A Not-So-Arbitrary Arbitrary Collection - Decade By Decade

So here we have the last page in this mini-collection - showing the zero year from each decade of Topps. I'll be adding another card to this page in a few months, but will I ever finish the page? Will there still be Topps cards in 2040? 2030?

A look at the backs, to give a clear idea of how printing and design has changed over the decades. I may opt to swap out card #70 at some point, as the backs of most 1970 Topps cards have a different look to them. The 1980 set is my favorite design of these 6, but I have to say that 1990 Topps has grown on me a little after repeated viewings. 1960 Topps is of course known as the last fully horizontal set (though my favorite cards from that set are the vertical Manager cards). What is your favorite zero year set?

A Not-So-Arbitrary Arbitrary Collection - the 1960s

Not much suspense involved with this series, which started last Sunday. This weekend we are looking at 9 cards from the 1960s. Where is 1960, you say? Well, I will have a separate page for all the "0" year cards at the end of this project. 9 pocket pages just work better this way.

You can see here that I took some liberties with the '63 entry - I didn't want to use a team card on this page (card #63 is the Reds team card) so I picked card #163 to represent the year to have a base card.
1961 and 1962's backs are "upside down" compared to the rest of the horizontal cards, I hadn't noticed that before now. Tony Kubek was the 1957 Rookie of the Year, and Al Weis was a Topps All-Star Rookie in 1963. Don Larsen is probably the biggest name on the page, thanks to his perfect game in the World Series. The Ted Abernathy card probably has the most creative cropping, but I think my favorite on the page is Steve Hamilton from 1969 - I like the casual feel of the background with his Yankee teammates gathering around the batting cage. Ken Berry likes to collect Rock n Roll records - he's just like you and me!

Next week - the 70s. 

Day Twenty Four - 1961 Peter's Meats Elmer Valo #12

Day 24: A Favorite Oddball From the 1960s

Taking the lead from Tony at Off-Hiatus Baseball Cards this will be the twenty-fourth of 30 posts, using the prompts provided. I won't necessarily post one every day, but I will do one for each card, toss in a few "insights" (as insightful as I can be, anyway), and usually include an honorable mention or two, just because I'm like that.

Here's my pick - this is a recent addition, which I found more or less accidentally. You know the 1961 Topps Harmon Killebrew card? Capless with a sweaty forehead. The card makes him look older than his age, and it's one of my least favorite cards of all time. I was toying with the idea of making a custom replacement, so I did a Google Image search for "1961 Twins Killebrew" and as I was scrolling through the pictures, I found a Peter's Meat card of a different Twin. Now I was even more curious. So I went on eBay and did a search for Peter's Meats 1961 and there were several different players for sale. The biggest surprise of all was this Elmer Valo card, which I didn't even know existed. His '61 Topps card is also capless, like Killebrew, so this might be the only card that features Valo in a Twins uniform (even if it is airbrushed).  

Since these are basically one card posts, why not share the ba---- aah! Gross. Hot Dog sweat from 1961.

A couple honorable mentions:

1960 Bazooka! I would like to try to build this set some day - maybe after I finish a few others.

1962 Post! Don't have any designs on building this set, but I am a fan of this card.

Day Ten - 1965 Topps Tony Oliva #340

Day 10: A Favorite Card From the 1960s

Taking the lead from Tony at Off-Hiatus Baseball Cards this will be the tenth of 30 posts, using the prompts provided. I won't necessarily post one every day, but I will do one for each card, toss in a few "insights" (as insightful as I can be, anyway), and usually include an honorable mention or two, just because I'm like that.

Here's my pick - I thought picking just one card from the 1950s would be difficult, the 60s was also tricky. Tony O's first solo card of his career came on the heels of winning the A.L. Batting Title and being named rookie of the year. The 1965 set is my favorite design of the decade - I completed the O-Pee-Chee set, as well as the Heritage sets in 2014 that used the same look. This card in particular may be the one that pushed me over the edge to get all the Topps All-Star Rookie cards.

Since these are basically one card posts, why not show the backs, too? Pretty impressive that winning the batting title and hitting .323 actually lowered Oliva's career average. If not for bad knees and a balky back, Tony O would be in Cooperstown already.

Oh so many honorable mentions!

Horizontal sets came back in 1960, then disappeared again. But Topps continued to churn out some great horizontal cardboard. Ryne Duren has a few awesome cards, where he's rocking shades in both the main photo and the inset. The triptychs in the 1962 set like the Killebrew above make for a very nice 10 card subset. The World Series sets are a personal favorite, and "SEALING YANKS' DOOM" will always get my attention.
I ranked the 50s, so let's do something similar for the 60s. 65 is my favorite, then 61, 64, 60, and 63. The rest are kind of bunched at the bottom of the list, but I think I just need to see some more from 62 to decide for sure. 67, 68 and 69 have some great cards, but lots of bad ones. All the hatless players make sad.

The 1960 managers were a hint of things to come in 1965, Wes Covington's 1961 card is the '57 Valo of the 1960s, The Topps All-Star Rookie set looms large in 60s, even though Topps seemingly messed it up every year by missing one or more of the award winners... And Dave Ricketts was the most athletic hipster until James Harden.

I know I am only supposed to pick one card, so officially the answer is Tony O, but these are all winners in my book.