1954 St. Louis Cardinals

St. Louis's Lone Baseball Team
1954 marked the first year that the city of St. Louis only had one major league baseball team, with the Browns moving to Baltimore and becoming the Orioles. The Cardinals had finished in 3rd place the previous three seasons, but with the town to themselves, they fell to 6th place in 1954. Before the season, they traded away a hall-of-famer to the Yankees, Enos Slaughter, but replaced him with the 1954 NL Rookie of the Year, Wally Moon. They also picked up shortstop Alex Grammas from the Reds. Stan Musial was the offensive leader on this team, leading the team in all of the triple crown categories. He led the team in home runs, nearly doubling the 2nd best home run hitter, Rip Repulski 35 to 19. Harvey Haddix leading the pitching staff, leading the team in wins and strikeouts.

Starter and Hall-of-Fame/All-Star Scores
Exclusive players to a set are in italics

Topps Regulars (11): Bill Sarni, Ray Jablonski, Alex Grammas, Rip Repulski, Wally Moon, Solly Hemus, Harvey Haddix, Tom Poholsky, Stu Miller, Joe Presko, Cot Deal

Bowman Regulars (8): Red Schoendienst, Rip Repulski, Solly Hemus, Vic Raschi (shown with Yankees), Al Brazle, Jerry Staley, Stu Miller, Joe Presko

Topps All-Stars & Hall-of-Famers (2): Ray Jablonski, Harvey Haddix

Bowman All-Stars & Hall-of-Famers (1): Red Schoendienst

The Cardinals give an advantage to Topps. The only key player on a card in 1954 missing in the Topps set is hall-of-famer Red Schoendiest. There are actually several regulars who are missing in both sets: 1st baseman Joe Cunningham, 1st baseman Tom Alston, pitchers Brook Lawrence, Gordon Jones, Royce Lint, and Ralph Beard. Also missing in both of these sets of course is the biggest Cardinal omission of all...Stan Musial. But you could get a 1954 card of Stan Musial, you just had to look at the Red Heart set in 1954. More on that set below.



Red Heart
The Red Heart set consisted of 33 cards. They were distributed nationally with dog food. Yes dog food, although, this isn't the only time I have seen this happen. I am covering 1984 (well at least slowly), and there was a 33 card set distributed with dog food by Ralston Purina. I specifically remember getting those cards in bags of dog food. Anyway, to see the complete set of 1954 Red Heart cards, check out this website which has a scan of all 33 cards in the set.

This, of course is the only set to get a Stan Musial card in 1954. Supposedly, the big guns (Topps and Bowman) didn't pay him what he thought he was worth, but Red Heart had no problem. They also had a Mickey Mantle card in the set. How these cards were obtained was by sending in labels of dog food to get one set of 11 cards. This explains why the cards have three different background colors (blue, green, red). Rumour has it that these cards may have been available to order as late as the 1970s.

Starters

__	TO	194	C	Bill Sarni	STL
__			1B	Joe Cunningham
__	BO	110	2B	Red Schoendienst	STL
__	TO	26	3B	Ray Jablonski	STL
__	TO	151	SS	Alex Grammas	STL
__	TO	115	LF	Rip Repulski	STL
__	TO	137	CF	Wally Moon	STL
__	RH	23	RF	Stan Musial	STL
__	TO	117	SS	Solly Hemus	STL
__			1B	Tom Alston

Starting Pitchers

__	TO	9	SP	Harvey Haddix	STL
__			SP	Brooks Lawrence
__	TO	142	SP	Tom Poholsky	STL
__			SP	Gordon Jones
__	BO	33	SP	Vic Raschi	NYY

Relief Pitchers

__	BO	142	CL	Al Brazle	STL
__	BO	14	RP	Jerry Staley	STL
__			RP	Royce Lint
__			SP	Ralph Beard
__	TO	164	RP	Stu Miller	STL
__	TO	135	RP	Joe Presko	STL
__	TO	192	RP	Cot Deal	STL

Other Players

__	BO	30	C	Del Rice	STL
__			UT	Joe Frazier
__	TO	158	OF	Peanuts Lowrey	STL
__	BO	78	C	Sal Yvars	STL
__			RF	Tom Burgess
__			1B	Steve Bilko
__	TO	191	SS	Dick Schofield	STL
__	BO	174	3B	Pete Castiglione	STL
__			RP	Ben Wade
__			RP	Mel Wright
__			RP	Hal White
__	TO	118	RP	Carl Scheib	PHA
__			SP	Bill Greason
__	BO	222	SP	Memo Luna	STL

Manager/Coaches

__	TO	38	MG	Eddie Stanky	STL
__	TO	147	CO	Johnny Riddle	STL
__	TO	237	CO	Mike Ryba	STL

1954 Cincinnati Redlegs

The Redlegs
Cold War politics makes an appearance in major league baseball in 1954. From 1954 through 1959, the Cincinnati Reds weren't known as the Reds, but the Redlegs. The name change was due to the Red scare, but I am not sure how going from the Reds to the Redlegs prevents any confusion. Maybe that is why they changed back to the reds after 1959. The previous four seasons, the Reds finished in 6th place in the National League, but with a name change they moved up to 5th place in 1954. The Reds/Redlegs would finish in the middle of the pack in the National League until they finally made a World Series appearance in 1961. Then of course, shortly after, the Big Red Machine started coming together.



Big Klu
The '54 Redlegs were in the upper half of the league in hitting, but didn't have a solid pitching staff. The offense was led by Ted Kluszewski, who had a monster year with 49 home runs, 141 RBIs (both categories he led the league) and a .326 batting average. This is one of the few players big time players that Topps had in their set, but wasn't in the Bowman set. Looking at Ted Kluszewski, he looks like he would have fit right in during the steroid era, as he would often wear his uniform with cut0off sleeves. He had several big season in the mid-1950s, but injured himself during a clubhouse fight in 1956. He was never the same, and was a part time player from 1957-1961, bouncing around from the Reds to the Pirates to the White Sox, and finally appearing with the Angels during their first season in 1961. It seems funny now, as scouting seems that no player is unfound, but in the mid-1940s, Klu was discovered when the Reds were in spring training in Indiana and he was on the grounds crew.

Starter and Hall-of-Fame/All-Star Scores
Exclusive players to a set are in italics

Topps Regulars (8): Ted Kluszewski, Bobby Adams, Roy McMillan, Jim Greengrass, Chuck Harmon, Bud Podbeilan, Frank Smith, Harry Perkowski

Bowman Regulars (11): Andy Seminik, Bobby Adams, Roy McMillan, Jim Greengrass, Gus Bell, Frank Baczewski, Frank Smith, Joe Nuxhall, Jackie Collum, Karl Drews (shown with Phillies, split time with Reds and Phillies, getting more playing time with the Reds), Harry Perkowski

Topps All-Stars & Hall-of-Famers (1): Ted Kluszewski

Bowman All-Stars & Hall-of-Famers (1): Gus Bell

This is the first team we come across in 1954 that produces no hall-of-famers. The two all-star game representatives for the Reds in 1954 are each in two of the different sets. Neither set has the top two starting pitchers, Art Fowler or Corky Valentine. Johnny Temple is also missing, but his rookie card wouldn't appear until the 1955 Bowman set. Topps scores by having the best pitcher on this team on a card, in Frank Smith, and by having the only card of longtime Reds catcher Ed Bailey, although he didn't play enough to be considered a regular in 1954. I would say this is a very evenly matched team as far as what set to collect, as Topps has more of the bench players.

Starters

__	BO	172	C	Andy Seminick	CIN
__	TO	7	1B	Ted Kluszewski	CIN
__			2B	Johnny Temple
__	TO	123	3B	Bobby Adams	CIN
__	TO	120	SS	Roy McMillan	CIN
__	TO	22	LF	Jim Greengrass	CIN
__	BO	124	CF	Gus Bell	CIN
__			RF	Wally Post
__	TO	182	3B	Chuck Harmon	CIN

Starting Pitchers

__			SP	Art Fowler
__			SP	Corky Valentine
__	TO	69	SP	Bud Podbielan	CIN
__	BO	60	SP	Fred Baczewski	CIN

Relief Pitchers

__	TO	71	CL	Frank Smith	CIN
__	BO	76	RP	Joe Nuxhall	CIN
__			RP	Howie Judson
__	BO	204	RP	Jackie Collum	CIN
__	BO	191	RP	Karl Drews	PHI
__	TO	125	RP	Harry Perkowski	CIN

Other Players

__	TO	184	C	Ed Bailey	CIN
__	TO	138	RF	Bob Borkowski	CIN
__			OF	Lloyd Merriman
__	BO	220	C	Hobie Landrith	CIN
__			UT	Nino Escalera
__	BO	156	MI	Rocky Bridges	CIN
__			CF	Jim Bolger
__			PH	Dick Murphy
__			PH	Grady Hatton
__	TO	19	PH	Johnny Lipon	BAL
__	TO	136	PH	Connie Ryan	CIN
__			RP	Herm Wehmeier
__			RP	Moe Savransky
__			SP	Jim Pearce
__	TO	97	RP	Jerry Lane	WSH
__	TO	46	RP	Ken Raffensberger	CIN
__			RP	Mario Picone
__			RP	George Zuverink
__			RP	Cliff Ross

Manager

__

MG

Birdie Tebbetts

1954 Philadelphia Phillies

The Haves and The Have Nots
I am placing a post about each team in any given year based on how far they went in the playoffs and then by their overall record for the season. In 1954, the league champion only went to the World Series, so aside from the first two team, these are all in order of how they finished record wise for the season. Last week I covered the Milwaukee Braves, who had an 89-65 record. That is even better than a 90 win team in the 2010 season, as they played 8 less games, and they essentially finished 6th out of the 16 teams. This week we get to the Philadelphia Phillies, who finished 14 games worse with a record of 75-79. They are the first '54 team with a losing record. And that 14 games represents the divide between winning teams and losing teams. So it appears that there were some great teams and then some not so great teams, with not a lot in the middle.

The 1954 Phillies were trending downward. They were halfway between appearing in a World Series in 1950 and finishing in last place every year between 1958-1961. Expansion in 1962 probably saved them from making that 5 years in a row. This may explain why they were a slightly below .500 team in 1954. This team was led by pitching, and most specifically pitcher Robin Roberts, who led the team with 23 wins and had a sub 3.00 ERA. Offensively, this team was carried by center fielder Richie Ashburn and second baseman Granny Hamner.

The Hometown Team
What started on the side project of making a checklist for the ultimate 1954 set, even though I own zero of these cards, was this entry at the Phillies Room on the 1954 Topps cards. If you haven't paid attention to that blog, Jim has been putting up a review of every Topps set since 1951 showing the Phillies that are in each set. A conversation came up on how during the era when Bowman was in existence, the star Phillies players were not found in the Topps set. My argument was that Bowman was based in Philadelphia, and they may have got preference for signing exclusive contracts with players because they were the hometown team. I started this side project to see what an ultimate set from 1954 may look like, as 1954 is probably my personal favorite design of these early sets. As we are finding out the Bowman-Philadelphia connection really may not be the case at all. Bowman did have a better selection of current players that were probably more in demand in 1954 for most teams.

Starter and Hall-of-Fame/All-Star Scores
Exclusive players to a set are in italics.

Topps Regulars (4): Granny Hamner, Willie Jones, Richie Ashburn, Herm Wehmeier (shown with the Reds, split time between Phillies and Reds, getting more playing time with the Phillies)

Bowman Regulars (12): Smokey Burgess, Earl Torgeson, Granny Hamner, Willie Jones, Del Ennis, Richie Ashburn, Stan Lopata, Mel Clark, Robin Roberts, Curt Simmons, Murry Dickson, Steve Ridzik

Topps All-Stars & Hall-of-Famers (1): Richie Ashburn

Bowman All-Stars & Hall-of-Famers (4): Richie Ashburn, Smokey Burgess, Granny Hamner, Robin Roberts

For a Phillies fan...there is really no reason to buy Topps cards in 1954. The only player of any significance that appears only in the Topps set, Herm Wehmeier, is shown in a Reds uniform. Topps picks things up by showing 8 minor players and coaches that do not appear in the Bowman set. Johnny Lindell who appears in only 7 games, all as a pinch hitter, appears in both sets, and represents the only Phillies player in the Bowman set that is not considered by definitions as a regular. Topps had the opportunity to add some regulars, as neither set had starting shortstop Bobby Morgan, outfielder Danny Schell (I have him listed as the right fielder, but Del Ennis led the team in appearances in both left and right field, so I put Ennis as the left fielder), outfielder Johnny Wyrostek, starting pitcher Bob Miller, and relief pitchers Jim Konstanty and Ron Mrozinski.

Tom Qualters
I am not sure of Tom Qualters role on the Phillies in 1954. He appeared in one game as an 18 year old in 1953 with the Phillies. I don't see him listed as a player in the military, and there is no record of him playing anywhere, majors or minors. He shows up again with a minor league record in the Phillies system in 1955 and 1956, and then appears again in the majors with the Phillies in 1957. 1954 appears to be a mystery, but he gets a card in the Topps set. His last appearance in the majors was with the Phillies and White Sox in 1958.

Starters

__	BO	31	C	Smoky Burgess	PHI
__	BO	63	1B	Earl Torgeson	PHI
__	TO	24	2B	Granny Hamner	PHI
__	TO	41	3B	Willie Jones	PHI
__			SS	Bobby Morgan
__	BO	127	LF	Del Ennis	PHI
__	TO	45	CF	Richie Ashburn	PHI
__			RF	Danny Schell
__	BO	207	C	Stan Lopata	PHI
__			RF	Johnny Wyrostek
__	BO	175	OF	Mel Clark	PHI

Starting Pitchers

__	BO	95	SP	Robin Roberts	PHI
__	BO	79	SP	Curt Simmons	PHI
__	BO	111	SP	Murry Dickson	PHI
__	TO	162	SP	Herm Wehmeier	CIN
__			SP	Bob Miller

Relief Pitchers

__	BO	223	RP	Steve Ridzik	PHI
__			RP	Jim Konstanty
__			RP	Ron Mrozinski

Other Players

__	TO	78	SS	Ted Kazanski	PHI
__			IF	Floyd Baker
__			3B	Jim Command
__	TO	51	PH	Johnny Lindell	PHI
__			C	Gus Niarhos
__			RF	Stan Palys
__	TO	212	SS	Mickey Micelotta	PHI
__			PH	Stan Jok
__			RP	Bob Greenwood
__	TO	236	SP	Paul Penson	PHI
__			RP	Karl Drews
__	TO	108	RP	Thornton Kipper	PHI

Minor Leaguers

__

TO

174

MN

Tom Qualters

PHI

Manager/Coaches

__	TO	127	MG	Steve O'Neill	PHI
__			MG	Terry Moore
__	TO	183	CO	Earle Combs	PHI
__	TO	247	CO	Eddie Mayo	PHI

1954 Milwaukee Braves

Milwaukee Braves 2.0
The second season the Braves play in Milwaukee after moving west from Boston leads to an 89 win season. This was 3 games worse than the previous season, but no cause for alarm as they were on their way to winning the World Series in 1957 and the NL Pennant in 1958 with largely the same core of players. The offense was led by third baseman Eddie Mathews who slugged 40 home runs and 103 RBIs. The pitching was led by 21 game winner Warren Spahn.






Hank Aaron - The true home run king?
A 20 year old Hank Aaron made his debut on this team, chipping in 18 home runs. He had solid mid-20 HR seasons the next two season, but broke through with a 44 home run season in 1957. I was almost thinking that this may have been the card that saved Topps as he does not have a card in the Bowman set (more on that later) as it is probably one of the most iconic cards in the history of Topps, but I think in 1954 this card wouldn't have been as sought after as it would be in later years.

Speaking of Aaron, I was watching MLB Network yesterday and they had on a show called the "50 Most Memorable Moments in Baseball History". Hank Aaron breaking Babe Ruth's record in 1974 came in second. The moment when the actual current home run record was set by Barry Bonds came in at something like 42. This seems really odd to me. I know Barry isn't the most well liked guy in the game and there is the whole steroids issue nobody making these lists probably wants to touch, but I wonder if Aaron breaking the record being more "memorable" having something to do with the fact that in 1974, there were no round the clock baseball networks, or even sports networks. The ratings were probably WAY higher than they were for Bonds home run on just that alone. It has also been rerun for the last 40 years with Aaron running around the bases and the two hippy guys running up and patting him on the back...it is burned into most fans memory. I wonder if in twenty years if there still be that big of difference in how the two home runs are remembered.

By the way, the number one most memorable moment was Bobby Thomson's home run in 1951 for the Giants. He just so happens to also play for the 1954 Braves.

Johnston Cookies
Johnston Cookies was a Wisconsin based company that issued baseball cards in bags of cookies. I am pretty sure with my crack research that this company is not around to this day. They produced a nice set of Milwaukee Braves cards from 1953-1955. In 1954 the cards measured 1-3/4" x 3 1/2" and in good condition are very white. I am not a Braves fan, but I really wish I had this set as it is very attractive. This set allows us to pretty much make an entire set of 1954 Milwaukee Braves. Between all of the sets, there are only two Braves who don't have cards. We even get cards of the teams trainers and doctors. Players who only have cards in the Johnston Cookies set are noted with (BJ) in the checklist below.



Starter and Hall-of-Fame/All-Star Scores
Exclusive players to a set are in italics

Topps Regulars (11): Del Crandall, Eddie Mathews, Johnny Logan, Hank Aaron, Bill Bruton, Andy Pafko, Warren Spahn, Gene Conley, Dave Jolley, Ray Crone, Bob Buhl

Bowman Regulars (10): Del Crandall, Joe Adcock, Danny O'Connell, Eddie Mathews, Johnny Logan, Bill Bruton, Andy Pafko, Lew Burdette, Jim Wilson, Ernie Johnson
Topps All-Stars & Hall-of-Famers (5): Hank Aaron, Del Crandall, Gene Conley, Eddie Mathews, Warren Spahn

Bowman All-Stars & Hall-of-Famers (3): Del Crandall, Eddie Mathews, Jim Wilson

Finally, a team that Topps has a big advantage over Bowman with as they beat them in both scores. Eddie Mathews was the big name for the Braves in 1954, and he is in both sets, but Topps has the only cards for top tier hall-of-famers Hank Aaron and Warren Spahn. Chet Nichols, the fifth starter for this team, is the only regular who doesn't have a card in either set, but you can pick up his card in the Johnston Cookies set.

Starters

__	TO	12	C	Del Crandall	MLN
__	BO	96	1B	Joe Adcock	MLN
__	BO	160	2B	Danny O'Connell	MLN
__	TO	30	3B	Eddie Mathews	MLN
__	TO	122	SS	Johnny Logan	MLN
__	TO	128	LF	Hank Aaron	MLN
__	TO	109	CF	Bill Bruton	MLN
__	TO	79	RF	Andy Pafko	MLN

Starting Pitchers

__	TO	20	SP	Warren Spahn	MLN
__	BO	192	SP	Lew Burdette	MLN
__	TO	59	SP	Gene Conley	MLN
__	BO	16	SP	Jim Wilson	MLN
__	BJ	16	SP	Chet Nichols	MLN

Relief Pitchers

__	TO	188	CL	Dave Jolly	MLN
__	BO	144	RP	Ernie Johnson	MLN
__	TO	206	RP	Ray Crone	MLN
__	TO	210	RP	Bob Buhl	MLN

Other Players

__	TO	53	2B	Jack Dittmer	MLN
__	TO	165	OF	Jim Pendleton	MLN
__	BJ	27	UT	Catfish Metkovich	MLN
__	BO	201	LF	Bobby Thomson	MLN
__	BJ	24	C	Charlie White	MLN
__	TO	231	IF	Roy Smalley	MLN
__	TO	68	C	Sam Calderone	MLN
__	TO	181	1B	Mel Roach	MLN
__			RF	Billy Queen
__	BJ	13	PR	Sibby Sisti	MLN
__	TO	141	RP	Joey Jay	MLN
__			RP	Dave Koslo
__	BJ	11	RP	Phil Paine	MLN
__	BJ	15	RP	Charlie Gorin	MLN

Manager/Coaches/Trainers

__	BJ	40	MG	Charlie Grimm	MLN
__	BJ	28	CO	Johnny Cooney	MLN
__	TO	176	CO	Bob Keely	MLN
__	BJ	31	CO	Bucky Walters	MLN
__	BJ	49	TR	Dr. Charles Lacks	MLN
__	BJ	50	TR	Joseph Taylor	MLN