Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Completely Red: 1964 Topps

Oooooh, what a fine, fine set. I'm partial to '64 Topps, most surely, due to a 1964 Topps Mickey Mantle my grandpa landed for me as a kid. He traded four used tires for it at a flea market. That is awesome. So the '64 design has been imprinted in my mind as being associated with awesomeness. And it is pretty good. Big, gaudy purple emblazoned up top. Easy-to-read nameplate. Really slick rookie duos. Solid offering.

The obvious star of the set is the Pete Rose All Star Rookie, which I picked up not too long ago. He sits alongside seventeen other All Stars. Dang. We also get a sweet pitching leaders card with three Hall of Famers...and Jim Maloney. But hey, I say. Maloney is in the Reds Hall of Fame. So there. FOUR Hall of Famers. The strikeout leader card is the same story. It's nice seeing Jim Maloney alongside Koufax, Spahn, Drysdale, and Marichal.

You'll also notice a handful of these have the player's numbers written on the card in ink. These were my first '64 Reds purchased right as I was getting back into the hobby. The local card shop let em go for a song. I like 'em.

STATS:

Cards - 29

RC's - 4 (Mel Queen, Bill McCool, Jim Dickson, Bobby Klaus)

All Stars - 18 (Sammy Ellis, Bill Henry, Chico Cardenas, Vada Pinson, Joe Nuxhall, Dick Sisler, Pete Rose, Jim O'Toole, Fred Hutchinson, Frank Robinson, Tommy Harper, Joey Jay, Bill McCool, Bob Skinner, Jim Maloney, Charlie Neal, Bob Purkey, John Edwards)

Hall of Famers - 1 (Frank Robinson)

Reds Hall of Famers - 9 (Fred Hutchinson, Joe Nuxhall, Jim O'Toole, Gordy Coleman, Jim Maloney, Bob Purkey, Vada Pinson, Frank Robinson, Chico Cardenas)

Non-Rookie-Card Rookie Cards - 2 (Sammy Ellis, Chico Ruiz)



Checklist:

3 NL Pitching Leaders (Koufax, Marich, Spahn, Maloney)
5 NL Strikeout Leaders (Drysdale, Koufax, Maloney)
33 Reds Rookies (Ellis, Queen)
49 Bill Henry
72 Chico Cardenas
80 Vada Pinson
106 Joe Nuxhall
125 Pete Rose
144 Al Worthington 
162 Hitting Area (Pinson, Sisler)
166 Marty Keough
185 Jim O'Toole
207 Fred Hutchinson
233 Hal Smith
260 Frank Robinson
275 John Tsitouris
303 Jim Campbell
330 Tommy Harper
346 Joe Jay
356 Reds Rookies (McCool, Ruiz)
377 Bob Skinner
403 Reds Team
420 Jim Maloney
436 Charlie Neal
449 Deron Johnson
480 Bob Purkey
507 John Edwards
524 Reds Rookies (Dickson, Klaus)
577 Gordy Coleman

Go Reds.

7 comments:

  1. Card design is nice, jerseys not so much. :D Pete Rose rookie is sweet, though.

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  2. I like that you always include the league leader cards

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    Replies
    1. If there's a Red on the card, it MUST count toward the team set. Makes it tougher, obviously, with some serious HOFers on those cards.

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  3. I love that Jim Maloney. He has s a look that says "Yup. You just struck out, son."

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    Replies
    1. Well he had that look 939 times 1962-65, so, yeah. Be scared.

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