#82 Ronnie Kline

Ron Kline (I never heard him called 'Ronnie') got off to a very inauspicious big league career losing all seven of his decisions for Pittsburgh in his rookie campaign of 1952. He served in the military for a couple of years after that and when he returned to the Pirates he continued to struggle as a starter. He led the NL in losses twice.

It wasn't until he moved to the bullpen that he found success. He moved around quite a bit until settling in as the Senators' closer in the mid-60s and he led the AL with 29 saves in 1965. He pitched a total of 17 seasons with nine different clubs. He retired after pitching briefly for the Braves and in the PCL in Hawaii in 1970. He ranks fifth on the list of pitchers with the most appearances without a postseason game.

He was 13-16 in 1958 but his stats look better than his W/L would indicate. The Pirates finished 2nd that season. During much the 50's the Pirates pitchers wore batting helmets while on the mound as mandated by owner Branch Rickey. This is the first card I've posted from this set that shows a pitcher wearing one other than the Vern Law card in the header. This article gives a lot of the background.

#12 George Crowe

Big George Crowe played all or parts of nine seasons with the Braves, Reds and Cardinals before he retired in 1961. In 1958 he was coming off his one season as a true full time starter. He hit 31 homers in 1957 and had 92 RBI. Both were easily the best totals of his career. He made the NL All Star team in 1958. He had fairly mundane numbers at season's end but was hitting well over .300 on the strength of a red hot first half of the season so the selection was justified.

This is one of numerous uncorrected errors in the '58 set. The card lists Crowe's year of birth as 1923 when it actuality it was 1921. It's also one of several cards that was given 'plain' first letters as part of the name on the back. Check out the difference below. I haven't yet counted how many cards carry each style but the 'plain letter' one is much less frequent. I can find no common denominator among the cards with different lettering.  And I haven't turned up anything about this online. Most of the focus is one the 'yellow letter' variations in the first one hundred or so cards on the checklist.

#158 Cleveland Indians

The 1958 Cleveland Indians finished 4th in the AL with a 77-76 record. They were managed by Bobby Bragan for the first half of the year before he was replaced by Joe Gordon. Rocky Colavito led the club in homers (41) and RBI (113) while Vic Power topped the club with a .317 batting average. Cal McLish, Ray Narleski, Gary Bell and Mudcat Grant formed the rotation with Don Mossi and Hoyt Wilhelm fronting the bullpen.

The card shows the '57 Indians team with Kerby Farrell at the helm. I have a slight obsession with team photos. I keep a magnifying glass on my desk and enjoy spotting familiar faces on team cards. The '58 set is one that lists the players on the front which kind of takes the fun out of it. But it's still nice to see rookie Roger Maris on this one. The '57 set had much better team cards IMO. The had team stats on the back and also listed the players pictured.

The card is in decent shape..until you turn it over. A former owner extended the checklist with a pen. I have this on  'upgrade...someday' status.

#100 Early Wynn

Early Wynn won 300 games (exactly) in a big league career that stretched from 1939 through 1963 for the Senators, Indians and White Sox. He was a seven time All Star and the 1959 AL Cy Young Award winner. Wynn pitched for a couple of World Series teams, the '54 Indians and those '59 Sox. He went 1-2 in five Series starts overall.

He had double digit wins every year from 1949 to 1960 and managed to go 17-15 for the 1947 Senators who only won 65 games total. In 1958 he went 14-16 and led the league in strikeouts for the second consecutive season. He tossed a 1-2-3 inning and was the winner of that year's All Star Game in Baltimore.

Wynn stares mournfully out at us from his card. The S-O-X logo has been added to what is probably an Indians cap. In December of '57 he was brought over to Chicago in a deal that sent Minnie Minoso to Cleveland.

A bit of surface wear doesn't take much from this card which is one of the better ones I got in my original large lot purchase. The scan makes the corners look better than they are but they are still pretty solid.

WikiFacts: Wynn was the last active major leaguer who played in the 1930s, becoming one of only 29 players in baseball history to have appeared in major league games in four decades. His durability helped him lead the American League in innings three times (1951, 1954, 1959) and propelled him to an AL record for most years pitched (23).

Wynn was remembered for his toughness and for the frequency with which he threw at batters. He once stated, "I'd knock down my own grandmother if she dug in on me." He also said to reporters: "Why should I worry about hitters? Do they worry about me? Do you ever find a hitter crying because he's hit a line drive through the box? My job is getting hitters out. If I don't get them out I lose. I don't like losing a game any more than a salesman likes losing a big sale. I've got a right to knock down anybody holding a bat." When he was then asked whether he would have the same opinion if the batter were his own mother, he paused and responded, "Mother was a pretty good curveball hitter."

In fact, when Wynn was with the Indians, he actually threw a pitch at his own 15-year-old son, Joe. Wynn was throwing pre-game batting practice to Joe, and Joe hit two long drives in a row. Ushers in the nearly empty stadium began to clap. Moments later, Joe was lying flat on his back in the batting cage, frightened by his father's knockdown pitch. Wynn said later, "He was leaning in on me, and I had to show him who was boss.

#351 Braves' Fence Busters

This my first posting of the 'multi-player specials' were scattered through Series 4 & 5. The Braves were defending World Champs in '58 and appear on three of the nine specials. This one obviously revolves around two Hall of Famers, Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews. 

Filling out the lineup of Milwaukee sluggers are catcher Del Crandall and first baseman Joe Adcock. Interestingly Adcock was coming off an 'off'' year. He was fifth on the Braves in homers in 1957 with a dozen. He was behind Aaron (44), Mathews (32), outfielder (and personal fave of mine) Wes Covington (21) and Crandall (15). Adcock missed a large portion of the '57 season and to be fair to Topps he did hit 38 dingers in 1956 so it wasn't like they stuck a scrub on the card.

My first thought was that this is a shot from Wrigley but now I'm thinking the photo was taken in the Polo Grounds. At least that's my semi-educated guess. The place had those 'windows' behind the upper deck seating and I think I can spy the high-rise apartment buildings of Coogan's Bluff that sat outside the stadium.

It's a neat card which is why I didn't mind overpaying a bit for a good copy. Hank+Mathews+those Braves' unis combine to make this one a winner.

#356 Bob Malkmus

Bobby Malkmus made a long slow climb thru the Braves' organization and was given a shot at being their starting second baseman in June of 1957. He couldn't hit much and the Braves turned to Red Schoendienst who they picked up in a mid-season trade with the Giants. The Braves went on to the World Series while Malkmus went on to Washington via the Rule V draft that December.

He played sparingly in 1958 for the Nats hitting .186 over 74 at bats. After spending most of the following season in the minors the Nats gave him up to the Phils via the draft and he finished his career with Philadelphia. He had his most productive big league season in 1961 when he managed to get into over a hundred games in a utility role and was picked on one writer's MVP ballot (he finished 22nd with one vote) by hitting .231 with seven homers.

Topps repainted the photo used with this card to show a Braves-clad Malkmus in a Washington uni. The card is off center but overall very nice. It was a replacement for the original card that came in my large lot purchase.

WikiFacts: On September 16, 1960, 39-year-old former teammate Warren Spahn threw the first no-hitter of his illustrious career against the Phils, striking out 15. He struck out every player in the starting lineup except Malkmus.

Non-WikiFact: Malkmus was a product of Newark N.J.'s South Side High School and played football and baseball there. I'm from nearby Nutley and NSS was one of my home town's football rivals. He was before my time though.

Below is my original Malkmus card. The new one is a 101% upgrade. It was a no-brainer upgrade. I don't mind well loved cards but I do have (some) standards.

#199 Don Blasingame

Known as 'Blazer' Don Blasingame was a hard-nosed, hustling infielder over two decades in the majors and Japan. He began his career with St. Louis and played for the Giants, Reds, Senators and Athletics. He caught a nice break in April of '61 when the Giants dealt him to the Reds and he went on to play in the World Series that year. It was his only postseason appearance. 

After 12 seasons stateside he went to Japan where he extended his career by playing three years then coaching and managing. He became the third American to pilot a Japanese team. His dugout career in Japan lasted through 1982.

In 1958 Blasingame saw his numbers slip a bit from the previous season but he made the NL All Star squad. It was his only All Star experience and he flew out to center pinch-hitting for Warren Spahn in the game. 

WikiFacts:  "For all those years Blasingame and his wife and children spent half the year in Japan and half in the United States. After it was all over, Blazer said living in Japan was a good experience. “We lived in an international community. The kids made friends from all over the world that they still hear from.”15 The Blasingame youngsters learned to speak fluent Japanese." -From his SABR bio