Monday, October 17, 2022

#481 Cleveland Indians Team Card


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
March 6, 2022 from The Philly Show (Sports Cards Plus - Cooper City, FL) - Card #584
This is the 100th of 102 cards acquired for our set from the Baseball Card Sports Memorabilia Show, affectionately known as The Philly Show, held in the basement of the Valley Forge Casino Resort in King of Prussia in early March.  We went nuts and left the show needing only 12 more cards to complete our 1965 Topps set, and I wrote about the show in detail over at The Phillies Room.  After our 51 card haul from Uncle Dick's, and with more card spending budget still in place, I set out to find another dealer with a binder of 1965 Topps cards with reasonable prices.  I had purchased cards from Sports Cards Plus before, finding the last few cards needed for our 1971 Topps set from this dealer back in December 2019.

Settling in, we found 37 cards needed for our set with an average price per card working out to around $6.  The lot, including this Indians team card, consisted mostly of semi-stars and team cards.  This is one of four team cards acquired at the show.  After paying for this mini haul, we were officially 13 cards away from a complete set, with one more purchase coming to end the day.


The Card / Indians Team Set
This team photo was taken at some point after June 15, 1964, as that's the date the Indians traded Mudcat Grant (#432) to the Twins for George Banks (#348) and Lee Stange (#448).  Stange is seated in the front row, all the way to the right.  Topps would recycle this photo for the 1966 and 1967 Indians team cards.  Hall of Famer Early Wynn, an Indians coach between 1964 and 1966, would also move to the Twins for the 1967 through 1969 seasons.  Wynn is seated in the front row, right next to manager Birdie Tebbetts (#301).

I've mentioned this before, that it's strange to me Topps continued to use an Indians logo first introduced by the team in 1949, to celebrate their 1948 World Series victory, and that hadn't been used as an alternate logo since 1955.  The crowned Indian had been phased out by the club ten years prior to the issuance of the 1965 Topps set, yet that's the logo appearing on all 1965 Topps Indians cards.

1963 Topps #451
1964 Topps #172
1966 Topps #303
1967 Topps #544

 1965 Season
The Indians were involved in a blockbuster eight-player, three-team trade in January, re-acquiring slugger Rocky Colavito (#380) from the Athletics.  Colavito was one of the team's top sluggers, leading the way with 108 RBIs and 26 home runs while batting .287.  Left fielder Leon Wagner (#367) led the club with 28 home runs while center fielder Vic Davalillo (#128) was their top hitter with a .301 average.  The starting pitching rotation consisted of Sam McDowell (#76), Luis Tiant (#145), Sonny Siebert (#96) and Ralph Terry (#406) for most of the season with McDowell winning 17 games and leading the league with a 2.18 ERA.  Gary Bell (#424) assumed the closer's role, securing 16 saves in 60 relief appearances.

It was to be manager Tebbetts' last full season at the helm, and the Indians would finish with a 87-75 record - fifth place in the American League.

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.  I'm trying to come up with six potential cards for each team, and got to that total for the Indians only with a re-do card for slugger Colavito. 
  • Pedro Gonzalez (2b) - Pedro Gonzalez (#97) became the team's regular second baseman after a trade in early May with the Yankees.
  • Duke Sims (c) - The primary back-up to regular carthcer Joe Azcue, Roof appeared in 48 games.
  • Phil Roof (c) - Phil Roof (#537) was acquired from the Angels in mid-June, and he's in the set on an Angels Rookie Stars card.
  • Al Luplow (of) - Back-up outfielder Al Luplow appeared in 53 games for Cleveland.  He's in the 1962, 1963, 1964, 1966 and 1967 Topps sets, but was omitted from the 1965 set.
  • Floyd Weaver (rhp) - Reliever Floyd Weaver is on an Indians Rookie Stars card (#546) but I'd give him a solo card in my update set.
  • Rocky Colavito (of) - He's already in the set, and already featured with the Indians, but his original card  shows him in an Athletics' uniform wearing a hat with a blacked out logo.  I'd update his card to show him actually wearing an Indians uniform.
Sources
Baseball Reference
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