1953 Topps Project - Post #19

#79 - Johnny Wyrostek - Philadelphia Phillies

The next card in the 1953 Topps project is Johnny Wyrostek of the Fightin' Phillies, the first Phillie in my collection. In keeping with the other recent post subjects, Johnny had a largely uneventful career. He was signed out of high school by the St. Louis Cardinals, yet didn't see steady playing time until 1946 with the Phillies.

Here we see Johnny pictured in his second stint with the Phillies, a five year stretch with the Cincinnati Reds was sandwiched in between. I'm not sure why Philadelphia would've wanted to sign him back. He did club a career high 17 HR and 76 RBI in his first season with the Reds in 1948, and was selected to the N.L. All-Star team twice while a member of Cincinnati, however he never eclipsed the 10 home run plateau again in his career and never had a great batting average either, with the exception of the 1951 campaign when he hit .311.

On a side note, if I had it my way the Phillies would still be referred to as the Fightin' Phillies on modern day baseball cards.

So Long Curt

I live in New England and work in downtown Boston a couple of days each week. On those days I like to listen to sports talk radio while sitting in the cluster that is Boston traffic. While tuning in today, I was surprised to hear Curt Schilling's announcement that he's shutting it down for the season cause so much of a stir. The local talk show personalities were so ramped up I thought they were going to pyewp.
The prognosis was grim to begin this season. When the Red Sox stated that they anticipated Schilling pitching after the All-Star break, I thought it seemed unrealistic. It appeared as though the severity of the wear on his arm would combine with Schilling's age to spell the end of his season, and possibly career. Well, today Boston Red Sox fans got the bad news that they were somewhat expecting. Curt will be shutting it down for the year (and for good in my opinion) to undergo surgery. He claimed that he will not be ready to pitch again until after the 2009 All-Star break, a possibility that I would say is highly unlikely at best.
Curt is not the most popular player in the majors. He's got one of those personalities where he feels the need to chime in on every topic. He makes his political views (which I often disagree with) public, and I don't think he helped his reputation with fellow players when he chided steroid users in front of Congress a few years back. Some people accuse him of faking the "bloody" sock incident during the 2004 playoffs.
In the end, no matter how you feel about him or his sock on a personal level, Curt contributed significantly to the Boston Red Sox during his tenure here. He stated publicly upon arriving in Boston that he was here to help the team win a World Series, and that he did twice. He was marvelous in the post season with the Sox, a trend that continued from earlier in his career. When there was a pressure situation (like in last year's playoffs against Cleveland), you felt comfortable when Schilling took the mound.
Curt will now become one of the marginal players as far as hall of fame voting goes. Some will look at his 216 career wins and say that there is no way he should be admitted. Others will look at his 300 strikeout seasons, his strikeout to walk ratio (which he led his league in for a 5 year stretch earlier this decade), or his 10-2 postseason record and say he deserves to be elected. What do you think?

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...

Cards Featured on the Blog

Going forward, you'll see a slideshow in the right margin displaying cards featured on the blog. I think this will be a great way to get a snapshot of what I've posted recently. Plus, I think one of the reasons I like collecting is that I'm completely anal, so this will give me another thing to organize.
So, why the random Jerges Baca card? Well, I think the Whalers need some representation in the slideshow. Secondly, Jerges Baca is just a funny name. I don't think he was ever any good, I have no memories of seeing him play, but I remember having his cards as a kid just because his name is so strange. This is probably the only chance Jerges Baca will have of ever making the blog, so here you go...

1953 Topps Project - Post #17

#91 - Ebba St. Claire - Boston Braves

OK, so I got a little sidetracked there with the hockey posts. I definitely had a case of Stanley Cup fever, but it's time to get back on track with another 1953 Topps project post. Today's subject is Ebba St. Claire, catcher for the Boston Braves.

Ebba's brief career in the majors was unspectacular, and that's an understatement. Wikipedia describes him as a "prototypical defensive-minded backup catcher", how exciting! After college, St. Claire played for almost a decade in the minor leagues before finally being sent to the Boston Braves, in part to tutor young pitchers in their organization. All in all, St. Claire appeared in 164 major league games over a 4 season span. His batting average was poor and he didn't have a lot of power at the plate, although his fielding percentage as catcher was decent.

While Ebba never enjoyed much success in his brief Major League career, his son Randy lasted about a decade as a relief pitcher between the mid 80s and the mid 90s, and is now the pitching coach for the Washington Nationals.

Congratulations Detroit!

The 2007-2008 NHL season came to a close last night as the Detroit Red Wings downed the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 to win the Stanley Cup finals (their 4th cup title since 1997). While I have to admit that I was rooting for the young underdog Pittsburgh team, Detroit has a few veterans that are still around from my first go as a hockey fan in the late 80s/early 90s, and it was fun to see some of them win another Cup.

As an impromptu tribute to the hockey team from the motor city, here are a few random Red Wings cards I was able to find and scan in my early morning stupor before leaving for work today.

Team captain and veteran NHL defenseman Nick Lidstrom has been a member of the Wings for each of their 4 recent championships:

Kris Draper was relatively quiet during the series, but he was deemed scan-worthy because he's been around for a long time and has also been on the Wings for the last 4 championships:

Dominik Hasek isn't quite as acrobatic in net as he was in the 90s, but he's still a reliable goaltender. Although he didn't see any action in the finals, he did split goaltending duties during the regular season for Detroit and will still have his name inscribed on the Stanley Cup:

Chris Osgood was outstanding this post-season, posting shutouts in the opening two games of the finals. Not to mention, he posted those shutouts while wearing the odd-style goalie helmet that he's worn since coming into the league (as exemplified in his 1993-1994 Parkhurst rookie card below). Even though Chris became the second goalie to score a goal in the NHL against my beloved Hartford Whalers, he obviously deserves mention here:

Finally, one of the younger faces of the franchise, and this year's Conn Smythe Trophy winner for playoff MVP, Henrik Zetterberg. Based on the way he played this season I think it's obvious that he's going to be one of the NHL's top scorers for years to come:

On a side note, I think this year's Upper Deck hockey release looks outstanding. Great, high quality action photography and a simple layout just like the baseball set (which is better than '08 Topps baseball in my opinion). I'm only about 40 cards short of the set, if you have any that I need I will make a trade worth your while.

Card of the Month - June 2008

1991 Pro Set - #101 - Wayne Gretzky

With the 2007-2008 NHL season likely to end tonight in my opinion (I hope I'm wrong as I was really looking forward to a high-scoring 7 game series between the Wings and the Pens), it seems only right to continue with the hockey theme for this month's Card of the Month.

I don't think it was possible for a kid who began playing hockey at age 5 in the late 80s not to become a Wayne Gretzky fan. Most hockey fans will tell you that he is the best to ever play the game, and it's hard to argue against that. Wayne finished his career with the most goals, most assists and most points (by almost 1,000!) of all time. He led the Edmonton Oilers to 4 Stanley Cup championships within a 5 year period, is the only player to ever tally 200 points in a season (a feat he accomplished an astonishing 4 times) and is the only player in NHL history to have his jersey number retired for all teams! Very few athletes in history have dominated their sport on the level that Gretzky did.

As a 9 year old, I had been collecting hockey cards for a year or two when I decided I would send the Great One a letter containing a 1991 Pro Set card in search of an autograph. I wrote my letter out, asked my mom for a ride to the post office, and dropped the envelope in the mail, fully expecting never to see the card again. A few weeks went by, until one day I arrived home from school to find an envelope addressed to me in the day's mail. My jaw dropped when I opened it and found a letter from Wayne inside. Folded inside the letter was my Pro Set hockey card with a huge signature (including #99) right on the front. The letter was nothing great, I'm sure it was the same exact letter hundreds of other fans received back in the mail, but nonetheless I've always been thankful that Wayne Gretzky took the time to sign my card.

Looking back on it, there are a couple of things that really amuse me about this card. First of all, I chose a Gretzky card with an awful lot of black on it, especially considering most athletes sign in black sharpie. This was a calculated decision though, as I didn't own many Gretzky cards and this particular card featured a photo where Wayne is facing my favorite team, the Hartford Whalers. Luckily, the signature is dark enough that it shows through pretty clearly on the card. Secondly, I sent the French version of the card (Pro Set issued English and French-Canadian versions of their hockey cards). This was also a calculated decision. Obviously the English versions were more valuable to me so I decided to send the French version in case the card never made it back to me. Pretty amusing that I was too nervous to send a Pro Set hockey card (which literally is not worth the cardboard it's printed on) in the mail.

These little quirks just make me love the card that much more though. Any time I look at it I laugh and recall some really fond memories from my youth. This is the only card I've ever sent out to a player in the mail to be signed, and it's also the only card in my collection that I will absolutely never part ways with...

Box Break - 1996 Topps Finest Hockey

The last couple of '53 Topps Project posts have been duds, time to mix it up a bit with another box break in honor of tonight's Stanley Cup finals game 3. I haven't featured nearly enough hockey cards in the few months since I started keeping this blog, but a couple of things have motivated me to start posting about them. Aside from watching a ton of playoff hockey this post-season, the cable provider that I signed up for service with after moving last month gives me the NHL network in HD and an HD-DVR, a pretty nice combo for a hockey fan. I never knew the NHL network existed before this, but there's a show I've been watching called "Classic Series". Each episode is an hour long and details a particular playoff series (from the early 90's so far) with highlights of every goal, post game interviews and commentary. All of this has added up to a craving for some 90's hockey cards, so I caved and purchased 2 boxes of Topps Finest hockey, one from 1994 and this one from 1996. The box proudly states that the cards are "Brilliant Uncirculated 1996", does anyone know what the hell that means? If they're not circulated, how did I end up with a box? I'm confused...

These will be the first Finest hockey cards in my collection. I'll be busting the 1994 box at a later date, but here's the scoop on the '96 box. The box contains 24 packs with 6 cards a pack for a total of 144 cards. As far as I can tell there are 189 cards in the base set, although I cannot find a definitive number, so there is no way I will end up with a complete set from this box. If I can get at least 50% of the base set I'll be satisfied. The base cards are the same thick, glossy, metallic cards with the protective peel that Finest is known for. They are "bronze" in color according to the box, but they seem closer to purple to me. There aren't really any inserts in the set, but there are silver parallels seeded 1:4 packs and gold parallels seeded 1:24 packs. The bronze cards are labeled as "Common" on the back, the silver "Uncommon" and the gold "Rare". This kind of reminds me of the StarQuest cards that you get in 2008 Upper Deck baseball packs.

The cards themselves look very nice, exemplifying the high quality I would expect from a Finest product. There are 4 different themes in the base set. The first is a Rookies theme, shown on the Kyle McLaren card pictured above. The rookie cards look a little busy or crowded for some reason, I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe the Topps Finest logo is just a little too big for my liking. Another theme is Performers, pictured here on Peter Forsberg's card. I know the Finest logo is just as large on all the base cards, but for some reason I like the look of the Performers cards much more than the Rookies. This theme seems to be reserved primarily for skilled offensive players, although there may be an occasional goalie or defender.

The third theme is Defenders. As the name implies these cards are reserved for goalies and players known for their defensive prowess. I think these cards are more aesthetically pleasing than the Rookies, but not quite as nice as the performers. I could do without the huge DEFENDERS text taking up the bottom portion of the card. I did pull a couple of these Chris Osgood cards. Even casual sports fans are aware that Chris recently became just the fourth goalie in NHL history to post 2 consecutive shutouts to begin a Stanley Cup final. If you're interested I've added Chris and all of my other doubles to my Available for Trade list.

The final theme in the set is the one I liked the most, the Sterling theme. This theme seems to be reserved for the most high profile players (Mario Lemieux, Patrick Roy, etc.). In my opinion these are the sleekest looking cards in the set.

Pros: There are a few things I like about the set. First of all, the checklist is fairly small, making set completion a reasonable possibility. This is the case with many hockey sets, especially Topps products. Even in the 80's, Topps sets were always significantly smaller in size than their O-Pee-Chee counterparts. Sort of makes sense when you consider that O-Pee-Chee cards are manufactured in Canada.

The cards in general are high quality and quite heavy and I really like the design of the Sterling theme. The parallels were seeded exactly as stated on the wrapper, I pulled exactly 6 silver and 1 gold. My silver cards were mostly rookies and weren't great but one of them was a Hartford Whaler which is much appreciated. Plus the silver on the border of the card really matches the silver in the late-era Whalers jerseys, making for one pretty sleek looking card:

My gold parallel actually ended up being a decent hit, as I pulled one of the best defensemen of all time (albeit a former arch-nemesis of the Hartford Whalers), Ray Bourque. Once again, the gold on the border of this card matches the gold on the Bruins jersey and ties the card together quite nicely:

Cons: I'm not a huge fan of the Defenders or Rookies themes, the cards look a little crowded to me. These are not the worst looking cards I've seen by any means, in fact they blow away many 90's hockey sets, I just think Topps could've done a better job with the layout. Collation wasn't great and left a little to be desired. In two different packs I pulled doubles within the pack, which you wouldn't expect to happen with a 6 card pack. I'm still missing a good portion of the base set, yet I pulled 4 Joe Sakic Sterling cards and a good percentage of my doubles actually ended up being triples. I ended up with nearly as many doubles as I had base cards, not good.

Suggestions: Do away with the themes! I think this set would look much better if they used the Sterling theme for all the cards and replaced the word Sterling with a small team name and logo or something along those lines. Ultimately I think some of the themes make the cards seem gimmicky. Parallels usually bother me but I didn't mind the silver and gold variations in this product and I'm sure they helped to drive sales when the product was originally released. That being said, it would've been nice if Topps had included even one 10 card insert set just to provide a little variation every few packs.

Here's what I ended up with:

Base Set: 78/189 (41%)

Doubles: 57

Silver Parallels (1:4): 6

Gold Parallels (1:24): 1

Bronze Refractors (1:12): 2

As with most Finest products, there are Refractors in this product. The silver and gold refractors are seeded at a pretty ridiculous rate and needless to say I did not pull any. I did end up pulling two bronze refractors, Chris Terreri and Felix Potvin.

All in all, I would call Topps' '96 Finest product decent. I'd like to complete the set, but I don't think I'll be dropping $49 on another hobby box, especially given the collation that I had with this one. I have a gut feeling that I'm going to like the '94 Finest box better, so I'll probably see if I can fill some holes in my set cheap on Ebay. I'll hopefully have the '94 Finest box bust posted in the next couple of weeks.

1953 Topps Project - Post #16

#67 - Roy Sievers - St. Louis Browns

Roy's career started off with a bang as he hit .306 with 16 home runs and 75 RBI to capture the American League Rookie of the Year award in 1949. Roy battled injuries over the next few years though and struggled to return to the form he showed during his rookie campaign.

From 1954-1958 Roy was able to pick up the pace again while playing for the Washington Senators. He clubbed at least 95 RBI in each of these five seasons and was selected to the American League All Star team 3 times during this time period. He managed to finish 3rd in A.L. MVP voting in 1957 behind Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams. Roy hit home runs in an impressive 6 straight games during that season. Roy was pretty clutch with the bases loaded, hitting for 10 career grand slams...

1953 Topps Project - Post #15

#170 - Bill Werle - Boston Red Sox

Bill "Bugs" Werle was a World War II veteran who played quite a few years in the Pacific Coast League before enjoying a brief 5 year stint in the majors with the Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox.

Werle was claimed by the Red Sox off waivers towards the end of the 1952 season. He never enjoyed much success in his two seasons with the Sox. He would pitch a grand total of 36 1/3 innings for them between 1953 and 1954 and had a record of 0-2 in those two seasons. Bill gave up 5 home runs in 24 innings pitched in 1954, including one to Gus Zernial.

Although he never had much success in the majors, Bill was one of the many players who continued to contribute to the game even after he'd thrown his last inning. He briefly served as pitching coach for the San Francisco Giants in the 60s and was a Baltimore Orioles scout in 1980.