We are gonna keep going in that same direction, but instead of sluggers, we are going to switch gears to one of the greatest pitchers to ever throw a baseball. Regarded by many as the greatest left-handed pitcher of All Time. He is at least the winningest. I am speaking of the late, great Warren Spahn. He is shown here on card #31In 1960 Spahn earned his 20th victory of the season in style, no-hitting the Philadelphia Phillies. He then no-hit the San Francisco Giants the following season. In 1963 he finished the year with a 23-7 mark, including his 350th win, which is celebrated on the back of this card. He would finish his career with 363 victories against 245 losses in his 21 year career. He topped 20 wins a season 13 times and led the NL in wins 8 times. He was an All Star 17 times and was the NL Cy Young in 1957-his Braves were World Champions that same year.
The following year the Braves fell to the Yankees in the Series despite Spahn pitching 2 complete games, one of them a shutout. He also got it done at the plate that Series, batting .333 with 3 RBI. Over his career Spahn batted .194 with 35 homers and 189 RBIs. Infielders have had long careers with numbers worse than that. I could go on, but the short of it is, there will never be another Warren Spahn. 363 wins? Never again. He pitched 382 complete games and 63 shutouts. No one is gonna get close to those numbers ever again. The guy won 75 games AFTER turning 40. He was flat out amazing. I really love this set. 46 years, later!
Aside from his rookie year in 1951 he was named to the All Star team for each of the next 17 seasons, being named to 20 All Star Games, starting 13 of them, appearing in 16 and hitting 2 homers as an All Star. During the regular season he was named the American League MVP 3 times, led the AL in homeruns 4 times and in runs scored 6 times. In 1956 he won his first MVP award and also won the American League’s Triple Crown, batting .352 with 52 homers and 130 RBI. Since then only 2 other players have won the Triple Crown and no one has done it since Yaz won it in 1967. The Mick had some amazing regular season performances, but he became a Legend for his feats in October and that is what today’s Nitty Gritty Card of the Day focuses on. The CotD is from the 1964 Topps Giants set, card #25, titled Mickey ties Ruth Record-Mantle Smashes 15th Series Homer. The Mick played for 12 American League Pennant Winning teams in New York and his Yankee squads won 7 World’s Titles. Mantle played in 65 World Series games and went to the plate 273 times in October. His career batting average in the Series (.257) is considerably lower than his career batting average of .298 in regular season play, but Mantle got things done with the long ball in the Series. 
The back of this card touts Mantle tying Babe Ruth’s record with 15 homeruns in the Series, but less than a year after this card was printed Mantle had one of his best postseasons ever. At 32 years of age, the 1964 Series would be Mantles final time in the postseason. His Yankees team fell to Bob Gibson and the St. Louis Cardinals in 7 games, but Mantle batted .355 with 3 homeruns and 8 RBI in a losing effort. That gave him 18 World Series homers and set the record for most homers in the Series. Mantle would play for several more seasons with the Yankees before retiring after the 1968 season at age 36. He hit 18 homers in his final season and ended his career with 536 homers, which at the time was 2nd most of All-Time. Presently he is 16th on the All Time list, but has more homers than any other switch hitter in MLB history. Among those ahead of him on the All Time list; only Mike Schmidt (548) hit all of his homers for one team. Mantle spent his entire career (1951-1968) with the New York Yankees. His number 7 has been retired by the Yanks and he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1974. I love this set, I love this hobby, and I love this game and its rich history. 46 years, LATER!
According to what I have found, this card is from 1975 and was around the time that Shakey’s got involved in baseball card game. This card features the Splendid Splinter and is in perfect condition. It isn’t from his playing days, but it is still a 35-year-old card of the best hitter ever. It might be up for trade, it might not be… 
I LOVE odd ball cards and I want to chase every set I discover, but I can't collect all of them. Make me an offer!
The set is getting closer and closer to completion, thanks to a lot of help from my friends. You can view my current wantlist 
It is card #11 and celebrates Clemente winning the batting title in 1961 with a .351 average. I won't ruin it with my words, just bask in the beauty of an oversized card of one of the Greatest to ever play the game... If I can ever find time and a scanner I have about 15 new cards to post from this glorious set. I love this hobby! 46 years, LATER!
Being named Long goes a long way if you are looking for a job as a hitting coach in the Pirates system. On a related note we have brothers from different mothers Brandon Jones and Garrett Jones. Both Jones’ came from the Braves organization where Jones was the name to have… 
The photo would have been more effective if the other "ex-Brave" who isn't named Jones was cropped out. troll out.
The Dodgers got relief pitcher 
Carl Yastremzki, Sandy Koufax and Maury Wills rookie card. These early Fleer sets are still very affordable and the short checklists make the sets possible to complete. 
My personal favorites are the ’61 and ’63 sets which have appealing designs. I will be posting these cards periodically here and as I get more cards I will put together a wantlist. For now, today’s card of the day is #20 in the 1960 Fleer set of Eddie Collins, Hall of Fame second baseman, shown as a Philadelphia Athletics. 
He was born Edward Trowbridge Collins May of 1887. He was better known as Eddie or sometimes just Cocky. He attended Columbia University and signed with the Philadelphia A’s after college and went directly to the Majors (he did play a few games of A ball the next year) and became the A’s full-time second baseman in 1908 and in 1909 he batted .347. He would hit over .300 in each of the next 8 seasons. In 1910 he stole 81 bases, setting a major league record which stood until 1962. Collins scored 100 or more runs in a season 7 times and led the league in that category in 3 straight seasons. He hit .300 or higher 20 times, his best being .372 in 1920. His superstition was legendary and he would only use a bat made half of white wood and half of red timber. He credited his bat with his .333 career batting average (27th All Time). 
He sits in the top-ten in several offensive categories including 10th in hits (3,315), 2nd in singles (2,643), 7th in steals (744) and 10th in times on base with 4,891. He is the all-time leader in sacrifice hits with 512. The current active leader in this category is Omar Vizquel with 244. In other words, that record will not be contested any time soon. He shares the record of most steals in a single game with Carl Crawford, Otis Nixon and Eric Young Sr. Collins did it twice. He was a World Champion 3-times with Philadelphia and won another with the Chicago White Sox in 1917. In 1919 he was still a member of the Sox and played in the infamous Black Sox series. He was never charged with any involvement in the scandal despite only batting .214. He finished in the top-10 in MVP balloting during his career, winning the honor in 1914. His son Eddie Collins Jr. was born 2 years after he won the award. Collins Jr. signed with the A’s after graduating from Yale in 1939. 
He lasted for parts of 3 years in the big leagues, but never shared the success that his father had. Collins Sr. was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939 with George Sisler and Wee Willie Keeler. Collins is regarded by some as the greatest second baseman of all time. For all of his success on the diamond, he is not the most photogenic man in the world. I have had this card for many years and his evil-imp look has prevented me from posting it. I think he would have benefited from a dual-flap batting helmet. Just saying. Stay tuned for more on these early Fleer sets, 1950s Bowman, 1965 Topps, 1964 Topps Giants and yes, someday 1978 Topps. I love this hobby! 50 years, LATER!!!
Bowman didn’t waste time with complete sentences, but they were right about him as classy and strong. He won the World Series with the Dodgers in 1955 and again in ’59 and he went into the Hall of Fame on his 11th try in 1980. I have about 15 cards from this set so far. Get in touch if you have any to trade. 68 years, LATER!
Topps has been pretty creative with their card titles in this set, but they fell flat with this one, “Frank gets a big hit”. They scored big time with the card celebrating this event in the regular set. The title on card #139 in the 1964 (regular sized) Topps set. The title on that card is “Sealing Yanks Doom”. Now that has a MUCH better ring to it. That card and Frank Howard were profiled on my brother blog, the 
For now, here are the cards I need to finish off the set. If you have any of these OR if you have sleeves or top-loaders that fit these cards, please get in touch.
