1960 Topps

The Time Managers Were Traded and Topps Airbrushed Their Baseball Cards

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Frank Lane was infamous for making many trades, including players like Norm Cash, Rocky Colavito, Roger Maris, Red Schoendienst, and Early Wynn. Among the over 400 trades he made in his career included one for managers. In 1960, when he was the GM of the Cleveland Indians, he sent Joe Gordon to Detroit and brought Jimmy Dykes over to the Indians in the middle of the season.

Many baseball fans may remember Joe Gordon more for playing with the Yankees and Indians. He was the MVP in 1942, a 9x All-Star, 5x World Series champion, and entered the Hall of Fame in 2009. He began his managing career with the Indians in 1958 but had a rocky relationship with Frank Lane. So Gordon, in 1959, said he wouldn’t return to the team the following year, so Lane fired him. However, he rehired him shortly after that. Gordon was 49-46 with Cleveland in 1960 when Lane sent him to Detroit.

1960 Topps #216 Joe Gordon – Front
1960 Topps #216 Joe Gordon – Reverse

Gordon would go 26-31 with Detroit in 1960 but wouldn’t re-sign as their manager. Instead, he became Kansas City Athletic’s coach for the 61 season, where he went 26-33 before being fired and replaced by Hank Bauer. So we never got a Topps Baseball card with Gordon in a Tigers uniform. Gordon would be a head coach again in 1969 for the Kansas City Royals, going 69-93 before resigning.

For his 1960 card, Topps used the same photo from the 1959 Indians Picture Pack. They then used the same image, with a little airbrushing, for his 1961 Topps card as the Athletics Coach.

1959 Cleveland Indian Picture Pack – Joe Gordon
1961 Topps #224 Joe Gordon – Front
1961 Topps #224 Joe Gordon – Reverse

Jimmy Dykes was also a player before becoming a manager. He played for 22 years between 1918 and 1939 before becoming a manager between 1934 and 1961. He was the player/manager for the Chicago White Sox from 1934 to 1939. As a player, he was a 2x All-Star and 2x World Series champion.

Dykes had a record of 44-52 with the Detroit Tigers in 1960 before being sent to the Indians, where he would go 26-32. He stayed on as the Indian’s coach in 1961, going 77-83 before retiring.

1960 Topps #214 Jimmie Dykes – Front
1960 Topps #214 Jimmie Dykes – Reverse

Topps used the same photo they used for Dykes’ 1960 Topps card for his 1961 card. I haven’t been able to find a team photo or type 1 for the 1960 Dykes card; if you have one, please leave a comment down below.

1961 Topps #222 Jimmie Dykes – Front
1961 Topps #222 Jimmie Dykes – Reverse

It wasn’t uncommon for Topps to reuse and airbrush images throughout the vintage post-war era. But, as far as I know, this is the only case of a trade involving a pair of managers forcing Topps to do a little of their magic airbrushing.

Happy Collecting!

1960 Topps World Series Cards’ Original Artwork

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Ron Oser Enterprises offered a collection of five 1960 Topps World Series Cards’ Original Artworks in their December 2000 auction. A sixth showed up for sale in 2013 before REA re-sold the five from 2000 in the summer of 2020. I’m still hunting for the original artwork for Hodges’ Winning Homer (card 388).

Ron Oser Enterprises described the five pieces in their December 2000 auction as flexichrome artworks that measured approximately 4 x 5 inches, in beautiful condition, and still mounted to the artist’s board. They included an example card with each piece (cards 385, 386, 387, 389, and 391). Only ‘Furillo Breaks Up Game’ (card 387) was pictured in the catalog.

It turns out that REA sold the original artwork, without an example, for another item in the World Series subset, card 390, ‘Scrambling After Ball,’ in their 2013 Fall auction for $593.

Then, REA re-sold the five items Ron Oser offered in their 2020 Summer catalog. The artwork for card 385 (Neal Steals Second) sold for $1,170, 386 (Neal Belts 2nd Homer) for $1,170, 387 (Furillo Breaks Up Game) for $1,170, 389 (Luis Swipes Base) for $1,620, and 391 (The Champs Celebrate) for $1,200.

As I said in the intro, I haven’t been able to find the original artwork for card #388, ‘Hodges’ Winning Homer,’ but here’s a PSA-graded sample. Let me know if you have a lead on the artwork, though!

Check out The Original Artwork Archive for more!

14 1950’s and 1960’s Topps Display Boxes

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You just don’t see lots with this many vintage Topps display boxes as you used to when Ron Oser Enterprises offered these 14 together in April 2001.

All were described as five-cent 24-count boxes (unless noted) in excellent or better condition. The lot included the following items:

  • 1951 Topps Red Back (one cent 120 count)
  • 1958 Topps
  • 1959 Topps dated
  • 1959 Topps undated
  • 1960 Topps with a “5th Series” label on top
  • 1961 Topps dated
  • 1962 Topps
  • 1962 Topps with “stamps” ad – along with 9 off-condition 1962 wrappers inside the box
  • 1964 Topps (2)
  • 1965 Topps with Mantle, Koufax, & Killebrew – one wrapper inside the box
  • 1966 Topps
  • 1969 Topps Baseball Stamps – filled with 75 stamp albums

Check out The Unopened Archive for more!

36 1960 Topps Baseball 2nd Series Cello Packs

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These 36 1960 Topps Baseball 2nd Series cello packs, encapsulated by GAI, were offered for sale together back in 2004.

They were described as originating from the 1960 cello box find by “Mr. Mint” more than a decade earlier. The consignor purchased these packs directly from Rosen.

The 2nd Series numbers in 1960 ran from 111 to 198, including #’s 136 Kaat, 148 Yastrzemski, and 160 Mantle/Boyer.

These days, PSA-slabbed 1960 Topps 2nd Series cello packs are ~$2k.

Check out The Unopened Archive for more!