#3 1964 A.L. Home Run Leaders - Killebrew, Powell & Mantle

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
April 29, 2020 from Olney, MD - Card #92

In the middle of the sixth week of the coronavirus lockdown, I decided I needed some cardboard therapy.  The last card I had added for our set was back in the beginning of April when I went searching for the Al Kaline (#130) card upon his passing.  With no clear direction in mind, I went out to eBay and decided I'd pool my budget together for a few of the bigger cards in the set.  I browsed aimlessly until deciding on a reasonable strategy for my search - I'd look for cards in the order we needed them.  We already have cards #1 and #2, so I started looking for cards #3 and #4.  If I use this strategy again, I might start going backwards too, looking for cards #598, #597, etc.  I realize I'm lucky I can still buy baseball cards at this time and I don't take it for granted that I'm able to do so.  I'd like to think that buying these few cards is also helping the sellers in some small way.

This card is the priciest of the league leaders cards as it features Mickey Mantle (#350).  I bought this from a seller in Olney, MD on a Sunday and the card arrived at our house on Wednesday.  The price I paid for it was fair and the happiness it brought me upon its arrival was immediate and much needed.

At the end of April, the end of the lockdown was still no where in sight, although some states had started to (most likely prematurely) ease restrictions.  My family was safe and healthy and we had settled into our new routine, only leaving the house for walks, to play outside or to venture to the grocery store.  What a strange, stressful and scary time.

The Card
The A.L. Batting Leaders card (#1) features the same three teams as this card, in the same order, but with three different players - Tony Oliva (#340), Brooks Robinson (#150) and Elston Howard (#450).  Rather than displaying each player's team name next to their names, I would have preferred Topps gave us their leading totals on the fronts of these cards.  Harmon Killebrew (#400) had 49 home runs, and it was the fourth time he had led the league in this category.  He'd top the league twice more in 1967 and 1969, with the 49 home runs he hit in 1964 and 1969 representing career highs.

Boog Powell (#560) had 39 home runs, a career high for him, and this was the closest he'd ever come to leading the league.  He had seven top 10 finishes in the home run category between 1964 and 1975.  Mantle's 35 home runs would be the last time the slugger surpassed the 30-home run plateau in his career.  He had previously led the league in 1955, 1956, 1958 and 1960.  He hit home run #35 on September 30th, breaking the tie he had with Rocky Colavito (#380).  Colavito had hit his 34th home run of the season on September 29th and had Mantle not connected on the 30th, he would have been squeezed into the bottom row of this card with Powell and Mantle.

Flipping to the back, it's cool that Topps decided to include every A.L. batter who had hit a grand slam in 1964.

Twins Team Set / Orioles Team Set / Yankees Team Set

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