1960 custom doubles DeMerit's Braves cards

As big a fan of the Milwaukee Braves as I was as a kid in the late 1950s, John DeMerit really didn't register on my radar . . . because he didn't appear on a Topps baseball card until 1961.

I should have been all over DeMerit. He was a near-Milwaukee native and starred at the University of Wisconsin for two years before signing a $100,000 bonus contract with the Braves in May, 1957.

There no sense in my doing a baseball biography of DeMerit here, Steven Schmitt has authored a really excellent article for the SABR Baseball Biography Project, which you can find here:
 John DeMerit bio .

I'm unsure why DeMerit didn't appear in the 1958 Topps issue. Another Braves bonus baby, Bob "Hawk" Taylor appeared in far fewer games for Milwaukee in 1957, and he has a 1958 Topps card. Taylor signed a week after DeMerit, but made his big-league debut nine days earlier. Maybe that made a difference in Topps being able to get photos, or some similar pragmatic reason.

When Major League Baseball changed its bonus rules in 1958, and made the changes retroactive, DeMerit was allowed to be farmed out. He spent virtually all of the 1958 season at AA-level Atlanta, hitting .257 with 13 home runs (including four in a row), before getting into three games with Milwaukee in the last week of the regular season. 

That wasn't conducive to Topps giving him a card in 1959. DeMerit played most of the 1959 season at Class A Jacksonville, with two weeks at Atlanta and most of the month of September with the big club.

Again, there was no Topps card in 1960, and DeMerit spent the entire season at Louisville, the Braves' AAA farm club. He had a good season for the American Association champion Colonels, batting .270 with a dozen home runs. 

DeMerit finally got his Topps card in 1961, and spent the entire season at Milwaukee. After the season he was picked by the Mets in the NL expansion draft. His 1962 Topps card pictures him capless in the Milwaukee jersey, but lists him with the Mets.

I could have chosen to make my DeMerit custom card in the 1958, 1959 or 1960 format. I chose the latter because the available supply of DeMerit-as-Brave color photos is extremely limited, and they didn't fit my vision for a 1958 or 1959 card. 

I could also have chosen to make my 1960 DeMerit card in the style of the 1960 Sport Magazine Rookie Stars subset, but that seemed to be a stretch for a guy who had been in the bigs for parts of three seasons, so I went with the regular format, as presented here.

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.

'55 Topps expands George Crowe custom lineup

Regular readers of my blog know that growing up as a fan of the Milwaukee Braves in the mid-1950s, backup first baseman and pinch-hitter extraordinaire George Crowe was my favorite ballplayer.

What you may not know is that I often create my custom baseball, football and non-sports cards on the basis of an image that pops into my head and refuses to go away until I've put all other card creations on the back burner and brought that image to life.

That's how it was with my latest custom, a George Crowe card in the style of 1955 Topps.

This is my third Crowe custom, and it likely won't be my last. In years past I've created Crowe cards in the format of 1955 Bowman and 1954 Topps, filling some gaps in Crowe's "real" baseball card legacy. Crowe never appeared on a Bowman card in the 1950s. In the Topps lineup he was included in the 1952 and 1953 sets, then absent until 1956 when he had his last Topps card as a Braves. In the 1957-58 sets he's pictured with the Reds and in 1959-61, with the Cardinals. Big George is also found among many of the regional and team-issue card sets of the 1950s.  

I set aside nice pictures of Crowe when I find them, waiting for the day the inspiration strikes to create yet another George Crowe "card that never was."

1956 "rookie" card for Colavito

As I've mentioned, creating 1956 Topps-style custom cards is a mixed blessing. 

The set was one of my childhood favorites, but the nuts and bolts of creating the cards make it one of the most difficult formats in which to work.

I had the good fortune while making a 1956 Rocky Colavito card to be able to repurpose the trio of cartoons that I had already used on my 1956 Bob Hazle, so the work went much easier.

Topps could have chosen to include Colavito in its 1956 set, as he ad made his big-league debut with a bang in late 1955. This custom should help make up for that lapse.



I'd already done a pair of Rocky Colavito customs. I used an original Topps flexichrome to make a 1960 Topps-style multi-player feature card with Harmon Killebrew and I did a 1978-style coach's card.

Colavito has always enjoyed a collector following that rivals many Hall of Famers.

There is a good baseball biography of Colavito on the SABR baseball biography site, written by Joseph Wancho: Rocky Colavito bio .

This does not exhaust the possibilities for future Colavito customs. I've got photos to work with for a 1982 or 1983 Kansas City Royals coach's card, and a good picture of Colavito in his last playing gig with the New York Yankees in 1968. 

So Rocky's fans can look forward to seeing those in the future.

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.

Brooks Robinson custom is my 12th 1956-Topps style

I hadn't realized before now, but in my 13 or so years of making custom/fantasy cards I've done more cards in the 1956 Topps baseball format than any other (except for the 170 or so 1955 Topps All-American college football cards). My recently completed '56T Brooks Robinson makes it an even dozen.

On the one hand it's not surprising because the  1956 Topps set was one of my childhood favorites. On the other hand, working in the '56T style is one of the most challenging. Besides needing both a portrait and an action picture for the front of the card, three cartoons are needed for the backs.

 The process of rounding up the cartoons is one of the hardest parts of assembling a "new" '56. I generally start by plotting out five or six possible highlights. Then I go through my stack of 100 or so original 1956 cards to try to find cartoons that can be re-purposed. Re-using original cartoons helps give an authentic look to my card backs.


In a pinch, if I can't find anything appropriate among my '56s, I sort through the 1989 Topps "Big" cards, which used a similar style of cartoons on the back.

You might not realize it, but another challenge in recreating the '56 format is getting the autograph for the front. Guys like Brooks Robinson are easy; I prefer to pull them from the old Baseball Register, where they are in clean black-and-white. However, while I used to have complete runs of Registers (and Guides) when I worked at Krause, my current library of those volumes is quite limited.

Among the 1956 customs that I've done, acquisition of three autographs was especially challenging. Charley Peete played only 26 games in the major leagues for the 1956 Cardinals, and died in a plane crash later that year. Similarly, Tom Gastall played just parts of the 1955-56 seasons for the Orioles, also dying in a plane crash in 1956. Stu Locklin had a 25-game big league run with the Indians in 1955-56, but he is still alive and signing today.

One of the next '56s I've got on my to-do list, Paul Cave, played nine seasons in the minors in the Boston/Milwaukee Braves organization without ever making the majors. But as a kid I looked -- in vain -- for a long time for his baseball card because he was shown and named on the 1956 Topps Milwaukee Braves team card.

Getting back to my '56 Brooks Robby, I spent considerable time putting the card front together. The background comes from a circa 1963-65 premium picture taken in spring training. I no longer remember where the action photo came from; it's been in my files for quite a while. It was also a spring training photo, and I cropped out a sliding Cleveland Indian and colorized the Robinson figure.

My original plan for the portrait photo was to use the picture that Topps used on his 1957 rookie card, but in a last minute google search I found a different early portrait that would give my card a more original look. I had to colorize that photo, as well as adding a new oriole image to his cap.

There's really nothing I can tell you about Brooks Robinson that you don't already know, so I'll just give you the first look at my newest 1956 custom.

Custom 1960T card for Marshall Bridges

As you may have read in my posting of Nov. 17 about my custom Jim Brosnan card, I recently finished rereading Brosnan's books The Long Season and Pennant Race.

 I mentioned that I enjoyed Brosnan's recounting in the latter book of some of his interactions with Reds teammate Marshall Bridges. Probably not something that an author would do today, but in his book, Brosnan quoted Bridges in black Southern dialect. Doing so made Bridges more "real" to me. Brosnan called Bridges "Fox," and Bridges called Brosnan "'Fess," short for Professor. 

Bridges was also known in his playing days as "Sheriff," a takeoff of his first name. Some teammates called him "Rug," because the tales he spun in the bullpen and clubhouse of hunting and fishing in his native Mississippi and of his baseball prowess were often met with a derisive, "You lie like a rug!"

For a number of years I've wondered why Bridges had no Topps baseball cards. He spent all or parts of seven seasons, 1959-65, in the major leagues. An integral part of the Reds' 1961 pennant-winning team and the World Champion 1962 Yankees, Bridges was a left-handed relief specialist.

A veteran collector told me he was "pretty confident" that Bridges had signed an exclusive baseball card deal with Fleer, like other players who are conspicuously absent from Topps sets of the early 1960s, like Maury Wills, Chris Short and Jack Reed. While Bridges does not appear in the 66-card 1963 Fleer set, he may have been slated for a later series that never materialized due to litigation with Topps.

We do know that Topps did take photos of Bridges in spring training circa 1959-60, as a Cardinal and as a Red. I used two such photos in creating my 1960-style custom card.

Marshall Bridges got his start in Organized Baseball after impressing members of Roy Campanella’s barnstorming team of black Major Leaguers on its 1952 post-season tour on the South. The Campanella All-Stars featured a changing roster of black big leaguers, with a few minor leaguers and occasional local talent sprinkled in. They were even able to recruit Willie Mays for a game in Birmingham, while he was on furlough from the U.S. Army.

Financially successful at a time when virtually all other post-season barnstorming tours were fiscal failures, Campanella’s aggregation averaged a paid attendance of 2,500 fans for its 25-game schedule that saw the major leaguers win 21 of the games.

Bridges was a pitcher on the Negro American League All-Stars team that provided the principal competition against Campanella’s team. 

The 22-year-old right-hander was a three-year veteran of the NAL’s Memphis Red Sox. When not pitching he was good-hitting outfielder.

Bridges' performance on the mound and at first base on days he didn't pitch impressed the big leaguers, and at least three of them brought Bridges to the attention of their teams.

In recommending Bridges to the Dodgers, Campanella raved about his assortment of pitches and asserted that he had the best natural curve ball he had ever faced. Campy’s batterymate Joe Black also urged Brooklyn to sign Bridges.

Bridges was also the subject of recommendations made by Campanella tourists Harry Simpson of the Indians and Monte Irvin of the Giants to their teams.

The New York Giants were successful in the ensuing bidding war for Bridges; they paid Red Sox owner Dr. W.S. Martin $10,000 for Bridges’ contract.

The young pitcher was assigned to the Giants’ AAA farm team at Minneapolis in the American Association, then farmed out to Sioux City, a Giants affiliate in the Class A Western League.

The Giants seemed more interested in Bridges' potential as a first baseman than as a pitcher. He appeared in only four games on the mound. In six innings he struck out eight, but walked seven and gave up nine hits. His ERA was 9.00. Playing 129 games at first base, Bridges hit .247 with six home runs.

In 1954, Bridges was dropped to Class B ball with New York's Danville team in the Carolina League. He didn't pitch at all that season, and player just 15 games at first and in the outfield, hitting just .211.

In a transaction that baseball-reference.com calls "unknown," Bridges was acquired by the Milwaukee Braves, who put him back on the mound for 1955. Starting out in the Class AA Texas League at Beaumont, he was 0-2 as a pitcher in eight appearances. As a first baseman-outfielder he hit just .111 before being demoted to Amarillo. He found Class B ball more rewarding, compiling a 14-1 record to lead the West Texas-New Mexico League with a .933 winning percentage. He struck out 177 in 139 innings, walking 97. As a 1B-OF, he batted .233 with nine home runs in 120 at-bats.

For 1956, Bridges was advanced to Class A Topeka. He again proved dominant on the mound, leading the Western League with 18 wins against 11 losses. In a league-leading 242 innings pitched, his 213 strikeouts were best in the circuit. He also led in walks (154). Again putting in some time at first base and in the outfield, Bridges batted .272. 

Another "unknown" transaction prior to the 1957 season sent Bridges to Sacramento in the Pacific Coast League, where he was 12-16 in 1957 and 16-11 in 1958, when he again led his league in strikeouts (205) and walks (111) in 232 innings on a 3.69 ERA.

Impressed with his 16 wins, which tied for tops in the Class AAA PCL, The St. Louis Cardinals purchased Bridges from Sacramento after the 1958 season.

Bridges opened the 1959 season with the Cards' AAA farm club at Rochester (International League). By mid-June he was 3-3 in 10 starts, with a 3.55 ERA. Needing a left-handed reliever, St. Louis called him up. He made his first major-league appearance on June 17, winning against the Phillies in a 5-inning relief effort. He ended the 1959 season with a 6-3 record out of the bullpen.

St. Louis used him principally as a late-innings reliever in 1960. He was 2-2 on Aug. 2 when the Cardinals placed him on waivers and he was picked up by Cincinnati.

The Reds used Bridges almost exclusively as a set-up man and closer.  In 14 games he compiled a 4-0 record with two saves and an ERA of just 1.09. He struck out 26 and walked just seven in 25 innings.

The following season, Bridges became part of a major league record, but not in a good way.

On June 8 the Reds were hosting the Milwaukee Braves. Cincinnati starter Jim Maloney took a 10-2 lead into the top of the 7^th inning. Frank Bolling singled to open the inning. Maloney then gave up back-to-back home runs to Eddie Mathews and Hank Aaron.

Bridges was called in from the bullpen. He then gave up back-to-back home runs to Joe Adcock and Frank Thomas. The home runs to four successive batters was a new big league record. Bridges then got the next three batters out, leaving the game with the Reds’ lead cut to 10-7. Mathews homered again in the 8^th, but the Reds hung on for the 10-8 win.

After just three more appearances and with an 0-1 record and inflated 7.84 ERA the Reds sent Bridges down to Jersey City in late June. In the AAA International League, Bridges was used as a starter, working to a 6-8 record.

At the 1961 winter baseball meetings, the Reds traded Bridges to the New York Yankees for catcher Jesse Gonder. As the Yankees' closer in 1962, Bridges was the ace of the bullpen with an 8-4 record and 3.14 ERA. His 18 saves were nearly more than the rest of the relief corps' combined 22.

Bridges appeared twice in the World Series as New York defeated the Giants 4-3.

In Game 4 Bridges came to the mound in the top of the 7th inning in relief of Jim Coates. The socre was tied 2-2. There were two men on, second and third, with one out. He issued an intentional walk to Bob Nieman to load the bases, then induced a pop out from Harvey Kuenn for the second out. Facing Chuck Hiller, Bridges gave up the first National League grand slam home run in World Series history. Because two of the runs scored were on Coates' account, he was saddled with the eventual 7-3 loss.

Bridges also appeared in Game 6, closing out the Yankees' 5-2 loss. 

Bridges became the first Yankees casualty of 1963 when he was shot in a nightclub during spring training.

Police reported that the player was shot with a .25 automatic pistol after “some sort of argument” Feb. 13 at the Pride of Fort Lauderdale Elks, a “Negro club.” The 21-year-old female shooter, Carrie Lee Raysor, was booked on charges of aggravated assault.

Bridges was shot in the left calf, damaging muscle and breaking a bone. He didn’t require surgery, but was hospitalized for nine days. He was ready to go for the Yankees by the second week of the regular season.

His bosses downplayed the shooting in the press. Manager Ralph Houk said, “It appears he was a victim of one of those things.” GM Roy Hamey clarified, “He wasn’t drunk. It happened about 9:30 p.m., so it wasn’t after hours.”

Raysor told police she shot Bridges after the pitcher “put his arm around me and pulled me over and I didn’t like that kind of mugging.” A barmaid said Bridges was trying to kiss the woman just before the shooting.

Bridges, 31 at the time and married with three children, declined to press charges. He said he had had only one drink while waiting for a friend to go to dinner. The Yankees took no disciplinary action against Bridges.

On June 20, 1963, Bridges won in relief for the N.Y. Yankees against the Senators. He pitched 11 more times for the Yankees that year, with no decisions. In Nov., 1963, the Yankees sold Bridges to the Washington Senators. 

 He was 0-3 for Washington in 17 relief appearances through June 20 when he was sent down to Toronto (International League). He didn’t win again until Sept. 1, when he beat Syracuse. That was Bridges' only win in 17 games for the Maple Leafs that year.

The Senators sent Bridges to Hawaii to open the 1965 season. He was 2-0 when he was recalled to Washington for his last hurrah in the major leagues. From May 16, when he appeared in both games of a double-header, through the end of the year, Bridges was 0-2 in 40 games.

His major league record was 23-15 with 25 saves and a 3.75 ERA.

Bridges closed out his professional career with two more seasons in Hawaii. In 1966 he was 2-2 in 48 games. In 1967 he pitched only nine times with a 1-0 record.

Returning to his native Jackson, Miss., Bridges died there of cancer in 1990 at the age of 59.

As mentioned earlier, Marshall Bridges did not appear on any Topps cards. In fact, I know of only two career-contemporary cards for Bridges. 

In 1958 he was one of 10 Sacramento Solons players in a black-and-white team set distributed by Union 76 gas stations. In 1964 he was included in the "Challenge the Yankees" card game set of 50.

In his post-playing days, there are two more Bridges cards. He is pictured in a Washington Senators uniform in Series 1 of the 1978 TCMA "The 1960s" collectors' issue. In 1992 he was included in the WIZ/American Express "Yankees of the 50's Card Series," part of a set that attempted to include all New York Yankees players. 

There are photos extant that would have allowed me to create a 1961 Reds card, a 1962 or 1963 Yankees card or a 1964 or 1965 Senators card. There is even a great black-and-white Cardinals portrait that I contemplated turning into a 1960 Leaf custom. Ultimately the image of a 1960 Topps-style Marshall Bridges custom card spoke to me most clearly.

Custom card: 1976 Topps Mark Fidrych

The most newsworthy newcomer in baseball in 1976 was Mark Fidrych. At age 21, he burst onto the scene with a 19-9 record, league-leading 2.34 ERA, an All-Star berth, AL Rookie of the Year honors and second place in the Cy Young voting to Jim Palmer. He brought some color to the game and attracted legions of fans.

I wasn't following baseball or buying baseball cards in '76, but I couldn't escape the media frenzy that accompanied every outing of "The Bird" in his rookie season.

You can't blame Topps for not including Fidrych in its 1976 set. He was only in his third year of professional ball and the Tigers had been searching for his role, reliever or starter, as Fidrych had been searching for control.

The only baseball cards issued of Fidrych in 1976 were some Mike Schecter Associates discs.

I like working in the 1976-Topps format, so when one of the followers of my custom card making suggested  creating a '76T Fidrych, it seemed like a good idea.

For as hot as Fidrych was in the early years of his all-too-brief career, I was surprised to find there really aren't a lot of suitable color photos that match the "look" of a 1976 Topps Tigers card. I tried half a dozen before determining to go with what you see here.

'63 Topps-style custom gives Dalkowski own card

When viewing Steve Dalkowski's minor league pitching record, I don't really question why he never made the major leagues, but rather how he managed to hang on in professional ball at all.

From 1957-62 he never progressed higher than Class A on a 26-62 record and 6.15 ERA. Baltimore Orioles officials, however, were so enamored by his speed that they continued to hope, season after season, that he could learn some control -- both over his fast ball and hs thirst.

In 1962, despite a 3-12 record at Class B in 1961, Dalkowski was promoted to Class A Elmira in the Eastern League. There, he hooked up with manager Earl Weaver, who convinced him that by taking something off his fast ball, he'd be better able to control it.

Though his record with Elmira was only 7-10 in 1962, he dropped his ERA from 8.39 to 3.04. His rate of bases on balls per nine innings dropped from 17.1 to 6.4. His strikeout rate also declined, but much less dramatically, from 13.1 to 10.8 per nine innings.

When the Orioles took Dalkowski to spring training in 1963, Topps evidently believed he would make the big club, so they included his "floating head" portrait on card #496 "1963 Rookie Stars" in the high-number series.

Unfortunately, as spring training drew to a close, Dalkowski injured his arm, tossing a come-backer over to first base. He never reached the big leagues, though he pitched for three more seasons in the minors in the Orioles, Pirates and Angels organizations.

Topps might have just as easily given Dalkowski his own rookie card in 1963. Since they didn't, I've taken on the task.

There really aren't many good in-uniform photos of Dalkowski to work with; color photos are especially scarce. I decided to work with a black-and-white pose and colorize it for my card. I believe the picture shows Dalkowski in a minor league Orioles jersey.

In putting together my card back, I was fortunate to find a chart on the internet with his complete record. Even the usually comprehensive baseball-reference.com web site is incomplete for a couple of Dalkowski's seasons in the lower minors.

Dalkowski was certainly an inspiration in the mythical Sidd Finch character created as a 1985 April Fool's joke by George Plimpton in Sports Illustrated.

Here's a good summary of Dalkowski from the baseball-reference.com site:
Steve Dalkowski biography

Dick Allen custom as 1977 A's

I pretty much "missed" Dick Allen's entire playing career.

By the time he came to the majors in 1963 I was no longer following baseball, and by the time I got back into the game in the very late 1970s (watching the Braves and Cubs on the cable superstations),
Allen was gone from the scene.

During the run-up to the December, 2014,  vote for candidates from the "Golden Era," 1947-72, I caught a few pieces on television about Dick Allen, his legacy and his candidacy. I was surprised and disappointed when he came up one vote short for enshrinement.

I can't intelligently parse the arguments for or against Allen's joining the game's elite in Cooperstown, nor can I assess the impact his playing-days image as -- shall we say -- a non-conformist has had on his rejection by HoF voters. 

Among the things I learned from those largely-promotional TV segments was that Allen closed out his career playing the 1977 season for the Oakland A's. I'd guess my ignorance of that stemmed from the fact that I could not recall seeing any Dick Allen baseball cards with the A's.

There's a good reason for that. Topps did not issue a Dick Allen card in 1977. He'd been granted free agency by the Phillies in November, 1976. He didn't catch on with the A's until March 13, 1977. By that time Topps had long since completed printing its 1977 baseball card issue.

Theoretically, Topps could have issued a 1978 Dick Allen card, since he did officially draw his release from Oakland until March 28, 1978. The gum company, however, must have known Allen was through before they finalized their 1978 checklist,

When I determined to create a Dick Allen/A's custom card, I felt I could logically choose either the 1977 or the 1978 format. 

After a false start at making it 1978, I opted to move ahead with the 1977 format, I won't rule out ever doing a '78 "career wrap-up" Allen card, but suitable pictures of him in an A's uniform are not plentiful, so I'll hold out unless or until something catches my eye.

As I've been reading 1964 and 1965 issues of The Sporting News, I'm starting to see Allen's name more often. 

Another thing I had not known about Allen is that the Phils' release of Frank Thomas in July, 1965, was precipitated by an on-field fight with Allen. If I recall the TSN account correctly, Allen, tired of Thomas' hazing him and calling him "boy," poked the veteran in the chest and Thomas retaliated by hitting Allen in the shoulder with a bat. In the aftermath, Allen missed a handful of games with a sore shoulder and Thomas was sold to the Astros.

"The Rock" custom card gets a rehab

New

Old

Being retired, holiday weekends don't mean the same thing to me that they did when I was on somebody else's clock.

When I was working, holiday weekends usually meant I had the time to work up a new custom card.

Now, I can work on my custom projects just about any time the notion strikes, but I still find myself gravitating to my to-do list on holidays.

This past Memorial Day was no exception.

My principal project for the weekend was re-habbing my 1955 Topps All-American custom card of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

I originally created the card 7-8 years ago. Shortly thereafter, however, a mini disaster struck and I lost the computer files for three or four of my custom cards, including my '55 Rock.

These days, I have more backup for my custom card files. Some might suggest I have gone into overkill backup. I have a set of files on both my home and office computer hard drives, and I have complete sets on two different flash drives. 

Since I had already printed my archives copies of the card, I was able to recreate the file by scanning my card. That, however, didn't produce a truly first-rate result; the card now had a re-screened look. That might not have been readily apparent to the average person, but it nagged at me.

Surprisingly, my Dwayne Johnson '55 custom is not a card for which I have had a lot of requests from collectors and fans over the years, so there was never a great impetus for me to re-create the piece.

The other day I had occasion to do an internet search for images of Johnson in his Miami Hurricanes uniform and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the number of such images has grown a bit in recent years.

When I originally made my card about the only usable picture available to me was a shot of Johnson standing with his hands on hips . . . satisfactory, but not exceptional.

To re-do my card I chose a shot of Johnson in a celebratory pose that fits nicely into my cards' horizontal format. Shown here are the before and after photos.

While I was working on the back, I noticed a typographical error on my original card. In the first line I had omitted the word "a" between "earned" and "National". That's now corrected.

New

Old

7 new "1963 Post" cereal cards created

The second segment of my current custom-card project to create new cards in the formats of the cereal-box issues of 1961-63 is now ready for presentation.

In my blog entry for April 24, I showed off my 1961 box-back creations. I jumped over 1962 for the time being to work on my 1963 cards.

Actually, I'm having a bit of a design issue with the 1962 baseball cards. That year Post presented the player names on the cards in a script font. I have thus far been unable to duplicate that script. If you have any ideas, I'd welcome them. Please email me at scbcguy@yahoo.com.

For my initial try at recreating 1963 Post baseball cards, I chose to use the seven-card box-back format that was originally found on several family-size boxes of the cereals.

While Post included 200 players in its set, there were plenty of guys that didn't make the cut, so finding new subjects was not a problem. In fact, besides the seven players I put on my new cards, I have a list of nearly two dozen others -- rookies, veterans, and traded players -- that I could have picked. Some of them will certainly show up on future creations.

Here's the first look at the seven 1963 Post-style cards I recently completed. In most cases, it should go without saying, choices for inclusion were partially based on the availability of good color photos consistent with those used by the cereal company in 1963. 

Jim Bouton. The iconoclastic insider who scandalized the establishment by writing about what really went on with ballplayers in the 1960s was a fresh-faced sophomore on his way to a starring role on the Yankees' staff in 1963. 

Jim Umbricht. If Umbricht had been included by Post in its 1963 set, it would have been just about a year prior to his death from cancer. I've recently been reading back issues of The Sporting News from 1963-64 and was struck by the tragedy of Umbricht's untimely passing. I really wanted to use a photo of him in his home jersey (I love the smoking six-gun design), but I struck out in my search.

Lou Brock. The future Hall of Famer was a second-year stalwart with the Cubs in 1963. In researching the player bio, I was surprised to learn how quickly Brock developed as a player in college and the minors.

Duke Snider. Sure, Snider DID appear in the original 1963 Post set, but he was pictured with the Dodgers. There are surprisingly few good color photos of Duke as a Met.

Bo Belinsky. The handsome young hurler whom the sporting press loved to characterize as a Hollywood playboy was also a frequent subject in my reading of TSN. In 1963 his reputation was being made more off the field than on, despite a rookie-year no-hitter, so it's not surprising Post passed him over in his second big-league season.

Jake Gibbs. I'd never miss a chance to make a card of an Ole Miss alum, especially a two-sport collegiate star. Gibbs had nine years as a Yankees catcher, mostly backing up Elston Howard and Thurman Munson.

Bob Uecker. Creating a Uke card was the most challenging of this group. Color photos of him as a Milwaukee Brave are virtually non-existent. In fact, I get the impression that during his playing days he was usually reticent to have his photo taken. For my card I had to colorize a black-and-white shot, and superimpose the portrait on the background of Roberto Clemente's '63 Post card.

Though I mentioned there are many more 1963-format Post cereal cards that may see the light of day in future, I'm going too hold off working on those while I complete a set of 1963 Post baseball. 

Surprisingly, the list of players whom Post missed in '62 that have piqued my interest is really not very long. It does, however, include five Hall of Famers and one who should be,.