Random Topps Card of the Day: 1959 Topps #490 Frank Thomas

It's Retro Sunday!!! Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Sunday, July 20, 2014:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1959 Topps #490.
• Player Name, position, team: Frank Thomas, third baseman-outfielder, Cincinnati Redlegs.
• Major League Debut: August 17, 1951.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1958 stats (Pirates): 149 G, 562 AB, 89 R, 158 H, 26 2B, 4 3B, 35 HR, 109 RBI, .281 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Signed with the Pirates as a Free Agent 07/23/1947. Traded by the Pirates to the Redlegs 01/30/1959. Bats: right. Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 10. This is his fourth Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: "The biggest trade of the Spring sent Frank to Cincinnati. Immediately Redleg fans contracted an ailment known as pennant fever. Frank is one of the real distance hitters and if you doubt it ask the Dodgers. He hit 7 homers in his first 8 games at Los Angeles in '58."
• Commentary: It's funny to see the word Redlegs on a baseball card in reference to the team in Cincinnati. But then again, there is some historical significance to it. To avoid being associated to what was then the USSR and the threat of being called Communists, the Reds organization changed their name to "Redlegs" from 1954 through 1959. So before there was a slugger named Frank Thomas, who crushed the ball for a long time as a member of the White Sox (then Athletics, then Blue Jays), there was Frank Joseph Thomas, a three-time All-Star with the Pirates. In his eight seasons with Pittsburgh, Thomas hit for a respectable .275, with 163 homers, 562 rbi's, and OPS of .807 in 925 games. No wonder Redlegs' fans were excited to get him and three other players in a seven-player exchange. In his lone season with Cincinnati, Thomas hit for a .225 average, 12 home runs, and drove in 47 rbi's, not really numbers that fans and the organization were expecting from the 30-year-old Thomas. By the end of the year, would be traded to the Cubs for three players, thus beginning a tour of duty that would include stops with the Milwaukee Braves, Mets, Phillies, Astros, and Atlanta Braves. He would play for 16 seasons, finishing with a .266 average, 286 home runs, 962 rbi's, and percentages of .320/.454/.774. 
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $4.00-$8.00.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 2.

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: 1996 Topps #114. 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

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1959 Topps #248 Boston Red Sox Team Card

It's Retro Sunday!!! Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Sunday, October 27, 2013:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1959 Topps #248.
• Team: 1958 Boston Red Sox.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1970 stats: Manager Pinky Higgins, 79-75, .513 PCT., 13 GB, Third Place American League.
• Commentary: It's rare that the Randomizer picks a team card for these segments. But when it does, it makes for interesting discussion. Should we talk about the team being featured? Or should I discuss the card itself? It would be the fourth year in a row that Topps would include team cards within their sets. And just like the team cards from the year before, the team cards from 1959 provided collectors with checklists of the series that the card was a part of. In this case, the back of the Red Sox team card includes cards from the 1959 Topps Third Series of cards, card #'s 177 Johnny Riggs to 264 Chico Carrasquel. The 1959 Red Sox finished 5th in the American League standings, finishing a dismal 75-79, 38 games behind the AL Pennant winning Chicago White Sox. Manager Higgins was fired after a 31-42 start to the season, and after a one-game loss credited to interim manager Rudy York, Billy Jurges finished the season on a good note, winning 44 of the team's final 80 games. Pete Runnels was the team's leading hitter with a .314 average while Jackie Jensen led the BoSox with 28 home runs and 112 rbi's. Pitchers Tom Brewer (10-12, 3.76, 121 k's, 11 complete games) and Jerry Casale (13-8, 4.31, 93 k's) were the team's starting aces while Mike Fornieles (5-3, 3.07, 54 k's, 11 saves) served as the Sox' closer.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $7.00-$15.00.

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: 2011 Topps #316. 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

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1959 Topps #163 Sandy Koufax

It's Retro Sunday!!! Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Sunday, November 11, 2012:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1959 Topps #163.
• Player Name, position, team: Sandy Koufax, pitcher, Los Angeles Dodgers.
• Major League Debut: June 24, 1955.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1958 stats (Dodgers): 40 G, 159 IP, 11-11, .500 PCT, 131 SO, 105 BB. 4.47 ERA.
• Any special information about player: Signed by the Dodgers as a Free Agent 12/14/1954. Bats: right. Throws: left.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 12. This is his fifth card.
• Blurb on the back: "Sandy's whistling fastball placed him NO. 6 in the N.L. strikeout department last year.  The native Brooklynite first signed with the Dodgers after gaining stardom at the University of Cincinnati.  The Dodgers paid him a reported $25,000 and they feel the youngster will more than repay their confidence in him.  For a speedballer, Sandy has good control and can hit the corners."
• Commentary: If used today as a brand new design for a baseball card, this set would probably be mocked by most cardboard critics, especially because of the small circled picture used for the players.  But back in 1959, this was considered colorful and a well-designed set.  Two years removed after Topps used a full picture, Topps resorted to cropping the player into a completely colored background in 1958 and what you see above in 1959.  They are considered classics now, but it makes you wonder what Sy Berger and Woody Gelman were thinking back then.  Sandy Koufax's career can be split into two completely different halves:  His dominating run that began in 1961 through his final year in 1966, and whatever it was you wanted to call it before that.  With an ERA of 4.10 and a mediocre 36-40 record, Koufax wasn't really doing all that well for the Dodgers from his debut year in 1955 through 1960.  Sure, he struck out 683 batters in that six season stretch, but with a WHIP of 1.428 (405 walks + 583 hits in 691.2 innings) really wasn't doing him any favors with the organization.  But something happened after that disastrous 1960 season because the following year, he was on his way to becoming one of the best pitchers in the game.  But that would begin two years after this card came out.  In 1959, Sandy struggled with an 8-6 record and a high 4.05 ERA.  He had given up a career high (to that point) 23 home runs, but struckout a career high (to that point) 173 batters.  While manager Walter Alston's patience was wearing thin with Koufax, maybe in his mind it was adjusting to just the change of scenery that was holding back Sandy's true potential.  After all, being in LA is a serious adjustment if you're from the other end of the country and you're no longer playing in front of your hometown fans.  But the Dodgers did rather well for themselves in 1959, as the beat the White Sox in six games to win their second World Series title.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $90.00-$150.00.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 31.

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: 2006 Topps #23. 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

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1959 Topps #470 Stan Musial Baseball Thrills

It's Retro Sunday!!! Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Sunday, June 13, 2010:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1959 Topps #470.
• Player Name, position, team: Stan Musial, first baseman, St. Louis Cardinals.
• Special: Baseball Thrills "Musial Raps Out 3,000th hit."
• Any special information about this specific card: The back of this card looks like it was taken from a newspaper. Baseball Thrills it's called, with a dateline of May 13, 1958. While it would be repetitive to read the headline, I can tell you that Musial, on this day, was "not even in the starting lineup against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. But with the Cards trailing, Stan got off the bench to pinch hit. He received a fine ovation...and connected for a double...his 3,000th hit. He joined seven other players who reached that milestone." The Cardinals, it turns out, came back to win the game by the score of 5-3. His double turned the game around, as the Cards scored four more times in that inning, to turn a 3-1 deficit to a 5-3 lead.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $15.00-$30.00.

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: 1977 Topps #596. 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

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1959 Topps #199 Leo Kiely

It's Retro Sunday!!! Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Sunday, May 23, 2010:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1959 Topps #199.
• Player Name, position, team: Leo Kiely, pitcher, Boston Red Sox.
• Major League Debut: June 27, 1951 .
• Last Line of Statistics: 1958 stats (Red Sox): 47 G, 81 IP, 5-2, .714 PCT, 26 SO, 18 BB, 3.00 ERA.
• Any special information about player: Signed by the Red Sox as a Free Agent before the 1948 season. Bats: left, Throws: left.
• Any special information about this specific card: Kiely's fourth regular Topps card (his rookie card). The 1959 Topps set is easily recognized because of the circular player pictures, housed in a very colorful frame, along with the player's name in lower-case letters, and the facsimile autograph. What a way to end the 50's. Kiely was a relief pitcher, and apparently a very good one at that. The blurb on the back of his card reads that he only allowed three home runs in 1958. The year before, with San Francisco of the PCL, he boasted a 21-6 record, leading the league in wins that year. There is a cartoon above the stats to the right of the blurb of a cat in a baseball uniform. The caption reads "Leo is nicknamed The Black Cat." Baseball Reference has his nickname listed as "Kiki."
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $2.00-$4.00.
• 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: 2009 Topps Updates and Highlights #UH3. 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