#145 Harry Dorish

 

#145 Harry Dorish

70 of 274

25.5% complete

"His Walk About" - "Fritz" pitched in 323 games over ten seasons, 283 of them coming out of the bullpen.  His best seasons came with the White Sox, but he also saw time with the Red Sox, and Browns/Orioles.  He retired with a 3.83 ERA, 45-43 record, and 48 saves.

"That's Not a Knife" - It's the last major league pitcher to steal home.  Dorish stole home as part of a double steal on June 2, 1950.  Imagine the pearl clutching by the Pro-DH crowd if Greinke or Kershaw (or any pitcher that doesn't embrace the "half-player" ethos) tried to pull that off today.

"More of a love bite really..." - This card is slightly off-centered, but in otherwise beautiful shape, even having a couple of corners that might be described as "sharp."

"Down Under" - Dorish is card #303 in the '52 set.  It's close but I'm going to give the edge to the '53 card for reasons that remain elusive.  It's just a gut call.  That cuts the '53 set's lead to 25-24-7.

"At the Oscars"

Led AL in Saves '52

2nd AL in Saves '53

8th AL in Saves '54

8th AL in Saves '55

#156 Jim Rivera

#156 Jim Rivera

48 of 274

17.5% complete

"His Walk About" - Rivera was a career .256 hitter who collected 911 hits and hit 83 home runs over the course of ten MLB seasons.  A fast runner, (Rivera finished 1st or 2nd in Stolen Bases in the AL for seven straight seasons from 1952-58) Rivera spent 8 of his ten seasons with the White Sox, as well as a year each with the St. Louis Browns and Kansas City Athletics.

"That's Not a Knife" - It's a head first slide.  "Jungle Jim," as he was dubbed by Chicago sportswriter Edgar Munzel, is said to have ran the bases with reckless abandon and would slide head first decades before it became fashionable. 

"More of a love bite really..." - This card is in about as good of shape as I can hope to find a '53 Topps.  I guess if I really wanted to nit pick I'd point out some decolorization and that the corners aren't pristine, but I'm not interested in doing that.

"Down Under" - Rivera has no card in the '52 set.  That keeps the talley at  22-17-3 in favor of the 53's.

"At the Oscars"

Led AL in Triples '53

Led AL in Stolen Bases '55

2nd AL Stolen Bases '52

2nd AL Stolen Bases '53

2nd AL Stolen Bases '54

2nd AL Stolen Bases '56

2nd AL Stolen Bases '57

2nd AL Stolen Bases '58

5th AL Triples '53

#123 Tommy Byrne

#123 Tommy Byrne

36 of 274

13.1% complete

"His Walk About" - Tommy Byrne debuted with the Yankees in 1943, then lost the next two years to military service.  By the time he retired following the 1957 season, he had compiled 13 years in the majors. His first seven seasons, and his final four were spent in The Bronx.  In between he spent parts of two seasons as a St. Louis Brown, and split one as a Washington National and Chicago White Sox.  His best season came in 1955 as a Yankee, when he went 16-5 as a starter and posted a 3.15 ERA.  He appeared in four World Series with the Yankees winning rings in '49 and '56.  In Game 2 of the 1955 series against the Brooklyn Dodgers, Byrne threw a complete game and was credited with the win in a 4-2 Yankees victory.  The Dodgers would win the series in 7 games.

Also, a decent hitter, Byrne hit .238 with 14 home runs over the course of his career.

"That's Not a Knife" - But it could have been a mayoral sash.  Byrne was the mayor of Wake Forest, North Carolina from 1973 to 1987.

"More of a love bite really..." - A There is some fairly significant surface wear on both sides of this card.  There is some evidence that it may have one point also had corners, but you sort of need to use your imagination.  The creasing as a result is not all that noticeable.

"Down Under" - Byrne is card #241 in the 1952 set.  It's an extremely close call for me, but I think I slightly prefer the '52 Byrne to his '53, but it's pretty close to a toss up.  That narrows the '53 set's lead to 19-15-1.

"At the Oscars"

AL All-Star '50
6th AL Wins '55
10th AL Wins '49
10th AL Wins '50
5th AL Strikeouts '49
6th AL Strikeouts '50
10th AL Strikeouts '50
7th AL Saves '56

#53 Sherman Lollar

#53 Sherman Lollar

11 of 274

4% complete

"His Walk About" - 18 MLB seasons was enough time for Sherman Lollar to pick up a lot of numbers in his walk about.  A defensive star behind the plate, Lollar won the inaugural Rawlings Gold Glove Award for catchers in 1957, and would win it the next two years as well.  A .264 hitter, the 7x All-Star retired with 1,415 hits, 155 HR, and 808 RBI.

"That's Not a Knife" - It was actually a bowling alley.  Following his MLB career, Lollar spent a few years as the Orioles Bullpen coach, then bounced around some minor league coaching gigs (including one of my old PCL League favorites, Tucson Toros), before opening a bowling alley in Springfield, MO.  Sadly, Lollar passed at the young age of 53 due to cancer in 1977.

"More of a love bite really..." - This Lollar is a little rough around the edges, but ultimately is in more than acceptable shape.  I'm not sure if it's a result of the paper stock, or just a coincidence, but a lot of my 53's appear to have this sort of edge wear, which I didn't see as much with the 52's.

"Down Under" - Sherman Lollar is card #117 in the 1952 set.  This is probably the best match-up so far, as it's the first time I've really liked both cards.  I think I prefer the backwards cap and image of Lollar holding the ball to the glove and chest protector in the '52 (which I really like as well), on the other hand, I prefer the White Sox logo on the '52, which just looks better in the yellow circle than it does in the black triangle on this '53.  It's close, but I'm going with the '53 due to the way Lollar's face is colored on the '52, it just looks too "pretty" for me.  The 53's take a 6-5 lead in this running tally.

"At the Oscars"

3x Gold Glove Winner '57, '58, '59

7x All-Star '50, '54-'60

World Series Ring with NYY '47

9th AL MVP voting '58

9th AL MVP voting '59 

10th AL RBI's '58

8th AL Doubles '56

2nd IBB '55

3rd IBB '61

6th IBB '62

7th IBB '59