Maury Wills Rookie Card...
 

Just some food for thought.

We've all heard through the years how strange it was that it took many years for Maury Wills to finally appear on a Topps card, because of licensing issues and whatnot (no need to rehash it here). Conventional wisdom has always pointed to the 1963 Fleer offering as being his 'rookie card,' which is weird because he had already been in the league since 1959. As unorthodox as it is (and yes, I'm being a bit facetious), shouldn't this 1960 card be considered his 'rookie' card??? I mean, Luis Aparicio has nothing but a cameo role in this cardboard movie...

Attachment 443653

It's probably more of a pre-rookie, but I like your thinking!

Bell Brand and Morrell Meats Dodgers cards were years before the Fleer.

Interesting
 

I've never collected nor studied the set in question, but what is odd to me is that Aparicio did not steal a base in Game 5-- per Baseball reference, his only swipe was in Game 4. He was retired at second base twice in Game 5, but Charlie Neal took the throw each time. Hmm.

Also interesting is that the back of the card states the only run of the game was unearned. It was not in fact unearned.

Tod---stop clouding the issue with facts :)

Fixed it...

Attachment 443675

Another angle, from Game 4 per the Los Angeles Times:
https://photos.imageevent.com/imover...e/download.jpg

Great work Darren and Todd!!!!

This must be the first time he gets his name on a card. It's a 1960 Bell Brand.

Are we sure he only flashed leather?

It wasn't a licensing issue with Wills
 

Wills attended a Detroit Tigers camp. He was the only prospect Topps did not sign in the Camp. Their scout thought he was not Major League material. He was returned to the Dodgers. Wills resented he was not originally signed and held out from Topps his first few years after he made the Majors. Players received a nominal fee from Topps along with some crap from a catalog.

And strange that Topps included his non-card from 1962 as part of their 1975 MVP sub-set.

As a youngster in the early 60s, growing up around a lot of Dodger fans, why he wasn’t in our sets was a much discussed mystery in our schoolyard. Discovering his Fleer card was a big deal but we still were perplexed by his absence in Topps

His first nationally distributed card would be 1961 Post

His first card is the 1957 Seattle Popcorn card showing him in the minor leagues.

Most don't realize he has 2 different cards in the 1957 Seattle Popcorn issue. There is his regular 2' x 3" card found in the boxes of popcorn...

http://starsofthediamond.com/57seattlewills.jpg

That same year you could bring in (9) small cards to a Gil's Drive-In and get an 8 x10 picture of a Rainiers player (these are pretty tough to find)...

http://starsofthediamond.com/seattlepopwills810.jpg

Also, on the almost impossible to find list is his 1957 Hygrade Meats Rainiers card as well, a card I would love to pick up :)

For Angelenos it is the 1960 Bell.