Cardinals Team (#173)

Here is the 1967 Cardinals Team card, the only low-numbered card from this set that I didn't get in 1967. I bought this card (and almost all the high-numbered cards) in the 1980s.

It's also one of the 6 cards from 1966-69 where Topps didn't follow the team's color scheme.

As with all the team cards in those days, the back lists the team's statistical leaders, and all the pitchers with at least 1 decision. The "big guns" from 1966 (Bob Gibson, Orlando Cepeda, Lou Brock, Curt Flood) were also the main contributors in 1967, as the Cardinals went on to win the World Series. The 1967 pitching staff would be mostly the same as in 1966, except they shed veterans Curt Simmons, Art Mahaffey, Ray Sadecki, and Tracy Stallard.

Also check out the 1968 Cardinals Team card.

Cubs Team (#354)

Here's a card featuring the entire Cubs' team. Oddly, in a few years, Topps would issue the Cubs Team with a series of floating heads instead of a group picture. (All other teams would get the traditional group picture.)

I was going to post the Dodgers' team card tonight, but the sheer number of pitchers listed on the back of this card (20) jumped out at me. (The NL champion Dodgers only had 9 pitchers listed on their card.)

The Cubs finished in last place in 1966, losing 103 games. (That tends to inflate the number of pitchers used.) The big loser was Dick Ellsworth at 8-22. What to do with him? Ship him to the Phillies! After all, they just took Bob Buhl and Larry Jackson off your hands.

Twelve of these pitchers wouldn't be back for the 1967 season, including veteran Robin Roberts, who ended his career going 2-3 for the Cubs.

In 1967 they jumped up to 3rd place, and would repeat that finish in 1968.

White Sox Team (#573)

The White Sox Team was one of the final 3 team cards (along with the Indians and the Red Sox) released in 1967, all in the 7th series. These three and the Cardinals Team were the final 4 team cards that I needed.

In 1966, the White Sox had finished in 4th place with an 83-79 record, 15 games behind the Orioles. In 1967, they improved their record by 6 wins, but still finished in 4th place, 3 games behind the Red Sox.


Now for the latest entry in the "You learn something new every day" file:
Yesterday I flipped this card over to see whether Gary Peters or Joe Horlen had the best record in 1966. I never found out, because there's no Peters, no Horlen, not even a John Buzhardt listed here! Despite the "CHICAGO WHITE SOX - 1966" heading on the back, all of these stats belong to the Cleveland Indians.


The back of the Indians' card? Nope, Indians' stats there also.

Reds Team (#407)

Here is the Cincinnati Reds team card. I have 2 recollections of the 1967 Reds. First, I think they were in 1st place for much of the season, until the Cardinals surged past them.

Secondly, at some point late in the season, all 8 starters were batting over .300. I'll have to dig into Baseball-Reference.com sometime to verify this, but that's for another day.



This was an eventful season for the Reds:

Pete Rose moved from 2B to LF.

Tommy Helms moved from 3B (where he was the 1966 Topps rookie) to 2B.

Tony Perez moved from 1B to 3B.

First baseman Lee May began his first full season.

It was also Gary Nolan's rookie season. At age 19, made his major-league debut starting the 4th game of the season, and became the staff ace.

Chico Cardenas missed 2 months in the middle of the season, forcing Helms to SS, Rose back to 2B, and Lee May to LF.

Johnny Bench made his major-league debut on August 28th, and started 26 of the final 32 games.
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Phillies Team (#102)

Since Topps began issuing team cards in the late 1950s, most team pictures have been superimposed on a yellow background. In 1967, some team photos were superimposed on a red background, or in the case of the Atlanta Braves, the original photographed background was used. The Phillies Team card was the only one to use a blue background, because the yellow team name and the players’ red caps made the yellow and red backgrounds unusable.

There are 33 uniformed men in the picture. Manager Gene Mauch is front and center in the first row, and I assume he is flanked by two coaches on each side, which leaves 28 players pictured. In the first row, Johnny Callison appears to be on the far right, with Richie Allen next to him.



The back of the team cards always include team statistics from the previous season. Each pitcher with a decision is listed, with their record per opponent.

We can see that Jim Bunning, Chris Short, and Larry Jackson were the top 3 starting pitchers. Bob Buhl, Rick Wise, and Ray Culp all performed both as starters and relievers. Rookie Darold Knowles, (acquired from the Orioles before the season) was the top relief pitcher, appearing in 69 games and collecting 13 saves. All the other listed pitchers were bullpenners, mostly with ERAs over 5.00. John Boozer, Fergie Jenkins, Steve Ridzik, and Grant Jackson all appeared in less than 3 games each, and had no record.

In 1967, Bunning, Short, Wise, and Larry Jackson returned as starting pitchers, but the remaining staff was swept clean. Culp was traded to the Cubs for starting pitcher Dick Ellsworth, bullpen ace Knowles went to the Senators for outfielder Don Lock, Joe Verbanic was sent to the Yankees for reliever Pedro Ramos, John Morris was traded to the Orioles for reliever Dick Hall. Bo Belinsky was lost to Houston in the rule 5 draft. Roger Craig, Ray Herbert, Ed Roebuck, and Terry Fox were released during or after the 1966 season, and Gary Wagner spent the 1967 season in triple-A.

Only Bob Buhl survived the off-season purge, and he got his walking papers before the end of May.

#477 - Braves Team

What’s up with this card? Eighteen other team cards feature the team superimposed on a yellow or red background (or, in the case of the Phillies, a blue background, since the yellow team name and their red caps precluded using the two primary background colors).

Here we have the team gathered on the baseball field. I wonder what caused Topps to depart from their standard background used for every team card since 1959?