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.
Zoilo Versalles and Don Drysdale are two all-stars from the 1960s who highlight my 1965 cards, which included unique inserts.
The American League Most Valuable Player that year, Versalles would lead the Minnesota Twins to the World Series to face Drysdale and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Remarkably, both teams had losing records in 1964 before bouncing back to claim league titles.
Versalles got the best of Drysdale in game one with a homer and four RBI as the Twins won 8-2.
With the Twins leading two games to one, Drysdale surrendered a pair of solo homers to Harmon Killebrew and Tony Oliva, but he and the Dodgers prevailed 5-2 to tie the series.
The Dodgers would eventually win the series behind two complete game victories from Sandy Koufax in games five and seven.
Although many of his season statistics do not appear to be at a MVP level, Versalles led the AL in several categories. He hit 19 homers with 77 RBI, while batting .273 as he led the way with 45 doubles, 12 triples and 126 runs scored. He also made his second all-star squad and earned a Gold Glove.
In 1965, Drysdale was 23-12 as he reached the 20-win plateau for the second time in his career as he led the National League with 42 starts.
Teammates
Versalles played 12 seasons in the majors starting with the Washington Senators in 1959. After two seasons in the nation’s capital, the Senators moved to Minnesota for the 1961 season.
After the 1967 season, Versalles was traded to the Dodgers along with Mudcat Grant, who had started against Drysdale in the Fall Classic in 1965.
Drysdale, who begin his career with Brooklyn in 1956, was now a teammate with his former World Series rivals. Drysdale would only play one more year with the Dodgers before retiring with a 209-166 record in 14 seasons. His best year was in his Cy Young Award season of 1962 when he was 25-9. The eight-time all-star would be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984.
After getting picked by the San Diego Padres in the 1968 expansion draft, Versalles would remain active in the majors until 1971. He never played for the Padres as he was shipped to the Cleveland Indians before joining the new version of the Senators. He finished his career with the Atlanta Braves.