For collectors of a certain vintage, postseason cards were a regular occurrence in each year’s Topps set. For example, here is card 413 from my first year of collecting, 1978.
Even though the card memorialized a dark day for Dodger fans like myself, it was still a thrill to pull the card. First off, it was Reggie. But more importantly, it was the World Series, an event my eight-year-old self regarded with a reverence well above that of the Moon landing, the Big Bang, and even the invention of sliced bread.
As it turned out, the World Series card was far less a time-honored checklist fixture than I’d imagined. For example, there were none in the next two Topps sets. Additionally, I came to learn from card shows and a careful read of the Beckett & Eckes Sport Americana Price Guide that the inveterate past I’d imagined for these cards was more hollow than hallowed. In fact, Topps did not even introduce its first postseason subset until 1960!
In this article, we’ll take a look at the 1960 Topps World Series subset, focusing on five fun facts.
FACT ONE: Maury Wills makes his Topps debut in this set!
Dodger legend Maury Wills made his major league debut with the Dodgers in 1959 and won an MVP award in 1962, but his base cards were conspicuously absent from the Topps checklist until 1967! (There is a fun story behind this that you can read up on elsewhere.)
Fortunately, for the Wills collectors out there, Maury made a prominent cameo in the 1960 Topps World Series subset on card 389, depicting a Luis Aparicio stolen base.
FACT TWO: Seeing isn’t believing!
If this same card is to be believed, we are looking at the speedy Aparicio sliding safely into second base just ahead of the throw from Los Angeles catcher Johnny Roseboro. Given that Game 5 was decided by a 1-0 score, we might presume this steal figured prominently in the Sox victory. However, there is a problem with that theory. Check the Game 5 box score, and the steal never happened!
What do you mean it never happened? We even have the source image! Well, it turns out that the image and the steal it depicts occurred in Game 4! Lucky for Topps, young collectors didn’t have the internet back then to help them catch such trickery.
FACT THREE: Charley Neal was Him
Dodgers second baseman Charley Neal was not the MVP of the World Series, but he might have been the MVP of the 1960 Topps set, appearing on a (then) record four cards! In addition to his pair from the World Series subset, he also had a base card and an all-star card.
In case you’re wondering how long Neal’s record lasted, the answer is not long at all. A certain Yankee slugger did him one better the very next year!
FACT FOUR: That random guy is Joe Becker
The final card in the 1960 Topps World Series subset shows the victorious Dodgers engaged in post-game locker room debauchery. Front and center is a Dodger who neither collected a hit nor got anyone out in the Series. In fact, his last major league game was played in 1937! All but the most ardent Dodger fans, then and now, therefore would be forgiven for having no idea who he was.
The man under the shower of suds was in fact Joe Becker, the Dodgers pitching coach from 1955 to 1970, a stretch that completely spanned the careers of Dodger aces Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale. Becker can be found a second time on the 1960 Topps checklist as part of the team coaches card. His expression is not exactly jovial.
FACT FIVE: These cards were NOT the first Topps World Series subset!
Wait, what?! Well, in truth, it may depend on how one defines “subset.” Way back in 1948, before most collectors realized Topps was even a company, Topps issued a large multi-subject set of “Magic Photo” cards. The vast majority of the set had nothing to do with baseball, but 19 of the cards did. Among the 19 were five dedicated to the 1948 World Series.
These cards are light on detail, but the two cards known as “Cleveland Indians 4-1” and “Cleveland Indians 4-3” reference games 2 and 6 respectively. (If really old World Series cards are your thing, see my SABR article on the subject.)
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With the 2024 World Series just about in our rear view window, I hope you enjoyed this look back on the first (or maybe second!) time Topps honored the Fall Classic with its own subset. In the pre-Internet, pre-Topps NOW era, these sorts of cards were not only a fun way for collectors to relive the past year’s postseason but, in some cases, even find out who won!