The 1961 Topps "Sporting News" All Star cards were pretty close to accurate as far as reflecting what the cards purported to represent.  Topps had Aaron, Mays and Frank Robinson.  Three solid choices and future first-ballot Hall of Famers, all. Two of the three were actually The Sporting News All Star selections for 1961 (Mays and Robinson).  Topps was also two for three when it came to starters in the the 1960 All Star Games.  Mays and Aaron started both games in 1960. That being said these two Pirates could have been in that set just as easily.  Bob Skinner sta ..read more

 In 1962 The Topps "Sporting News All-Star" cards for the AL infield most closely resembled the second ASG of 1961.  Topps had three of the four starters from game 2; Norm Cash at first, Luis Aparicio at short, and Brooks Robinson at third.  The only player in the 1962 Topps AS set that was an actual "Sporting News All-Star" in 1962 was Brooks.  Cash and Robinson were also 1961 Sporting News All Star sections. So who could've been on these cards? At first base there could have been a card for Norm Siebern.  He was the actual Sporting News All Star selection in 1962.&n ..read more

 The National League All Star battery according to Topps in 1968 was Ken Holtzman (LHP), Bob Gibson (RHP) and Tim McCarvey (catcher).  The actual Sporting News All Star selections for 1968 were Bob Gibson and Juan Marichal (both starting pitchers, both right-handed. I don't get this either). At catcher TSN had the rookie, Johnny Bench. Juan Marichal, being one of the Sporting News All Star selections for 1968, plus being the starter in the 1967 All Star Game certainly deserved a card in the 1968 All Star subset. Chris Short (who much like Maury Wills, was ignored by Topps from 19 ..read more

In 1969 the Topps AL All-Star outfield included Carl Yastrzemski, Tony Oliva and Willie Horton.  Of those three, Yaz and Horton were starters in the 1968 All Star Game. None of them were named to the 1969 Sporting News All Star team.  Joining Yaz and Horton as a starter in the 1968 outfield was Hondo. Frank Howard was also a 1969 Sporting News All Star selection. This makes his omission even more glaring. Joining the "Capitol Punisher" on the 1969 Sporting News Roster was Paul Blair.  Blair had a career year in 1969.  He had personal bests in Hits, HRs, RBIs and slugging ..read more

The 1969 starting NL All Star infield was faithfully represented in Topps 1970 All Star subset. Around the horn they had McCovey at 1st, Felix Millan at 2nd, Santo at 3rd and Kessinger at short. Honestly, not bad for Topps.   But arguments could be made for the actual 1970 Sporting News All Star; McCovey and Kessinger were also 1970 TSN All Stars at their respective positions.  However, at second TSN picked Glenn Beckert and at third they had Tony Perez.  So here are the 1970 All Star Cards That Never Were of Beckert and Perez:   ..read more

 This time I'm doing it a bit differently.  Due to the crazy amount of spam comments lately, I've had to moderate my comments and only allow non spam through.  Additionally, I am making this a Twitter-Only contest.  If you click on the image below of my contest tweet, it will take you right to the tweet. Once on Twitter, simply "Like" and "Retweet". You are entered. I will draw 1 random winner of the entire pack and 5 winners of the Frank Thomas insert seen below: I'm sorry I couldn't run a parallel contest on this blog, but there is a genuine problem with spam here. A ..read more

   Here is the fourth pack of physical cards from this blog.  This time they are ALL football cards!! As usual, I am selling these through this site for $10.99 per pack plus $4.50 shipping. Please use the link: SOLD OUT Due to several requests, I added a drop down menu for multiple orders (up to three). And as is typical for me, it took longer than expected.  But at least it is in time for the NFL Playoffs. This batch of cards span from 1957 to 1977.  Right in the middle of what I consider the golden age of football cards  If you don't want all 13 cards, you can ..read more

After a long holiday break, I have a few more All Star Cards That Never Were to share.  In 1958, Topps created the first All Star series of cards to appear as part of the regular set. In that set, Topps had Bob Friend as the "Sport Magazine '58 All Star Selection".  Warren Spahn was the left handed "selection". As it turns out, Spahn was the starting pitcher for the NL in the 1958 ASG and Friend was the first righty to come on in relief.  Solid, picks by Topps, specially seeing how this was a late enough series in the 1958 set and they most likely used the power of hindsight.&n ..read more

In 1959 Topps' AL All Star outfield consisted of Mickey Mantle, Al Kaline and Roy Sievers. Of the three, only Mantle started in the 1958 ASG. Al Kaline was 9th inning defensive substitute for Ted Williams. The other two starting All Star outfielders were Bob Cerv of the Athletics and Jackie Jensen of the Red Sox. In 1958 for Topps credited the All Star Selections to "Sport Magazine".  (They would repeat this in 1960.)  In 1959 the All Atar selections were supposedly from The Sporting News. This wasn't accurate either as Ted Williams was the only Sporting News All Star in 1958 to ..read more

I've been a bit behind on my postings, due to trying to put together another pack of physical cards.  Also just work, family, holidays, etc.  Also, for the time being, I'm going to monitor ALL of the comments, as this blog has been getting spam comments lately.  I will try to allow comments quickly so they will show, unedited, while trying to weed out the spam. The National League All Star infield had a lot of potential cards to add to the 1960 set.  Much of this is due to having 2 ASGs in 1959. That being said, the only position Topps seemed to be in sync with was shortst ..read more