Decks By The Decade - 1960's Part One

1960 Topps: .

You cannot talk about the Red Sox or Giants without mentioning these two players who debuted in 1960; Willie McCovey and Carl Yastrzemski.

Willie McCovey debuted in 1959 with the San Francisco Giants and captured the rookie of the year honors. At the time of his retirement, McCovey was #2 on the HR list behind Babe Ruth, ending his career with 521 HR. Stretch won MVP in 1969 while hitting 45 HR, 126 RBI, with a batting average of .320 and an OPS of 1.108. Because of his gargantuan power, the body of water outside of the park was nicknamed McCovey Cove because he would frequently hit the ball so far it would land in the water.

Before even playing a game, Topps whipped out Carl Yastrzemski's card in 1960. His career started in 1961 and quickly won All Star and Gold Glove accolades two years later. Throughout his career, Yaz won three batting titles, one MVP, 18 All Star selections, and held the last Triple Crown title from 1967 until Miggy broke through in 2012. His grandson, Mike plays for the Giants and is an integral part of their lineup.

The two cards mentioned both are colorful, horizontal layout cards, with McCovey's recently selling for $8,100 as a PSA9 and Yaz's selling for $13,800 also as a PSA9

1961 Topps Dice Game:

Sold as a set of 18 cards, plus two dice, this Topps Dice Game set is more rare than the T206's. Topps tried to dabble in the board game market with this set, but it didn't get past the testing stages. Each card featured a back that had dice numbers corresponding with pitches and what each pitch result would be. only 17 total cards have been registered with PSA with the Mickey Mantle card being the tops of this set. Other cards include Bill Mazeroski, Willie Mays, Al Kaline, and Stan Musial. Only one Mickey Mantle has been registered and this card sold for $144,000 back in 2018.....as a PSA1

1962 Topps:

After only 4 games in 1961, Lou Brock made his rookie debut in 1962 as a member of the Chicago Cubs. The career outfielder struggled until he was trade to the Cardinals mid-way through the 1964 season. From then on, The Rocket cemented his status in the league as the fastest player in the league, stealing at the time a record 938 bases (118 in 1974). His 1962 Topps rookie card recently sold as a PSA9 for $8,865.

1963 Topps: Known as the official unofficial all time hits leader (thanks to a ban from baseball on betting on games), Pete Rose's only recognized rookie card shares his face with three others. Rose also has the record of most games played (3,562) thanks to his ability to stay on the field during his 24 year career. His accolades include one MVP, Rookie of the Year, 17 time All Star, three World Series, and one WS MVP. There is one PSA10 that sold for $717,000.

Much like Pete Rose, WIllie Stargell also shares his rookie card with three other players. Stargell made his full season debut and Topps debut in 1963, grabbing an All Star selection the following year. Pops flirted with the MVP multiple times in his career, eventually grabbing one in 1979, barely beating out Keith Hernandez. Other accolades include two WS, One WS MVP, seven time All Star, and one NLCS MVP. He hit the most home runs in the 1970's at 296. His rookie card as a PSA10 recently sold for $12,131.

There are so many cards to go through, we'll have to split this up! Part Two will debut next week.