Alou Brothers

How's this for a story?

 

Your name is Felipe and you're the oldest of three very talented baseball-playing brothers in the Dominican Republic. In 1955, just barely out of your teenage years, you play outfield for a national team that takes the gold medal at the Pan American Games in Mexico City. Your talent is recognized, and later that year you're signed by the San Francisco Giants.

A couple of year later, as you're preparing for the big show, the Giants notice your next-oldest brother Matty and sign him as an amateur free agent. Then, in 1958, just a few months after your big-league debut, the Giants notice your youngest brother Jesus, and sign him as an amateur free agent, too. What a time for the family!

A couple of years pass, and Matty joins the Giants in 1960. Then in 1963, when young brother Jesus becomes a late-season addition to the roster, all three are finally with the big club. And soon something remarkable happens.

 

On September 15th, you start the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the outfield. You reach base a couple of times and score two runs, and by the time the 7th inning rolls around, your team is ahead 8-3. Manager Alvin Dark decides to give your fellow outfielder Willie McCovey some rest, and swaps him out with your brother Jesus.

 

Then, in the bottom of the 8th inning, Dark decides to give your other fellow outfielder—a guy named Willie Mays—a little rest too, and swaps in your other brother, Matty.

 

As pitcher Billy O'Dell takes his warm-up tosses before the first batter of the inning steps up to the plate, you look to your left and to your right. It's an all-Alou outfield!

 

Never before had three brothers done this on a major league field. What a day.

 

Here are all three guys just a few years later.

1968 Topps #55 Felipe Alou, #270 Matty Alou, and #452 Jesus Alou

 
 

By this point, although having been split up, they'd all had quite a bit of success with their respective teams.

 

In 1966, for example, Matty led the league with a .342 batting average, while Felipe finished second at .327.

 

Both Felipe and Matty were all-stars on more than one occasion. Matty won the World Championship in 1972, and Jesus did the same in 1973 and 1974.

 

Here are some numbers for the Alous.

CAREER TOTALS

	FELIPE (17 seasons)	MATTY (15 seasons)	JESUS (15 seasons)
GAMES PLAYED	2082	1667	1380
AT-BATS	7339	5789	4345
RUNS	985	780	448
HITS	2101	1777	1216
DOUBLES	359	236	170
TRIPLES	49	50	26
HOME RUNS	206	31	32
RBI	852	427	377
STOLEN BASES	107	156	31
WALKS	423	311	138
STRIKEOUTS	706	377	267
BATTING AVERAGE	.286	.307	.280
OBP	.328	.345	.305
SLG	.433	.381	.353

 

 

BEST INDIVIDUAL SEASON
(Career highs in bold; asterisk = led major leagues)

	FELIPE (1966, ATL)	MATTY (1969, PITT)	JESUS (1965, SF)
GAMES PLAYED	154	162	143
AT-BATS	666*	698*	543
RUNS	122*	105	76
HITS	218*	231*	162
DOUBLES	32	41*	19
TRIPLES	6	6	4
HOME RUNS	31	1	9
RBI	74	48	52
STOLEN BASES	5	22	9
WALKS	24	42	13
STRIKEOUTS	51	35	40
BATTING AVERAGE	.327	.331	.298
OBP	.361	.369	.317
SLG	.533	.411	.398

 

Felipe also had a terrific managing career, most notably with the Expos throughout the 1990s. Keeping the family theme going, he managed his son Moises (quite a talented player himself) for quite a few of those years, and also took home the Manager of the Year award in 1994.

 

So here's to the Alou brothers. Three great careers, and some special memories in San Francisco. 

Thanks for reading, as always.

Go West, Custom Card

Today's custom card was inspired by a screen star of the Western era, and features a football star who played for some NFL teams with Western-type names.

First, here's the original card, featuring actor Forrest Tucker smiling on a sunny day at the ranch.

1953 Topps Who-Z-At Star #3, Forrest Tucker

Any ideas on who the look-alike football star is? Here are some hints:

He's somewhat recently retired.

In retirement, he's been known to appear in an occasional television commercial.

Those Western-named football teams? The Colts and the Broncos.

Enough hints? Okay, here's the custom card.

It's Peyton Manning! 

 

Looks like he's happy that Nationwide is on his side.

 

Design-wise, there's not much to this card. Simple beige border. Simple nameplate at the bottom right. All I really had to do with those features was change the name to Peyton Manning, and change the text underneath from IN "SAN ANTONE" to something else. I went with IN "BRONCO BOWL" for two reasons: first, because Manning won a Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos, and second, because a bucking bronco calls to mind all those Western films from the era.

 

And there's a close resemblance between Mr. Tucker and Mr. Manning, don't you think? Sometimes when I do these look-alike custom cards it takes me quite a while to find an image of the look-alike facing the same direction, or with a similar facial expression, for example. However, when I conducted an image search for Peyton Manning, a photo came up right on the first page where everything matched up almost perfectly to the Forrest Tucker image. 

 

 

 

Uncanny.

 

However, I still had my work cut out for me. The cards in the 1953 Who-Z-At Star? set had the Kodak Flexichrome process applied to them. It's a complicated, multi-step process that uses dyes and paints to add color to an existing black and white photo. This meant I had to take Peyton's photograph and make it appear to have a similar painterly look. 

 

 

 

It was totally worth it. The original cards are beautiful, and the 80-card set features lots of remarkable actors, actresses, singers, and musicians from the era.  

 

Other big names include Slim Pickens, Lionel Barrymore, Gene Kelly, Ava Gardner, and Errol Flynn. Oh, and there's also a card of a young lady named Elizabeth Taylor. 

 

 

But let's get to the star on the original card, because he was impressive, too. 

Forrest Tucker had early acting success in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and then enlisted in the US Army during World War II. He resumed his acting career after the war. Notably, he played alongside top actors like Errol Flynn, Gary Cooper, John Wayne, and Randolph Scott.

Here are just some of the famous films in which he appeared: The Yearling (1946), Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), Pony Express (1953). Aside from the silver screen, Tucker also played the character of Sergeant Morgan O'Rourke in the TV show F Troop, and even appeared on a few episodes of Gunsmoke.


As for Peyton Manning, you might know a thing or two about him, even if you're not a football fan. Here's a brief indication of his success:

17 seasons played
14x Pro Bowl
7x All-Pro
5x MVP
2 Super Bowl victories (2006 Colts, 2015 Broncos)

In 266 games, he went 186-79, posting a 65.3 completion percentage, 71,940 passing yards, and 539 passing touchdowns. He finished his career with an average of 7.7 yards per pass attempt.

Further proof of his greatness? As of this writing, 71,940 passing yards puts him at #3 all time, behind only Drew Brees and Tom Brady. 539 passing touchdowns also puts him at #3 behind the same two guys. 

He's in the top 10 in career completion percentage (65.3) and the top 5 in passes completed (6,135).

And that's that. Another fun custom card in the books. How many of you guessed the look-alike this time around?

Thanks for reading, as always.

Completed Set: 1985 Topps Baseball

 

The two big collecting years of my baseball childhood were 1984 and 1987. Both years I collected Topps, and Topps alone. (Mainly because those were the packs my dad bought for my sister and I.) 

 

And although 1985 falls in between those two years, somehow I didn't collect many cards that year at all. 

 

And that's too bad, because the 1985 Topps baseball set, as I discovered while compiling all the cards recently, is a bit more unique than some of the other sets of the decade. 

Firstly, it's the design. As you look through the cards below I think you might agree that it's better than average. The cards are bright. Bold. Fun. And on top of all that, the colors are very well matched to each team's colors. That's a departure from the previous few years, when Topps chose colors that sometimes provided a nice complement to the team's colors, and other times did not. (For example, 1980 Topps Pirates cards received a purple and orange combo, while 1982 Topps Cardinals cards were hit with magenta and brown.)

Along with the design, another reason I like this set is that the images provide ample evidence that it was issued smack-dab in the middle of the 1980s.

 

There are the bespectacled players.

 

And the bearded players.

 

 

 

And more than enough mustachioed players.

 

 

 

Choking up on the bat was such a common thing in the 1980s that players even worked on it during batting practice, as Dan Gladden demonstrates quite nicely.

 

 

 

The uniforms are also a great indicator of the decade.

 

 

 

And if not the uniforms, consider the warmup jackets.

 

 

 

But that's not all the 1985 Topps set has to offer. Most surprising to me is that there are quite a few cards that portray fierce action.

 

There are pitchers who are straining to their limit.

 

 

 

And hitters who are absolutely swinging out of their shoes.

 

 

 

Through it all there are the steady infielders, ready for any smash that comes their way. 

 

 

 

Some of the stars have cool-looking cards.

 

Reggie: You're the man, Dickie! 

Dickie: No Reggie, YOU'RE the man!

 

 

 

And we can't forget the big rookie cards. (Honorable mention to Bret Saberhagen, Orel Hershiser, Dwight Gooden, and Eric Davis.)

 

 

Now let's go to the subsets, which are also fresh and different.

There are 10 record-breaker cards in this set, which is the most of any set of the decade.

 

 

There's a nice father-son subset.

 

 

 

And hey, Mark McGwire isn't the only Olympian featured in the set. There's an entire USA Olympic Team subset. (Nicely done in red, white, and blue colors.)

 

 

 

Here's a nifty #1 Draft Pick subset, featuring cards of some notable #1 picks from the previous 15 years or so.

 

 

And an example of a card back. Not the easiest color combination for readability, but I do like the trivia questions that appear on some of the cards like this one.

 

 

Finally, here are two versions of the "Winning Pitch" game card Topps issued that year (one per wax pack), plus an example of a checklist.

 

 

And there you have 1985 Topps baseball. It's a nice-looking set. Bright. Colorful. Bold lines. The cards look good in nine-pocket pages. It's also quite affordable—even more so if you've already got the "big three" rookie cards. I'm very happy to have completed this one. 

What are your thoughts on the set? Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading, as always.

Punch Buggy!

Back when I was a kid in the 1980s, Volkswagen Beetles were still rather prevalent on the roads. And why wouldn't they be? Aside from being affordable and giving you decent miles per gallon, they were fun to drive, iconic, and eye catching. And remarkably, after more than 40 years of production and assembly worldwide, new Beetles were still being produced in a factory in Mexico.  

 

Of all those qualifications, though, it was the eye-catching part that got to us kids. 

 

 

PUNCH BUGGY GREEN!

 

First, it was the size and shape. Beetles were unlike any other car out there.

 

 

 

PUNCH BUGGY ORANGE!

 

Then it was the sound. Those engines (50 horsepower, wow!) sounded like nothing else. On a quiet summer day you could easily hear a Beetle coming down the street.

 

 

 

PUNCH BUGGY SILVER!

 

And of course there were the colors. Beetles seemed to come in all variations. (I think my grandparents had an orange one. And before that a blue one.) 

 

 

 

PUNCH BUGGY PURPLE!

 

If you've been punched four times already and you're not sure why, well, that stinks for you. Tough luck. You were too slow. But let me explain.

Back then, we used to play a game called "punch buggy". This game had no time limit. And there was no starting point. I don't think anyone ever said, "Let's play the punch buggy game". It was just assumed. And perpetual. And as such, you always had to be ready. 

 

Punch or be punched.

 

If your mind was elsewhere, you didn't feel like playing, or you just didn't care, you also had to accept the fact that you might, at any time, take a hit.

 

 

 

PUNCH BUGGY YELLOW!

 

The rules were simple. Be the first kid to see a Beetle, and you could yell out "punch buggy!", followed by its paint color, and punch the kid next to you in the arm. (In some regions, I've heard the exclamation was "Slug Bug!")

 

 

 

SLUG BUG BLACK!

 

The Beetle in question could have been in motion, or it could have been parked on the street, in a driveway, or in a parking lot. The way we played, the Beetle could have even simply been on a billboard or on TV.

 

 

 

PUNCH BUGGY BLUE, CONVERTIBLE!

 

During back-seat car rides, punching suspense was raised to the maximum, as you knew you couldn't simultaneously look out every window of the vehicle. If your sibling or friend sitting next to you happened to see a Beetle on their side of the car, you were finished. They'd call out the color and hit you, and while the pain was still registering in your arm you'd have to quickly strain your neck and look around to confirm that they'd indeed seen the Beetle they claimed. After that, there'd be nothing to do but lick your wounds, heighten your awareness, ready your fist, and hope the next Beetle would zoom past your side of the car.

 

 

 

PUNCH BUGGY WHITE!

 

Now of course there were times when no one was thinking about the game. You could have been busy talking to the other kids about any number of things. You could have been tired. You could have been daydreaming. You could have been opening packs of baseball cards. But if a Beetle happened to appear, you'd suddenly find yourself in a reflex action, yelling out and punching the kid next to you. That's just how it was.

 

 

 

PUNCH BUGGY RED!

 

The cards you've seen throughout this post are from two little seven-card VW Beetle sets released in 1999 by a British printing company called Golden Era. The first set covers a few models from 1949 through 1966. The second set does the same for the years 1967 through 1980.

 

Note the slightly squatter size compared with a standard 2.5 x 3.5-inch trading card. These Beetle cards measure about 2.5 x 3.1 inches.

 

The artwork on the front of each card is pretty sharp, as are the write-ups on the back.

 

Altogether, both sets put me back about $12 including shipping, and for the dose of nostalgia they've given me, it's a win for sure.

Did any of you readers play the punch buggy game during your childhoods? Do kids today play the same game with the new versions of the Beetle? Have any of you seen a classic Beetle on the road lately? (Billy from Carboard History, I'm looking at you.)

Share some experiences in the comment section, and thanks for reading.

1991 Fleer Baseball: A Redesign

About a year ago I tried a redesign of the much-maligned 1992 Fleer Baseball set. It was a thoroughly enjoyable project, and the new design generated a lot of clicks and favorable comments. Some folks even went so far as to suggest that I try a redesign of another infamous set of the era:

 

1991 Fleer!

 

Jack Clark ponders the meaning of all this
yellowness and says he's staying in the dugout

 

 

It's remarkable to look back and realize that a year before 1992's sage green borders, Fleer went with an even more ostentatious bright yellow.

 

But it was the early 1990s. Card companies were pushing the envelope. Competition in the market was increasing. I say kudos to Fleer for taking that leap of boldenss (or lunacy) and trying something new. 

 

Still, many would agree that it would be good to give 1991 Fleer a new look. 

 

I started tinkering around, and figured I'd set a goal similar to last time: Try out a couple of different ideas on a handful of cards, choose which design I liked best, and then use that design to create one card for each MLB team.

 

To start off, here are six cards from the original set in all their yellowness.

 

And you know what? Similar to my thoughts on 1992 Fleer when I see them next to each other, nine-pocket style, I don't think the 1991 design is completely awful. But flipping through an entire binder of them, page after page? That might be a bit much.

 

So let's get on to the redesign ideas. 

 

First I thought white could work, so I gave it a try on the same six cards. 

 

 

 

Paired with a matching text color for each team, it's not bad. I'd call it clean. Light. Simple.

 

However, the overall design of 1991 Fleer is also simple. It's just a plain Times New Roman font and a few horizontal stripes. If you add an equally simple white border to that, maybe there's just not quite enough to it. 

 

Besides, Fleer used white borders in their baseball card design two out of the previous three years (1988 and 1990). By the time 1991 rolled around, designs of the new premium brands like Leaf and Stadium Club were starting to stand out. I'm not sure going with simple white borders yet again would have generated much more interest among collectors than the yellow borders did.

 

So the next thing I did was to go back to a similar charcoal color that I used for the gradient in the 1992 Fleer redesign. (Swapping out Cerone for Bonilla to show an example of a yellow version.)

 

 

 

I like this one more. It's sharp. It's a little more elevated. The colors really stand out against the charcoal. I think a lot of kids would have been psyched to find these cards inside their Fleer wax packs in 1991.

 

However, I'm also a little bit hesitant with this one. Is it too much of a premium look for Fleer's flagship set? Remember, they debuted their own premium brand, called Ultra, in 1991. Ultra's card backs that year were indeed premium, with lots of color, not to mention three (THREE!) additional images of the player who was featured on the front. But the card fronts were a bit bland, with a very neutral and thin silver border running across the top and bottom of the card.  

 

 

 

How could the card fronts on Fleer's flagship set look more premium than the fronts on their premium set?

I'm sure I'm thinking too much about this. I like the charcoal borders better, so why not just create a card for each team using the charcoal design?

 

Well, it's because now that I look back at the white borders, I'm kind of liking them more and more. And there's my conundrum. I'm still not sure which design I want to use on all 26 teams. 

 

Maybe it's time to ask you, the readers.

Which design do you like more, white borders or charcoal borders? 

 

Or maybe I should do something different, like set American League teams in the white border and National League teams in the charcoal border? (Or vice versa?)

 

Leave a comment and we'll go from there.

Thanks for reading, as always. I look forward to your answers!

The 1982-83 O-Pee-Chee Dating Game (Episode 18)

 

Welcome back to The 1982-83 O-Pee-Chee Dating Game, where we'll randomly select three eligible bachelors from the set and you, the reader, will choose which one wins that date with a special lady. How do we know they're bachelors? Why, it says so right on the back of their hockey cards, that's how!

Previous episodes are available here.

Episode 17 is currently stuck in a tie between Brent Sutter and Mike Foligno. Feel free to go back and cast a vote so we can break the tie.

Now, let's start the 18th round and introduce the bachelors chosen by the randomizer! [APPLAUSE]

 

Bachelor number 1: Center/Right wing from the Washington Capitals, Chris Valentine

Bachelor number 2: Defenseman from the New York Rangers, Barry Beck

Bachelor number 3: Center from the Los Angeles Kings, Doug Smith

 

 

 

We've got a couple of nice haircuts here, folks! Let's find out more about all three gents from the back of their cards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We haven't had such bashful bachelors in quite some time! But our nice young lady this week still looks forward to the results, so get your votes in now. Who will it be?

 

Bachelor number 1: The appropriately named Chris Valentine, who scored a whopping 142 points in the QMJHL just a couple of years ago.

Bachelor number 2: Barry Beck, who's settling in nicely in New York City after a few years out west.

Bachelor number 3: Doug Smith, the fresh-faced rookie who also broke the 100-point mark during his amateur career.

From the Favorites Box: Manny Trillo, 1981 Topps #470

A series where I post some thoughts about favorite cards. Previous cards in the series are available here.

 

 

Who else loves afternoon games?

 

To me, the fresh-cut grass smells better, the crowd feels more lively, the hot dogs taste better. Many would say it's simply baseball as it's meant to be. And I get all of that when I look at the 1981 Topps card of Manny Trillo above.

 

Put yourself in that ballpark and activate all your baseball senses. Fresh-cut grass, hot dogs, sunny afternoon, everything. 

 

Now the batter has just hit a bloop toward short right field, and the crowd is holding its collective breath. Will it fall for a base hit? Will it? 

 

With three-time Gold Glove winner Manny Trillo roaming the area, the likely answer is no. 

 

Just look. He's about to flip down his shades, turn back, and give chase. I think he's got a pretty good bead on it.

 

And why wouldn't he? Trillo had some of his best years around that time. Along with the 1980 World Series championship and three Gold Gloves ('79, '81, and '82), you can add two Silver Slugger awards ('80 and '81) and three All-Star nominations ('81, '82, and '83).

 

As for a best overall season, you might look to 1980. He went .292 at the plate with a career-high 155 hits, 25 doubles, and 219 total bases. In addition, he was the MVP of the NLCS that fall, driving in 4 runs and going 8-for-21 at the plate for a nifty .381 average. 

 

Mr. Trillo's fielding was solid that season too, leading the NL in putouts and finishing second in assists. And if it weren't for Doug Flynn of the Mets snagging the Gold Glove award for NL second basemen, Trillo would have added even more 1980 hardware to his trophy case. (Trillo topped Flynn handily in games played, putouts, assists, and double plays turned that year, but Flynn edged out Trillo in fielding percentage and committed fewer errors.)

 

Regardless, Trillo's Gold Gloves in '79, '81, and '82 were certainly enough to show who the real stud was. 

 

And for wielding that glove like a stud on a classic sunny afternoon at the ballpark, tracking down just about everything hit to you—in a powder blue uniform no less—1981 Topps #470 has a spot in my box of favorite cards.