End of the Line — 1967 – BaseballCardFun.com

15 PLAYERS WHO APPEARED ON THEIR
LAST TOPPS CARD IN THE CLASSIC 1967 SET

BY MARK A. LARSON
Editor & Publisher

Whitey Ford

Hall-of-Famer and an All-Star eight years … 236-106 career record (.690 winning pct.), with 2.75 ERA and 45 career shutouts … Member of 11 pennant-winning teams … Winner of 10 World Series games … Cy Young Award winner in 1961.

Earl Battey

Three-time Gold Glove-winning backstop. … Set major league record with 15 pick-offs in 1962. … Best year with the bat was 1963 when he swatted 26 home runs, with 85 RBIs and a .285 average. … Named to A.L. All-Star team four out of five years (1962-66).

Lew Burdette

Key member of 1957-58 Milwaukee Braves pennant-winning pitching staffs. … Won three games against Yanks in ’57 World Series and was named Fall Classic MVP. … Averaged 19 wins per season from 1956-61. … Went 203-144 over 18-year career. … (Topps misspelled his first name on this final card.)

Bob Buhl

Part of the trio of top starters – along with Warren Spahn and Lew Burdette – that led Braves to World Championship in 1957. He topped N.L. in winning pct. that year with 18-7 record. … In 15 seasons, won 166 and lost 132. … As hitter, went 0-for-70 in 1962.

Bill “Moose” Skowron

First-baseman who was named to All-Star team six times. … Hit .293, with eight home runs in 39 World Series games – mostly with the Yankees. … Blasted 211 lifetime homers over 14-year career, including four seasons of 20-plus.

Curt Simmons

Both Hank Aaron and Stan Musial named Simmons as toughest pitcher they ever faced. … Went 193-183 lifetime, with 3.54 ERA and 36 shutouts between 1947-67. … Won 18 games for ’64 World Champion Cardinals. … N.L. starter in two All-Star games.

Smoky Burgess

Who did you call in a pinch? – Smoky, that’s who. … His 145 pinch-hits during 18-year career (1949-67) stood as a record until 1979 … All-Star six years … .295 lifetime hitter in 1,691 games … Hit .333 (6-for-18) in 1960 World Series for the Pirates.

Joe Nuxhall

Appeared as youngest player ever in 1944 at age 15. … Didn’t return to majors until 1952 … Went 135-117 as pitcher over 16 seasons – mostly for Cincinnati. … After his playing career ended, the southpaw broadcasted Reds games for 40 years.

Gordy Coleman

Nine-year major league career from 1959-67. … Best season was year Reds took pennant in 1961. … Coleman hit 26 home runs, with 87 RBIs, 27 doubles and a career-high .287 average. … Followed up in ’62 with nearly identical 28 homers and 86 RBIs.

George Altman

Career paralleled Coleman’s – also nine years long from ’59 to ’67. And his two best years were 1961-62. … Belted 27 homers, with 96 RBIs and a league-leading 12 triples in ’61. … Another 22 HR in ’62. … After 1967, played eight successful years in Japan.

Bob Uecker

As a catcher, only batted .200 in 297 games over six big league seasons. … Parlayed mediocre playing career into huge success as an entertainer/announcer, with 100+ appearances on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show. … Called Brewers games for 50 years.

Dick Groat

The shortstop was batting champ (.325) and N.L. MVP on 1960 Pirates World Championship team. … Topped .300 four times and had 2,100-plus hits during 14 years majors. … Played for the NBA’s Fort Wayne Pistons for one season in 1952-53.

Vern Law

Like Groat, leading member of the 1960 Pittsburgh club. He won Cy Young Award with a 20-9 record. … Pitched 18-plus innings over three games in ’60 Fall Classic, winning first two (with no decision in the third). … Over 16 years, compiled 162-147 record.

Jack Sanford

1957’s N.L. Rookie of the Year with Phillies (19-8, 3.08 ERA and league-leading 188 strikeouts). … His 24-7 record led Giants to pennant in 1962 – finishing second in Cy Young Award voting. … Went 137-101 during 12-year major league career.

Jim Piersall

One of the wackiest players to ever don a big league uniform – some of it mental illness (a movie was made about it in ’57: “Fear Strikes Out”), some of it just plain goofiness. … Upon hitting his 100th home run, he ran around the bases facing backwards.

(“Fear Strikes Out” movie review Click Link Here.)

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