Saying goodbye to Brooklyn

My purchase of the 1957 Topps Sandy Koufax card in my recent COMC order was probably the most I ever spent on a single card.

I rarely go above 100 bucks when buying a card. I can count the amount of times I've done so on one hand.

But this card was special. Not only did it get me within one of having all of Topps Koufax cards issued during his playing days, but it was the last card I needed to complete the Dodgers team set for 1957 Topps.

This is a big deal, as it is for any team set I complete from before I was born. I didn't show up on earth for the first time in the middle of the '80s, you know. I've been around for a bit. So, when I say I've completed a set from before I was born, this ain't 1983 Donruss.

This is the last set issued of players in their Brooklyn Dodgers uniforms. (The '58 Topps set shows the Dodgers in their Brooklyn uniforms, too, but they're painted crudely into L.A. caps). The '57 season would be the Dodgers' final one in Brooklyn. So the 1957 Topps set is notable in that regard.

It's also notable for including the last card of Roy Campanella issued during his playing career and, in general, full-color photography and complete career stats on the back.

Completing this team set is an occasion, so I thought I'd show all of the cards from it in my collection in reverse order of interest -- according to me, of course.

Here they are:

Don Elston - #376

Don Elston pitched just one game for the Dodgers in his entire nine-year MLB career. He was a Chicago Cub all those other years, both before and after the Dodgers. He was dealt from the Cubs to the Dodgers in 1955 and then from the Dodgers back to the Cubs in 1957.

Ken Lehman - #366

I associate Ken Lehman and Don Elston together because they are 10 cards apart in the set and both unfamiliar pitchers. His most productive years were in '57 with the Dodgers and '58 with the Orioles, in which he relieved mostly.

Players like this interest me though because the '50s Dodgers are so well-known through baseball history, yet they included "mere mortals" like Ken Lehman, just like any other team.

Don Bessent - #178

This is one of seven 1957 Topps Dodgers that I obtained when my dad brought home that large grocery bag of 1950s cards for us to go through. Bessent was a quality reliever for the Dodgers in '55 and '56, but tailed off quickly after that.

Rene Valdes - #337

A Cuban-born talent, Valdes appeared in all of five games in his major league career, all with the Dodgers in 1957. This card is a stickler to buy, though, as it appears in the difficult fourth series.

Al Walker - #147

The longtime backup to Roy Campanella behind the plate. This is another of those "first-seven" '57s I obtained as a teenager. This is a classic catching pose, presented as zoomed in as possible.

Randy Jackson - #190

Randy Jackson spent his best seasons with the Cubs, before he arrived in a trade with the Dodgers. He didn't play a lot with Brooklyn. Another one of those "first-seven" cards, Jackson sadly passed away this past March.

Gino Cimoli - #319

Somewhere in trying to finish off the '57 team set, I stumbled upon the prices of the Gino Cimoli card. It's a fourth-series card and not a cheapie. I had never been so grateful that my dad's co-worker decided to bestow all those '50s cards on me and my brothers because that's where I got that Cimoli -- free of charge.

Roger Craig - #173

Roger Craig is known mostly as a pitching coach who created the Hall of Fame career of Bruce Sutter, as well as -- gah! -- a San Francisco Giants manager. But Craig was a solid pitcher for the Dodgers and he makes some pretty, damn-fine baseball cards. This is one of them.

Sal Maglie - #5

Another former Giant, and also the namesake of the stadium where I first covered a professional baseball team, Sal Maglie put together a sterling first season with his former rivals in 1956, finishing second in the Cy Young and MVP voting with the Dodgers. It's a Giant-Dodgers turn that doesn't get mentioned much these days.

Sandy Amoros - #201

Forever a Dodgers hero for his Game 7 catch off of Yogi Berra in the 1955 World Series, Amoros looks absolutely blissful in this shot. I love his cards.

Don Zimmer - #284

Another hard-to-get fourth-series card, Zim playing days cards are the best because of that ever-present chaw but also because his managing days are so ingrained in everyone (hell, his managing goes back so far that I remember him chiefly for his Red Sox managing and there's a bunch of people who don't remember that at all). It's good to see baby Zim.

Johnny Podres - #277

More fourth-series fun. This is our first glimpse of the Schaefer scoreboard sign (but not the last). Johnny Podres looks 7-feet tall in this photo, which he should because he is the 1955 World Series hero.

Carl Erskine - #252

This the most-worn card of all my '57 Dodgers (although Maglie has quite a few creases). I received this card with those others as a teenager. I've never bothered to upgrade. I just don't feel the need to upgrade '57s like I do with other cards.

Brooklyn Dodgers team - #324

This card shows your 1956 National League champions, which means Jackie Robinson is probably in this photo somewhere (his final solo card, though, is in the '56 set). I believe he's the third guy from the right in the second row.

The 1957 team cards aren't much. The brown-framed borders add to the dingy, murkiness of the photos which almost all seem out-of-focus. Still, any team card of an iconic club will cost you bucks. The back of this card looks like it was glued several times and stuck in a book -- then torn out viciously.

Clem Labine - #53

Just a beautiful card featuring one of the Dodgers' most successful relief pitchers, displaying his exaggerated whip-like wind-up. This is one of my favorite cards in the entire set, only overshadowed because of the star power of his teammates.

Jim Gilliam - #115

Jim Gilliam looks very young on this card -- heck, he looks very young on most of his cards. It's interesting how head shots like this look so right on vintage cards but so wrong on modern cards.

Charley Neal - #242

Here is a better view of the Schaefer scoreboard sign and a super-pleasing view of baseball life in 1956-57. Charley Neal was a future World Series hero at this point but he was already a baseball card superstar thanks to this photo.

Don Newcombe - #130

Don Newcombe delivered a career year in 1956, winning 27 games and claiming Most Valuable Player honors. You can see the confidence all over his face on this card. This is another one of those grocery bag cards, although I've upgraded since with this version.

Carl Furillo - #45

The more bats you can carry on your card, the better your card. That's just common collecting knowledge. Carl Furillo thought he never received the credit he deserved as a ball player and after seeing this card, I absolutely agree.

Gil Hodges - #80

Another beautiful card. Gil Hodges was coming off his seventh straight season of knocking in 100 runs or more when this card was issued. I know we're not supposed to care about RBIs anymore but that sounds like something that's worth an appearance in the Hall of Fame to me.

Don Drysdale - #18

Rookie mojo collectors probably would list Don Drysdale's rookie card in the final spot, or at least the spot just before it. But when ranking these cards, rookieness only comes into play when I consider how difficult the card is to obtain. This one is very tricky, yet someone sent it to me (Ben of Cardboard Icons), which is why it will always interest me.

Roy Campanella - #210

Any time I obtain a vintage Roy Campanella card, I feel a real sense of accomplishment, on par with completing a major work project. This is Campy's last card as an active player. It's a really good one.

Pee Wee Reese - #30

Adore this card. Why, oh, why can't we see cards like this in current sets? Probably because there are no Pee Wee Reese's anymore, I guess.

Duke Snider - #170

The final of those "first-seven" cards. This was the crown jewel of my collection for quite awhile. I protected it like no other card. Other cards have surpassed it in meaning all these years later, but all I have to do is gaze at it for awhile to remember how much it meant to me.

Dodgers Sluggers - #400

One of the greatest Dodgers cards of all-time. You can't help but think if Jackie Robinson was around one more year that he would have been on this card. But I can't say that out loud because Furillo will get mad because you know he's getting bumped.

Sandy Koufax - #302

Yup, the recently acquired Koufax is the most interesting of all the 1957 Dodgers to me. Although this card appears in the tough fourth series, it's actually a double-printed card. Still somebody of Koufax's stature makes double-printing meaningless. It still took 100-plus bucks to land this.


But my '57 team set is complete. And my '58 team set needs just another Koufax. The '54 and '55 sets aren't too far off and the '53 set would look in good shape if it wasn't for that Robinson.

It feels good to be talking like that about some of those Brooklyn Dodgers sets. Never would I have thought.

So who knows? Maybe those 1952 high numbers aren't impossible.