In celebration of the 65th anniversary of Topps baseball cards, my collection is going to be the subject of this year-long series.
Shortly after starting my obsession in 1971, the goal was to have at least one Topps card from every year.
Although the 1952 set is considered to be the first released by Topps, the company issued two series that was a part of the game a year earlier.
A pair of my cards from 1957 are linked by two of the most famous walk-off home runs in baseball history.
Bobby Thomson was near the end of his career that season as he began the year with the Milwaukee Braves that eventually won the World Series.
Thomson finished the season with the New York Giants after being involved in a trade for Red Schoendienst on June 15. He ended 1957 with a dozen homers and 61 RBI between the two teams.
Beginning his career in 1946 with the Giants, Thomson joined the Braves prior to the 1954 season in a six-player deal.
The biggest moment of Thomson’s career was his game-winning homer that clinched the 1951 National League pennant with a blast of Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca.
From 1958 to the middle of 1960, Thomson played for the Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles.
A three-time all-star in his 15 seasons, Thomson hit 264 homers with 1,026 RBI. He hit a career-high 32 long balls in 1951 and knocked in over 100 runs four times with his best total of 109 in 1949.
Cy Young and World Series Champ in 1960
In 1957, Vern Law had his first winning season with the Pittsburgh Pirates at 10-8, while posting a 2.87 ERA. It was his first of four straight winning years with the Pirates capped in 1960 with the Cy Young Award and a world championship.
Statistically, Law wasn’t very impressive during his first five years with the Pirates with a 40-57 record in 1950-1951 and 1954-1956. He served in the military in 1952-1953.
Law’s link to the previously mentioned historic home run is that he was the starting pitcher in the seventh game of the 1960 World Series that ended with Bill Mazeroski hitting his walk-off blast that defeated the New York Yankees.
With a 20-9 record in 1960, Law added two more wins in the World Series against the Yankees with victories in games one and four.
Law appeared in both all-star contests that season, earning a save in the first contest and two days later he started and picked up the win for the National League.
Playing his entire 16-year career with the Pirates from 1950-1967, Law was 162-147 with an ERA of 3.77.