#3 - Koufax & 1964 Topps
Is he smiling? Is he irritated? Can't tell. 1964 Topps loved Mr. Koufax, and I will show you all of the cards that he was featured in. 1964 Topps was a pretty boring design. The closeup shot of Sandy here makes up for it.
Of course he would get top billing on this card with a 1.88 ERA in 1963. In case you did not know, Koufax was the 1963 MVP, CY Young winner, and World Series MVP. Sandy had 11 shoutouts and a no-hitter against the Giants that year. WAR of 10.8!
This card was haunting my dreams because I wanted it so bad for so many years. 3 HOF on the same card? Jackpot. You only see this card in PSA 8 condition once or twice a year on ebay. Finally I bought this card within the last year. I have seen so many that were poorly centered and this card is in pretty good shape.
So who is this Maloney guy anyways? He was all over the league leader cards with Sandy and Don in the early 60's.
I am assuming he got hurt in 1970. He had quite a nice run.
This is the first Koufax card I ever bought. This card does not cost as much as the regular versions, and I just had to have a Koufax when I started the collection. Although 15 K's is not the record today, it is such an amazing feat to witness that in a World Series game.
One of my favorite cards. The picture looks like the mob is breaking his right arm and he is screaming in pain.
Only 2 more to go.......
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Cool series
Yeah, Maloney’s career ended with arm injuries. Too bad for the Reds since it looks like he just missed their heyday.
Have you tried turning it off and on again?
One of the many 60s/70s Red pitchers to blow out his arm
Maloney, Gary Nolan, Wayne Simpson, Don Gullett. If pitchers could have stayed healthy, the Big Red Machine might have won even more than they did.
@davidyoungtbla - The commenter formerly known as El Lay Dave.
by David Young on Jul 14, 2011 11:27 PM PDT up reply actions
Great series of cards
I actually like the 1964 Topps set.
I like how the “pitching leaders” is just the leaders in wins (Koufax & Marichal won 25; Spahn & Maloney won 23).
Nobody wears those windbreakers anymore under their jerseys.
Nobody pitches in Candlestick anymore either :)
Overqualified in an underqualified world since 2008.
We had all those cards once, my brothers would cut them up so they could be used with our dice baseball game.
Jim Maloney is another reason why I don’t quite believe Gary Scott when he tells me that pitchers of today throw harder then those in the 60’s.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
I think Stan Williams
probably told a lot of dudes to GFY.
@davidyoungtbla - The commenter formerly known as El Lay Dave.
by David Young on Jul 14, 2011 11:28 PM PDT up reply actions
I’ve never once said there weren’t guys throwing as hard as guys today. All I really said was that guys throwing 90+, and specifically 95+, is considerably more common today than at any other point.
Have you tried turning it off and on again?
expansion helps
because there are just more pitchers in the aggregate, add that to improved training regiments, technology, sports science + medicine…yeah, I buy that.
Overqualified in an underqualified world since 2008.
Just as
sprinters, distance runners, swimmers, etc. have gotten faster over the years, I would expect pitchers to throw faster too. I also expect bat speed to be faster too.
@davidyoungtbla - The commenter formerly known as El Lay Dave.
by David Young on Jul 15, 2011 10:40 AM PDT up reply actions
Yep. hitters and pitching velocity are very chicken/egg though. Competition and necessity drives progress. Did training regimens help hitters get stronger and better so pitchers had to keep up? Or did pitchers throwing harder make hitter’s eyes and timing better?
"Statistics are used much like a drunk uses a lamp post: for support, not illumination." - Vin Scully

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