I mentioned the other day that I bought a couple of cards with the cash that I received from my latest Beckett Vintage article. You saw the Campanella MVP card a few posts ago.
The other one was the 1960 Topps Tommy Davis card, and with that card, I have completed the 1960s Topps run of Dodgers cards.
No, I don't have the Ken McMullen rookie, or the Doug Camilli rookie. But those floating heads cards carry unreasonable prices because of the heads floating around with them (Rose, Uecker) and chances are good I will never own them. Even if I had the cash, it seems silly to buy a card for that price that looks like that.
So, except for those, I own all the Topps flagship Dodgers from the '60s.
It wasn't easy and it's taken decades. There were obstacles I never expected, like the price of the Bart Shirley-Grant Jackson card. I also had to overcome quite a bit of indifference early on, as I was just a wee-one during the back half of the '60s and most of the designs don't do much for me.
However, the '60s gave me my first "old" cards. I can probably name the first Dodgers card I had for each year of the decade (and I think I'll do that later in the post). Those cards made quite a bit of an impact.
On the occasion, I've put together my 10 favorite Topps Dodgers from the '60s. Not a lot of surprises in this list, although I found a couple things interesting.
Here they are:
10. "Sealing Yanks' Doom," 1964 Topps
I don't spend a lot of time wishing I was around for events that happened before my birth, but I think Game 4 of the 1963 World Series is something I should have witnessed as it took place. This card makes me giddy every time I look at as I absorb the finality of the Dodgers' Series win over the Yankees.
9. Don Drysdale, 1963 Topps
This card looks very similar to Sandy Koufax's card in the set. And Koufax's card is much more valued than Drysdale's. Yet, Drysdale is here and Koufax isn't because this is the first 1963 Topps card I ever owned. Not only that, it was the most perfect-looking "old" card I had witnessed at the time. I acquired it in a trade in high school and, my goodness, every corner was sharp. Absolute perfection. I was almost afraid to look at it for fear it would deteriorate before me. And it has, just a little. Still love it though.
8. Duke Snider, 1961 Topps
You're going to see the '61 set represented a lot in this list. That surprised me because I don't think much of the set. But this Snider is the best of his later-career cards by far.
7. Don Drysdale, 1961 Topps
Here is Drysdale again and '61 Topps again! This image is so good that Topps used it again in 1962.
6. Walt Alston, 1962 Topps
I know of Dodgers cards of Snider, Furrillo and Campanella in which they are posed with multiple bats. But I don't think all of them together can match Alston's collection. There are a lot of good manager cards in the 1960s -- it was the decade for manager cards -- and Alston's '62 shot ranks right near the top.
5. Wally Moon, 1961 Topps
Goodness, maybe I should be collecting the '61 set. Moon's 61 card is the whole package. You get the casual bat swing, the friendly smile and the unibrow. The trademark unibrow would be featured more prominently on Moon's cards in '62, '63 and '64 but this card says baseball to me ... and unibrow.
4. Dodgers' Big Three, 1963 Topps
This card is a lot of fun and I love that Podres is included because I associated him with the 1950s for a long time and didn't realize for quite awhile that he was a steady contributor for the Dodgers well into the '60s.
3. Sandy Koufax, 1965 Topps
The first vintage Koufax card I owned was his 1966 card. This one represents him at his peak the best.
2. 1964 NL ERA Leaders, 1965 Topps
I just wrote about this card. I've loved it for a long time and the recent knowledge that it's just two players because Topps didn't have a deal with third-place finisher Chris Short doesn't diminish it for me. I still think it's a powerful piece of cardboard.
OK, before I get to my favorite Topps Dodgers card of the '60s, let's see if I can name the first card I owned for each year.
1967 is easy, it's this very Joe Moeller card. In fact, it is the first card from the 1960s, regardless of team, that I ever owned. I couldn't tell you how old I was. 13 maybe?
The first 1962 Topps card I owned was the Junior Gilliam card, with Willie Davis arriving shortly afterward. The first 1966 card is the Koufax that I just mentioned. The first 1965 card I had was Frank Howard. For 1963 and 1964 it's Drysdale for both. 1961 is Willie Davis and 1960 is Roger Craig (Cooperstown pick-up).
For 1968, it's either Al Ferrara or Nate Oliver. And I couldn't tell you with 1969. I acquired a bunch of '69s together (well, "a bunch" by a kid's standards) with Jeff Torborg, Wes Parker, Ken Boyer, Bart Shirley and a scribbled-on Willie Davis all coming home at the same time.
OK, now the top card. If you've been paying attention to the blog, you know what it is.
This was also an acquisition from my teenage days and one of the smartest things I ever did during a time when I didn't know a lot about the hobby. I could never hope to own an autographed Koufax card if I were to try to find one now. But I don't have to because I added this to my collection at a card show 40 years ago.
I was a bit surprised to see that four of the cards on this list are all from 1961. And none of them are from the last half of the 1960s, which has been a much more familiar period to me in terms of cards for all of my collecting life.
Of course there are still other Dodgers from the '60s to obtain, but it feels good to get the Topps run out of the way, just as it did for the '70s and the '80s, and those other decades that don't mean as much.
I suppose I need to get to work on the '50s now. That '53 Jackie Robinson and those '52 high numbers can't be too tough, right?
Comments