Bob Aspromonte #467

Bob Aspromonte had a 13 year career in MLB. Born in Brooklyn, his career in baseball started with a one game appearance for his hometown Dodgers in 1956. It took another 3 years before he played his next game in the bigs, after the Dodgers bolted for the west coast. Bob played all the positions on the left side of the park - third, shortstop and left field., as well as games on the right side of the diamond at second and first. A solid every day player, he finished his career as a lifetime .252 batter.

Bob was drafted to the Colt 45s in the expansion draft of 1961, spending 7 years in Houston before being dealt to the Braves. After 2 years in Atlanta, Aspromonte was sent to the Mets for his final year, being released after the 1971 season.

Claim to fame: Bob was the favorite ball player for a child, Bill Bradley, that was blinded in a freak lightning accident. The child visited Aspromonte in Houston and asked Bob to hit him a home run, Aspromonte was not known as a long ball hitter, but agreed to the request. At the game that night, Bob hit a home. The following year, still blind Bill visited Aspronte in Houston and after the meeting, again asked Bob to hit him a home run. Aspromonte went deep again, this time with a grand slam.

In 1963, after surgeries that gave Bill back some sight, he meet with Bob a third time, and just as before, requested a home run from the ball player. At the time, Aspromonte was in a hitting slump and asked if a couple of base hits would do. "You're really pushing your luck," Bob replied. However, coming to the plate in the bottom of the first, Bob swung a Tracy Stallard offering and hit another grand slam.

Comic answer: Candlestick Park 42,500

Card condition: Poorly centered. Light rounding of the corners and a few creases in the center of the card. The back is also off center with minor dirt. Comic answer is visible from age/dirt and not from someone rubbing with a coin.

Pete Runnels - #121

Pete Runnels played a 14 year career through Major League baseball, breaking in with the Senators in 1951. A right handed infielder that batted from the left side of home, Runnels was a contact hitter over driving the ball for distance.

Pete moved to the Red Sox in 1958, where he was for his '60 and '62 batting titles. He lost out on winning the 1958 battling crown in the final game of the season, losing to Ted Williams (.328 to .322). After winning the title in 1962, Runnels was traded to the Houston Colt .45s playing through 1963 before Houston released him early in 1964. He became a coach for Boston in 1965-66 and finished the last 16 games of the '66 season as interim manager, going 8-8.

Claim to fame: Pete's 1960 batting title holds a record. Runnels grabbed the batting crown while having the lowest runs batted in total (35) for any batting title winner.

Comic answer: Warren Spahn, Milw Braves, 22 full games

Card condition: Soft corners. Upped left corner is dinged in pretty hard, along with a nick along the right side of the card. Minor surface scratches. Back is in very nice shape.

Bill Fischer - #409

Bill Fischer had a nine year career as a player in baseball. He started his career with the White Sox in 1956. Bill appeared mostly as a middle reliever, compiling a 45-58 career mark over his 9 seasons. After 2 years in Chicago, Bill was traded to the Tigers in 1958. The Senators then claimed him off waivers in 1958, keeping him for 2 years before trading him back to the Tigers. In 1961, the Tigers sent Bill to the KC Athletics, where he remained until the Twins drafted him in the Rule 5 supplemental draft of 1963. After the '64 season, the White Sox signed him back as a free agent, but Bill never saw another game in the big leagues.

Currently, Bill is a minor league development coordinator in the Royals organization after spending years as a pitching coach with the Reds, Red Sox, Rays and Braves.

Claim to fame: While not an overpowering pitcher, Bill had great control. He is the current AL record holder for the most consecutive innings pitched without giving up a walk. Bill went 84.1 innings with Kansas City in 1962 before he issued a free pass.

Comic answer: Carl Weilman - 6 times

Card condition: Off center. Lot of scratches on the card front and dinged corners. Back has some staining.

Rookie Stars Indians - #146

Robert "Bob" Chance spent six years in MLB, spliting time with the Indians, Senators and the Angels. He then went over to Japan for two year before spending his last two years in Puerto Rico. Mostly a first baseman, his best year was in '64, hitting .279 with 14 long balls. After being traded to the Senators, he mostly played fill in roles for the rest of his career. After baseball, he returned to Charleston, WV and worked with the government recreation department and passed away 6 months ago (Oct 3, 2013) from cancer.

Tommy John made a few spotty appearances with the Indians, but he career really started when he was traded to the White Sox after the '64 season. After 7 fairly successful seasons in Comiskey, Tommy was sent to the Dodgers for Dick Allen in 1972. Tommy had 2 and a half stellar seasons with the Dodgers, until a devastating injury to his elbow but a halt to his 1974 season. After surgery that kept him out of the '75 season, John came back and continued his career with the Dodgers and then with the Yankees, appearing in 3 World Series. John left baseball with a career win total of 288 victories, 164 of them coming after the surgery that was feared to have ended his career. John currently sits 7th on the wins list of left handed pitchers.

Claim to fame: While Bob Chance is not remembered much in baseball circles, the surgery that repaired John's elbow has taken on his name and been used many times to extend the careers of numerous ball players.

Comic answer: No comic on the back of the Rookie Stars cards.

Card condition: Minor bumps on the corners. Slight crease below the word "outfield". Slightly miscentered on the back, and cut at a small angle.

Bob Duliba - #441

After serving 3 years in Korea, Bob made his major league debut on Aug, 11, 1959. Bob spent seven years in the big leagues with St. Louis, Los Angeles, Boston and the Kansas Athletics. Mostly a  reliever, Bob's best season came in 1964 with the Angels, appearing in 58 games and finishing the year with a 6-4 record and 9 saves. Currently, Bob lives in Wyoming and works as a coach in their local baseball program.

Claim to Fame: Bob was pitching when Mickey Mantle hit his 450th home run.

Comic answer: Sammy White - Boston. 3 times in 1953.

Card condition: Front centering is off a bit. Corners are slightly dinged. Minor swirl scratches on the face. Back centering is poor, though there is no loss of information, nor bleed from the adjoining cards of the panel.

Welcome!

Welcome to 1964 Topps. I did some look/see, and while I did find a blog that ended a about a year ago over on Wordpress, no one seems to have put together a blog on the 1964 set here at Blogger. And since I am attempting to build the set I figured I would document the journey.

For my set, condition will not be too much of an issue. While the '64 set is fairly inexpensive to build, as there are not a lot of high priced rookies in the set, it would still be a challenge to build on a tight budget. I an hoping for cards that would rate good to very good. If I can find something of higher quality at a small price, I'll take it. But mostly, I am building this set via cheap set building cards found in discount bins when possible. I'll add something beat up if the price is right, but only as a place holder until I find a card I am more pleased with.

In the technical set, 1964 would be the last Topps set released when I didn't roam this planet. There is something I like in the simplicity of the set. I can't quite explain it. I have no goal on when the set will be finished. I'll just go along and when I have all 567 cards, then it's complete. 

So come along on this journey. I'll randomly scan cards, in no particular order, and talk a little about each one.