1952 Topps, Carl Erskine

#250 Carl Erskine

For no apparent reason, I haven't posted a card on here for two weeks. It is Christmas time and my weekends off have been dealing with shopping and whatnot. Plus, we finally got our house a puppy last week. But, for whatever reason, I haven't felt like posting much lately, which is a shame because I have got a few '50s cards to show off and those are really hard to beat. So, I made time tonight to feature one last 1952 Topps card. This is now the sixth '52 that I have got signed and I got it through the mail two months ago. It took me a whole nine days to get back. If I am going to make it to nine signed cards from this set, I am going to have to purchase the remaining three signed cards.

This is only the second card of Carl that I have posted on here and it has been nearly eleven and a half years since I posted the first one. I originally posted a '55 Bowman of Carl way back in the first month of this blog. I got that card signed at a Brooklyn Cyclones game and it was a blast getting (at that point) my oldest signed card autographed in-person. Since then, I have added three more signed cards of him to my collection and even one to my son's, all through the mail. In fact, the next card that I have to post on here is one of Oisk.

In that first post many moons ago, I mentioned nothing of Carl's playing career. Back then, it was all about how I got the card signed. But, Oisk had great career, all spent with the Dodgers. He suited up for them for twelve seasons and got to call Brooklyn and Los Angeles home. He finished his career with a 122-78 record with 13 saves and a 4.00 ERA. He made one All Star team and pitched in five World Series, winning it all in 1955.

1952 Topps, Howie Judson

#169 Howie Judson

Here is another recent through the mail success of mine. I sent this card to Howie in September and I had it back two weeks later.

Howie pitched in the Majors for seven seasons with the White Sox and Redlegs. He both started and relieved, but spent the majority of his career coming out of the bullpen. Over his career, he went 17-37 with 14 saves and a 4.29 ERA. I didn't even realize they tracked saves in the '40s.

It is so odd to me to see the strikeout and walk numbers from guys that played in Howie's era. Just like Carl Sheib, Howie finished his career with more walks than strikeouts. He walked 319 batters while just striking out 204 over 615 innings of work. That is good for a about three K's per nine innings of work. Nowadays, a pitcher with that kind of K/9 wouldn't even sniff the Majors, especially as a reliever. It is crazy how the game changes.

I noticed that Howie and Eddie Robinson, who are both pictured with the Sox in this set, are rocking two different hats. According to Dressed to the Nines, this hat was last used in 1945. The hat Eddie is wearing was last used in 1950. I wonder how accurate that site is as Howie didn't make it to the Majors until 1948.

1952 Topps, Irv Noren

#40 Irv Noren

Next up in the '52 Topps procession is this beautiful looking horizontal card of Irv Noren. I sent this card, along with ten bucks, to Irv in October and I had it back two weeks later. Sadly, Irv passed away three weeks after I got the card back.

Irv played in the Majors for eleven seasons with the Senators, Yankees, A's, Cardinals, Cubs, and Dodgers. Over that time, he was a .275 hitter with 65 home runs and 453 RBI. His best season was probably his rookie campaign in Washington. That year, he hit .295 with career-highs in homers (14) and RBI (98). Despite those impressive numbers, Irv did not receive a single vote for Rookie of the Year. Four years later, with the Yankees, Irv would get his lone All Star team nomination in a season in which he finished with a .319 average, 14 homers, and 66 RBI.

Irv appeared in three World Series as a Yankee, all against the Dodgers. The Yanks triumphed in two of the three and Irv hit .148 in eleven World Series games. He was also a member of the Yankees 1956 championship team, but missed most of the season and the Series to injuries.

Irv played in three NBA games in 1946 with the Chicago American Gears.

1952 Topps, Eddie Robinson

#32 Eddie Robinson

A few months ago, I decided to start a new project. My leads on 1981 Donruss were drying up and I needed a new excuse to send out some TTMs. So, I came up with my Topps Prime Nine project. The goal of the project is to get nine cards from every Topps base set signed, starting with this one. I picked nine because there are nine slots in a sheet and all of these are going in their own album. It is like the history of Topps, but with autographs added.

With the exception of the early Topps sets, it was going to be an easy task to accomplish. But, I made one stipulation and that has proven to make the task much more difficult than I anticipated- a player can only appear in the album one time. So, while my log says that I have thirteen 1976 Topps cards signed, a few of those guys are Royals alums that I have many autographs from. Then I have to choose if I use that player for that set or if he is needed to fill up a page in another set. Because of that, some Royals greats are in my Prime Nine album in uniforms other than the Royals just so I can fill up a page. John Mayberry is a Blue Jay and Willie Wilson is a Cub. That isn't right, but that is the way it is for now.

Anyways, the Prime Nine album is why I got this card signed. Before I started it, I had just two 1952 Topps cards signed. I figured I had better start sending out some cards for this set because there are not too many guys from it still around. Eddie, for instance, turns ninety-nine in three weeks. I sent this card to him in September, along with ten bucks, and I had it back in eight days.

Eddie played in the Majors for parts of thirteen seasons with the Indians, Senators, White Sox, A's, Yankees, Tigers, and Orioles. He was a big first baseman that could really swing the stick. The .268 lifetime hitter had four straight seasons in the early '50s with 20 or more homers and three straight years of 100+ RBI. He made the All Star team in each of his 100 RBI campaigns as well as the 1949 season. Eddie's best year was with the Sox in 1951 when he hit .282 with 29 homers and 117 RBI. Besides the four All Star games, he also played in the World Series twice.

Follow me on Twitter to see all of the Prime Nine TTMs as they arrive in my mailbox. @zmills40

1951 Topps, Wally Westlake

#27 Wally Westlake

Around the same time I decided that I needed a signed '51 Bowman for the collection, I also decided that I needed a signed '51 Topps. So, I found this card of Wally Westlake at a reasonable price and dropped it in the mail. The beautiful, small, squarish piece of cardboard made it back home one month later. Wally even included three signed postcards commemorating highlights of his career.

Wally played in the Majors for parts of ten seasons with the Pirates, Cardinals, Reds, Indians, Orioles, and Phillies. He came up with Pittsburgh in 1947 at the age of twenty-seven and would go five straight seasons of hitting double digit home runs, including a single season best of 24 with the 1950 squad. Over that time, he also had two 90+ RBI campaigns and topped out at 105 in 1949.

Then, in June of 1951, Wally got traded to the Cardinals. Despite making his first and only All Star team that season, that trade signaled the beginning of the end for Wally's career. In 1952, Wally got traded twice more and eventually ended up in Cleveland. He stuck around there for for two and half seasons, but only as a part time player. It was with the Indians in 1954 where Wally played in his lone World Series. He got into just two games and went 1-7.

In 1956, Wally played in five games for the Phillies and then called it a career. Like many young men of Wally's generation, he lost three years of playing time to the War. That obviously delayed his Major League debut, but he had a fine start just the same. Besides playing in an All Star game and a World Series, he also hit for the cycle twice and was the first white batter ever hit by a black pitcher. That last part felt really weird typing, but is a true statement.

As for 1951 Topps, the set was actually some type of game. It consists of just 52 cards, just like a card deck. You can tell on the top of this card that the card has some perforation to it, so I have no idea how these cards were distributed. But, I am willing to bet that they did not come with gum. That is just a guess, though.

Here are the postcards Wally sent me.

Wally passed away a little over two months ago.

1951 Bowman, Carl Scheib

#83 Carl Scheib

Two years ago, I was looking through my signed cards and I realized that I did not have a signed 1951 Bowman. So, I purchased this card of Carl, mailed it to him the next day, and had it back signed the next week. Three months later, at the ripe ol' age of 91, Carl passed away.

Carl pitched in the Majors for parts of eleven seasons with the A's and Cardinals. He broke into the Majors at the age of sixteen in 1943 and hung in the game until 1954. Over that time, he went 45-65 with 17 saves and a 4.88 ERA. One of his best seasons was with Philadelphia in 1951. Though he finished the year with a 1-12 record, he posted a 4.47 ERA and had career highs in saves (10) and strikeouts (49).

One thing that strikes me when I look at Carl's stats is his strikeouts and walks. Carl was not a strikeout pitcher by any means. In '51 when he struck out 49, it took him 143 innings to reach that number. In fact, Carl was more likely to walk the batter than strike him out. He finished his career with 493 walks to only 290 strikeouts. That has got to be one of the worse K:BB ratios in the history of the game. In 1949, he walked 118 batters. Add in his 191 hits allowed in his 182.2 innings of work and you have a WHIP of 1.692, which was barely above his career average. It was a different game back then and probably better, too.

On the flip side, Carl was a decent hitter that hit .250 for his career. In 1948, he hit .298 in 104 at-bats with 21 RBI and 13 extra base hits. He hit so well that year that he got two starts in the outfield. Like I said, it was a different game back then.

And probably better, too.

1959 Topps, Russ Kemmerer

#191 Russ Kemmerer

This is the final card from the '50s that I have to show on here and it is of Russ Kemmerer. I originally mailed out a card to Russ in either late 2012 or early 2013 and it came back "return to sender". I had no idea why it came back as the address matched the address on SCN. So, I sat on the card for a while until I saw more successes coming from that address. I then mailed the card back to the same address I had used earlier and I got some signed cards back a week later.

The only problem was that I did not get the card back that I sent Russ. I sent him his '64 Topps card just because he was playing for the Colt .45s on it and you can never have enough signed Colt .45 cards. But instead of getting that card back, I got this one, his '60 Topps, and two different signed postcards. While it would have been nice to add a second .45 card to my collection, I think I still came out alright.

Here are the two postcards he included.

1959 Topps, Jerry Walker

#144 Jerry Walker

This is not my final card from the '59 set, but it is the last one from the Sporting News Rookies subset. This one features the former Oriole, Athletic, and Indian, Jerry Walker. Like the rest of the '59s, I sent this card to him in 2013 and I got it back two weeks later.

Jerry pitched in the Majors for eight seasons and, like the previous post of Dick Stigman, he bounced back and forth from the rotation to the 'pen his entire career. He finished his career with a 37-44 record with 13 saves and a 4.36 ERA.

Jerry's best season came with the Orioles in 1959. That season, he went 11-10 with 4 saves and a 2.92 ERA while striking out 100 batters. He made the American League All Star team that season and picked up the win in the Mid-Summer Classic.

This is the fifth card from the subset that I posted on here. Three of them featured close-ups like this one and the other two had posed action shots. Personally, I think that the close-ups work a lot better with the striped background.

1959 Topps, Dick Stigman

#142 Dick Stigman

Here is the next card in the line of 1959 Topps Sporting News rookies and it features Dick Stigman. Like the previous three cards from the subset, I sent this card to Dick at the beginning of 2013 and I had it back about a month later.

Dick pitched in the Majors for seven seasons with the Indians, Twins, and Red Sox. He bounced back and fourth from the rotation to the bullpen his entire career, never settling in one spot for too long. In 1962, he lead the American League in winning percentage when he went 12-5 (.706). That year, he started the season in the pen and was 3-2 with 3 saves over the first three months of the season. He was then moved to the rotation and he went 9-3 over 15 starts to finish off the year. His strong finish landed him a starting spot the next season and he stayed in that role the entire season, going 15-15 with 193 strikeouts with a 3.25 ERA.

For Dick's career, he was 46-54 with 16 saves and a 4.03 ERA.

The College World Series Contest results will be up shortly.

1959 Topps, Joe Shipley

#141 Joe Shipley

It has been over a week since I have posted an actual card, so here is the next one in the more recent line of '59 Topps I got signed. This one was signed through the mail in 2013 and it took about nine days to get back to me. It is pretty sad that I consider cards that I got signed in 2013 as recent.

Joe had a short Major League career that spanned parts of four seasons, but just twenty-nine games. All of those games came with the Giants except for three outings with the White Sox in 1963. Over that span, Joe had a 0-1 record with a 5.93 ERA with 35 walks to 23 strikeouts.

Sadly, Joe's only decision came in game twenty-seven for him when he pitched one inning and gave up four unearned runs. Instead of walking one and striking out two in the fourth inning in a game against the Red Sox, strike three for the second out ended up as a passed ball and the runner made it to first. After the second strikeout, which should have been the third out, the next four batters each single driving in the four runs. The White Sox went from a 2-1 lead to a 5-2 deficit en route to a 6-2 loss.

On the college baseball front, Oklahoma State lost today and will play against Arizona again tomorrow. If they lose, The Lost Collector wins the CWS Contest. If they win, it is a three-way tie and we will have to wait for the conclusion of the tournament for the winner. Personally, I hope OSU and TCU win tomorrow to set up an all Big 12 final. But, that is just the Midwesterner in me.

1959 Topps, Dan Dobbek

#124 Dan Dobbek

The next card from the '59 Sporting News Rookie subset is that of Senators outfielder, Dan Dobbek. I sent this card to Dan in 2013 and I had it back ten days later.

Dan's Major League career was much shorter then Bennie Daniels from my previous post. Dan career lasted just three seasons and 198 games, all played with the same Senators/Twins franchise. Over those three seasons, he hit .208 with 15 home runs and 49 RBI.

Most of those numbers came during his 1960 season. That year he clubbed 10 dingers and drove in 30. The one down side was that he hit just .218. He did walk 33 times to give him a respectful .316 on-base percentage, though. He followed that season with a .168 average over 125 at-bats the next year in Minnesota and that was the last time he played in the Major Leagues.

Remember- you still have about twenty-four hours to get in on the College World Series contest.

1959 Topps, Bennie Daniels

#122 Bennie Daniels

Here is the first of the newer '59s that I have. This one, like the next three, comes from the Sporting News Rookies subset. I always liked the look of this set and they were my favorites out of the 2008 Topps Heritage set. I have a couple of the Heritage cards signed and was really happy to add a few originals to my collection, as well. I mailed this card to Bennie in April of 2013 and I had it back two and a half weeks later. He misspelled my name in the inscription, but it is the thought that counts.

Bennie played for nine seasons with the Pirates and Senators. He started over half of the games he pitched in and went 45-76 for his career with 5 saves and a 4.44 ERA. During his career, he had reached double digits in losses five times and had a winning record once. That one time was a career year for him in 1961, his first season in D.C. That year, he pitched over 200 innings for the first and only time and went 12-11 with 110 strikeouts and a 3.44 ERA.

Two more teams have advanced to Omaha- TCU and Coastal Carolina. Two people picked up points with TCU's win while nobody picked Coastal Carolina to advance. There is one final game going on now and Florida has a nice lead in the seventh inning. By this time tomorrow night, I hope to have final tallies from phase one of the contest as well as having phase two open. So, make sure you keep checking back for phase two.

1958 Topps, Jim Davenport

#413 Jim Davenport

This is the last card from the '58 set that I have to post. After this one, I have about a half dozen cards from the '59 set.

I got this card signed by Jim Davenport through the mail in 2014. It was about a ten day wait to get it back. Unfortunately, Jim passed away earlier this year.

Jim played in the Majors for thirteen seasons and he played every single one of them with the Giants. He was their regular third baseman early in his career before transitioning into their infield utility player. Jim was a .258 hitter for his career and he had 77 home runs and 456 RBI.

Jim's best season was in 1962. That year he had career-highs for average (.297) and home runs (14). To top it off, he made his lone All Star team, won his only Gold Glove, and played in his first, and last, World Series.

As of right now, their are five teams that have punched their ticket to Omaha. They are UC Santa Barbara, Miami, Arizona, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech. So far, The Lost Collector has picked three teams to advance with one of them being a two seed. Four other people have two teams picked thus far. We should know at least two more teams tonight with the last one possibly being decided tomorrow.

1958 Topps, John Goryl

#384 John Goryl

This is the second card of John Goryl that I have posted on here. The first one, his '81 Donruss manager card, was posted about three years ago and it can be seen here. I had been planning on sending that card to him when I ran across this one at the local card show and I figured that I might as well send this one along with it. For as much as I love getting '81 Donruss cards signed, I must say that this one came out looking much better than the '81D. The sig on this one stands out better than the blue on blue of the Donruss.

John had a relatively short Major League playing career, but not nearly as short as his managerial career. He played for the Cubs and Twins for parts of six seasons as a second and third baseman. Over those six seasons, he only got into 276 games and he hit .225 with 16 dingers and 48 RBI. His best season was with the Twins in 1963 when he played in 64 games and hit .287 with 9 homers and 24 RBI. Unfortunately, he regressed a ton the next season when he hit just .140 with two extra base hits, both triples, and one lonely RBI over 114 at-bats. That ended up being the last season John played in the Majors.

The Super Regionals start tomorrow. That means that I am almost a week away from heading to Omaha for some College World Series action!

1958 Topps, Ray Herbert

#379 Ray Herbert

Here is the first of two cards that I got signed by Ray Herbert through the mail. The funny thing about the two cards, though, is that they were sent at two different times. I sent the first card because it was from a set that I did not have a signed card from. Then, about a year later, I came across this card at a card show and I bought it to get signed just because it was a Kansas City A's card. I sent this one out early in 2014 and I had it back about eight days later.

Ray pitched for fourteen seasons with the Tigers, A's, White Sox, and Phillies. He began his career as a reliever in Detroit and did not do that great early in his career. He pitched for the Tigers for parts of four seasons and was 12-14 with 7 saves and a 5.09 ERA through 207 big league innings. Early in the 1955 season, he was purchased by the A's, ending a four year run with Detroit.

With Kansas City, Ray was slowly transformed into a starter and did alright on some bad A's teams. He reached double-digit wins twice as an Athletic, notching 11 wins in '59 and 14 in '60. He also reached double-digit losses in each of those seasons, but did sport a 3.28 ERA in '60 when he logged a career-high 252.2 innings.

As an A, Ray was 37-48 with 5 saves and a 4.25 ERA. He was traded to the White Sox mid-season in 1961, but I will go into that more when I get around to the next Ray herbert card.

I, like most people, think of green when I think of the A's. Because of that, I think it is great that this card has a greenish backdrop, even though the team was still a wearing navy and red in 1958.

1958 Topps, Red Wilson

#213 Red Wilson

Here is the next card in the long line of TTMs I got back in 2013. I sent this card to Red in February and I had it back about five weeks later.

Red played in the Majors for ten seasons with the White Sox, Tigers, and Indians. Like most of the vintage catchers I have been posting recently, Red was also a back-up throughout his career. He spent the majority of his time with the Tigers and was a .258 hitter for his career with 24 home runs and 189 RBI. His best season was probably with Detroit in 1956 when he hit .289 with a career high in home runs (7) and RBI (38).

In 1960, Red was traded from the Tigers to the Indians for Hank Foiles. I posted a card of Hank two weeks ago.

After a rainy regional weekend, the super regionals are now set. There were a few upsets with Virginia, Vanderbilt, and Clemson failing to advance off of their home turf. Some surprises to make it out of the regionals were Boston College and East Carolina, both three seeds.

As of right now, both Wilson and anonymous Brandon have all eight of their teams in the super regionals. Everyone else has between three and six teams remaining. Most people only have one seeds left. The Lost Collector has five teams left with two of them being two seeds. Greg also has five teams, with one two seed and a three seed. If all of his teams win, he could go into phase two with a nice lead with nine points.

On a side note, this summer will be my tenth straight year of going to the College World Series. I have gone with my dad every year and every year he picks a California team to root for. He has t-shirts for UC Irvine, Cal, Fresno State, Fullerton, and UCLA. Right now, there is only one California team left- UC Santa Barbara. The odds are stacked against them as they take on Louisville. Will they be able to pull off the upset or will my dad go to his first Californialess CWS?

1958 Topps, Daryl Spencer

#68 Daryl Spencer

Here is the next '58 Topps card that I got signed through the mail in 2013. This one took me all of five days to get back as I only had to send it down the road to Wichita.

Daryl played in the Majors for ten seasons with the Giants, Cardinals, Dodgers, and Reds. He played second, third, and short, but spent most of his time at shortstop. He had some decent pop for a shortstop in the '50s, hitting double digit home runs in each of his first six seasons. The most he ever hit was 20 and that came during his rookie campaign in 1953. 14 of those 20 came at the Polo Grounds, so I am sure he was taking advantage of the short porch in left field (280 feet). Nonetheless, 20 dingers by a shortstop in 1953 sounds pretty good.

For his career, Daryl was a .244 hitter with 105 home runs and 428 RBI. All of his best seasons came with the Giants, though none really stand out more than any other. He had those 20 home runs in '53, had 31 doubles in '57, 74 RBI in '58, and a .265 average in '59. It is too bad he missed the '54-55 seasons for serving in the military. Those might have been the seasons where everything came together for him.

1958 was the first year the Giants were in San Francisco. That is why Daryl is sporting the spiffy-looking airbrushed hat.

Daryl is a Wichita native and will sometimes appear at the local card show there. Unfortunately, he has not been there when I have attended.

On a side note, there is about fourteen hour left to get in the on the College World Series contest. Get those picks in as time is ticking.

1958 Topps, Hal Naragon

#22 Hal Naragon

Here is a card of Hal Naragon that was also signed through the mail in 2013. I sent this card to him in February and I had it back about five weeks later.

Hal played in the Majors for ten seasons with the Indians and Senators/Twins. Like the previous three cards I posted, that all happened to be catchers, he too was a back-up throughout his career. The one season he saw some significant playing time was 1959, the year he got traded to Washington. That season, he played in 14 games for Cleveland before getting into 71 games as a Senator. The most games he played in before or after that was 57, a feat that he accomplished three times.

For his career, Hal was a .266 hitter that had 6 home runs and 87 RBI. None of his seasons really stand out as being a career year, but he did have career-highs in homers and average in 1956 when he had 3 jacks and 18 RBI. That was one season after hitting .323.

Hal did have the privilege of playing in one World Series. It was with the Indians in 1954 and he got into one game as a defensive replacement that did not get to hit. Unfortunately, the Tribe was swept by the Giants in the Series.

When Hal was dealt to the Senators, he was traded for Ed Fitz Gerald. I posted a card of Ed earlier this week.

1958 Topps, Hank Foiles

#4 Hank Foiles

Next up is this '58 Topps Hank Foiles card that I got signed in 2013. I sent this card to Hank in April and I had it back about three weeks later. If I remember right, he also sent me card about his book. I cannot find that card, but he wrote a note on the back of the letter I sent him that briefly tells me about his book, "A Pirate's Journey", that can be purchased from his website.

That seems like a fitting name for his book considering that he played for eight Major League teams during his eleven year career. He made his debut with the Reds before being dealt to the Indians after five games. He played with them for parts of three seasons before moving on to Pittsburgh. He had his longest tenure with any one team with them as he was a Pirate for three and a half seasons. Then he had a whirlwind 1960 season where he played for the A's, Indians, and Tigers before settling down with the Orioles in '61. He was back in Cincinnati in 1962 and for one game in '63 before getting released and ending up an Angel through the '64 season. That was quite a journey.

Through all of that, Hank was a .243 hitter with 46 home runs and 166 RBI. His best season came with the Bucs in 1957. That season, he hit .270 and had career-highs in homers (9) and RBI (36). He was rewarded for that fine season by being selected to the National League All Star team. He represented his team well in the Mid-Summer Classic by getting a single in his lone at-bat. He came around to score, as well.

1957 Topps, Pete Daley

#388 Pete Daley

Here is the last 1957 Topps card that I got signed through the mail in 2013. I sent this card to Pete in February of that year and had it back just over a month later.

Pete played in the big leagues for just seven seasons, seeing time with the Red Sox, A's, and Senators. He spent five of those seven seasons in Boston and was mainly their back-up catcher behind Sammy White. Pete was a .239 career hitter who finished with 18 home runs and 120 RBI.

Pete's best season was with the Sox in 1956. That year, he played in just 59 games. But, he had career-highs in average (.267), doubles (11), homers (5), and RBI (29). Pete would get more at-bats in three other seasons, but could never outdo the numbers he put up in '56.

I have never asked for an in-person autograph to be done in ballpoint pen. I always want it done with a Sharpie. But seeing a signature like this makes me consider rethinking my practice when it comes to older cards. I love the way the pen came out on this card. The look fits the time period better than any Sharpie would.