1963 Topps #163 Don Larsen

Awesome. Mr. Pefect-World-Series-Game himself. Another step closer to deciding to collect the 1963 set. I’m still neck deep in my quest for the 1960 set though, so I don’t know how good of an idea it is to start even thinking about another kind of tough set, but that’s not going to stop me from snatching up 63’s when I can.

I’m always a little oddly fascinated with cards where the player is staring straight at you, such as Don is doing here. They actually make me slightly uncomfortable in a weird way. It’s almost like he’s staring straight into my soul, just daring me to make some snarky comment about his card. I much prefer cards where the player is glassy-eyed and slump shouldered. Then I can make all the stupid remarks I want making fun of him knowing full well that he’s not going to do squat.

Don’s a different story, though. He’s looking at me like “Go ahead, blog-boy. Say something clever about how the logo on my hat in that little picture down there is too big. I dare you. I pitched a PERFECT GAME IN THE GODDAMN WORLD SERIES, and don’t you forget it.”

Actually, it’s a little hard to forget that fact thanks to the back of this card. They mention it not once, but twice. I love that cartoon, too. Considering his Perfecto came in 1956, and this card is from ’63, and he’s wearing a San Francisco hat in it, I get this funny vision of Don sitting alone in his apartment surrounded by piles of newspapers from 1956, just reading them over and over and over with that same sneering, intimidating gaze that he has on the front of this card, and then staring glassy-eyed and slump shouldered at the wall until he gets that call to the bullpen.

Tags: 1963 Topps, Don Larsen
Filed Under: Card of the Moment by slangon
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