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The 1964 World Series opened in St. Louis on October 7th and it ended 8 days later back in St. Louis with the Cardinals winning the decisive Game 7.
It was the fifth time these two teams had faced each other in the World Series, with the Yankees winning in 1928 and 1943 and the Cardinals prevailing in 1926 and 1942. This also marked the end of an era for the Yankees, as the club had appeared in 14 of 16 fall classics since 1949 and they wouldn't appear again until 1976. Former Yankee catcher Yogi Berra (#470) was in his first year as the team's manager, and he'd be unceremoniously fired following the series loss and replaced with (ironically enough) the Cardinals' manager, Johnny Keane (#131). Keane would only last with the Yankees until 20 games into the 1966 season.
World Series cards were a key subset in Topps offerings throughout the 1960s and 1970s, with a card highlighting each game along with a series capping "Celebration" card.
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Building the Set
May 6, 2021 from Port Washington, NY - Card #260
This was an unexpected buy consummated while watching the Phillies blow a game against the Mets on Saturday night, May 1st. Specifically browsing for one of the last three "big" cards* needed from the 1965 Topps set's second series, I found this World Series card reasonably priced from seller Clean Sweep Auctions and impulsively clicked Buy It Now. The card arrived a few days later. Apparently the card I had purchased was already gone, so Clean Sweep upgraded me to a NM version of the card, which had a price tag almost three times higher than what I had actually paid. Having now purchased a string of star cards for our set, I'd like to turn my attention back to the remaining commons needed to complete the second series.
*The other two "big" second series cards remaining from our checklist are Frank Robinson (#120) and Roberto Clemente (#160).
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The Cardinals and Yankees split the first two series games in St. Louis, and Game 3 was played in the Bronx at Yankee Stadium. Former Phillie Curt Simmons (#373), 18-9 during the regular season was starting for the Cardinals with Jim Bouton (#30), 18-13, on the mound for the Yankees. A pitcher's duel resulted with the Yankees touching Simmons first when Clete Boyer (#475) doubled home Elston Howard (#450) in the second inning for the game's first run. Simmons helped his own cause in the fifth, singling home Tim McCarver (#294) to tie the score. McCarver's run was unearned as he had singled to start the inning, but moved to second base on a fielding error by Mickey Mantle (#350) in right field.
In the top of the ninth, the Cardinals stranded the potential go-ahead run at third when Curt Flood (#415) lined out to Mantle to end the inning. In the bottom of the ninth, Simmons yielded to the Cardinals' closer, veteran Barney Schultz (#28). Mantle didn't waste any time, connecting for a game-winning, walk-off home run that sailed over right fielder Mike Shannon's (#43) head to give the Yankees a 2-1 victory and a 2-1 series lead.
The interesting thing about this card is the photo used is clearly not from Mantle's game-winning at-bat, and it's not even from Yankee Stadium. Mantle is wearing the Yankees' away jersey here, with "New York" shown across the jersey's front. And that sure looks like Bob Gibson's (#320) follow-through as it's clearly not Schultz shown on the mound. Gibson started Game 2 and Game 7 of the 1964 World Series in St. Louis, facing off against Mantle eight times as follows:
Game 2, first inning - strike out swinging
Game 2, fourth inning - strike out looking
Game 2, sixth inning - walk
Game 2, seventh inning - RBI groundout to second
Game 7, second inning - strike out swinging
Game 7, fourth inning - groundout back to Gibson
Game 7, sixth inning - three-run home run
Game 7, eight inning - flied out to center
In the photo used for this Topps cards, the catcher, McCarver for all those Mantle plate appearances, has just caught the ball here so this could simply be a swing and a miss by Mantle or one of the two times above he struck out swinging. Shown above are two photos from those Gibson/Mantle match-ups, and shown below is the actual video of Mantle's Game 3 home run. The black and white photo above is from Game 2 with a different umpire and different spectators in the stands behind home plate when compared to this Topps card. That leads me to believe the photo shown on 1965 Topps card #134, celebrating Mantle's Game 3 walk-off home run, is actually him striking out swinging against Gibson in Game 7. (Given the multitude of baseball card bloggers out there I have to imagine someone has discovered and written about this before.)
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Prior Card: #133 World Series Game 2
Next Card: #135 World Series Game 4
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