#62 Chuck Stobbs
Progress: 1st of this card
212 of 407 52.1% complete
How acquired: Sent by "CommishBob"
Condition: Very Good
This is one of my favorite cards in this set, or any Topps set for that matter. Chuck Stobbs is a pitcher. In my lifetime, I don't think I saw a pitcher doing something other than pitching or standing on the foul line until Dwight Gooden showed up running the bases in 1994. I don't really understand the thinking (granted I'm someone that thinks the "DH" is an abhorrent affront to the dignity of baseball) in never showing a pitcher at the plate. A starting pitcher is going to see a plate appearance in as many games as he pitches in. How cool would a Tom Seaver batting on a '75 Topps have been, or Nolan Ryan taking cuts on his '84 Topps? They both had 20 other cards to remind us they were pitchers. It's not like shortstops were only given cards fielding grounders. "But pitchers usually bunt." So what, I literally saw picture going around of someone dressed as an '83 Topps Ned Yost bunting card as Halloween. Am I to believe kids in 1978 would not have tolerated a card of Steve Carlton bunting? Or that Fernando Mania would have fizzled out if his '85 Topps had shown Valenzuela slugging (the guy hit 3 dingers the previous season)? It's a bizarre double standard that pitchers must be shown in the field, but the other eight positions get a healthy mix of both. The fact Topps obviously didn't start out with this prejudice against cards of pitchers with bats, makes it all the more strange.
Stats: 15 seasons, 107 wins, 130 losses, 4.29 ERA, led AL with 20 losses in '57
Best Hall of Fame Showing: N/A
I think the cards of White Sox guys are favorites in this set just because of that nifty logo and the stylization of the cap 'C'.
ReplyDeleteI second what Commishbob said. Those were the two things that I noticed.
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