1953 Topps Project - Post #40

#18 - Ted Lepcio - Boston Red Sox

The 40th card in my 1953 Topps baseball set is the very first Red Sox player on the checklist, Ted Lepcio. Like many of the players I've featured so far, Lepcio is not exactly a Hall-of-Famer or even a household name for that matter. Lepcio played ten seasons, the majority of them (just over 7) for the Boston Red Sox. Known as a utility infielder, he finished his career with a .245 average, 69 home runs and 251 RBI.

What I didn't realize until stumbling across a great Boston Globe article is that Lepcio remained a fan of the game long after retiring, enough so that he was a season ticket holder at Fenway park for over 3 decades! To read this interesting article, which touches on, amongst other things, how Lepcio met President Harry Truman on the field during his first major league start, go here. The highlight of the article has to be his complaint about watching modern day baseball:

''It's discouraging when there are two strikes and it's the first inning and everybody stands. It's like being in church, for gosh sakes, up and down, up and down."

Set Status: 40/274 (15%)