1954 New York Giants

World Series Champs
Prior to the 2010 season, this was the last Giants team to win the World Series, sweeping the Indians. This was the World Series that Willie Mays made his catch that put him on the map. Willie Mays was the star of this team and the pitching was led by Johnny Antonelli.

The 1954 Collector
So far covering the early 1980s sets, the player selection for the main three sets can be summed up as follows: put together the starting lineup, starting rotation, and the top relievers from the previous season. These players will be in all three sets. After that Topps would go a little deeper on the bench simply because they had more cards in their set. You could collect just the Topps set in 1983, and get a pretty good idea who the main players were in MLB the year before. This wasn't the case in 1954. Card companies signed players to exclusive contracts, so if a person collected just Topps cards, they wouldn't get a Mickey Mantle card that year. If they collected the Bowman card set, they wouldn't get a Hank Aaron. Stan Musial came in neither set.

Purpose of this Project
So what is the purpose of this side project? To determine who maybe had the better set and determine a little about the player selection. There are two things I am going to keep score of here...the number of starters (at least 225 plate appearances in 1954), starting pitchers (at least 75 innings pitched in 1954), and top relief pitchers (at least 45 innings pitched) for each team in each set. I know as a collector opening up individual packs in say 1985, I probably cared more for getting a card of a player like Larry Herndon, one of the key players on the 1980s Tigers, than collectors in other parts of the country.

At the same time, I knew getting a Pete Rose or Dwight Gooden card (regardless of how their careers and lifes panned out) at the time was a big deal, even though they played on other teams. So I will keep track of Hall-of-Famers and 1954 All-Stars in each set.

Here are the scores for the Giants:
Exclusive players to that set are in italics
Topps Regulars (9): Wes Westrum, Hank Thompson, Monte Irvin, Willie Mays, Don Mueller, Johnny Antonelli, Ruben Gomez, Don Liddle, Hoyt Wilhelm

Bowman Regulars (11): Wes Westrum, Whitey Lockman, Davey Williams, Hank Thompson, Al Dark, Willie Mays, Don Mueller, Ray Katt, Johnny Antonelli, Sal Maglie, Hoyt Wilhelm

Topps All-Stars & Hall-of-Famers (5): Johnny Antonelli, Monte Irvin, Willie Mays, Don Mueller, Hoyt Wilhelm

Bowman All-Stars & Hall-of-Famers (5): Johnny Antonelli, Al Dark, Willie Mays, Don Mueller, Hoyt Wilhelm

In conclusion, Topps had four more Giants on the Giants roster and Bowman had three others not listed above. Bowman has just two more regulars than Topps. Neither company had a card for Marv Grissom, who was an all-star in 1954 or Leo Durocher who was the Hall-of-Fame manager. I would say both companies were pretty even on putting out 1954 Giants. Then, like now, New York was probably a key market to get into, so Bowman probably did their best to keep up with Topps, which was based in the New York area. We'll have two more New York based teams to compare.

Starters

__	TO	180	C	Wes Westrum	NYG
__	BO	153	1B	Whitey Lockman	NYG
__	BO	9	2B	Davey Williams	NYG
__	TO	64	3B	Hank Thompson	NYG
__	BO	41	SS	Alvin Dark	NYG
__	TO	3	LF	Monte Irvin	NYG
__	TO	90	CF	Willie Mays	NYG
__	TO	42	RF	Don Mueller	NYG
__	BO	121	C	Ray Katt	NYG

Starting Pitchers

__	TO	119	SP	Johnny Antonelli	NYG
__	TO	220	SP	Ruben Gomez	NYG
__	BO	105	SP	Sal Maglie	NYG
__	TO	225	SP	Don Liddle	NYG
__			SP	Jim Hearn

Relief Pitchers

__			CL	Marv Grissom
__	TO	36	RP	Hoyt Wilhelm	NYG
__			RP	Windy McCall

Other Players

__	TO	170	LF	Dusty Rhodes	NYG
__	TO	99	IF	Bobby Hofman	NYG
__			3B	Billy Gardner
__	TO	74	OF	Bill Taylor	NYG
__	BO	128	C	Ebba St. Claire	NYG
__			3B	Foster Castleman
__			C	Joe Garagiola
__			OF	Hoot Evers
__			OF	Eric Rodin
__			2B	Ron Samford
__			IF	Joey Amalfitano
__			PH	Harvey Gentry
__			PH	Bob Lennon
__	TO	200	SP	Larry Jansen	NYG
__	BO	137	RP	Al Corwin	NYG
__			RP	Al Worthington
__			RP	Mario Picone
__			RP	George Spencer
__			RP	Alex Konikowski
__			RP	Ramon Monzant
__			RP	Paul Giel

Manager

__

MG

Leo Durocher

1983 Chicago Cubs

Here is a team full of young stars that will make their mark on the game over the next decade, which may explain why the Cubs will improve greatly in 1984. Meanwhile, in 1983, the Cubs were having another 90+ loss season.

This may be remembered as the final season of hall-of-famer Fergie Jenkins career. Although he wasn't on the Cubs for his entire career, it is here where he made his mark, winning 20 games each year between 1967-1972 for the Cubs. He only had one other 20 win season with another team (1974 Rangers).

Best Player: Keith Moreland...led team in batting average, 2nd in OBP, and in top 4 for home runs and RBIs.

Best Pitcher: Lee Smith...not a good win/loss percentage, but led team in ERA, Saves, and WHIP.

All-Stars: Leon Durham, Lee Smith

Hall-of-Famers: Fergie Jenkins, Ryne Sandberg

Rookie Card of the Year: Joe Carter...you might think we would say Sandberg here, but he had a card in a regional set issued in 1982. Check the archives of this blog as I had an email exchange with the a relative of the person who took Sandberg's picture. Anyway, Joe Carter, although not quite a hall-of-famer, had a solid career with his high point coming in the 1993 World Series hitting a walk off home run in the final game of the World Series for the Blue Jays. The Cubs had a regional set out in 1983 as well, this time sponsored by Thorn Apple Valley (the Cubs sure knew how to pick partnerships for their cards, also thanks to Wrigley Wax for pointing this out to me). Joe Carter's first card is in this set, predating Donruss by a year and Topps by two years.

Other rookies: Tom Filer, Mel Hall, Steve Lake, Craig Lefferts, Ryne Sandberg (OK I will list him for people just wanting main stream sets)

First Cub card: Thad Bosley, Warren Brusstar, Ron Cey, Wayne Nordhagen (although this is in an OPC issue, not showing him in a Cubs uniform), Chuck Rainey, Dick Ruthven, Steve Trout, Tom Veryzer

Most interesting non-Topps card: Joe Carter, read what I wrote under rookie card of the year section...there were 7 cards to get out of that set that weren't in any other sets (noted below with CV in the checklist)...Joe Carter, Steve Lake, Warren Brusstar, Craig Lefferts. Thad Bosley, the team card and the coaches card...outside of that set, the only player on a Cubs card not in the Topps set is Pat Tabler in the Fleer and Donruss sets, he will be listed in the Indians checklist, as he played for them in '83.

Starters

__	TO	542	C	Jody Davis	CHC
__	TO	250	1B	Bill Buckner	CHC
__	TO	83	2B	Ryne Sandberg	CHC
__	TO	305	SS	Larry Bowa	CHC
__	TT	19	3B	Ron Cey	CHC
__	TO	125	LF	Leon Durham	CHC
__	TT	39	CF	Mel Hall	CHC
__	TO	619	RF	Keith Moreland	CHC

Starting Pitchers

__	TT	92	SP	Chuck Rainey	CHC
__	TT	117	SP	Steve Trout	CHC
__	TO	230	SP	Fergie Jenkins	CHC
__	TT	98	SP	Dick Ruthven	CHC
__	TO	99	SP	Dickie Noles	CHC

Relief Pitchers

__	TO	699	CL	Lee Smith	CHC
__	CV	41	RP	Warren Brusstar	CHC
__	TO	436	RP	Bill Campbell	CHC
__	CV	32	RP	Craig Lefferts	CHC
__	TO	597	RP	Mike Proly	CHC

Other Players

__	TO	356	OF	Gary Woods	CHC
__	TO	152	LF	Jay Johnstone	CHC
__	TO	729	OF	Jerry Morales	CHC
__			1B	Carmelo Martinez
__	TT	121	SS	Tom Veryzer	CHC
__	TO	481	LF	Scot Thompson	CHC
__	CV	16	C	Steve Lake	CHC
__	CV	20	OF	Thad Bosley	CHC
__	CV	33	OF	Joe Carter	CHC
__	TO	714	LF	Wayne Nordhagen	TOR
__	OP	47	LF	Wayne Nordhagen	CHC
__			MI	Dan Rohn
__			IF	Dave Owen
__	TO	204	IF	Junior Kennedy	CHC
__			OF	Tom Grant
__			3B	Fritzie Connally
__			C	Mike Diaz
__			PH	Jay Loviglio
__			SP	Paul Moskau
__			RP	Rich Bordi
__			SP	Rick Reuschel
__	TO	568	RP	Willie Hernandez	CHC
__			RP	Reggie Patterson
__			SP	Don Schulze
__			RP	Bill Johnson
__			RP	Alan Hargesheimer

Minor Leagues

__

TO

508

MN

Tom Filer

CHC

Manager/Coaches

__	TO	456	MG	Lee Elia	CHC
__			MG	Charlie Fox
__	CV	0	CO	Cubs Manager/Coaches (Lee Elia, Ruben Amaro, Bily Connors, Duffy Dyer, Fred Koenig, John Vuckovich)	CHC
__	CV	0	TM	Chicago Cubs	CHC

1983 Oakland Athletics

Back to 1983, we get to the Oakland Athletics, who finished dead in the middle of the AL West. Billy Martin had led this team to the ALCS in 1981, but blew out the pitchers arms in the process, so by 1983, there was virtually no pitching on this team. The one bright spot for the pitching staff was a no-hitter thrown by Mike Warren. Rickey Henderson was the best player on this team by a mile and this team may have been in last place without him. A true definition of "most valuable" player.

Best Player: Rickey Henderson...by a mile

Best Pitcher: Chris Codiroli...this wasn't a good pitching staff, Codiroli led the team in wins and was one of the few who was uninjured for the whole year to give the team 200+ innings.

All-Stars: Rickey Henderson

Hall-of-Famers: Rickey Henderson

Rookie Card of the Year: Tony Phillips...played with the A's through 1989, but really had the peak of his career from 1990-1994 with the Tigers. He led the league in runs scored in 1992 and garnered MVP votes in 1993. He bounced around after that with several teams and finished his career in 1999 with the same A's that he started out with.

Other rookies: Steve Baker, Chris Codiroli, Bob Kearney

First Athletic card: Bill Almon, Steve Boros, Tom Burgmeier, John D'Acquisto (under retired players), Preston Hanna (under retired players), Carney Lansford, Jimmy Sexton (listed under St. Louis Cardinals), Al Woods (under players on new teams)

Most interesting non-Topps card: Kelvin Moore...one of the things with doing this project is how many players are completely shut out of Topps sets. Kelvin Moore had a career from 1981 through 1983, all with the A's. This is actually his second Donruss card, as he had a card in the 1982 Donruss set. He never had a Topps card, even though in 1983, he played in 41 games with 136 plate appearances.

Starters

__	TT	52	C	Bob Kearney	OAK
__	TO	233	1B	Wayne Gross	OAK
__	TO	365	2B	Davey Lopes	OAK
__	TT	87	SS	Tony Phillips	OAK
__	TT	60	3B	Carney Lansford	OAK
__	TO	180	LF	Rickey Henderson	OAK
__	TO	598	CF	Dwayne Murphy	OAK
__	TT	24	RF	Mike Davis	OAK
__	TO	648	DH	Jeff Burroughs	OAK
__	TT	2	IF	Bill Almon	OAK
__	TO	23	C	Mike Heath	OAK
__			UT	Garry Hancock

Starting Pitchers

__	TT	20	SP	Chris Codiroli	OAK
__			SP	Bill Krueger
__	TO	493	SP	Steve McCatty	OAK
__	TO	620	SP	Mike Norris	OAK
__			SP	Gorman Heimueller

Relief Pitchers

__	TO	102	CL	Dave Beard	OAK
__	TO	466	RP	Tom Underwood	OAK
__	TT	16	RP	Tom Burgmeier	OAK
__			RP	Tim Conroy
__			RP	Keith Atherton
__			SP	Mike Warren
__	TT	6	RP	Steve Baker	OAK

Other Players

__			CF	Rick Peters
__	TO	208	1B	Dan Meyer	OAK
__			SS	Donnie Hill
__	DO	87	1B	Kelvin Moore	OAK
__	TO	737	DH	Mitchell Page	OAK
__			UT	Luis Quinones
__			C	Darryl Cias
__			UT	Marshall Brant
__			UT	Dave Hudgens
__			UT	Rusty McNealy
__	TO	413	RP	Matt Keough	OAK
__	TO	259	RP	Jeff Jones	OAK
__	TO	286	SP	Rick Langford	OAK
__			RP	Mark Smith
__			RP	Ed Farmer
__			SP	Ben Callahan
__			RP	Curt Young
__			RP	Bert Bradley
__			RP	Rich Wortham

Manager

__

TT

13

MG

Steve Boros

OAK

1954 Ultimate Set

I am starting a little side project on this blog that I will run every Sunday applying the ultimate set concept to the 1954 sets. One of my favorite team collector blogs is The Phillies Room. Jim, who runs the site, has been reviewing every Topps set and the Phillies cards contained in them. He noted that the selection of Phillies in some of the years was lackluster as most of the good players seemed to be in the Bowman sets. Bowman was a Philadelphia based company, and my theory was that this had something to do with the lack of Phillies. So I am putting together an ultimate checklist for 1954. Maybe we can get an idea who and what teams were in what sets. Keep in mind that I own none of these cards, so I may have a few mistakes in some of the info in my checklist.

What sets are being used?
The Topps set will be the starting point and then players with Bowman cards only will be added. Regional sets will be used to round out the set. The Dan Dee set (noted as DD), a 29 card set given away in bags of chips is one of them. Since the company was based out of Cleveland, the majority of the players are Indians with a handful of Pirates and a few all-stars from other cities. Also being used is the Red Heart set (noted as RH), which was marketed with dog food. It was a 33-card set of all-stars, although the Cubs, White Sox, and Cardinals were represented more than other teams, so this may have been a regional issue. If you wanted a Stan Musial card in 1954, you had to get the Red Heart set. The third set that I am using is the Johnston Cookies set (noted as BJ). These were issued from 1953-1955 and contained only cards of the Milwaukee Braves.


Retired Players
There were a handful of retired players that appeared in these sets. These are players who would never appear in another game after 1954. They are listed below. One player that I am having some difficulty finding info about is Ben Johnson, who's only card is in the Johnston Cookies set. It appears that he may have never played a game in the major leagues. Angel Scull is another player that appears to have no major league career, but played on the independent Havana Sugar Kings in 1954. I will get to that team in a few minutes.

__	TO	57	RT	Luis Aloma	CHW
__	BO	171	RT	Carlos Bernier	PIT
__	TO	203	RT	Harry Brecheen	BAL
__	BO	215	RT	Johnny Bucha	DET
__	BJ	29	RT	Paul Burris	MLN
__	BO	126	RT	Cliff Chambers	STL
__	TO	228	RT	Gene Hermanski	PIT
__	BJ	12	RT	Ben Johnson	MLN
__	BO	151	RT	Pat Mullin	DET
__	TO	104	RT	Mike Sandlock	PHI
__	TO	204	RT	Angel Scull	WSH

Players in the Military
Here is an issue that I haven't had to deal with compiling sets from 1981 on. But 1954 was one year after the Korean War came to an end and military service was still a requirement. There were a handful of players who would have decent major league careers, but served in the military and didn't play a game in 1954. These include:

__	TO	221	MT	Dick Brodowski	BOS
__	TO	43	MT	Dick Groat	PIT
__	TO	13	MT	Billy Martin	NYY
__	TO	249	MT	Vinegar Bend Mizell	STL
__	BO	185	MT	Daryl Spencer	NYG

Players on New Teams
In the 1980s, players appear in traded sets, so a list is created of the cards of players on their old teams. There was no traded set in 1954, but due to the nature of both Bowman and Topps issuing their cards in series, a few players appear on a 1953 team in one set, and a 1954 team in another set.

A few exceptions I made here is for Saul Rogovin and Paul Smith. Rogovin played for the White Sox in 1953 and reappeared in the major leagues in 1955 with the Baltimore Orioles. Paul Smith played for the Pirates in 1953 and didn't reappear in the majors until 1957, again with the Pirates. Where did they both play in 1954? For the Havana Sugar Kings. The Havana Sugar Kings were an independent team based in Cuba in the International League in 1954. I am not sure what kind of relationship the Sugar Kings had with the major leagues that year, so I placed these two players on this checklist since they would reappear in the majors again.

__	BO	163	OT	Dave Philley	PHA
__	BO	140	OT	Saul Rogovin	CIN
__	TO	11	OT	Paul Smith	PIT
__	BO	109	OT	Roy Smalley	CHC