1969 Topps, Dave Wickersham

#647 Dave Wickersham

Here is the final '69 Topps card that I got signed through the mail this past offseason. Dave was part of my "KC A's reunion TTM project" and I sent this card to him on January 13 and got it back on the 20th. I think that this was my first TTM that I have ever sent out to someone that lives in Kansas and I was hoping to have this one back super-quick. The seven day response was really good, but it wasn't the the super-quickness that I was hoping for.

Dave played in the Majors for parts of ten seasons and he spent time with the A's, Tigers, Pirates, and Royals. He split time as a starter and reliever and his best season came as a starter with Detroit. In 1964, Dave finished the season 19-12 with a 3.44 ERA. According to Wikipedia, Dave was ejected from his final start of the season in the seventh inning of a tied game. He apparently called time out three times in a row to prevent a base runner from advancing as Norm Cash was arguing with an umpire. A reliever came in and got the win as the Tigers scored three in the ninth. Dave had eleven complete games that season and a twelfth might have got him that elusive twentieth win.

Dave finished his career 68-57 with 18 saves and a 3.66 ERA. He is one of just four players that played for the Kansas City A's and the Kansas City Royals.

Prior to getting this card signed, a '71 Topps card was the oldest Royal card that I have signed. It is nice to have one signed from one of the original Royals. It's even better to have a higher number card that shows the player in an actual Royals uniform.

College World Series Contest Finale

The College World Series is not quite over, but my contest is. Cubsfan731 filled out a nearly perfect bracket and, no matter who wins the actual CWS, Justin brings home first place here. In case you thought that you might still have a shot at second, that spot is locked down too. Ryan, aka Orioles Magic, filled out a good enough bracket and picked enough teams to make the Series that he finished in second.

The way I score the bracket is that game three is worth two points, game 6/7 is worth three points, picking the champ is worth three points, and picking how many games they will win it in is worth an additional point. All other games are worth one point. That is a total of 22 points, plus another 9 points that could have been earned for picking the eight teams in the CWS.

Through games 6/7, cubsfan earned 16 points (he was wrong on two one point games). He had 3 bonus points from the first phase and that puts him at 19 points. He picked Florida to win and if they win it in three games, he would finish with 23 points.

Ryan picked up 10 points on his bracket and 6 from the first phase and he too picked Florida to win (but in two games). So, he could finish with 20 points. But, since he and cubsfan both picked Florida, there is no way that he will be able to gain any ground on first.

Third place is still up for grabs, but there is no prize for third. I will post the final standings on Thursday as well as the rest of the prizes. Congratulations Ryan and Justin and thanks to all who played along. I hope you had a good time with it.

Here is the best prize that I was able to bring back from Omaha.

1969 Topps, Ken Boswell

#402 Ken Boswell

Here is the third of four 1969 Topps card that I I acquired over the offseason. Just like the other three, this one was acquired through the mail. I wrote to Ken because I have had this card sitting in a box for years and I figured it was time to add a signature to it.

When I was in grade school, I had a buddy that didn't collect cards. But, for some reason, he had a box of cards from the late '60s to the early '70s. Every once in a while, I would go through the box and pull out a couple of cards that he would give to me. This is one of those cards. The reason why I selected it is because of the Topps rookie trophy. When Topps brought back the rookie cup in 1987, all of the best rookies had the cup on it. That was my mindset when I chose this card and the Byron Browne card I posted a few days ago. But, when I got home and saw that both cards were considered commons in my Beckett, the two cards went straight into my commons box. And there they sat for almost twenty years until this past February when I finally sent them off and I could not be more thrilled with the results.

I sent this card to Ken on the 17th of February and I had it back on the 2nd of March.

Ken played with the Mets and Astros during his eleven year playing career. He was a .248 career hitter that clubbed 31 home runs during his career. He had season highs of a .279 average (1969), 9 home runs (1972), 44 RBI (1970), and 20 doubles (1971). He never made an All Star team, but he did play in two World Series with the Mets, winning it all with the 1969 team.

1969 Topps, John Donaldson

#217 John Donaldson

Here is another card from my "KC A's reunion TTM project". This one features the former Athletic and Pilot, John Donaldson.

John played in the big leagues for parts of six seasons, spending the majority of his time with Kansas City and Oakland. His best season came in 1967 when he played in 105 games and hit .276. That was his only season where he batted over .250. For his career, John hit .238 with 4 home runs and 86 RBI.

In my post yesterday, I noted how strange it was that that Norm Miller's Astros hat was blacked out. Luckily, Night Owl swept in and provided me with a little history lesson on that. But, that doesn't explain why Topps blacked out the A's hats. I understand that they are blocking the old KC logo. But, why didn't they use green? It would have been less noticeable and would not have looked so bad. It's not like Topps had not been airbrushing prior to 1969.

I sent this card to John on January 14 and I had it back on the 22nd. I thought that it was pretty cool that he included his number on the card. You do not see that very often from older ballplayers.

Those are some fantastic uniforms that the A's had in the late '60s.

1969 Topps, Norm Miller

#76 Norm Miller

Here is the second card that I have to post from last years Topps Million Card Giveaway. This one features the former Astro and Brave, Norm Miller. If I remember correctly, I unlocked Norm's 1970 card and then flipped it for this one just to have an older card. I sent this card out on January 15 and I had it back on the 26th.

Norm played in the Majors for parts of ten seasons. All of his time was spent with the Astros except the final year and a half. It looks like he was mainly a fourth outfielder-type as he only played in 90 or more games twice. The season where he got the most playing time was 1969 and he hit .264 with 21 doubles, 4 home runs, and 50 RBI. All of those numbers were career highs except for the home runs. He had hit 6 the previous year.

Norm's career ended after the 1974 season and he finished it with a .238 lifetime average with 24 home runs and 159 RBI.

I find it strange that Topps had to blackout Norm's hat on this card. Up to that point, the Astros were the only Major League team that Norm had played with. I doubt that the photo is a minor league shot because the ballpark looks pretty big. Maybe Norm had been in a lot of trade talks at the time and Topps was trying to make it easier for themselves if it did go through? I honestly cannot come up with a good reason as to why his hat is blacked out.

1968 Topps, Bob Locker

#51 Bob Locker

I had one other TTM project going this past winter and it involved getting all of my Topps Million Card Giveaway cards signed through the mail. The only goal I had during the giveaway was to acquire cards of guys that signed through the mail. If I unlocked a card of a player that was deceased or did not sign TTM, then that card was up for trade. In the end, I did alright as all of the cards that I sent out came back and only one of them was a return to sender. The RTS was from Larry Gura and he appears to be signing again, so I need to send that card back out.

Bob pitched his entire career out of the bullpen and never made one start in the Majors. He pitched for the White Sox, Pilots/Brewers, A's, and Cubs. In 1967, as a member of the Sox, he lead the league in appearances with 77 and he finished second in saves with 20 while posting a 2.04 ERA over 124.2 innings. His posted a similar season in 1973 with the Cubs when he won 10 games, saved 18, and had an ERA of 2.54.

After that season was up, Bob was traded back to the A's. An arm injury kept him out of the '74 season and once that year was up, Bob was traded back to the Cubs. After a disappointing start to the '75 season, Bob was released and his career was over. But, he did post some good numbers for his career. He was 57-39 with 95 saves and a 2.75 ERA.

I sent this card to Bob on the 14th of January and I had it back on the 22nd.

I wish I would have kept track how each of the MCG cards were acquired. Some of them were unlocked by me while others were acquired through multiple trades.

1967 Topps, Byron Browne

#439 Byron Browne

After doing my "KC A's reunion TTM project" and another project (that I will get into tomorrow) this past winter, I realized that I was having a good time getting some older cards signed through the mail. So, I started going through some of the older cards that I had sitting around and I decided to send some of them out as well. This card of Byron Browne was the oldest card I had of a guy that signed TTM, so he was the first card that I sent out.

I think I only got around to sending out cards like this to two other people, so this little project lost steam quickly. But, I didn't have too many older cards that weren't already signed, so I guess the project was a little limited to begin with.

I sent this card to Byron on February 17 and I got it back March 8.

Bryon played in the Majors for parts of eight seasons as a member of the Cubs, Cardinals, Astros, and Phillies. His best season came as a Cub in 1966. That year, he hit 16 home runs and 51 RBI while leading the league in strikeouts with 143. The season was good enough to earn him a Topps All Star Rookie trophy, but it wasn't good enough to get him playing time as he only played in ten games the following season with the Cubs. The rest were played for the Dallas-Ft. Worth Spurs in the Texas League.

Byron only saw substantial Major League playing time in one other season and that was in 1970 with the Phillies. He played in 104 games that season and he had 10 dingers and 36 RBI.

Out of Byron's eight Major League seasons, he played on 100 or more games twice, 50-99 games once, 11-25 games twice, and 10 or fewer games three times.

This is the oldest Topps rookie cup/trophy card that I have signed.

Byron has an interesting way of signing his "B"s in his name. To me, they each look like an "S".