Friday, June 13, 2008

1953 Topps Project - Post #18

#208 - Jim Wilson - Milwaukee Braves

Well, for today's 1953 Topps Project post we have another average ballplayer. To make matters worse, Jim Wilson's incredibly ordinary name makes it a bit difficult to find much information on him. He pitched for 13 years in Major League Baseball, from 1945 to 1958. Jim did make 3 consecutive All Star Game appearances between 1954 and 1956.

Unfortunately for me, I'm a day late on this post. I randomly picked out today's card only to find out that Jim pitched the only no-hitter of the 1954 season 54 years ago yesterday.

Since I can't find a whole lot of information about Jim, I have some questions of my own to ask, if anyone's reading maybe they can help me out. Why is it that the last 1953 Topps Project card I posted is a member of the Boston Braves, whereas Jim is designated as a Milwaukee Brave on his card? Isn't this the same team? From what I understand, the Boston Braves became the Milwaukee Braves after the 1952 season, is that correct? Did Topps just randomly use Boston Braves on some 1953 cards and Milwaukee Braves on others? Both teams have the same logo portraying a Native American. Speaking of Native Americans, is that a longhouse pictured in the background of Jim's card beyond the outfield wall? I'm confused...

2 comments:

dayf said...

Low series cards (1-165) show the team as Boston Braves while the middle series (166-220) has them as the Milwaukee Braves. Since the cards are all painted, they probably didn't have time to change them to Milwaukee early in the season and just stuck with Boston. Oddly enough, there are no Braves in the high series (221-280).

shoeboxlegends said...

Thanks Dave! Mystery solved, that answers my question. I appreciate it!

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