Topps' Multi-Player Rookie Cards, 1962 to 1982

[deweyinthehall]

A recent thread on Bill Davis and his appearance on 5 consecutive multi-player rookie cards (MPRCs) in the 1960s prompted me to do an overview of this particular piece of Topps history.

For 21 years, from 1962 through 1982, Topps' sets contained some assortment of cards depicting "rookies", "prospects", "future stars" and so forth.

Note that in all that follows I am counting both George Korince and James Brown from 1967 - Brown's image appears on in Korince's slot in the 1st series, while a latter series card corrects the mistake and has Korince's actual photo. I am also counting both Butch Alberts and Butch Edge from 1980 - the Blue Jay's card that year features Edge's name and bio material, but Alberts' image.

In total, 1,335 individuals appeared across 1,593 slots which break out like this:

1962: 8 Rookie Parade cards, numbered 591-598, categorized by position and picturing 5 (x5) or 4 (x3) players (37 total slots)
1963: 20 4 player cards scattered throughout the set, not categorized by position or team. (80 slots)
1964: 53 2-player cards (by team), 2 2-player AL rookie cards and 2 2-player NL rookie cards. (114 slots)
1965: 44 2-player cards (by team), 4 3-player cards (by team), 5 4-player cards (by team), 1 3-player AL rookie card and 1 3-player NL rookie card (126 slots - the most of any year)
1966: 40 2-player cards (by team), 4 3-player cards (by team), 1 2-player NL card, and 1 2-player Major League card (96 slots)
1967: 39 2-player cards (by team), 3 2-player NL cards and 1 2-player AL card (86 slots)
1968: 27 2-player cards (by team), 2 2-player NL cards, 1 2-player ML card (60 slots)
1969: 41 2-player cards (by team), 7 3-player cards (by team), 2 3-player AL cards and 2 3-player NL cards (115 slots)
1970: 30 2-player cards (by team), 8 3-player cards (by team), 1 3-player AL card and 1 3-player NL card (90 slots)
1971: 32 2-player cards (by team), 4 3-player cards (by team), 3 3-player NL cards (by position), 1 3-player AL card (by position) and 2 3-player cards (by position) (100 slots)
1972: 7 2-player cards (by team), 19 3-player cards (by team), 1 3-player AL card and 2 3-player AL/NL cards (80 slots)
1973: 16 3-player cards (by position), numbered 601-616 (48 slots)
1974: 13 4-player cards (by position, numbered 596-608 (52 slots)
1975: 11 4-player cards (by position) numbered 614-624 (44 slots)
1976: 11 4-player cards (by position) numbered 589-599 (44 slots)
1977: 16 4-player cards (by position), numbered 472-479 and 487-494 (64 slots)
1978: 11 4-player cards (by position), numbered 701-711 (44 slots)
1979: 26 3-player cards (by team), numbered 701-726 (78 slots)
1980: 26 3-player cards (by team), numbered 661-686 (79 slots - see above on Edge/Alberts)
1981: 26 3-player cards (by team), random numbering (78 slots)
1982: 26 3-player cards (by team), random numbering (78 slots)

By team, by most slots to fewest (with the latter expansion clubs suffering lower numbers for obvious reasons), it goes like this:

Colts/Astros - 78
Orioles - 76
Red Sox - 75
Tigers - 75
Twins - 74
White Sox - 74
Indians - 72
Braves - 72
Yankees - 70
Dodgers - 70
Mets - 69
Cubs - 69
A's - 68
Pirates - 67
Reds - 65
Phillies - 65
Cardinals - 63
Senators/Rangers - 61
Angels - 60
Giants - 56
Padres - 48
Royals - 47
Expos - 43
Pilots/Brewers - 32
Blue Jays - 23 (see above on Edge/Alberts)
Mariners - 20

The Angels, with the second to lowest total of the 20 clubs around since 1962, have the highest single set count (pre-1979) with 11 rookies appearing in 1965.

Curiously, the Giants in 1968 had no MPRCs.

A total of 25 Hall of Famers are featured on MPRCs:
Gaylord Perry - 1963
Willie Stargell - 1963
Pedro (Tony) Oliva - 1963
Phil Niekro - 1964
Steve Carlton - 1965
Joe Morgan - 1965
Jim Hunter - 1965
Tony Perez - 1965
Fergie Jenkins - 1966
Don Sutton - 1966
Tom Seaver - 1967
Rod Carew - 1967
Johnny Bench - 1968
Nolan Ryan - 1968
Rollie Fingers - 1969
Carlton Fisk - 1972
Mike Schmidt - 1973
Jim Rice - 1975
Gary Carter - 1975
Andre Dawson - 1977
Paul Molitor - 1978
Alan Trammell - 1978
Jack Morris - 1978
Tim Raines - 1981
Cal Ripken - 1982

During this same time only 17 debuted on solo cards - Perry (see below), Brock, Palmer, Jackson, Blyleven, Simmons, Gossage, Winfield, Brett, Yount, Eckersley, Sutter, Murray, O. Smith, Henderson, Baines, L. Smith.

230 players make 2 appearances, 25 make 3 appearances, 1 (Dick Simpson) makes 4 and of course Bill Davis has a whopping 5.

Many players have gaps of a year or more between appearances, but Wally Wolf (1963, 1970) and Brock Davis (1963, 1971) are the most egregious.

For 277 players, their single appearance on a MPRC was their only appearance on a Topps card. However 279 appeared on at least 10 solo Topps cards, and the following on 20 or more:

Denny Martinez - 20
Tug McGraw - 20
Paul Molitor - 20
Joe Morgan - 20
Jerry Reuss - 20
Tom Seaver - 20
Charlie Hough - 21
Steve Carlton - 21
Carlton Fisk - 21
Joe Niekro - 21
Tony Perez - 21
Gaylord Perry - 21 (counts 1962 - see below)
Rusty Staub - 21
Phil Niekro - 22
Don Sutton - 22
Pete Rose - 24
Tommy John - 25
Nolan Ryan - 26

Nine players appeared on a solo card BEFORE appearing on a MPRC:
Don Pavletich - solo 1959, MPRC 1962
Duke Carmel - solo 1960, MPRC 1963
Gaylord Perry - solo 1962, MPRC 1963
Gary Peters - solo 1961 (J.C. Martin photo), MPRC 1963
Frank Bertaina - solo 1965, MPRC 1966
Jake Gibbs - solo 1962, MPRC 1964
Jim Hicks - solo 1967, MPRC 1969
Ray Barker - solo 1961, MPRC 1965
Julio Navarro - solo 1960,MPRC 1963

38 poor souls never once appeared in a major league game:
Jerry Robinson, Giants - 1963
Pete Jernigan, Red Sox - 1963
Bill Haas, Dodgers/Mets - 1963/1964
Steve Dalkowski, Orioles - 1963
Paul Speckenbach, Dodgers - 1964
Archie Skeen, Red Sox - 1964
Jack McClure, Astros - 1965
Jerry Vezendy, Red Sox - 1965
Joel Gibson, White Sox - 1965
Dennis Daboll, Dodgers - 1965
Pat Rogan, Angels - 1965
Dan Neville, Reds - 1965
Owen Johnson, Red Sox - 1966
James Brown, Tigers - 1967
Frank Peters, Orioles - 1968
Mickey Abarbanel, White Sox - 1968
Moe Ogier, Twins - 1968 (on opening day roster, sent down before seeing action)
George "Woody" Woodson, Indians - 1969
John Thibdeau, Red Sox - 1969
Billy Farmer, White Sox - 1970
Mike Olivo, A's - 1970
Tim Marting, Tigers - 1971
Jim Moyer, Indians - 1972
Jimmy Britton, Braves - 1972 (not Jim Britton - other guy)
Chris Floethe, A's - 1972
George Pena, Indians - 1973
Dan Vossler, Twins - 1974
Juan Veintidos, Twins - 1975
Art DeFilippis, Rangers - 1976
Eugenio Cotes, Pirates - 1979
Tim Norrid, Indians - 1979
Bob Slater, Angels - 1979
Ben Wiltbank, Pirates - 1979
Don Pisker, Astros - 1979
Greg Biercevicz, Mariners - 1979, 1981
Harry Saferight, Pirates - 1979 (called up in September, on deck as pinch hitter 3 times when last out made)
Pat Dempsey, A's - 1981
Dave Steffen, Tigers - 1981

5 players appeared for 3 different teams on MPRCs:

Bob Stinson - 1970 Dodgers, 1971 Cardinals, 1972 Astros
Bob Reynolds - 1971 Expos, 1972 Brewers, 1973 Orioles
George Spriggs - 1967 Pirates, 1968 Red Sox, 1969 Royals
Ron Stone - 1966 A's, 1968 Orioles, 1969 Phillies
Lou Piniella - 1964 Senators, 1968 Indians, 1969 Pilots

I can send anyone who wants it the spread sheet I made of all this, and I can post additional data from this overview if asked.

Two final thoughts:

The Pat Garrett who appeared on that 1966 hi-number Major League rookie stars card is Adrian Garrett who later played for the Angels, Cubs and A's.

The highest total of solo cards on a single MPRC card is the Ryan/Koosman card - combined, they appeared on 44 solo Topps cards.

[jason.1969]

Great work!!


Jason
Twitter: @heavyj28

[bb66]

Wow--that is some great info.Thanks for sharing this. And for your other helpful posts on the "60's sets!!!!

[stlcardsfan]

Very cool info, great research!

[JollyElm]

Wow...I tip my cap to you for this labor-intensive undertaking. And now it's spelled out for eternity. Well done!!

[JLange]

Thanks for sharing your research. Learned a lot!

[Bigdaddy]

Wow, thanks for sharing. Very interesting.

As I was reading down your post, I was wondering "How many of these guys never appeared in a Major League game?" But, by golly, you had already answered my question.

There is an interesting Wikipedia page on "Phantom Ballplayers" that mentions Harry Saferight and his 'Oh so close' time on the Pirates. Not sure if any others on your list show up in the Wikipedia article.

Thanks again.