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Beginning in 1956 and going all the way through to 1981, with a one year absence in 1969, Topps included team cards in its flagship sets.
Building the Set
May 20, 2021 from San Diego, CA - Card #284
Down to needing five cards to complete our set's second series, I got serious. Unable to find the cards I needed from eBay at reasonable prices, I turned to the reliable Kit Young Cards for this Dodgers team card and the Frank Robinson card (#120) with both arriving from San Diego on May 20th. While the Robinson card was a bit pricey, the Dodgers team card was a very reasonable $4.25. A few days later, the final three cards needed for a complete second series would arrive and shortly thereafter I turned my attention to gathering cards from the set's third series. It felt great to be approaching the 50% completion mark for this iconic set.
May 20, 2021 from San Diego, CA - Card #284
Down to needing five cards to complete our set's second series, I got serious. Unable to find the cards I needed from eBay at reasonable prices, I turned to the reliable Kit Young Cards for this Dodgers team card and the Frank Robinson card (#120) with both arriving from San Diego on May 20th. While the Robinson card was a bit pricey, the Dodgers team card was a very reasonable $4.25. A few days later, the final three cards needed for a complete second series would arrive and shortly thereafter I turned my attention to gathering cards from the set's third series. It felt great to be approaching the 50% completion mark for this iconic set.
Here we have a team card featuring a team photo that's six years old. The team photo used depicts the 1959 World Champion Dodgers and the photo I found above from an old Heritage Auction shows all the players, coaches and other personnel featured. The photo was first used on the Dodgers' team card in the 1960 Topps set. I'm sure collectors of the day would have caught on and complained (at least amongst their fellow neighborhood collectors) about this? If I was a huge Dodgers fan and year after year I pulled the team card only to find Topps had once again recycled a photo of the 1959 team, I would have been annoyed. It would be like a photo of the 2008 Phillies being used on a 2014 Topps team card. Topps finally updated the photo when it produced a team card in its 1966 set for then new World Champions.
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1965 Season
Manager Walter Alston (#217) guided the Dodgers to a first place finish and ultimately a seven-game World Series victory over the Twins. The team's 97 wins were two better than the second place Giants, giving them their third National League pennant and ultimately their third World Series win, over a seven season period. The Dodgers got off to a shaky start and lost their top hitter Tommy Davis (#370) on May 1st when he suffered a broken ankle sliding into second base. They battled five other teams - Giants, Pirates, Reds, Braves and Phillies - throughout the summer.
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| 2014 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-MW |
Drysdale and Sandy Koufax (#300) were nearly unhittable on the mound. Koufax was the unanimous choice for the Cy Young Award and he finished second in the league's MVP voting behind Willie Mays (#250). Koufax was 26-8 with a 2.04 ERA and 382 strikeouts while Drysdale was 23-12 with a 2.77 ERA and 210 strikeouts.
Update Cards
For each team card featured, I'll be building a checklist of cards that could have been included in a 1965 Topps update set. With the exception of a few glaring holes among the team's regular starters, the Dodgers are already very well represented. I'm trying to come up with six potential cards for each team, and for the Dodgers I only came up with five, with the fifth being a stretch:
Baseball Reference
- Jim Lefebvre - The Rookie of the Year, and the club's regular second baseman, shares a Rookie Stars card (#561) with three other prospects and I'd give him his own solo card.
- Maury Wills - Regular shortstop Wills, a notorious Topps hold-out who didn't appear on his own dedicated Topps card until 1967, would get a card in my update set.
- Jim Gilliam - Player-coach Gilliam, the team's regular third baseman, last appeared as a player in a Topps set in 1964. He played in 111 games for the Dodgers in 1965, and he's more than worthy of an update card.
- Lou Johnson - Left fielder Johnson appears in the 1960, 1963 and 1966 Topps sets, but I'd make sure he had a 1965 card too.
- Don DeJohn - Infielder DeJohn appeared in 34 games for the World Champions and his only Topps flagship set appearance would come in 1966.
Baseball Reference
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