#139 World Series - The Cards Celebrate

The 1964 World Series went all seven games with the Cardinals prevailing against the Yankees thanks in part to a complete game performance from pitcher Bob Gibson (#320).

Building the Set
December 7, 2019 from King of Prussia, PA - Card #27
We were up to 11 cards for our 1965 Topps set, and I honestly had it in mind that I wanted to purchase one fairly major "star" card during our remaining time at the Philadelphia Sportscard & Memorabilia Show inside the Valley Forge Casino.  The showroom floor was packed as we were now into the early afternoon and autograph guests were showing up every 15 minutes or so.  The PA announcer would call out ticket numbers in groups of 10 all while imploring collectors to back away from the entrance that led into the autograph signing area.

That was the backdrop when we came upon the table for MJW Collectibles out of Somerdale, NJ.  This dealer had a bunch of 1960s Topps binders spread out, and the sign on the 1965 Topps binder caught my eye - ALL CARDS $1.  And with Doug's help, I dug in.

I first determined I'd buy 10 cards, and then that went up to 15.  My only criteria was that the cards needed to be a good shape with four sharp corners.  Doug helped me pick the cards in best shape, especially when there were several of the same card to a page.  We picked our 15 commons and then the dealer asked if I wanted to see any "star" cards.  Knowing now that I wanted to spend in the range of semi-star cards and not star cards, I landed upon this pristine version of the World Series summary card first.  Along with the $15 in commons, I paid $3 for this card and then $12 for the next card I'll feature.

The picture shown here displays our complete haul of new 1965 Topps cards from the show.  We purchased 26 cards in total.

The Card / Cardinals Team Set / Yankees Team Set
Beginning with its 1960 set, Topps recapped the prior year's World Series with a card summarizing each game and then usually a wrap-up "celebration" card.  There's not a lot for me to write about here, as this is the summary card for the 1964 World Series showing an on-field celebration photo on the front and complete (and small) statistics from the series on the back.  Topps produced a card for each of the seven games, and I'll write about each game as we add those cards.  This was the first Cardinals World Series title since 1946, and their seventh title overall.  Since this series, they've also won it all in 1967, 1982, 2006 and 2011.

The card features a photo taken immediately after the final out of Game 7 was recorded on October 15, 1964.  Or is it from an earlier celebration?  One thing I found interesting about the card is that the photo used was most likely originally black and white and then colorized by Topps.  From the video embedded below showing the final out of the World Series, the Cardinals are wearing red hats and not the blue hats depicted on the card.  In watching the video below and looking at other pictures taken during the celebration, there aren't very many players in the group wearing warm-up jackets.  Perhaps the photo Topps used is from the pennant clinching game against the Mets on October 4th?

Also, I was going to try to tag the identifiable players and coaches on the card, but other than Gibson and catcher Tim McCarver (#294), it's difficult (for me at least) to identify anyone else.


Prior Card:  #138 World Series Game 7

Next Card:  #140 Dean Chance - Los Angeles Angels