Wantz's death just a year after Ken Hubbs' demise caused me to wonder why Topps didn't produce an In Memoriam card for Wantz as they had for Hubbs in the 1964 set.
It's possible that Wantz's death in May, 1965, was too late into the baseball card season to allow Topps to produce a memorial card in its 1965 set, and that the company felt such a card in its 1966 issue would have been too late to be an appropriate tribute.
Too, Hubbs had been the Cubs' starting second baseman for the two season's prior to his death, while Wantz had only a single major league inning under his belt.
Now I've created an In Memoriam custom card for Wantz. You'll notice it shares the same photo (courtesy Keith Olbermann) that I used on my 1965-style rookie card. As I said last time, there is a dearth of decent photos of Wantz available.
I decided to create my tribute card in the style of 1966 Topps. It is based on what Topps had done in 1964 for Hubbs.
As usual, I'll have a few of my cards available for interested collectors. If you want either or both the 1965 or 1966 Dick Wantz cards. They are $7.50 each, postpaid. You can send me a check or money order at P.O. Box 8, Iola, WI 54945, or remit via PayPal to my account at crystalsdad1979(at)yahoo(dot)com; use the appropriate symbols where indicated in parentheses . . . I stated it that way to prevent robot email grabbing programs from loading me with spam.
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