#11 1964 A.L. Strikeout Leaders - Downing, Pascual & Chance

Beginning in 1961, Topps started including league leader cards in its sets and there are 12 league leaders cards kicking off the 1965 Topps set.

Building the Set
February 13, 2020 from Los Angeles, CA - Card #50

eBay can be a dangerous place during long work days in the winter, and on a long work day in early February I found myself once again browsing through listings from a 1965 Topps set break from Greg Morris Cards.  I again bid on 20 cards, placing my maximum bid on each of the 20 and then vowing not to go back and increase my bid if someone else came in over me.  I stuck to my vow, and came away with another 11 new cards for our set, including this League Leaders card.  I didn't track my original minimum bids, but I won this card for $2.82.  This is the milestone 50th card added to our set.

I'm going to try to stay away from eBay auctions for a little bit, as it's more fun (albeit occasionally more expensive) to add these cards one at a time at the baseball card shows we attend.  As of this writing, there's another Philly Show coming up in a few weeks, and I'd like to hold off on adding any more cards to our set until then.  Also as of this writing, 2020 Topps Series 1 has found its way onto retail shelves, and I posted my thoughts on the newest Topps flagship set over at my other blog, The Phillies Room.

The Card
This is the only time in his 17-year career that Al Downing (#598) would lead the league in strikeouts.  He'd finish in fifth place in the league in 1965 with 179 strikeouts.  Camilo Pascual (#255) had previously led the league in strikeouts three times, doing it in 1961, 1962 and 1963.  He came five strikeouts short of doing it for the fourth year in a row, and after 1964 he never struck out 200 in a season again.  Dean Chance (#140) finished in the top 10 in strikeouts in six different seasons, getting closest to the top spot in 1964 and 1967 when he finished in third place both seasons.

And poor Dick Donovan got cut from the back of the card, as he tied Fred Newman (#101) for 51st place with both having 83 strikeouts in 1964.  Imagine being Donovan and flipping this card over to see that Topps had to choose between him and Newman and they went with Newman.

Yankees Team Set / Twins Team Set / Angels Team Set

Prior Card:  #10 1964 N.L. Pitching Leaders

Next Card:  #12 1964 N.L. Strikeout Leaders