Rookie Parade

A few weeks ago, I posted all the 1967 rookie stars cards. Today we have all the 1968 rookie stars cards. 

 

Comparison of the 2 sets: 

 

1967 set 

Total cards - 43 

Teams with 3 cards - 5 

Teams with 2 cards - 9 

Teams with 1 card - 6 

Mixed teams - 4 cards 

 

1968 set 

Total cards - 30 

Teams with 3 cards - Orioles 

Teams with 2 cards - 6 

Teams with 1 card - 12 

Teams with 0 cards - Giants 

Mixed teams - 3 cards 

 

There were 13 fewer rookie cards in the 1968 set, and no Giants card. What? Was Topps unaware of the phenom named Bobby Bonds? They whiffed on the Senators' Del Unser too. 

 

Of the 60 players pictured on these cards, only 3 were immediate stars (Johnny Bench, Jerry Koosman, and Stan Bahnsen). Bench and Bahnsen were the 1968 Rookies of the Year. Of course, Nolan Ryan would eventually join Bench as one of the only 2 superstars among these 60. 

 

Lou Piniella was the AL Rookie of the Year in 1969, and eventually Bob Moose, Bob Robertson, Hal McRae, Ron Reed, Mike Torrez, Jack Billingham, and Larry Hisle made significant contributions over their careers. But that's 12 out of 60 - not a very good percentage. (It may be typical though, because I remember a lot of stiffs among the 1967 rookie cards.) 

 

The Orioles must have curried favor with Topps, because they have 3 rookie cards for the 2nd consecutive year. (They also had two multi-player cards in 1967, while 9 teams had none.)   Sure, they were an exciting and successful team in the late-1960s, but these 6 players were nothing to write home about. 

 

The coveted Johnny Bench rookie card - but this is not the top rookie card in the set (see below). Lou Piniella and Bill Davis appeared on 4 and 5 rookie stars cards respectively. Eventually, Piniella made it big. Davis did not. 

 

The Tigers' George Korince is back again, after appearing on TWO rookie cards in the 1967 set.  Topps, please!

 

There it is - the Jerry Koosman/Nolan Ryan rookie card.  This may be the mother of all rookie stars cards, ever.

 

Except for ROY Stan Bahnsen (who also appeared on a 1967 Yankees Rookies card) this block is a whole lot of mediocre. I know specifically that the 2 Phillies shown each pitched 1 career MLB game.

The mixed-bag cards in the 7th series. Why didn't Topps just pair Ivan Murrell and Jim Ray on a Houston Astros Rookies card?

 

 

Topps, here's what the Giants Rookies card should have looked like:

http://whitesoxcards.blogspot.com/2011/02/cards-that-never-were-42.html 

 

NL / ML Rookies (#579, 569, 539)

Topps' custom for Rookie Stars cards from 1964 to 1972 was that by the time they got to the 7th series, if there weren't at least 2 remaining rookies for the same team, they would group them on "NL Rookies", "AL Rookies", or "ML Rookies" cards.  (I'm not sure why they just didn't put Ivan Murrell and Jim Ray on a "Houston Rookies" card.)


Larry Hisle was handed the Phillies' starting center field job to begin the 1968 season, but flopped miserably, and after only 7 games was sent down to AAA for much-needed seasoning. He returned the following spring as the #1 center fielder, and after a great rookie season, slumped in 1970 and split 1971 between the Phillies and the minors. He later played 5 years with the Twins (including a career year in 1977) and 5 years with the Brewers.

Mike Lum played 8 full years with the Braves (1968-75), and was then a part-time player for the Reds (1976-78) and Braves (1979-81). He was the Braves’ regular right fielder in ’71 and ’72, the years when Hank Aaron played 1st base.

After cups of coffee with the Astros from 1963-68, Ivan Murrell was drafted by the expansion Padres in 1969 and played 3 full seasons in San Diego as a part-time outfielder. Murrell bounced up and down between the Padres, Braves, and their minor-league teams from 1972-75, then played in Mexico from 1976-83.

Les Rohr pitched in the Mets’ farm system from 1965-70, and saw action in 6 games with the Mets between 1967 and 1969.

Jim Ray pitched a few games for the Astros in ’65 and ’66, then was a bullpen mainstay from 1968-73. He finished his career in 1974 with the Tigers.

I was surprised today to see how short Mike Ferarro’s MLB career was. Although he played in the minors from 1962-75, he only made brief appearances with the Yankees (10 games in ’66, 23 in ’68) and Seattle Pilots (5 games in ’69) before his only season as a regular in 1972 (124 games for the Brewers). He also managed the Indians in 1983 and Royals in 1986.