I’ve said it before, I will say it again, I love cards that chronicle one single game, one moment in baseball history. This is one of those cards, it is from the 1964 Topps set, card #139. The card’s front shows a rendering of big Frank “Hondo” Howard taking a big swing-the card is titled “Sealing Yanks’ Doom”. This could probably win just about any contest for coolest card title ever. The card celebrates the Dodgers 2-1 victory over the Yankees on October 3, 1963.
In the bottom of the 5th inning with the score tied at nothing, Frank Howard (batting 5th) came up to face Whitey Ford with 1 out and the bases empty. He had singled off of Ford in the second inning to collect the first hit of the game for either team. When Frank Howard came up in the 5th inning both pitchers, Ford and Koufax, were holding to one-hit shutouts. The shutout would disappear when Frank Howard drilled a homerun over the left field wall in Dodgers stadium to give Los Angeles an early 1-0 lead. The lead would stand until the top of the 7th inning when Mickey Mantle delivered a solo homerun of his own to tie the score up at 1 a piece. In the bottom of the 7th inning Junior Gilliam hit a ground ball to Clete Boyer at third base for what looked to be an easy 5-3 groundout. Joe Pepitone failed to field the ball and Gilliam sped around all the way to third base on the error. This was the first time that the Dodgers had a runner in scoring position all day long. Number 3 hitter Willie Davis came to the plate and delivered a long fly ball to deep center field. Mantle caught the ball for the out, but Gilliam scored on the sacrifice fly. This put the Dodgers up 2-1 on an unearned run. Whitey Ford got out of the inning, getting Tommy Davis and Frank Howard each out on infield grounders. Ford would be lifted in favor of a pinch hitter (Phil Linz) in the top of the 8th inning, out of the game on the losing end, despite only allowing 2 hits over 7 innings of work. Hal Reniff would pitch the 8th inning for the Yankees-he got the Dodgers out 1-2-3, but 2 runs were all that Sandy Koufax needed. Koufax would go the full 9 innings, striking out 8 and allowing the lone run on Mantle’s homer. The Dodgers would take game to complete the sweep of the Yankees giving the Dodgers their first Championship in the 60’s. Sandy Koufax, who won game 1 and 4 was the series MVP.
Frank Howard, who drew first blood off of Ford in game 4 would bat .300 (3 for 10) in the series, had only one other hit in the series-a double off of Ford in game 1. This would be Frank Howard’s first and only World Series appearance and Hondo was a hero in the deciding game. That is my take of the event, here is what the back of the card had to say:
“Although Frank Howard got the only two hits off Whitey Ford all afternoon, the Dodgers made it a clean sweep in the World Series. Frank Howard and Mickey Mantle both hit long home runs as Sandy Koufax picked up his second victory in the October classic.”
Howard had come up through the Dodgers system; he was the NL Rookie of the Year in 1960 and had delivered 4 twenty-plus homerun seasons for the Dodgers. His best year in Los Angeles came in 1962 when he batted .296 with 31 homers and 119 RBIs. He had his worst batting average and somewhat of an off year in 1964 (.226/24/69), but still paced the team in homeruns and had only 4 errors in right field in nearly 1000 innings. PLUS he delivered some big hits in the World Series sweep of the Yankees. Still, (exactly) 2 months after his big home run the Dodgers sent him to Washington as part of a monster 7-player trade. Howard became a Senator along with Ken McMullen, Phil Ortega, Dick Nen and Pete Richert. The trade brought Claude Osteen and John Kennedy to the Dodgers. Kennedy would be a utility infielder and pinch hitter for a couple of seasons for the Dodgers, but Claude Osteen would pitch for the Dodgers for 9 seasons, representing them in 3 All Star games and he was a huge factor in the Dodgers World Series victory in 1965. Of course Howard flourished in Washington; he earned his nickname the Capital Punisher there due to his power.
He would lead the league in homers twice with the Senators and go to 4 All Star games. With Washington he was in the top-10 in the league in homers and RBI 5 times in 7 seasons there. Frank Howard would retire after spending the 1973 season with the Detroit Tigers. He hit 382 homers (56th All Time) over his 16 year career. He also drove in 1,119 runs (180th All Time), but also struck out 1,460 times, good for 52nd of all time. Most importantly he hit that big homerun off of Whitey Ford on October 3, 1963, sealing the Yankees’ doom. I love this game, I love this hobby. Troll out.
Here is another card from the 1964 Topps (regular sized set), card #154 of Dick Tracewski. If you are reading this automatic post, I am still likely at Pirate City, spending the afternoon with my little brother(s). They are not literally my brothers, but I am a volunteer with the Big Brothers and Big Sisters program and I always spend Thursdays with my little brother and this week he wanted to watch practice. There will be a long story to follow, but for now-enjoy a few more cards from the 1964 set. I opted to follow Aaron with Dick Tracewski, a light hitting middle infielder who spent 8 seasons in the big leagues-the first 4 with the Dodgers and the final four with Detroit. Tracewski wore the same uniform number as Aaron and this card shows it prominently. DT played for a much shorter period of time (15 fewer seasons) so naturally his stats aren’t as impressive as Hammerin’ Hank’s. Where Aaron swatted 755 career homers, Tracewski hit 8. Where Aaron topped the 300 batting average plateau 14 times, Tracewski topped the Mendoza Line only 4 times. He was a career .213 hitter. That said, where it matters most, Tracewski trumps Aaron. The Hammer earned his lone World Series ring in 1957 with the Braves. Tracewski won 4 rings over his 8 year career. With the Dodgers in 1963 and again in 1965 and he also won it all with the Detroit Tigers in 1968 and earned his final ring with them in 1984 while serving as their 3rd base coach. In 3 Series’ 
Tracewski appeared in 12 games and got 4 hits in 30 at-bats for a career .133 postseason batting average. Tracewski also sits in the history books having served more coaching time than any coach in Detroit Tigers history, spending 24 years as coach with them at the big league level. He is also one of the few managers in baseball history to go undefeated. He won 2 games as the Skipper for Detroit in 1979 without a loss. Sparky Anderson took over for him and did well (56-50) and the Tigers finished 5th in the AL East, but there is no telling how well they would have done if Tracewski remained at the helm. I love Hammerin’ Hank, but Dick Tracewski has him beat. I love this game, I love this hobby! Check back later for a full spring training update… Go Rays! Troll out.
It was one of 11 times he hit three digits in that category. He also set a personal best with 31 stolen bases that year. Yep, he was a 40-30 man in ’63; the only time in his career he hit that plateau. He also paced the league in total bases, slugging percentage and OPS. The back of the card shows his career stats. He was only 10 seasons into his 23 year career, he had 342 homers and career .320 batting average. Not too shabby. Would I trade this card for a 1964 Topps Giants? Are you offering? I love this game, I love this hobby! Troll out.
Welcome and good morning Trollites! It is time for another card from the really big set I have been working on, the 1964 Topps Giants. This is card # 57 of 
Well, Topps summed it up pretty well. Boyer started out as a pitcher in the minors, became an outfielder and eventually one of the best third basemen in the National League. I did not realize that he began as a hurler, but as a teenager in the Cards system he pitched in 192 innings compiling an 11-9 record. Of course he would fame as a third baseman and not a pitcher, but he definitely made good use of his strong arm. For a decade’s length of time it was academic that Brooks Robinson would be on the American League’s All Star squad and Ken Boyer would be his counterpart in the NL. As a member of the Cardinals he was part of their World Championship team in 1964. As it turns out, Boyer’s best season came after this card was printed-actually it came the year that it was printed. In 1964 he started his 6th All Star Game at third base (11th overall). In addition to that, in 1964 he won the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award, the Major League Player of the Year Award and was awarded the National League MVP. In ’64 he batted .295 with 24 homers and a league leading 119 runs batted in. He also scored 100 runs, had 30 doubles and 10 triples while winning the National League pennant with the Cards and eventually winning the World Championship, beating his brother Clete Boyer and his team, the New York Yankees in 7 games. The Cards rode the fine pitching performances of Bob Gibson, but also remained alive courtesy of a game 4 grand slam from Boyer. Over his career Boyer had a .287 batting average with 282 homers and 1141 RBI. He appeared in 11 All Star Games and won 5 Gold Gloves. 
He had 2143 hits. He remained on the Hall of Fame ballot until 1994 after appearing on the maximum of 15 ballots. His highest level of support came in 1988 when he received 26% of the vote. After his retirement as a player, Boyer managed in the Minor Leagues for 7 seasons and also spent 2-1/2 years (1978-1980) managing his former team, the St. Louis Cardinals. Ken Boyer was a Missouri native who played in his home state with the Cards for most of his career; he was also 1 of 14 Boyer children. Two of his brothers played Major League baseball. His brother Cloyd was his teammate with the Cards in the early 50s while his other brother Clete was also a Gold Glove third baseman. 3 of his other brothers spent time playing ball in the minor leagues. Ken Boyer’s number 14 was retired by the Cards in 1984. He is the only Non-Hall of Famer to have his number retired in St. Louis. His 255 career homers in St. Louis ranks third in club history behind Stan Musial and Albert Pujols. He also ranks among the top-10 All Time among third baseman in games, assists and double plays. Boyer died of cancer at 51 years of age in 1981. The 444 homeruns that he and his brother Clete hit combined rank 4th all time among brother in the majors behind Hank and Tommy Aaron and Joe and Vince DiMaggio or Joe and Dom DiMaggio. His records as a member of the Cards and as a third baseman are vast, I could go on, but will end it here. 
Despite the fact that the writers failed to recognize him as worthy for Cooperstown, he remains one of the great third baseman of all time, at the plate and in the field. He will never be forgotten by fans in St. Louis, either. For now he suffers the same fate as Ron Santo, a great third baseman who played in the deadball era… By the by, Boyer's hat looks seriously airbrushed to me, but at this point he had only played for the Cardinals...Maybe he just had an ugly hat? Okay, there are plenty more Card of the Day posts to come on this set and other awesome vintage sets from the 50's and 60's on this blog and it's brother blog, 
Check em out cuz the Bradentucky Bombers (and their fans) say so. Go Rays! Troll out.
