Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go - The 1956 Topps Chicago White Sox Team Set

One of the fun things about a completed set is deciding how you want to organize it. I have the 1956 Topps set in a binder, sorted by team, in the same order that the teams finished in the 1955 Standings. In 1955, the Chicago White Sox finished in 3rd place in the American League with an 91-63 record.

1955 was the year Mayor Daley first took office in Chicago. On Michigan Ave, a young man recorded a song called "Roll Over Beethoven" for Chess Records, to be released on an unprepared public the next year.

The Chicago White Sox were a formidable team, but found themselves stuck in 2nd gear for the bulk of the 1950s. They would win over 94 games in 1954 and 91 in 1955, but could not finish higher than 3rd place in the AL. In 1955, the White Sox had a well-balanced attack with power, speed, defense, and good to great pitching. They would continue to nips at the heels of the Yankees until finally tripping them up in 1959.

The White Sox best position player was their franchise 2nd baseman, Hall of Famer Nellie Fox. From 1952 to 1962, Fox would play in at least 150 games. His 1955 season included a league high 154 Games, also leading the league in at bats and in times hit by pitch. Fox was the only member of the White Sox to score 100 runs in 1955.

Fox led the AL in hits 4 times, and was the 1959 AL MVP for leading the Sox to the pennant. The 15 time All-Star also would win 3 Gold Gloves. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1997 by the Veteran's Committee.

The White Sox Ace in 1955, Billy Pierce, was their best pitcher for the season, and arguably their best pitcher for the entire decade of the 50s. In 1955, Pierce led the AL with a 1.95 ERA, and had a ridiculous 200 ERA+ (100 is league average). He tossed 6 shutouts and had the league's best FIP, WHIP, and K/BB ratio. He had a 15-10 record for the season, but pitched better than his record indicated.

Pierce followed up 1955 with 2 straight 20 win seasons, and was a solid veteran presence on the Sox '59 squad. Pierce did not get a start in the series, as Manager Al Lopez was determined to have the Dodgers face right handed starters. Pierce would appear in 3 of the games in relief, and allowed 2 hits and no runs for the series. Pierce would find a late career rebirth in San Francisco, again reaching the World Series in 1962. He pitched in 4 world Series Games, winning game 6 with a complete game 3-hitter, but the Giants still fell in seven games to the Yankees. For his career, Pierce won 211 games, struck out 1,999 batters, and had 38 career shutouts.

It was tough to pick the third card to feature, as you'll see in a moment, so I went with the Rookie, future Hall of Fame shortstop Luis Aparicio. Luis was in the minor leagues for the 1955 season, but was tearing up the basepaths and catching everything in his area code at short.

Pairing Aparicio with Fox gave the team a stout defensive lineup up the middle. Both sterling defenders could also run well on the bases, with Aparicio ranking 38th All-Time in stolen bases with 506 for his career. Aparicio led the AL in steals every season from his rookie year of 1956 until 1965. He was the 1956 Rookie of the Year, thanks to his speed and defense, with only Rocky Colavito and Tito Francona receiving votes. He was just a .262 career hitter, however he averaged nearly 170 hits and 20+ doubles per season to go with his great defense.

See what I mean about a tough choice? There were 4 Hall of Famers among the Sox regulars in the 1956 set, with Fox and Aparicio up the middle, George Kell at the hot corner, and newly acquired outfielder Larry Doby. Kell led the White Sox with a 119 OPS+ in 1955, though Fox had a much higher WAR when his defense and base stealing is taken into account. Larry Doby would make his first year away from Cleveland a good one-- he would drive in 102 runs and crush 24 homers in 1956. Minnie Miñoso had a slightly below average (for him) season in 1955, but would return to form in 56 with his average climbing again above the .300 mark and leading the league in Triples for the 3rd time. Don't sleep on "Jungle Jim" Rivera, either, who hit 10 homers and provided daring and acrobatic catches in the outfield.

The pitching was solid as well. In addition to Pierce, Donovan, Harshman, and Johnson all had better than league average years. Donovan matched Pierce with 15 victories and also had 5 shutouts. In the bullpen, Sandy Conseguera was the standout, with a 2.64 ERA over 126 innings. Dixie Howell was the team's closer, notching 9 saves while going 8-3 with a 2.93 ERA.

Bob Nieman provided some pop with 11 homers off the bench, Bob Kennedy had 9 homers of his own and hit .304 in limited duty. Jackson and Powell were 21 year old rookies. Powell appeared in only 2 major league games in his career- one in '55 and one in '57 and never made a plate appearance. He did score a run in the 1957 game however, pinch running for a pinch hitter for the game's starter Dick Donovan in the 2nd inning!

The White Sox were a sleeping giant in 1955, building a foundation with Fox, Aparicio, and Pierce to Go-Go to the World Series in 1959.

A Completely Arbitrary Shopping Spree

I was reading some trivia on pitchers and came across Rick Wise, who I didn't know about before, but now how can I forget? Without looking it up, who can tell me why Rick Wise (especially post 1971) was a total badass?

Shopping on COMC with a small balance can be a real blast - sort by lowest price first, then just play with the filters for a while. I was browsing 60s and 70s vintage after adding Rick Wise and eventually was looking at Curt Flood cards when I stumbled upon this Senior League Commissioner card, complete with bat rack mini collection awesomeness.

Of course baseball's more endearing (and enduring) senior was Minnie Minoso, and the Senior league made me want to check to see if there were any oddballs of Minoso on the site.

Of course there was! This True Value hardware issue was just what I wasn't looking for!

As long as I was on the site, why not look for some other mini collections? Any card that features Lord Stanley's Cup is all right with me! And hey, a Canadian Hockey Team winning it all just seems like a natural thing, yeah?

As much as I want to be Completely Arbitrary, I'm also Highly Subjective when it comes to the MN Twins. I didn't have Escobar's Topps Update Rookie card yet, so I had to fix that before he becomes a superstar.

If I'm going for a complete Escobar Experience, I also want to include his pre-rookie cards with his first team on the South Side. The bottom right hand signed card actually came from a trip to my LCS, rather than from COMC.

Last but not least, I had a little bit left in the tank, so I filtered by memorabilia and Hall of Famers and just checked for any bargains. I didn't want one of the multitude of plain white swatches, so I decided to look for a bat.

Well, Upper Deck says it's legit, please don't tell me that it turned out that all these relics were fake, the card was so cheap I wouldn't be surprised but I still don't want to know! Tony Gwynn was a big part of my childhood. Growing up in MN as a Kirby Puckett fan, I always thought of Gwynn as his National League counterpart, and I rooted for Tony whenever I had the chance.

Thanks for stopping by!

Turning Over A New (To Me) Leaf

No, I haven't started a new P.C. - but any time you see a Bieber card on this blog, you know there was a Transatlantic Triple Break from France!

Kevin busted a box of 2002 Leaf, and I think the design is pretty tame for the early 2000's. It's a clean look, and the photos on the back are a nice touch.

I'm not sure what the "Lineage" series was supposed to accomplish, I guess there was a gap in Leaf sets and they decided to do some extra designs.

Had to show off the Twins from the break - The late 90s buyback was part of the extra cards that Kevin included.

The offer still stands, Royals fans - e-mail me your address and I'll send you a ton of cards, can't seem to find any takers for Royals.

Here was the hit! The great Tim Hudson, part of the early 2000s A's rotation with Zito and Mulder that gave lots of teams fits.

Kevin also sent along a stack of Twins

Including this nice serial numbered Mauer.

And this great Aaron hologram card- the scanner actually did a good job capturing the image!

Bartlett got away from the Twins in the Delmon Young trade with Tampa, and the Twins have been searching for stability at short stop ever since!

These A&G relics are nice to look at - Sano is going to some work to do the rest of this off-season to get back in fans' good graces. I won't get into the whole thing here, but I will say it won't be easy to earn back my fandom.

On to more pleasant matters, Kevin also sent over this beautiful Minnie Minoso 1954 Bowman. Well loved, but still has bright colors and is well centered despite the wear and tear of 60 plus years of various people's collections.

Thanks again for the break Kevin!

Day Twenty Eight - 2002 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts Minnie Minoso #S-MMi

Day 28: A Favorite Relic / Manufactured Relic Card

Taking the lead from Tony at Off-Hiatus Baseball Cards this will be the twenty-eighth 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- in my opinion, a "relic" should be from a bygone era. The older, the more relic-y it is. Minoso played his last MLB game (the first time) back in 1964. Then in 1977. Then in 1980. He even suited up for the Minor League Saint Paul Saints as recently as 2003. He's the only player to play in the 21st Century that also played in the Negro Leagues. This card isn't a "sick patch" or laundry tag or a book with buttons or anything like that - just a simple design that features a relic of an all-time great.

Since these are basically one card posts, why not share the backs? If the back of the card is accurate, the relic is at least from 1959, if not older. Cleveland was the first team Minoso played for in the big leagues, back in 1949, and he returned for two more seasons in the late 50s. I miss Upper Deck baseball, I hope they get another chance to make some cards in the future.


Honorable mentions!

I like a clean design most of the time, but a little craziness can be welcome as well. I like to pretend that the relic on the Kirby Puckett card is from the bat he hit the home run with in Game 6.

Topps Lineage was fun as well- every pack had a fun insert- there were some pretty heavy hitters in there as well as relics. Kennys Vargas is an example of how Panini is able to stay competitive - if you can't show the logo, might as well have a swatch that features as much as you can get away with. Murray, Jackson, and Oliva are all cards that meet my personal criteria for a good relic. A retired player, an interesting design, and the relic itself is featured without overwhelming the card.

Day Twenty Three - 1952 Berk Ross Minnie Minoso

Day 23: A Favorite Oddball From the 1950s

Taking the lead from Tony at Off-Hiatus Baseball Cards this will be the twenty-third 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 don't have very many oddball cards from the 1950s, but even if I did, I would probably still pick this one. Minnie Minoso is one of the most fascinating players from the 50s, and 60's, and 70s, and 80s, and 90s! I first heard about him when he pinch hit in a game for the Saint Paul Saints in 1993 at the age of 67(?). When I started collecting again in 2014, Minoso was one of the first players I actively sought out. The Berk Ross "Hit Parade of Champions" had some big names like Mantle, Jackie, Musial, Yogi, DiMaggio, Ted Williams - but Minoso is the one I have and the one I was excited to find! 

Since these are essentially one card posts, why not share the backs as well? Baseball Reference shows Minoso's birth year as 1925, the cards passed out at his memorial service stated "1924-2015" - and the Berk Ross card says 1923. Berk Ross cards are about the same size as 51 and 52 Bowman, not a lot of room for stats. But they were able to include one line for each player. His 1951 average was good for second in the AL, while he did lead the league in Triples and Stolen Bases, while finishing second in the Rookie of the Year voting to Gil MacDougald of the New York Yankees.

Playing with House Money

Still have a tiny shop left at COMC, and recently was gently reminded that negative balances are not permitted if you want to sell your cards on the site.

I was surprised to find that I actually had a small surplus, so thanks to anyone that picked through the junk to find something they could use!

Being the responsible salesman that I am, I immediately re-invested those precious credits on new cardboard for myself.

The biggest (literally) purchase was this Minnie Minoso Exhibit postcard - it is the blank tan back version. If I remember correctly "Made in U.S.A." vs. All Caps or "Printed in" means this was from 1951 - 1953. The card is listed as 1947-1966 Exhibit, but I think early 50s is probably a fair guess. Assuming this isn't a reprint!

Rickey is leaping into the ivy, and a Trio of Mannys!

Always looking to add a few new to me Twins, too.

Some sweet Dave Winfield cards that were on my list.

This Kennys Vargas card is numbered to 25 - I'm running out of Kennys to collect!

Couldn't leave without some horizontal heroes - The relic is Moises Alou.

Found this very affordable auto from "Twig" - rounding out a pretty nice haul from the site. I would never call myself a serious card seller. I've only sent one shipment to COMC to date, and I don't know that I'll be sending more - I don't really go for the big dollar sets, so I usually don't have premium, top dollar cards to sell. In fact, I'd much rather trade those cards than sell them anyway!


 If you want to see what's left at my COMC store, you can find it here - still a couple interesting things, and I am open to lower offers most of the time.

Getting to the Bottom of a Mystery

I was browsing COMC and stumbled upon this Kirby Puckett card - it looked a little off, definitely different from the base card from the 87 Fleer set. Turns out it is a Box Bottom card! Then I wanted to see what else was out there, and I found this gem:

The image is familiar to folks from the recent Stadium Club card, but this was the earlier use of it on cardboard.

No arguments here- Gooden was sensational in 1984.

I targeted a few PC guys and Ted Williams is sporting his Minneapolis Millers uniform. He only had it for one season, but he led the league in Homers and was called up to the Red Sox the following season.

'Ol Satch in his stint as a member of the Saint Louis Browns.

Here's the back of that oddball - much of the selling of baseball cards is once again "through the mails," but websites like COMC make it easy to see the condition of the cards I'm buying.

Had to splurge a little on this one - Minnie Minoso is wearing a White Sox Jersey, but the back of the card says this swatch is from his days in Cleveland. Nice old school wool!