My Favorite 1967 Cards

I started collecting baseball cards in 1967 - not at the start of the season, but sometime in May as I recall. I think Topps was into their 2nd or 3rd series by that time, but through trading with other kids, I was able to play catch-up and get all the earlier cards I missed (except for the Cardinals team).

 

Before I started collecting cards in 1967, I only knew who 3 of the players were: Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, and Harmon Killebrew. I had heard the name "Johnny Callison", but didn't know who he was. I don't think I had ever heard of Willie Mays though.

 

As best as I can remember, these were my favorite 1967 cards at that time:

The top row of players is self-explanatory. 

 

In 1967, Topps made 13 multi-player cards. These 3 were my favorites. (I was a Phillies' fan, but I'm not sure why I liked the other two cards over all the rest.) 

 

Chris Short and Johnny Callison were my two favorite Phillies players. I started following that team the same month I began collecting cards. 

 

 

Jim Palmer's card came along in the 4th or 5th series, as I recall. I became a big Palmer fan when I got this card. I don't remember why - he missed almost all of the 1967 season, and I wasn't following the Orioles. Maybe it was because the Orioles had just won the World Series in '66, and here was a good, young pitcher named "Jim"? 

 

Anyway, on one of the T-shirts I had bought from a local discount store (those surplus high school gym shirts with various schools' names on the front, that you could pick up for a dollar or so) I had written a big number "22" with a Magic Marker. (As I'm typing this, I am remembering the kid in the Vince Papale movie "Invincible", who made the number "83" on his shirt with bits of duct tape.) 

 

One of my friends who was a Cowboys' fan just assumed it was in reference to Bob Hayes. Ha!

 

So I had become a Jim Palmer fan before his great comeback in 1969. For that, I feel like I got in on the ground floor. LOL

Chris Short's first card

This is Chris Short's rookie card (#395). Yes, in 1967, this veteran of 8 years, 87 wins, and 988 strikeouts finally got a Topps baseball card! I don't know the story behind it, I just assume that he never signed a contract with Topps. (The same was true for Maury Wills. 1967 was his first Topps card, although Wills appeared on a Fleer baseball card in the early 1960s.)

Back in 1967, this was my favorite Phillies card. I'm not sure why - maybe the bright red windbreaker worn under his shirt, maybe the cool swagger he had.



I thought it was odd that Short threw left, but batted right (the rarest of the throws/bats combinations).

Short was the Phillies' left-handed ace during the 1960s. His best seasons were '64, '65, '66, and '68. He only pitched 10 innings in 1969 due to a back injury, and was never the same after that. By 1971 he was used more and more as a reliever, and in his final season with the Phillies (1972), he appeared only in relief. Chris wrapped up his career in 1973 with the Brewers.

Short suffered an aneurysm in 1988, lapsing into a coma until passing away on August 1, 1991 at age 53.