldest living Hall of Famer.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $100.00-$175.00.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 17.

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: 1997 Topps #60. 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