Cardboard Connections

Baseball – and baseball cards – sometimes connect in unexpected ways.  The 1953 Bowman set and the 1969 Topps Super set show off the beauty of photography better than any other set.  Except for the autographs on the 1969 Super Set, the fronts of the cards in both sets are simply high-quality pictures.  Both sets feature blue skies and rich colors. 

Roberto Clemente’s 1969 Super is among the most beautiful of all his cards.  Topps used the same picture for the main 1969 set, the 1969 decals, and the 1968 poster, but the simplicity of design, the quality of the paper, and the sharpness of the resolution of the Super make it a standout.  The Super was a fitting way to cap off a decade where Clemente was a perennial All-Star, gold glove winner, and four-time batting champion.

The 1969 Topps Supers were sold in packs that contained three cards for a dime.  Very few were sold in stores.  Most of the cards available to collectors today show no signs of having been handled by kids.  Many of the cards held by collectors were originally sold in the 1970s by the Card Collector’s Company.  Sadly, a fire at the Card Collector’s Company in 1975 destroyed a lot of cards.  Some cards that did survive have water damage (probably from putting out the fire) on them, as this one does. Check out the wavy line near the top of the card. 

The 1969 Super of the Pirates’ right fielder, Roberto Clemente bears some resemblance to the 1953 Bowman of the Pirates’ right fielder Cal Abrams.

Abrams came to the Pirates in the 1952 deal sending Gus Bell to the Reds.  For Pirates General Manager Branch Rickey, the centerpiece of the deal was an outfielder named Gail Henley, who would have only 36 plate appearances in this big league career.  Rickey also thought he might be getting something in Abrams.  Rickey was the first senior baseball executive to understand and appreciate the value of advanced statistics.  He hired Allan Roth in 1947 (familiar to baseball fans of the 60s, 70s and 80s as the statistician for NBC’s, and later, ABC’s baseball coverage) as the first statistician for a major league team.  Branch Rickey knew Abrams from their time in the Dodger organization.  His son, Branch Rickey, Jr. who worked for his dad, said after the trade, “if Henley doesn’t fill the bill for us we also have Abrams and he may be the sleeper in the trade.  Abrams had a phenomenal record in the minor leagues and mainly we were very much interested in the number of bases on balls he received.”  Abrams drew a lot of walks in the majors, too.  He had a .386 lifetime OBP. 

Unfortunately for Abrams, Rickey was unusual in his appreciation for walks.  Abrams was back in the minors after appearing in just four games in 1956 despite putting up a .413 OBP in 407 plate appearances in 1955 for the Orioles.  His baseball card stats did not impress: he hit .243 with 6 homes and 32 RBIs in 1955.