Sports Cards Ate My Brain

The 1969 design is far from my favorite Topps design but I gotta fill in those Braves cards. 196 - Lum Harris 1968 was Lum's first with the Braves.  He had previously managed with Baltimore and Houston. 282 - Pat Jarvis Sheriff  Jarvis went 16 and 12 with a 2.60 ERA in 1968. 300 - Felipe Alou Felipe rebounded from a sub-par 1967 season to post a .317 batting average with 210 hits in 1968. 385 - Orlando Cepeda Orlando struggled with the Cardinals in 1968 with a .248 batting average and only 16 homers after an MVP season in 1967. One more post to go from the December show.

I picked up six 1968 Topps Braves cards that I needed. 30 - Joe Torre Joe had a decent season in 1967 with 20 home runs, 68 RBI and a .277 batting average but this was after a season of 36, 101 and .315. 55 - Felipe Alou Felipe hit 15 home runs with a .274 average but like Joe Torre his 1966 season was much better with 31 homers and a .327 average. 76 - Jim Britton/Ron Reed Jim Britton pitched 2 games in 1967 and spent 1968 and 1969 with the Braves.  His only other major league season was with the Expos in 1971. Ron Reed played 19 seasons in the majors and was with the Braves until 1975.  From 1965 to 1967 he also played for the Detroit Pistons in the NBA.  He average 8 points a game over his 2 seasons. 134 - Pat Jarvis Pat had a fine season in 1967 with 15 wins and a 3.66 ERA.  He later became the Sheriff of DeKalb County, Georgia for several years before corruption charges ended that career. 286 - Cecil Upshaw A rookie in 1967, Ceci...

I picked up a few 1960 to 1962 Topps Braves cards at the December show. 1960 312 - Charlie Lau Charlie was a back-up catcher most of his career.  He is more famous for becoming a hitting coach.  He worked with several stars on their stances, most notably George Brett. 515 - Stan Lopata Another back-up catcher, in 1959 Stan only hit only .104 in 48 at bats. 534 - Ken McKenzie Pitched in the minors in 1959 before being called up to the Braves in 1960. 1961 105 - Carl Willey Pitched out of the bullpen in 1960 with a 6 and 7 record. 1962 100 - Warren Spahn Warren had an average season in 1961.  Average for him, that is.  He went 21 and 13 with a 3.01 ERA and won his 300th game. 265 - Joe Adcock Joe had a great season in 1961 with 35 homeruns and 108 RBI.  1962 would prove to be Joe's last season with the Braves. 443 - Del Crandall Del only played 15 games because of injury in 1961. Next up will be a bunch of 1967 c...

The last 5 1959 Topps cards I got at the card show all feature the "normal" yellow background for a Braves card from that year. 347 - Bob Buhl After 2 straight 18 win season Bob was injured in 1958 and only started 11 games. 366 - Humberto Robinson Humberto pitched  19 games in relief in 1958 with a 3.00 ERA. 396 - Bob Rush After coming over from the Cubs Bob went 10 and 6 for the Braves in 1958 with 2 shutouts. 425 -  Del Crandall I technically have this card already but the other one has a 50th Anniversary stamp on it from the 2008 Topps Heritage set. 499 - Johnny O'Brien Johnny came over in a trade after the 1958 season.  While playing for the Pirates in 1956 and 1957 he pitched some games before switching back to the infield.

165 - Bill Bruton Bill had a knee injury in 1958 that limited him to 100 games in the regular season.  He recovered in time to hit .412 in the World Series. 188 - Juan Pizzaro Juan split the season between Milwaukee and Wichita in 1958.  He finished with a sub-3 ERA at both levels. 204 - Casey Wise The back of this card proclaims that "Casey gets on base plenty via walks."  This must have been his main method of getting on base considering his .197 batting average in 1958.  This DID raise his lifetime average to .186. 259 - Jim Pisoni A power hitting minor league outfielder, Jim did not play in the majors in 1958.  He only played in 9 games for the Braves before moving on. 315 - Joe Adcock Joe was the right-handed complement to Frank Torre at first base.  He smacked 19 home runs in only 320 at bats. 322 - Harry Hanebrink Yet another back-up infielder.  Hit a weak .188 in 1958 before being traded to the Ph...

I picked up a BUNCH of 1959 Topps Braves at the last show so I'll break them into three posts. The defending champion Braves reached the World Series again in 1958 but lost to the Yankees.  It would be 1991 before the franchise reached the series again. Like the 1958 Topps the 1959 feature a "normal" design for the Braves cards, yellow background with red name. 54 - Mel Roach As a backup middle infielder in 1958 Mel hit a nifty .309 in 136 at bats.  This is the only green example of a Braves card I have from 1959. 65 - Frank Torre The brother of Joe, Frank was the left handed part of the Braves first base platoon with Joe Adcock.  Like Mel Roach, Frank hit .309 in 1959 but in 372 at bats. 95 - Carl Willey It's pink!  A rookie in 1959, Carl had a nice 2.70 ERA in 140 innings. 104 - Del Rice A nice example of the "normal" Braves card from this set.  Del served as the Braves backup catcher. 128 - Bob Hartman Bob pitched for ...

I already have a good number of 1958 Topps Braves, including Spahn and Mathews, but I found 4 more cards I needed at the last show. 223 - Andy Pafko Andy provided a veteran presence on the 1957 World Champions.  The light blue background is not normal for a 1958 Topps Braves card. 247 - Casey Wise Played for the Cubs in 1957.  Once again this is not the "normal" design for a 1958 Topps Braves card. 313 - Bob Rush. Also played for the Cubs in 1957.  19 of the 26 1958 Topps Braves cards that I have feature a green background and a red bar at the bottom, making this the "normal" design for the year. 472 - Joe Jay More commonly known as "Joey".  Spent all but 1 game in the minors during the 1957 season.  Won 21 games twice for the Cubs in the early 60's. Next up will be the 17 1959 Topps Braves cards I picked up at the show.

I picked up a bunch of Braves a couple of weeks ago at a card show and also got a needed card in a trade. My 9th 1951 Bowman Braves card is #228 Bob Chipman.  It has a significant crease but was very cheap at the show. This is the card I got from Dennis over at Too Many Verlanders .  1953 Topps 217 Murray Wall.  The top of the card is actually very good.  The bad edge is actually scanner glare. I'll be highlighting my other show pickups over the next few days.