(Today is National Honesty Day. I have always tried to be honest on this blog. Some may get offended, some may quit reading, but at least I'm trying to be true. It's when people are fake that I start to have problems. Time for Cardboard Appreciation, this is the 321st in a series):
I pay almost no attention to Topps' many online/on-demand releases. As a traditional collector, it's difficult for me to get used to cards being available only online -- I've been trained to physically go to a store for so long.
Most of the time, it's no loss -- I don't want that dumb-looking card with the regurgitated theme anyway. But every once in awhile, they hook me.
I found out about this 75th anniversary Rookie of the Year set from Wrigley Wax, who went nuts with all the Billy Williams parallels. (I have no intention of doing the same). The set is sharp, the black borders reminding me of 2007 Topps. And since the Dodgers have more Rookies of the Year than any other team, I quickly looked up the checklist.
There are five Dodgers in the 61-card set. While that is tied with the most in the set -- the Giants and Mets also have five -- it's far short of the 18 Rookies of the Year in Dodger history.
That's understandable with a set size that's just the fraction of the total number of Rookies of the Year. But the choice of players for the Dodgers left me underwhelmed. Cards of Corey Seager and Cody Bellinger, I have plenty of those and they're both recent departures so I'm no too fired up to add more right now.
Then there is Jackie Robinson and Mike Piazza. I enjoy cards of both players, but I have been overwhelmed with selection through the years and the desire to add more is not there. How about a card of Ted Sizemore or Joe Black or Rick Sutcliffe? OK, maybe that's not realistic. How about a card of Don Newcombe or Jim Gilliam or Todd Hollandsworth?
Obviously, Topps settled on cards that would sell the most. A Jim Lefebvre card is not going to sell. I miss the days when Topps was more concerned about being complete than quick sales.
The only Dodger card in the set that peaked my interest was the Frank Howard card and it's now mine.
There are not a lot of Frank Howard Dodger cards. I have most of them and it's around a dozen. Even his regular-issue Dodger cards weren't great.
That's 1961-64. The 1961 is pretty nice, the others could have been better. I don't know what that fielding pose is in '62 and then repeated in '64.
This is the card that stands out during that time period. It's my favorite Frank Howard card, showing him blasting the decisive home run during the Dodgers' 1963 World Series sweep.
This is the first Frank Howard card I ever owned. This is the actual copy. I acquired it as a teenager and I've never upgraded, although I probably should. This is the bespectacled look that you got on Howard's Senators cards all the time, but it's pretty much the only one where he's wearing a Dodgers uniform.
There are a lot more cards of Howard as a Washington Senator, bespectacled or otherwise.
He reappeared as a Dodger on a couple of cards about 20 years ago. I like this one a lot, it should've been a Topps card in the '60s.
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There's that odd pose again.
Mostly what Topps liked to do with Howard cards about 20 years ago is reprint his rookie card from 1960 and then chrome it up. I've got those, too.
So it's nice to get a different photo on a brand new Hondo card.
I should be happy that Topps had the rights for Howard's likeness. I know Hideo Nomo, another Dodgers Rookie of the Year, has hardly appeared on a card since the end of his playing career.
I don't mean to say that this set is just superstars, there are some nice cards of '70s rookies of the year like Al Bumbry, Gary Matthews, Andre Dawson and a couple of others. I doubt that I will be grabbing any others though.
As usual, the backs need work.
Comments
Also, I rarely have interest in all of Topps' On-Demand releases. If they're under a buck on COMC I'll pick up a couple, especially if they use a design from a favorite set in another sport.
Still remember being at a tigers game in summer 1973 when I was whiny about being tired at rhe night game and the Tigers were down anyway late. My dad and older bro left with me, only to have Frank hit a game tying HR in late innings. I remember my dad stopping the car outside the stadium and hearing a tremendous roar. Kind of a "hey kid quite whining and you may just see magic" moment that I always made a point to stay till the end, only it was a blowout in pisspoor weather.
Paul t
The world needs some new Nomo cards.
His great run (68-70) was ending when I started to collect cards but he will always be one of those 1970 Sluggers whose stats on the back of his 1971 Topps card put me in awe.
Looks like that picture might be from the Polo Grounds? In which case it would have been taken in '62 or '63, not '60. I could certainly be wrong though.