#135 World Series Game 4 - Boyer's Grand-Slam

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.

Building the Set
February 13, 2021 from Edmonds, WA - Card #223
Busy with my chosen profession, rarely leaving the house and anxiously awaiting the return of live baseball, I turned to eBay in early February for some cardboard therapy.  After another largely unsuccessful bidding exercise on a 1965 Topps set break hosted by Greg Morris Cards, I went the Buy It Now route with 10 cards from Mitchell's Cards located in Edmonds, Washington.  As we've been completely unable to find packs of 2021 Topps locally, the much-needed package of baseball cards was a welcome sight in our mailbox on February 13th.  I spent $34 on the 10 cards from Mitchell's, with this World Series card costing $8.50, tied with the Tom Tresh (#440) card for the most expensive in the lot.

The Card / Cardinals Team Set / Yankees Team Set

The Yankees were up 2-1 in the Series after splitting the first two games in St. Louis and winning the day before on Mickey Mantle's (#350) walk-off home in Game 3 off Cardinals' pitcher Barney Schultz (#28).  In this game, it was the Cardinals' turn to stun the Yankees.

Cardinals pitcher Ray Sadecki (#230) faced off against Yankees' starter Al Downing (#598), with both pitchers having appeared in Game 1.  Downing had relieved Whitey Ford (#330) in that game after Mike Shannon's (#43) two-run home run in the sixth and Sadecki was the starter for St. Louis, lasting six innings and giving up four runs.  Sadecki fared much worse in Game 4, lasting just five batters before manager Keane went to his bullpen and reliever Roger Craig (#411).  In quick succession in the bottom of the first, Phil Linz (#369) doubled, Bobby Richardson (#115) doubled him home, with Roger Maris (#155) and Mantle hitting back-to-back singles to chase Sadecki from the game.  Craig gave up one more single to Elston Howard (#450), and it was 3-0 Yankees.

Craig and Downing both settled in and the offense from both sides stayed relatively quiet until the top of the 6th.  Carl Warwick (#357) and Curt Flood (#415) both singled to open the inning and Dick Groat (#275) reached on an error by second baseman Richardson.  With the bases loaded, Ken Boyer (#100) hit a grand slam to deep left field and the Cardinals had a 4-3 lead.  Ron Taylor (#568) entered the game for the Cardinals in the bottom of the inning and threw four scoreless and hitless innings to lock down the win and earn the save.

Similar to the Game 1 card showing Shannon's home run off Ford, catcher Howard makes an unwanted cameo on this card as well.  That's umpire Hank Soar behind the plate watching the ball leave the ballpark.

Sources:
Baseball Reference

Prior Card:  #134 World Series Game 3

Next Card:  #136 World Series Game 5

#450 Elston Howard - New York Yankees

Elston Gene Howard
New York Yankees
Catcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'2"  Weight:  196
Born:  February 23, 1929, St. Louis, MO
Acquired:  Purchased by the Yankees from the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro League, July 19, 1950
Major League Teams:  New York Yankees 1955-1967; Boston Red Sox 1967-1968
Died:  December 14, 1980, New York, NY (age 51)

The first African American to play for the Yankees, Elston Howard was an American League All-Star nine years in a row between 1957 and 1965.  He helped the Yankees to four World Series titles in 1956, 1958, 1961 and 1962.  He enjoyed a career year in 1963, hitting .287 with 28 home runs (a career high) and 85 RBIs and winning A.L. MVP honors over Al Kaline (#130) and teammate Whitey Ford (#330).  He was a two-time Gold Glove winner and his fielding percentage of .993 is currently 46th all-time among catchers.

Bridging the catching gap between Yogi Berra (#470) in the 1950s and Thurman Munson in the 1970s, Howard appeared in 1,605 career games with all but 113 of those coming with the Yankees.  He batted .274 over 14 big league seasons, with 167 home runs and 762 RBIs.  Howard served as the Yankees first base coach between 1969 and 1979, and he added two more World Series rings to his collection in 1977 and 1978.  He passed away in December 1980 from a rare heart condition.

The Yankees wore black armbands during their 1981 season to honor their former catcher and coach, and his #32 was retired by the team in 1984.

Building the Set
March 27, 2020 from Cincinnati, OH - Card #89
This is one of seven cards I purchased from Dean's Cards in Cincinnati (via eBay) during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic and in the midst of the first few weeks of the worldwide quarantine.  (That's a sentence I can't believe I actually just wrote.)

After purchasing four commons for reasons I've explained in the posts for Cal Koonce (#34), Nate Oliver (#59), Gary Kolb (#287) and Nelson Mathews (#87), I decided I had some money left over in my eBay purchasing budget and started hunting for a few semi-star cards.  This Howard card cost me $10 and I added it along with the cards of Walt Alston (#217) and Zoilo Versalles (#157).

Doug was more excited with the two boxes of 2020 Topps Gypsy Queen I bought on an impulse than he was with these cards when they arrived, but he was still glad to add a few cards to our growing set.  I'm assuming these will be the last cards I purchase for our 1965 set for a little while.

The Card
This is the third and final card in the 1965 Topps set to feature the Yankees All-Star catcher, with the others being the A.L. Batting Leaders card (#1) and the World Series Game 1 card (#132) showing Howard watching Mike Shannon's (#43) home run in the 1964 World Series.

On the back of the card, reference is made to Howard's home run in Game 1 of the 1955 World Series.  Howard was the starting left fielder for the Yankees in that game.  With the Dodgers up 2-0 in the bottom of the second, Howard homered off Don Newcombe with Joe Collins on base to tie the game.  The Yankees would go on to win Game 1, 6-5, but the Dodgers would win the series in seven games.  Howard is in the harder to find 1965 Topps Transfers insert set, but he's not in the 1965 Topps Embossed insert set.

Yankees Team Set

1965 Season
1965 was Howard's final year as an All-Star and production was starting to decline for the 36-year-old.  In 110 games, Howard hit .233 with 9 home runs and 45 RBIs.  He started behind the plate on opening day for the Yankees and then missed all of May following elbow surgery.  In total, he'd start 93 games at catcher, 3 games at first base and a game in left field.  Doc Edwards (#239) got the bulk of playing time at catcher for the Yankees while Howard was out, starting 32 games.

1955 Bowman #68

1959 Topps #395

1962 Topps #400

1968 Topps #167

1975 Topps #201

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1955 Bowman #68
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (15):  1956-1968, 1973, 1975
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2016 Diamond Kings #27

344 - Howard non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 4/6/20.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database

In some cases, the first and last cards listed above are subjective and chosen by me if multiple cards were released within the same year.  Most recent mainstream card may also be subjective and does not include extremely low serial numbered cards, buybacks or cut autograph cards.

Previous Card:  #449 Mets Rookie Stars

Next Card:  #451 Jim Owens - Houston Astros

#132 World Series Game 1 - Cards Take Opener

The 1964 World Series opened in St. Louis on October 7th with the Yankees Whitey Ford (#330) facing off against the Cardinals Ray Sadecki (#230).

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.

Building the Set
December 26, 2019 from Cincinnati, OH - Card #35
My Mom did a little surrogate Christmas shopping for my Aunt Louise and Uncle Terry, both lifelong Yankees fans.  They were kind enough to give Doug four more cards for our set the day after Christmas - all related to the Yankees, and the first Yankees cards we've added.

Mom's baseball card dealer of choice is Dean's Cards, located in Cincinnati.  She came across Dean's through eBay purchases over the years.  Their website is easy to use and their sales people have always been helpful and friendly to her.  This card, along with the other five cards added on December 26th, were all purchased from Dean's Cards.

The Card / Cardinals Team Set / Yankees Team Set
With the Yankees holding a 4-2 lead heading to the bottom of the sixth, Ken Boyer (#100) reached on a single and Mike Shannon (#43) hit a game-tying two-run home run off Ford.  Catcher Elston Howard (#450), home plate umpire Frank Secory and second base umpire Ken Burkhart are shown watching the path of the ball as Ford walks off the mound dejected.  Those were Shannon's only two RBIs of the entire series and it was also Ford's final appearance in a World Series game.  Ford had appeared in 22 World Series games, compiling a record of 10-8 and throwing 33 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings across three different World Series in 1960, 1961 and 1962.

Tim McCarver (#294) doubled following Shannon's home run, and Al Downing (#598) came in to relieve Ford.  Downing gave up an RBI single to Carl Warwick (#357) followed by a triple to Curt Flood (#415) and the Cardinals had a 6-4 lead.  They'd go on to win by a score of 9-5.

The colorized photo shows the Cardinals with blue helmets, but they were actually wearing red helmets during this game.

Sources:
Baseball Reference

Prior Card:  #131 Johnny Keane MG - New York Yankees

Next Card:  #133 World Series Game 2

#1 1964 A.L. Batting Leaders - Oliva, Robinson & Howard

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
December 26, 2019 from San Diego, CA - Card #30

I purchased this card from Kit Young Cards in San Diego for $13.50 specifically for my Mom to give to Doug for Christmas.  She had purchased a few additional cards for our set on her own, and I'll feature those in upcoming posts.  I thought it would be meaningful to have card #1 in the set come from my Mom, since she's supported my hobby and helped grow my collection for over 40 years.  My Dad and I would attend the shows together and cross out lists together, but my Mom was always there too either behind the scenes or in recent years, keeping a tradition going.

This is also one of eight cards we added to our set this past Christmas.

The Card
Tony Oliva (#340) won the first of his three batting titles in 1964, with his next two titles coming in 1965 and 1971.  This was to be the closest Brooks Robinson (#150) ever got to a batting title.  He finished in the top 10 in four different years, and second place with his .317 average represented a career best.  Robinson makes a second appearance on a leaders card as he led the American League with 118 RBIs.  Elston Howard (#450) hit .348 in 1961, but he didn't have enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title.  He also finished 8th in the league in 1963.

Also, has it been established somewhere previously (perhaps by Night Owl) that Topps is responsible for red being associated with the American League and blue being associated with the National League?  These league leader cards are nicely following that pattern and it just makes sense to see the red border on an A.L. leaders card.

This card was reprinted for the 2001 Topps Archives set.

Twins Team Set / Orioles Team Set / Yankees Team Set

Mimi and her grandkids - December 26, 2019

Next Card:  #2 1964 N.L. Batting Leaders