i figured i would follow up yesterday's post about tommy lasorda's manager tree with a semi-recent pickup that has been on the fringes of my most wanted items for a long time
that's a 1955 golden stamps, well, stamp, of lasorda that also features a bag of balls. there is a transactional joke in there somewhere although the only thing/person ever traded for lasorda was wally burnette who went from the yankees to the a's in the middle of the 1956 season in exchange for the future hall of fame manager.
the person managing the dodgers at the time that golden stamps set was released was also the guy lasorda would eventually succeed - walter alston. i picked up alston's 1980-87 sspc baseball immortals card
however, i've long thought that the image on the golden stamps issue would have been a great one for a 1957 topps card. lasorda was reacquired by the dodgers in may of 1957 so it would have been possible for topps to sneak him into one of the later series. of course, lasorda didn't appear in the majors after his 18 appearances for the a's in 1956 (note that i am not counting his 19th appearance that year in which he was announced as a pinch hitter but called back to the dugout after the opposing team switched pitchers) so it is understandable for topps to have left him off of the checklist.
it works.
still, i went ahead and created a 1957 card for tommy
That picture looks perfect with the 1957 Topps design!
ReplyDeleteglad someone else thinks so!
DeleteWow, never seen that Lasorda before! I thought his '54 was the only playing-days card he had (which I'll own...one day).
ReplyDeletei'm glad i got mine several years ago!
DeleteTotally agree with GTT, that card would have fit perfectly with the '57 set.
ReplyDeleteif only...
DeleteWhy wouldn't you want to pick up the other Dodgers? There are some great photos in that set. My favorite is Carl Furillo getting iced by the trainer.
ReplyDeletei had never seen that furillo until now - it would be a fun one to have even though the coloring of the photo isn't the best. i wouldn't turn any of them away, and i may add one or two more if i order from comc again sometime, but i am not going to go on a mission to complete this particular team set. having a jake pitler dodger coach "card" is tempting though.
DeleteGreat job on the custom! That stamp photo totally works with the 1957 Topps design.
ReplyDeleteEven being a stamp, I'm guessing that this one doesn't come cheap. Given the great image, and the lack of other "cards" available from Tommy's playing days, it does seem like this would be a must have for any Dodgers collector.
ReplyDelete