Jim Brown 1957 Topps-style custom

The 1957 Topps football card set included cards of three of the Top 10 draft picks in the 1957 NFL Draft conducted on Nov. 26, 1956.

The set had cards of No. 1 draft pick Paul Hornung, No. 7 Clarence Peaks and No. 10 Jerry Tubbs. Notably absent was a card for No. 6 selection, Jim Brown.

Along with 2nd round pick Jon Arnett, 4th rounder Ron Kramer, and No. 9 pick Don Bosseler, Brown didn't make his Topps card debut until the 1958 set. (Jim Parker, pick #8, didn't appear until 1959, #3 selection John Brodie didn't debut until 1961 and No. 5 pick, Len Dawson, didn't get a Topps rookie card until the 1964 set.)

My most recent 1950s Topps-style custom card imagines what a 1957 Jim Brown rookie card might have looked like.

Notice that his name appears as "Jimmy" Brown.  Topps used that version on its 1958-62 cards. The gum company did not go with "Jim" until its final Brown card, in the 1963 set.

By contrast, Fleer in 1961, Post in 1962 and Philadelphia 1964-66, all used the "Jim" appellation. 

There were lots of cartoon choices for the back of my 1957 Jim Brown card. Unfortunately, I couldn't use my No. 1 choice, a cartoon figure of a lacrosse player on the back of card #25, Eagles end Thomas Scott. That lacrosse player was white and my photoshop skills are just not sufficient for me to convert that image to a black man without making him look like a character in black-face. 

So I went with cartoons from the backs of '57T card #128 Lennie Moore and #64 Maurice Bassett. Bassett was out of the NFL after the 1956 season, but he is shown with the Cleveland Browns in the '57 set, wearing #32, the number Brown wore during his career in the NFL.

You can order this card. Unless noted, all of my custom cards are available to collectors for $12.50 each, postpaid for one or two cards; $9.95 each for three or more (mix/match). To order, email me at scbcguy@yahoo.com for directions on paying via check/money order, or to my PayPal account.

Fourth Bob Hazle custom done in 1957 format

I've recently completed my fourth -- and probably final -- Bob Hazle custom card, in the 1957 Topps format.

You can't fault Topps for not having produced such a card in '57. Back then Hazle had only played six games in the majors, with the 1955 Cincinnati Redlegs.

After coming to the Braves in the pre-season 1956 trade with Corky Valentine for George Crowe, Hazle had been assigned to Class AAA Wichita for the year, and had begun 1957 there.

To go back to the beginning to understand why I've done four Bob Hazle custom cards, please read my blog post of Sept. 18, 2014, Why Bob Hazle . 

My first Bob Hazle custom card was done in the format of 1955 Topps, as a Cincinnati Redlegs rookie. It was originally on the blog on July 4, 2014: 1955 Topps Hazle .

On Sept. 19, 2014, I presented my 1959 Topps-format Bob Hazle card, reflecting his sale to the Detroit Tigers: 1959 Topps Bob Hazle .

The next day I introduced my 1956 Topps-style Hazle card: 1956 Topps Hazle .

This 1957-style card was not an easy build. I had a nice portrait photo of "Hurricane," but it was in black-and-white with a plain background. For my card front I had to colorize the photo and find an appropriate background.

After looking over all the original 1957 Topps Milwaukee Braves cards, my decision came down to those of Chuck Tanner and Dave Jolly. After looking at each version for several days I landed upon the Jolly background. I'm satisfied with my choice.

Actually, if the right picture came along, a 1952 Topps-style card wouldn't be out of the question. In 1951 he was hitting .280 at Tulsa and had been named to the Texas League All-Star team when he was reportedly called up by Cincinnati. Uncle Sam had a prior claim, however, and Hazle spent the rest of the 1951 season, all of 1952 and more than half of 1953 in the Army.

If a '52T-format card does come to fruition, you'll see it here first.

38-year old Reds rookie on 1957 Topps custom

In the days before the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement began scrutinizing foreign-born ballplayers' identification papers it was common for Latinos to take liberties with their birth dates.

To make themselves more attractive major league prospects they often promulgated a "baseball age" that was a few years younger than their actual age. If they made it in the majors, those missing years were generally recouped when it came time to apply for the players' pension benefits.

The player who is believed to hold the record for fudging his true age to make it to the majors was Pat Scantlebury, who got a cup of coffee with the Cincinnati Redlegs in 1956 as a "30-year-old" rookie. In fact, Scantlebury was eight years older when he made his big league debut.

Born in the Canal Zone, Panama, in 1917, Scantlebury was pitching for the national team by 1941. He came to the U.S. during World War II, pitching for the New York Cubans of the Negro Leagues 1944-50. He appeared in or was named to the Negro Leagues' East-West All-Star games in 1946, 1948, 1949 and 1950.

He played winter ball in the Panamanian Winter League every season 1945-46 through 1963-64 except 1951-52, when he plied his trade in Mexico. He often distinguished himself in the Caribbean Series.

Here's a link to a good summary of Scantlebury's career:
www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Pat_Scantlebury

In 1952, Scantlebury was traveling with the Roy Campanella All-Stars barnstorming tour. He pitched or played first base for the Negro League All-Stars that provided Campy's big-league aggregation with competition all over the South and West for the month following the World Series. 

The major leaguers were so impressed with him that at least three of them recommended him to their teams. Monte Irvin was the most persuasive, convincing the N.Y. Giants to purchase his contract from the Memphis Red Sox of the Negro American League for $10,000.

The book on Scantlebury was that he had good control, a lively fast ball and a deceptive delivery on his variety of breaking pitches.

He debuted in Organized Baseball with Texarkana of the Class B Big State League in 1953. He led the circuit in wins (24) and strikeouts (177). He was second in innings pitched (286) and led in hits allowed (314). He tied for second in the BSL with five shutouts and paced the circuit with 28 complete games (in 33 starts). 

Scantlebury won 20 games again in 1954, 18 for Dallas in the Texas League and two with the Havana Sugar Kings of the International League. He pitched the entire 1955 season with Havana, winning 13 and losing nine with a 1.90 ERA.

He was invited to the Redlegs' major league camp for spring training in 1956, and had such a good spring that he made the club. Scantlebury was on the mound in Cincinnati to start the second game of the season against St. Louis on April 19. He went five innings, giving up eight hits including home runs to Stan Musial and Bill Sarni. The Reds won the game 10-9, but Scantlebury was not part of the decision,

Five days later in St Louis he got the start and took the 3-5 loss, giving up seven hits including a three-run homer by Ken Boyer. 

When teams had to cut their rosters in mid-May, Scantlebury was sent out to Havana. He was recalled on July 25 and appeared in relief in two games before being sent down to Seattle in the Pacific Coast League. The six games in which he appeared with Cincinnati were the totality of his major-league career. Redlegs manager Birdie Tebbetts was quoted as saying he didn't buy the fiction of Scantlebury's age.

He spent five more years in the minors at the AAA level. Back with Havana in 1957 he was 12-15. In 1958-61 with Toronto he was 36-23, mostly as a reliever.

It's easy to see why Pat Scantlebury never appeared on a Topps card, but they took a nice photo of him early in the 1956 season. The photo looks to have been taken at Milwaukee County Stadium and has the "feel" of a 1957 Topps cards . . . so I made one.

Scantlebury did, however, have a pair of career-contemporary baseball cards during his time with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He appears in team sets issued in 1960 by Shopsy's Frankfurters and in 1961 by Bee Hive Starch. Both are hard to find today.

He can also be found in a couple of modern collectors' issues such as the 1986 Larry Fritsch Cards set of Negro League Baseball Stars.

Koufax knew K's, from both ends of bat

No doubt about it, Sandy Koufax knew strikeouts. In 12 major league seasons (1955-66) he threw 2,396 of them. That puts him at #42 all-time, #15 among left-handers. His career record is 9.3 K's per nine innings; good enough to lead the NL six times and the major leagues three times.

But Koufax also knew strikeouts from the other end of the bat.

In his rookie season of 1955, Koufax never went to bat without striking out. In his 12 games that year, Koufax was 0-for-12, with 12 K's. Those whiffs included six times caught looking, a missed bunt and a fouled bunt.

Moreover, the Dodgers' record in Koufax's dozen games in 1955 was 2-10. The only games Brooklyn won when Koufax pitched in 1955 were the complete-game two shutouts he threw. To be fair, as a bench-sitting bonus baby, Koufax was mostly used in '55 as a mop-up pitcher in games in which the decision was already determined.

It was seven games into his second season, June 3, 1956, before Koufax ever got on base or put wood to ball in a meaningful way. His former teammate Russ (The Mad Monk -- one of baseball's great nicknames) Meyer, then with the Cubs walked him in his first AB. Koufax also grounded out and was struck out looking by Meyer in that game, and walked again in the ninth off Vito Valentinetti. Koufax won the game 4-3 for his first victory of 1956.

Koufax's first major league hit came in his next game, June 8. He started in Cincinnati but was not in on the decision in a 4-6 Dodgers loss, Facing Johnny Klippstein, Koufax struck out in the third and in the fifth got a ground-ball single.

He got one more hit in 1956, off Willard Schmidt in St. Louis in his July 22 4-3 win over the Cardinals. That brought his career BA to .071.

0-for 1957

Once again in 1957, Koufax went hitless. In 26 at-bats over 34 games he had neither a hit nor a walk, though he did score one run. On Aug. 1 at Wrigley Field, Koufax reached first base on a throwing error, worked his way around on singles by Jim Gilliam and Carl Furillo and scored on a Gil Hodges home run. He won that game 12-3.

At that point in his career, his batting average was .032.

For the 1958-64 seasons, Koufax hit .090, between .064 and .122. He averaged just under 65 strikeouts per season. 

In 1958 he got his first extra-base hit, the first of nine doubles he'd rap in his career. The initial two-bagger came Aug. 7, again in Chicago, in his 3-1 win over the Cubs. Serving up the double was Marcelino Solis. 

Koufax never hit a triple. He had two home runs, both in Milwaukee. In 1962 he had a solo shot off Warren Spahn, and in 1963 he hit a three-run blast to take a 1-3 lead against Denny Lemaster.

In 1965, the reason(s) for which I've found no explanation, Koufax went nuts with the bat. He more than doubled his lifetime BA by hitting .177. It was second on his Cy Young seasons and the Dodgers won the World Series that year against Minnesota.

Koufax had not appeared in the 1955 or 1956 World Series against the Yankees. He was 0-for-2 against the White Sox in 1959 and 0-for-6 versus New York in 1963. He got his lone post-season at bat in the 1965 Series against the Twins, an RBI single off Jim Perry in Game 5. He was again hitless in the 1966 Classic versus the Orioles. Overall, in 19 at-bats in four World Series, Koufax hit .053 with one walk and eight strikeouts.

For his regular-season major league career, Koufax batted .097. He struck out 386 times in 776 at-bats, walking 43 times. 

Surprisingly, Koufax has only the fifth-lowest batting average among Hall of Fame pitchers, though those below him were all primarily relievers, with far fewer at-bats. The numbers . . . 

Pitcher                       AB   H   BA     SO
Tommy LaSorda        14    1   .071       4
Hoyt Wilhelm            432  38   .088   166   
Bruce Sutter             102    9   .088     50
Satchel Paige           124  12   .097     32 
Sandy Koufax           776  75   .097   386

As hapless as he generally was with a bat, Sandy Koufax was masterful with the ball. It was his pitching that earned him legions of fans, three Cy Young Awards, an MVP, three World's Champion rings and a pair of World Series MVPs. All that, and one of the best nicknames of his generation: The Left Hand of God.

It is one of baseball great misfortunes that arm troubles forced him to cut short his major league career at the age of 30.