Mickey Mantle (#50)

It's always a good day for a Mickey Mantle card! (Even a reprint.)

I got this card (and the 1965 Mantle reprint) on the same day I snagged a 1967 Brooks Robinson high-number in 2016.

Willie Mays (#1)

Here's the Say Hey Kid, occupying the #1 card in Topps' set. I received this card from DeansCards.com. This is the 2nd Willie Mays card I got from Deans Cards, having purchased a replacement for my lost 1969 card a few years ago. Coincidently, Topps used the same photo on both the 1966 and 1969 Mays' cards. That was no surprise, since Topps had also used the same photo from 1965 on the 1968 card. Willie seems much happier here than on his 65/68 cards.


[I wonder why Topps decided to abbreviate San Francisco on the last stat line on the back of this card, after spelling it out completely the first 7 times?]

I'm not going to rehash Mays' career here, having done it elsewhere. I'll just say that I recently watched various "Prime 9" shows on the MLB network ("Top 9 centerfielders", "Top 9 defensive plays", etc), and Mays was just an awesome player! I saw him play briefly from 1967-73 on TV, but I was too young then to appreciate what I was seeing.

Final Card: Bob Friend

(Now that the World Series is over, I'm putting away my Yankees and Phillies cards, and will focus on players' final cards for awhile.)
----> Related link

Yes, I just said I was putting my Yankees cards away, but Bob Friend (#519) is not a Yankee, he's a Pirate. (Just look at the card back!)

Topps tends to omit minor league stats for long-time veterans, but here we see that Bob spent 1 year in the minors in 1950.

Bob joined the Pirates in 1951, and after a few years, he was not only a horse for the Pirates, but one of the best pitchers in the league during the late 50s and early 60s. In fact, the stats on the back of this card don't do him justice, so I'm including this link.



After the 1965 season, Friend was traded to the Yankees for pitcher Pete Mikkelsen. His time in the AL was short-lived, as after 12 games with the Yankees (8 starts), Bob was sold to the Mets on June 15th. He pitched in 22 games for the Mets (12 starts), and was released after the season, ending his 16-year career.

Final Card: Roy McMillan

Roy McMillan (#421) began playing pro baseball in 1947. As with many long-time veterans, Topps has omitted McMillan's minor-league stats from the card back.

He made his major-league debut in 1951 with the Reds. In his first year, he was the backup SS/3B. In 1952, he took over the shortstop position, and was one of two Reds players to play in all 154 games. McMillan continued as the Reds starting shortstop for nine years. A durable player, starting in 1952, he played in 150 or more games in 7 of the next 10 years.

After 1960, he was traded to the Braves for pitchers Joey Jay and Juan Pizarro. After 3 years as the Braves regular shortstop, he was traded to the Mets in early 1964 for pitcher Jay Hook. Once again, McMillan was the regular shortstop for the Mets during 1964 and 1965.

Before the 1966 season, the Mets acquired shortstop Ed Bressoud, and the 2 players shared the shortstop job fairly evenly in 1966. McMillan was released by the Mets following the 1966 season, although his last game was in early August.

Roy also managed the Mets during the 2nd half of 1975.