The Quest for the 1960 Topps Set, Part XXXIV
February 19th, 2012 by slangon

Picking up where I left off the other day, here’s the rest of the 1960 Topps cards that I picked up on Sportlots for less than a quarter a pop.

#281 Ray Boone

I don’t know why, but I always find it vaguely humorous when, on these Topps designs that feature a smaller, black and white photo of the player (1960, 1963, 1954 to name a few) they make the logo on the cap monstrously huge. I guess that’s so there’s no mistake about it. Yep. Ray Boone plays for the Milwaukee Braves. Just in case you guys on the moon weren’t sure. By the way, much like Gus Bell, who was featured in that last Quest for the 1960 Topps set post, Ray is the pater familias of another storied baseball family. Specifically, he is the pappy of Bob Boone and the grandpappy of both Aaron and Bret Boone. Also, kind of randomly, according to his BR Bullpen page,  he was “… considered one of the handsomest men in the majors during his career.” I wasn’t aware that they kept records of things like that.

#338 Ray Monzant

A couple of quick things about Ray Monzant. If you search for “Ray Monzant” on Baseball-Reference, there is no record of any player by that name. There is, however, a RAMON Monzant. A couple of quick things about Ramon Monzant. He was the last pitcher to take the mound for the New York Giants last home game at the Polo Grounds. He threw 1 inning of mop-up duty in the 9th inning of a 9-1 loss to the Pirates. He gave up a homer to Johnny Powers. He was also the starter in the first ever Big League night game played on the West Coast. He went 2.2 innings, giving up 2 homers and 4 earned runs. The Giants went on to lose that game 13-1 to the Dodgers.

#375 Dale Long

Dale Long holds the N.L. Record for most consecutive games with a home run with 8, which he hit from May 19 through May 28, 1956. His full name is Richard Dale Long. He obviously went by his middle name. If he went by his first name though, there’s a chance that people would’ve called him Dick, as people often do when someone is named Richard. If that happened, I would say Dick Pole and Rusty Kuntz and Pete LaCock might’ve had some competition.

#409 Ron Samford

Is it just me, or is he wearing jeans in his posed action shot?

#421 Duke Maas

If you’re a Braves fan, you could consider Duke Maas a World Series hero. If you’re a Yankees fan, not so much. Duke appeared in 1/3 of an inning for the Yankees in Game 2 of the 1958 World Series against Milwaukee. Things didn’t start off too well for the Bombers, as their starter Bob Turley only lasted 1/3 of an inning himself during which he gave up a leadoff home run, a double, a walk and a single. Duke just threw gasoline on the fire by adding another single, another walk and another home run. The Yankees were down 7-1 going into the 2nd inning. They would go on to lose that game 13-5, although they would ultimately go on to win the Series 4 games to 3. If only the Yankees had more guys like Duke.

#433 Irv Noren

Irv Noren actually holds a special place in my heart. His 1958 card was one of the first “really old” cards to ever find it’s way into my collection. I got it went I was maybe 9 or 10 from the local card shop. I have no idea how much I paid for it, but considering that I was buying cards with my paper route money, I can’t imagine it was much more than a quarter or two. I just remember being fascinated by the fact that I owned a card that was so goddamn old, even though it was less than 30 years old at the time. That’s like getting excited about a 1982 card.

#483 Camilo Pascual

Several times over the course of writing this blog, I’ve mentioned ideas for books that I think would be fascinating but I’m either too lazy or too ill-equiped to write myself. Here’s another one. I think it would be fascinating to have a book that is all about Major League baseball players (or any sports figures for that matter) who have cool, funny or just plain unusual nicknames with an explanation as to how or why they acquired that moniker. Case in point – Camilo Pascual’s nickname, according to Baseball-Reference, is Little Potato. With no explanation.

#489 Steve Ridzik

Do you remember what you were doing when you were a junior in high school? I have vague memories of going to school, hanging out with my friends, doing homework. Maybe there was an after school job thrown in there somewhere. Probably a lot a time wasting. You know. Normal 16 year old stuff. You know what Steve Ridzik was doing? He was going to school, doing homework, probably hanging out with friends, too. But instead of having an after school job, he was pitching for the Phillies’ Class C farm team, The Greensboro Patriots.

One Response to “The Quest for the 1960 Topps Set, Part XXXIV”

  1. I still have some 60s if you want them.

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