AL Batting Leaders (#1, #3, #5)

These are the 1968 AL leaders in batting average, RBI, and home runs.

One year after his Triple Crown season, Yaz led the AL in batting again (although with only .301). 

Frank Howard (and surprisingly, Ken Harrelson) appear twice on these cards.

FOUR grand slams for the Tigers' Jim Northrup!

 

I got all these cards in 1969. I wonder why the RBI card has retained its bright white back while the others have yellowed.

 

Re-cap: 

Red Sox - 3 

Senators - 2 

Tigers - 2 

Twins - 1 

Athletics - 1 

 

Born on the Same Day - 2/25/1940

Another installment in my "Born on the Same Day" series, featuring players who were born on the same day (!) and year. 

This is post #14 in the series: Ron Santo and Danny Cater - both born on 2/25/1940.

Ron Santo was the Cubs' regular 3rd baseman from 1960 to 1973. Along the way, he finished 4th in ROY voting, was an All-Star in 9 of his final 11 seasons with the Cubs, won 4 Gold Gloves, led the NL in walks 4 times and triples once, topped 30 homers 4 times, and 100 RBI 4 times.

He played his final season (1974) for the White Sox, dividing his time between DH and backing up 2B and 3B.


Danny Cater began his career with the Phillies in 1964 as a part-time left fielder and pinch-hitter. He was a regular for the next 6 seasons with the White Sox (1965-66), Athletics (1966-69), and Yankees (1970). In 1971 Cater divided his time between 1B and 3B for the Yankees, backing up John Ellis and Jerry Kenney.

He moved on to the Red Sox for 3 more seasons, before wrapping up with the Cardinals in 1975. Cater's last significant playing time came in 1972, when he started 82 games at 1st base (essentially whenever Carl Yastrzemski moved out to left field). That role would be filled by youngster Cecil Cooper beginning in 1973.

#556 A's Stars

The first thing that comes to mind when I look at this card is, why did Topps choose these 3 for this card? With my limited knowledge of A's stars and 1969 baseball, I would have gone with Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter, Vida Blue and Rollie Fingers. But, looking back at the timeline in all these player's careers helped me see better, for myself, the answer to my question.

Sal was the up-and-comer who had established himself well the year before and really hit his stride in 1969. He was selected to his first All-Star Game, hit 31 home runs and batted .281. Bert was an obvious choice. He was just scary on the base path, swiping 62 that year. His previous year he led the majors with another 62 steals, was 11th in MVP voting and was selected to his first All-Star Game. Danny finished 2nd to Yaz in the AL batting titled in 1968, "The Year of the Pitcher", hitting .290 to Yaz's .301.

As for Reggie, Vida and Rollie, they were all still fresh outta the minors from Iowa and Vancouver! And along with Catfish, they would go on to become legends a little later winning 3 championships in a row for Oakland.

I picked up this card on eBay last week for 25 cents, along with 5 more commons all for a quarter or two each. This was the first time I had seen the team stars format for this set, since I mostly only have lower numbered cards. I really love this card and can't wait to find more like it for the other teams!