Nitty Gritty Old vs New-or the Clairvoyance of Topps

Welcome to the Nitty Gritty Old vs. New. Today’s pairing is card # 291 from 1960 Topps of Bob Keegan going head to head against #291 from 2009 Topps Heritage of Ubaldo Jimenez. Last year this card pairing didn’t make so much sense to me. Bob Keegan of the 1960 St. Louis Cardinals and Ubaldo Jimenez of the 2009 Colorado Rockies. Both are right handed pitchers for National League teams, but that was about it. Actually it didn’t even go that far. Keegan spent two seasons playing for the Rochester Red Wings (AAA) at the tail end of his career. They were the Cards AAA affiliate but he never threw a pitch for the Cardinals. There are more differences between the two. Keegan was an All Star in 1954 when he went 16-9 for the White Sox.
Jimenez had never been to an All Star game. Bob Keegan was most famous for his no-hitter against the Washington Senators in 1957. Last year Jimenez was most known for helping the Rockies to the World Series in 2007. Keegan never made it to the Series. Bob Keegan spent time in the Army Air Corps before hitting the big leagues. He was a rookie at 32. Jimenez began playing pro ball as a teenager and made his MLB debut at 22.
The pairing seemed odder at the end of last season when Jimenez struck out as many batters in 2009 as Keegan did in his entire career.
Now it makes more sense. The folks at Topps are clairvoyant. With his 7 wins Jimenez leads the National League and will probably start this year’s All Star game, so they have something else in common. Earlier this season Jimenez no-hit the Atlanta Braves to give them another thing in common. It all makes sense now. These righties have completely parallel careers. I don’t know how Topps knew that it would turn out this way, but it has. At just 26 years old, I think Jimenez is just getting warmed up. 1960 was Keegan’s final year in pro baseball. He was 38 and he spent the year in the minors. I think that Jimenez will outgrow the connection, but for now it makes perfect sense. Vintage always wins in this game, but I think that Jimenez will win out historically. His star is definitely shining bright right now, but you never know where the next pitch will end up. I love this game, I love its history. I really love this hobby! Thanks for reading! LATER.

The Nitty Gritty Battle of Old Versus New!

I still haven’t been able to rip any 2010 Heritage, which is strange for me because it is my favorite and most anticipated release of the year every year. A few cards have trickled into me from kind readers and I finally got one that I had a match for 1961. Welcome to the Nitty Gritty Old vs. New Cards of the Day! Topps did a pretty darn good of replicating this one. The design is identical front and back. The main difference is (duh) the subject. Danny Murtaugh looks like a stern leader, like someone you would follow into war because he told you to. He looks like a man you don’t want to cross. He died before I was born and I am still scared of the man… This little photo from 50 years ago captures Murtaugh how he was-a leader. He wasn’t buddies with his players, but he knew how to handle them and he won games. He laid down the expectations and you either followed or you played for someone else. His players listened because he knew what he was doing. The dude won over 1,000 games-1,115 to be exact. That was against only 950 losses, good for a .540 winning percentage. He led the Pirates to 2 Worlds Championships and in the 15 seasons he spent at the helm in Pittsburgh the Bucs won more than 90 games 5 times. His teams had stars-he managed Clemente, Stargell and Mazeroski, but the teams weren’t filled with stars. He got the most out of all of his players and made good decisions and had high expectations of his players. I was downright pissed off when he was denied to the Hall of Fame again last year. I make cases for a lot of players to be considered, but Murtaugh is a Hall of Fame manager, case closed. He wasn’t too shabby as a player either. He was a little, tough and gritty infielder. He was a slap hitter with no power and a little bit of speed. He led the NL in steals as a rookie in 1941 with 19. That isn’t exactly a Rickey Henderson total, but it was a dead ball and dead base path era. It was particularly impressive because he paced the league while only playing in 83 games that year. He spent the early part of the season with the Houston Buffaloes of the Texas League. The Buffaloes were a Cardinals affiliate and the Cards were the organization he originally signed with in 1937, but in June of ’41 the Philadelphia Phillies purchased his contract and brought him up to the big leagues. He spent his first 4 seasons in Philadelphia, spent a year with the Boston Braves and was in Pittsburgh for his final 4 years. His best year offensively came with the Pirates in 1948.He batted .290 and drove in 71 runs for the Bucs while only hitting one homerun. He also stole 10 bases and had 21 doubles and 5 triples. He scored 56 times and most of those runs were scored ahead of Ralph Kiner homeruns. He and shortstop Stan Rojek were among the best double play combos in baseball and Murtaugh learned the art of baseball from his manager Billy Meyer. Murtaugh watched second base in Pittsburgh for 4 seasons before Bill Mazeroski took the job over. Before I switch gears to John Russell I will state once more that Danny Murtaugh belongs in the Hall of Fame.
Now Mr. Russell. Whereas Danny Murtaugh looks like he could have been your high school principal, Russell looks like your happy go lucky homeroom teacher. His look doesn’t demand or command respect. He looks respectable, but not intimidating. A nice guy that you don’t mind following… With the level of talent that currently lives in Pittsburgh I don’t think that Murtaugh’s approach would work anyway. I like the Pirates and I like John Russell as their skipper. His Bucs burst out of the gate this season and took all of baseball by surprise; I really hope he can keep it up. I am not expecting them to be contenders, but I would be THRILLED with a .500 finish. It could happen. Since this is Old VS. New I suppose I should declare a winner. That would be Danny Murtaugh. That isn't a knock against John Russell, I like the dude. He isn't in a great position. He is a company man though. I don't think that Danny Murtaugh would have stood for what the Pirates execs have done to the team over the last decade. Plus, vintage ALWAYS wins. Thanks for reading, 50 years LATER.