Roy McMillan player set ???

paigowmichael

Just for fun, I thought I'd start a player set of the player (excluding Hall of Famers that would make the set's cost astronomical) with the longest continuous run of Topps cards starting with the '52 set. The longest uninterrupted run I've found so far is Roy McMillan (1952-1966).

Other players were around longer, but may have missed a year with Topps during Bowman-Topps wars. Does anybody know of someone else who might have started a longer streak than McMillan in '52?

I thought it might be interesting to show the evolution of Topps through the cards of a single player without having to break the bank on HOF cards.

LuxuryWines

Intersting Idea.... But rather than looking for a player with a long run in Topps Why not pick a common player you admire or a near great with affordable cards...

mikeschmidt

Someone needs to start the Oscar Gamble Registry.

paigowmichael

Unfortunately, the peak of my interest in, and respect for, individual players came at a time when card designs became quite dull (in my opinion). So to collect cards of a player I followed growing up would entail collecting some downright ugly cards. And looking at those ugly cards would just kill my enthusiasm for the project. So why bother?

Besides my new project of building a 1964 Topps set, I like to find little side themes for small displays.

I thought combining a "type" set with a "player" set and limiting it to the glory days of Topps would give me a good combination of focus and challenge. I then came up with the idea of finding a single player so you could follow the Topps evolution as each set depicted that player. Since the "subject" would be essentially the same in all the cards, you're attention would be drawn to the design style rather than the player shown. In other words, it's more about the designs than the player.

In some way this does go back to my youth collecting, though. One of the things I remember from my early years was looking at the back of 1975 Lindy McDaniel card and thinking "I have no idea who this guy is but he sure has been pitching a long time." I remember thinking the same thing when I got a 1978 Ray Sadecki. If I had been born 10 years earlier I might have picked up a 1966 McMillan card and had the exact thought I had when I looked at that Lindy card. If I do build this set, I think it will remind me of those innocent days when I opened up a pack of cards and wondered who this old guy was and how he managed to play in the majors for so long.

I guess this kind of goes along the lines of collecting whatever catches your fancy.

Stonegate

It will cost a bit more than the McMillan set, but I'd recommend Eddie Mathews. Starting with his rookie card in
the '52 set (last one #407) he had 17 straight years of regular issue Topps cards ending with his 1968 Topps
card #58. Sometimes it's hard to find his cards in a search as a number were Ed Mathews and others were
Eddie Mathews (plus it's hard to avoid putting that second "t" in his name!). Good Luck!

carkim

Jim Kaat, Bob Miller, Minnie Minoso

I think Minnie has cards from 1952-1977

purelyPSA

Minoso is missing several years between 52 and 77. What about Ron Kline? Is he missing any?

purelyPSA

Bill Henry pitched until he was a gazillion years old too. Don't know about his Topps run but it'd be worth checking. I'd do it but I have no idea what I did with my alphabetical checklist.

paigowmichael

Thanks for the suggestions. Some pretty good tries. Here's what I found:

Apparently Bill Henry didn't have his first Topps card until the late 50s I think.
Ron Kline's first card was '53 and he wasn't in the '54 set. Probably in Korea or something.
Jim Kaat didn't start until '60 as I recall.
There were 3 different Bob Millers in the 50's/60's. But no Bob Millers in the '53 set.
Minoso had no Topps cards in '54 or '55 and streak only lasted until '64. He re-appeared in 1977.
As for Mathews......the price of his rookie card alone would prevent me from ever completing this in decent condition.

Between Korea and the small Topps sets of 1954/1955 it's tough to find many that were regularly included. Other candidates I came across that fell just a little short were Sherm Lollar and Gene Woodling who both had cards through 1963. Actually Lollar was in the '51 Blue Backs set. So if I started with 1951.....Lollar might actually be "da man"

paigowmichael

I've made up my mind. I decided to start with 1951 instead of 1952 since that truly is the beginning of the Topps dynasty. I found one player who had a longer streak of appearances than Lollar. That player is Roy Sievers. Sievers appeared in every Topps issue, including the '55 Doubleheaders, from 1951-1965. So that's what I'm going to work on....a Roy Sievers set. A far more deserving player than McMillan or Lollar.

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

Stonegate

Great choice! Roy "The Squirrel" Sievers is one of the most overlooked and underrated players from the 50's. He was basically the Mickey Mantle of the Washington Nationals/Senators -- winning the Rookie of the Year Award in 1949 (while with the St. Louis Browns) and then three Top 7 AL MVP Finishes in the next 10 years. What a year he had in '57 as he won the Home Run(42) and RBI Titles (114) and came in 8th in Batting at .301 to just miss the Triple Crown. With a homerun/AB ratio of 20.1, 8 consecutive 20 homer years with a total of 318, and also being one of only 3 players in baseball history to pinch hit Grand Slams in both leagues if the 4 time All-Star hadn't missed most of the 51 & 52 seasons with a separated shoulder and dislocated right arm respectively he'd be a HOF bubbleboy (ala Hodges/Cepeda/Perez). By the way, that nickname came from his basketball prowess in high school where he was always around the "cage" -- guess they trapped alot of squirrels where Roy grew up. The toughest card is his '52 Topps issue -- but there's a PSA 8 black back on eBay right now ending in 5 days. If you want him to sign any cards, the 76 year old has a reputation as being one of the best home signers around, you can get his address at http://www.baseball-resources.com/Addresses/AddressDatabaseRT.htm. Good Luck!!

Todd

This is a great idea, being a Cub fan, I have always thought of doing Banks or Billy Williams. Anybody know how long Phil Niekro's run is in regular Topps issue. I believe his first card is in the 64 set, not sure when he hung'em up.

purelyPSA

Niekro's last card was 87 topps. He does have an 88 score.

NickM

If you're willing to include HOFers, I recommend Hoyt Wiilhelm. His cards are often priced less than popular non-HOFers (e.g., Kluzewski, Hodges, etc.), and with the exception of his '52 Topps, none will set you back much. I think he had a run from '52 to '71 continuously.

Nick

curmudgeon

The Sievers choice is excellent, and the whole project a good one. I've been trying to assemble (not very hard--I have other card interests) a Warren Spahn collection-- maybe you would like to give it a try. Look at the notable sets that contain Spahnnie.
Topps- 15 consecutive, from the Red backs in 1951 through 1965
Topps other- 5 ('55 Doubleheaders, 56 Hocus Focus, 62 BB Bucks, 64 Stand-Ups, 64 Giants)
Topps inserts- 5 (1960-1964, stickers, stamps, transfers, etc.)
Topps foreign- an OPC and a couple of Venezuelan Topps
First 6 Bowman sets- 1948-1953
First Leaf set-- 1948/49
First Fleer post WWII multi-player set -1963
Redman Tobacco- all 4 (1952-55)
1950 Drakes; 1951 Berk Ross; 1954 Red Heart Dog Food
various regional-- Johnston cookies, spic & span
Exhibits -2
numerous others, eg. 1961 Chemstrand, 4-5 Bread Labels, 1961 Post Cereal, 5 Bazooka panels
numerous non-conforming to slab items; eg. 1956 Topps pin, various coins
If you truly want a beautiful look at what baseball and card collecting were like in the Glory Days, a Spahn collection from 1948-1965 would really fit the bill