Still I refuse to go without posting. Here is the card of the day, from 2004 Topps Chrome, a Carl Crawford refractor. At least I think it is because it is really shiny, but typically it says refractor below the number and this one doesn't... 
I haven't been able to update my list in a while, this could be CC card #300 for me for all I know... By the way, this is post #450 for the Troll. Hopefully the word count will rise once again! Go Rays! 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.
Until this spring when I bent my rules for a left handed hitting slugger who recently signed with the Minnesota Twins. He hit 23 homers last season and he will be turning 39 this summer. In the Twins lineup he will have good protection and should see a lot of pitches to hit. He is only 46 homers away from becoming the 7th player to reach the 600 homer club. He is 9 homers away from reaching the top ten of All Time. He is currently 12th All Time and 3rd among active players. He thinks he can still be a productive hitter in the big leagues. I believe him. I am speaking of Jim Thome, of course. He is a 5 time All Star and his .557 slugging percentage puts him 23rd All Time in that category. His 1619 walks are tops among active players and 10th All Time. His 564 homers is 5th best among left handed batters behind Aaron, Ruth, Griffey and just 5 homers behind Rafael Palmeiro. 
In my opinion he is a first ballot Hall of Famer. Even in the livest of live ball eras, he is among the most intimidating sluggers in the game and has been for nearly 20 years. That is why I bent my rule. That and I just happened to have this 2008 Topps Heritage card handy… This card might be available for trade, or maybe for a contest prize or maybe I will treasure it forever. Any opinions? Go Rays! 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 Ken Boyer of the St. Louis Cardinals and it is the Collective Troll’s Card of the Day. Before I share my take, here is what the folks at Topps Chewing Gum had to say on the back of the card.
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, The Nitty Gritty. 
Check em out cuz the Bradentucky Bombers (and their fans) say so. Go Rays! Troll out.
I have never owned this card and I have wanted it for a long time… I collected Danny Tartabull as a kid and when I got back into collecting, it seemed only natural to finish chasing his cards. I got a package from Madding of the Cards on Cards blog this Friday past-it weighed about 10 pounds and was a total surprise. He sent cards I needed for 2008 Allen and Ginter, 2009 Topps Updates, cards for my Rays team sets, Carl Crawford cards, Brian Roberts cards, Roberto Clemente, Jonny Gomes, Pat Neshek and Danny Tartabull. Its going to take a bit of time to get all of my lists up to date again. I got another 10 pounder from Adam E of Thoughts and Sox on the same day. There are so many cards I want to show off from these two packages, but I will start with this one… Danny Tartabull’s father, Jose Tartabull spent parts of 9 seasons in the big leagues in the 1960’s. He was a speedy centerfielder with a good glove and gap power. He was a part of the 1967 Boston Red Sox team and split time in right field with a young Tony Conigliaro. The card is from 1993 Pinnacle, card #473. This subset, called The Idols, shows current players with their baseball heroes. I love this card because Danny Tartabull picked his Dad, Jose Tartabull as his hero. 
I have always considered my Dad to be my hero and I like seeing that from a pro ball player, especially one of my favorites. Thanks so much for this and the other 500 cards you sent Madding! Oh, I do still collect Tartabull cards. I THINK that I have EVERY card made of him up till 1989 and most till '92. I am seeking Tartabull relics and any card I don't have of him. Go Rays! Troll out.
Merry Christmas Trollites!!! Merry Christmas Blog-O-Sphere!!!!! Happy Birthday to Ken of the Field of Cards blog and happy birthday to the Guy for whom most of us have the day off to spend with our families…I have never touched on religion on this blog and I don’t plan to start here, so I will stick with what I know-baseball and baseball cards and I will wish a happy birthday to Hall of Fame second baseman Nellie Fox. He would have been 82 this year. Sadly he passed away in 1975, 12 years before the Veterans Committee elected him to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997. This year was the 50th Anniversary of Nellie Fox’s finest year in major league baseball. 1959 belonged to Nellie Fox. He started both games of the 1959 All Star game. His team, the Chicago White Sox, won the American League flag and went to the World Series. Unfortunately the Dodgers rained on his parade and the Dodgers took the Series in 6 games, but Fox had a .375 batting average for the Series with 3 doubles. He also finished 2nd in hits and 4th in batting average that year. He won his second Gold Glove and took home the 1959 American League MVP Honors. Like I said, it was Nellie Fox’s year. This is the 50th Anniversary of that year, that Award and today is the 82nd Anniversary of his birth. Seems like high-time to make his 1960 Topps card #100 the Collective Troll Card of the Day, right? Nellie Fox wasn’t a power hitter, but he was a great hitter. He batted at the top of the order and he hit like crazy, nobody could lace a base hit like Fox. He led the League in singles 8 times over his career. He hit 2161 over his career which is 25th best All Time. He is 66th All Time on the hits list with 2663, which gives you an idea of how often he got on base, but how seldom he went for extra bases. He set the table better than anyone of that era and scored more often than not. He scored 1279 times over his career. I was happy when Fox finally went into the Hall. I wish it happened during his lifetime, but he epitomized the dedicated and gritty gamer-the scrappy middle infielder that is timeless and goes beyond steroids and juiced balls. Over his career he won 3 Gold Glove awards and played in 15 All Star games. 
As of 1960 he had played in 9 AS games and owned a .367 All Star batting average. Some other highlights from the back of his card in 1960 are as follows:
Like I said, it was his year. Its cliché to say, I know, but Nellie Fox played the game the way it was meant to be played. When current players are referred to as throwbacks-they are being compared to Nellie Fox. Happy Birthday Mister Fox!!! Happy Birthday Ken! Merry Christmas to the entire blog-o-sphere!!! From Sally the Cat, Emma the Dog, my sons Zadeh and Darvey, my wife (the legendary) Esther Gin N Juice and myself-from our family to yours MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!! Blogging with y’all this past year has been a wonderful experience. I have “met” so many wonderful people and it has been a fantastic ride. Thanks to everyone who has read, written or traded with me this year and Merry Christmas once again…Oh, by the way... I know that "Blow Out the Candles" is not my thing-be sure to check out Can't Have Too Many Cards who does the birthday wishes right! Happy Holidays from the Troll and a HUGE thank you to each and every person who has stumbled across this blog-I’m out!
I am working my 2nd of 5 consecutive doubles today which has put a severe cramp in my posting… I didn’t want to go a day without posting, so here is another quick Card of the Day post. I am sticking with 1972 Topps since they are near the scanner and also sticking with the "he belongs in the Hall of Fame" theme… Today’s card of the day is a 1972 Topps Maury Wills, card #437. 1972 was Wills final year in the big leagues and this is also his final regular issue Topps card. It shows his stats for 13 seasons which is pretty close to his career totals as he only had 132 at bats in 1972. He appeared in his final game in October of 1972 and five years later his son Bump Wills made his Major League debut with the Texas Rangers. This card doesn’t show stolen bases on the back of the card which is what Wills was known for. It also lacks any biography-just the stats...He was 39 years old in ’72-although he still looks young on the card. He only stole 1 base that season; it was his 586th of his career which places him 19th on the All Time list. During his prime, Wills led the National League in steals for 6 consecutive seasons and he was in the top-10 in steals 11 straight times over his 14 year career. The only times he wasn’t top 10 were his rookie year in 1959 when he was a part time player and also his final two seasons. His best year, which he will forever be remember for, was the 1962 season when he put up monster statistics and won the National League MVP Award. He batted .299 with 6 homers and 48 RBI, but he also paced the league in games, at-bats and triples (10) and scored 130 runs (2nd). He also topped 200 hits for the first and only time during his career with 208. The truly amazing thing he did was top 100 in steals. He paced the Majors with 104 swipes while being caught only 13 times. That year he also played in both All Star Games, was the All Star Game MVP and won the Major League Player of the Year Award. He also won his second straight Gold Glove Award that year. Over his career he was an All Star 7 times, starting 3 of them, led the Majors in stolen bases during the 1960’s and helped the Dodgers win 4 National League Pennants and 3 World Series rings. 
He is another “what if?” player, although he wasn't afraid of flying, he just came up in a very deep organization. As a shortstop in the Dodgers organization, when he signed Pee Wee Reese had a strong hold on the position and when he moved to third base, Don Zimmer jumped in as the Dodgers shortstop for a couple of years, both of them blocking Wills. Maury Wills spent 9 seasons in the minor leagues before finally earning a spot on the team in ’59. That year he platooned with Zimmer, but ultimately made Zimm expendable and took over as the Dodgers full time shortstop in 1961 and was an All Star immediately. You have to wonder what kind of numbers Wills would have put up if he was in the big leagues at 21 or even 25. As is, beginning full-time at 27, Maurice Morning Wills was the shortstop and base stealer of the 60’s. He remained on the Hall of Fame for the maximum of 15 years, but never received more than 40% of the vote, making him another Dodgers MVP overlooked by the Hall of Fame. Other than his stolen base totals, his career numbers in hits (2134 career, 193rd All Time) and runs (1067) aren’t Hall of Fame caliber, but there is something to be said for his dominance on the base paths, his postseason leadership and the way that he changed the game. Cases for Wills to the Hall will come later, until then, enjoy his final Topps card. I love this game, I love its history and I love this hobby! But I am sick of working all the time… Please bear with me, I will be blogging it up regularly by the start of 2010 for sure! As an end note, if you are a Wills fan, I would recommend his 1991 autobiography "On the Run". It covers more than just baseball and goes deep into his personal life-it is a really good read. Troll out.
Today’s quick card of the day features a young right handed pitcher named Rik Aalbert Blyleven, commonly referred to as Bert. Most of you who read this blog know that Bert Blyleven is one of my favorite pitchers of all time and I truly believe that he belongs in the Hall of Fame. I WILL make a case for him and his due enshrinement soon and I will probably post several cards of him before the 2010 season begins. For now, the card of the day is from the 1972 Topps set, card # 515 of Bert Blyleven. BB’s rookie card is number 26 in the ’71 set-this is his second year card, but is one of my favorites. Blyleven had signed onto the Twins organization at age 18 and split his first pro season between rookie ball and at Orlando of the Florida State League. He did so well (7-2 combined) that he skipped AA ball all together and went to AAA. Bert began the 1970 season with the Evansville Triplets of the American Association as a 19 year-old, but after a hot start with them (4-2, 2.50 ERA, 63 Ks in 54 innings) he was promoted from being a Triplet to a Twin. He would start 25 games for Minnesota that year and posted a 10-9 record with a 3.18 ERA. The Twins would win their division and Blyleven saw postseason action before he saw his 20th birthday. His appearance was short-he pitched 2 innings in relief in a losing effort against Baltimore in the ALCS, but his two inning debut was a success. He struck out 2 and didn’t allow an earned run. In 1971, Blyleven’s first full year in the bigs, went even better. He logged 278 innings pitched (9th), completed 17 games (8th), pitched 5 shutouts (5th) while winning 16 games. His most impressive statistic was his 224 strikeouts (4th). He showed a remarkable curveball early on which set up his fastball even more dramatically. Of course Blyleven would go on and pitch for a total of 22 seasons with 5 different ball clubs, but this is where it all began-with the Twins in the early ‘70’s. 
Here is what the back of the card has to say about Bert Blyleven:
One of the things that I love about the rich history of baseball is wondering “what if?”. Looking at today’s card of the day – from the 1961 Topps set, a retro card, #476 commemorating the 1958 MVP winner Jackie Jensen, one can’t help but wonder “what if?”. Jensen was in the prime of his career and only 32 years old when he hung up his spikes after the 1959 season. He had led the American League in RBI for the third time in 5 years and was establishing himself as a superstar with the Boston Red Sox. He won the MVP Award in ’58, started the All Star Game in right field, was on the cover of Sports Illustrated (no I don’t actually have a copy of this, I wish!) and was in the League’s top ten in 11 different categories. His .396 on base percentage, 7 intentional walks, 31 doubles and 35 homers were all 5th best in the AL. His 99 walks and 66 extra base hits were both second best and he led the league in RBI with 122. He was basically on the top of the baseball world after that. His year in 1959, although not as good, wasn’t too bad either. He did lead the league in RBI again; he was a 20-20 man for the second time in his career with 28 long balls (8th) and 20 steals (3rd). He won his first Gold Glove that year and set a personal best in runs scored with 101 (4th). 
The Red Sox had a losing record and placed 5th in the American League that year and Jackie Jensen was the primary hitting star on the team. He had been a star for them since the Red Sox pulled of a steal of a deal with the Washington Senators (following the 1953 season) that brought them Jensen in exchange for a pitcher on the downslide named Mickey McDermott and a light hitting outfielder named Tom Umphlett. Neither of them produced for Washington and their careers ended soon after the trade. Jensen on the other hand became the Sox starting center fielder playing between two stars in Ted Williams and Jimmy Piersall. With that trio in the outfield the Sox had winning records the next 4 seasons, but never did see the postseason. By 1959, Jensen’s final year, they had a losing record again.
By 1959 Ted Williams had reached 40 and was in decline-Pete Runnels had a great year getting on base, but Frank Malzone was Jensen’s only protection in the lineup in his final year in the league. He opted to retire because the league was expanding westward and Jensen had an extreme fear of flying. Many players’ careers were cut short the previous decade due to the War, but Jensen left baseball as one of their top stars just because he didn’t want to get on an airplane. 
It was a shame for the Red Sox who would introduce a very talented young leftfielder in 1961 to continue Williams’s legacy-his name was Carl Yastrzemski. Jensen remained retired for the entire 1960 season but did relinquish his retirement for one more try in 1961, but at his age (34) taking a year off wasn’t the best thing for him. He was out of shape and didn’t produce as he had done. The Sox did get a season with Jensen and Yaz cornering the outfield, but Yaz was just a 21 year old rookie (.266/11/80) and Jensen was a shadow of his former self (.263/13/66). Not that those aren’t respectable numbers, but that would be the only year the Sox would have both stars on the team at the same time-they finished 6th place in the AL with a losing record. You have to wonder what would have happened if Jensen didn’t take 1960 off. Would he have continued his torrid slugging and stayed the leagues best run producer? Would he have played 6 or 8 more seasons driving in 100 runs a year? Would Jensen and Yaz have been the greatest 3-4 punch in baseball history? Would Jackie Jensen have a plaque in Cooperstown right now?
After his one year comeback in ’61 Jensen retired for good. Baseball Reference calculates his 162 game averages as follows: .279 batting average, 22 homers and 105 RBI. 165 hits, 29 doubles, 84 walks, 16 steals and 91 runs scored per year. His career in the big leagues lasted for 11 years, but the first two years he spent with the Yankees as Joe DiMaggio’s backup and didn’t see much playing time, he didn’t become a starter till he was traded to Washington and he didn’t become a star until he joined the Boston Red Sox. In his first 6 seasons with Boston he topped 100 RBI 5 times for an average of 111 runs driven in each year. He drove in 929 over his career, but you have to wonder if he could have doubled that. You have to wonder if he and Yaz could have teamed up to bring a World Series to Boston. 
It’s all that wondering that keeps me sorting through all of these old bubblegum cards dreaming of what could have been. Stupid airplanes! I love this hobby! Before I go… This started off as a card of the day post, but as usual continued onward to excess. Also shown are his 1955 Topps card (#200), his high numbered 1958 All Star card (#489) and his final card from the 1961 Topps set, hatless and grounded on card #540. Troll out.
So I wanted to do an evening edition of the Card of the Day, but didn’t want to write a long post because I am supposed to be studying for my final exam in Mass Communication tomorrow morning. After the final I will be going to the Post Office (which should be an absolute nightmare) and getting packages out for Captain Canuck (1976 Topps), Cards on Cards (2007 Heritage), Wicked Ortega (contest winnings, plus a little bonus), Democratic Roadkill (1983 Topps), dayf (1974 Topps) and… Well, I don’t know who else, wait… I DO know who else! I have a package of Colorado Rockies cards to ship off to Troy in Palmerton, Pennsylvania!!! Troy is (coincidentally) a fan of Troy Tulowitzki and the Colorado Rockies as well. He is also a Cardinals fan, but he is willing to become the Rockies collector that the Blog-O-Sphere has been hunting for! I won’t post his email address (or mailing address here) but I assure you all that he does in fact exist and is poised and ready to start trading! If you are ready for a Rockies trade (preferably with some TT cards) then email me and I will forward the email to Troy, or maybe share his address with you. We don’t want to overwhelm him (scare him off) to quickly, so lets hit him up slowly… Adam from Thoughts and Sox and Night Owl have first dibs so if you two write to me I will get the ball Rockie’N Rollin! Okay, back to the evening edition of card of the day. Like I said I didn’t want to pick something from the awesome pile, so I closed my eyes and grabbed from a random stack of cards from the seventies and ended up with a 1974 Topps, card #274 of New York Yankees relief pitcher Freddy Beene. Mr. Beene has one of those unfortunate pitchers names like Bob Walk or Grant Balfour and he did have a few “beene balls” over his career. He hit 7 batters over his 7 year career. Another thing that stands out about Freddy Beene to me is his height. Typically relievers are big and intimidating, but Beene stood 5’9” and weighed 160 pounds. Now, this card is from 1974 and appears to not only be an “awesome night card”, and “awesome mullet card” and a great action card as well. He was coming off one of the finest seasons of his career. He finished the ’73 season a perfect 6-0 with a low, low 1.68 ERA in 19 games, including 4 starts. He finished 11 games that year, had a save and logged career highs with 91 innings pitched and 49 Ks. He was one of the set-up guys that season for Lindy McDaniel and Sparky Lyle. Lyle logged 27 saves in 51 games that year and the Yankees finished 80-82, 4th in the American League. Prior to playing for the Yankees from ’72-’74 Beene started his career with the Baltimore Orioles and finished it with the Cleveland Indians, playing his last year and a half there. Over his career on the mound he was 12-7 with a 3.62 ERA and 8 saves in 112 games. As a relief pitcher he didn’t hit often and when he did he had zero success. He went to the plate 39 times and never saw first base, striking out 17 times for a career .000 batting average. 
He was however nearly as perfect a fielder as he was futile as a hitter… He did not make an error until 1972 and he never made one again. He finished his career with a .987 fielding percentage, with 47 assists and 3 double plays. He was a much more successful hitter in the minors where he spent 12 seasons. Over that time he had 29 at bats and posted a .210 batting average with 2 homers and 23 RBI. On the mound he posted a very impressive 114-78 career minor league pitching record. In 1969, prior to his call-up to the Orioles he was among the league leaders in every category while pitching for the Rochester Red Wings. He posted a 15-7 record with 132 Ks and 13 complete games. After his last big league season with the Indians in 1975 he would pitch for 4 more years in AAA. He retired after spending the 1979 season with Oklahoma City where he was 10-5. He worked for a scout for the Brewers for twenty years after his playing days ended. Some of his best seasons came with Rochester in the minors and he spent a total of 6 years with them and had a 46-20 career mark for them. In 1991 he was inducted into the Red Wings Hall of Fame. Well, hope this wasn’t too bad… Never know what will happen when you close your eyes and pick. I love this hobby! Troll out.
The card of the day today is from the 1963 Topps set-one of very few ’63 cards in my collection, this one is card #46 of Milwaukee Braves first baseman and leftfielder Tommie Aaron. I am not gonna lie and say that I didn’t wish this card depicted Tommie’s older brother, it doesn’t, but this card is pretty awesome in its own right. 1963 has never been one of my favorite Topps sets, but this card (and the Lou Brock from this year) is a near perfect example in color and composition. The purple sky behind the posed fielding shot with the black and white batting image set inside a green circle is awesome! Topps should make a Heritage set modeled after this in 2013 and it should look pretty amazing. 1962 was Tommie’s fullest season in the big leagues-he started 39 games at first base and also started 35 times in left field, in the same outfield of his older brother Hank Aaron. 1962 was a career year for the 22-year old slugger-he set career marks in every batting statistic for himself. He hit .231 with 8 homers and 38 RBI, while belting 20 doubles, 2 triples and scoring 54 runs. He also stole 6 bases with out being caught. Throughout the remainder of his career he split his time between the Braves and their AAA affiliates. Over 8 seasons in AAA he batted .290 with 79 homers, his best being in 1964 when he hit 21 for the Denver Bears in the Pacific Coast League. In 1967 he batted .309 with 11 homers and 56 RBI-he was named the International League MVP that season. The next 4 seasons he remained with the Braves for the entire year, but never saw full-time activity. In 1969 he hit .250 with 1 homer and 5 RBI primarily as a pinch hitter. The Braves were 93-69 that year and won the NL Western Division. The Braves lost to the Mets in the playoffs, but he and his brother made history when they became the first siblings to appear as teammates in a League Championship Series. 
The elder Aaron batted .357 with 3 homers and 7 RBI in the Series, but the Braves still fell to the Mets who went on to win the World Series. Tommie would play with the Braves as a utility player and pinch hitter until after the 1971 season. He played 2 more seasons in the Braves farm system, but retired as a player after the 1973 season. He immediately began managing in the Braves farm system and spent 6 seasons as a manager, 4 in AA and the last 2 in the International League (AAA). In 1979 he became a coach with the Major League Atlanta Braves. He held that position until his untimely death from Leukemia at age 45 in 1984.
The back of the card shows his major and minor league stats and says “The Braves are hoping that Tommie will attain the same stardom that his teammate and brother Hank has attained. The two Aaron brothers are exciting performers to watch. Tommie has good power”. It also shows a cartoon and says “Tommie is a whiz at billiards”. 
I had said at the top of this post that I wished this was a card of his brother-I take that back…The crazy colors, the great photo, the composition and layout all combine to make this one of the coolest cards in my collection. The contributions that Tommie Aaron made to the game and its history as a player, coach, manager, ambassador and instructor make it that much cooler. You can view Tommie’s career statistics here. Don’t forget there still is a little bit of time left to enter the CT Most Iconic (Baseball) Rookie Card of the 1980’s Contest. Rickey Henderson and Ken Griffey Jr. are in a dead heat. Troll out.
