 |
 |
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
October 12, 2021 from Valley Cottage, NY - Card #377
This Giants team card along with three other cards needed for our set were bonus additions to a large purchase I made from OLDBBCards Vintage Sports Cards from Valley Cottage, New York on my birthday. The bubble envelope containing the cards arrived a little over a week later. I'm also slowly collecting the 1934-36 Diamond Stars set, and I took advantage of the seller's 20% off sale being offered in their eBay store to add the Earl Averill card, the most expensive card I've purchased for that set to date. Before checking out, I browsed the seller's other cards for sale and found four reasonably priced cards needed for our 1965 Topps set. This team card was $5.60 after applying the discount.
I spent a relatively low-key birthday watching our oldest son Doug help his team win a travel baseball game in the morning, receiving the Pete Rose (#207) card for our set, and then walking over to my sister's house for a cook-out with family that afternoon. It was a wonderful day!
 |
 |
Topps uses a black border for this card while every other Giants card in the set uses a purple border. This team photo is actually from 1964. In 1992, what appears to be a team-issued stadium giveaway postcard set was created, featuring Giants team photos from 1958 to 1992. I've included the postcard for 1964 above, and the the back of the postcard has a handy reference guide, listing everyone included in the photo. Duke Snider makes his final appearance in a Topps flagship set as he's in the back row, sixth from the right. Don Larsen (#389), however, is not in the photo, meaning the picture could have been taken after May 20th, when Larsen was sold to the Colt .45s. Strangely enough, Topps went back to an older photo of the team for the Giants' team card in the 1966 set.
|
|
|
|
1965 Season
In his first season leading the team, manager Herman Franks (#32) guided the Giants to a second place finish, just two games behind the Dodgers with a 95-67 record. The Giants missing the playoffs could be attributable to the nine-game suspension received by pitching ace Juan Marichal (#50) for striking Dodgers' catcher John Roseboro (#405) with his bat on August 22nd. While batting, Marichal believed Roseboro was coming too close to him when throwing the ball back to the pitcher and an argument ensued. Roseboro removed his catching helmet and Marichal struck him in the head with his bat. Marichal's resulting suspension cost him two starts, and perhaps cost the Giants the pennant. Roseboro and Marichal would reconcile in later years.
Marichal was the team's top starting pitcher with 22 wins and a 2.13 ERA, and closer Frank Linzy (#589) was their top reliever with 20 saves. Willie Mays (#250) had an incredible season on the way to winning his second league MVP award. He batted .317, led the league in slugging, on-base percentage and home runs (a career high 52) while driving in 112 runs. Willie McCovey (#176 - 39 home runs, 92 RBIs) and Jim Ray Hart (#395 - 23 home runs, 96 RBIs) also had impressive seasons.
For each team card featured, I'll be building a checklist of cards that could have been included in a 1965 Topps update set. I'm trying to come up with six potential cards for each team, and for the Giants, this exercise was easy given how active they were during the season with transactions.
- Dick Schofield - The team's regular shortstop has a card in the set with the Pirates (#218), but he played in 101 games for the Giants after his acquisition on May 22nd.
- Len Gabrielson - Regular left fielder Gabrielson is in the set with the Cubs (#14), but the Giants acquired him on May 29th.
- Warren Spahn - The future Hall of Famer was in his last lap around the National League. He was released by the Mets on July 17th and signed by the Giants a few days later, eventually appearing in 19 games. He has a "pitcher-coach" card with the Mets earlier in the set (#205).
- Frank Linzy - The team's closer shares a Rookie Stars card with infielder Bob Schroder (#589), but I'd give him a solo card.
- Masanori Murakami - Same thing goes for Murakami, the first Japanese-born player in the majors, who shared a Rookie Stars card with Dick Estelle (#282).
- Bill Henry - Finally, reliever Henry is in the set with the Reds (#456) but he made 35 appearances with the Giants after a May 4th trade.
Baseball Reference
Wikipedia
Previous Card: #378 Chuck Estrada - Baltimore Orioles
Next Card: #380 Rocky Colavito - Cleveland Indians
No comments:
Post a Comment