#417 Ken Harrelson AS - Boston Red Sox

All-Star cards returned to Topps sets in 1968 under The Sporting News banner for a three-year run between 1968 and 1970.  Topps included 20 All-Star cards in its 1969 set, featuring 10 All-Stars from each league and one player from each position, including both a right-handed and left-handed pitcher.  

Building the Set / Card #557
December 15, 2024 from The Philly Show (Vintage Cardboard Collectibles)

On Sunday, December 15th, Doug and I attended the latest Philly Show, spaciously spread out inside Hall A of the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania.  I wrote a full show report over at The Phillies Room, including some thoughts on attending the show with our oldest son, who first graced the Philly Show floors back in 2012.

Having spent the first half hour or so pulling 98 commons and semi-stars from the neon green binder of Uncle Dick's Cards, and adding the big purchase of the day, the Rollie Fingers (#597) rookie card, and after adding a few more star cards, the remaining cash I had was starting to burn a hole in my wallet.  I had noticed the common/semi-star boxes at the tables of Vintage Cardboard Collectibles, and I found 14 more cards for our 1969 Topps set and six cards for our not-yet-officially collecting 1959 Topps set.  This is the 12th of those 14 cards.  After the obligatory dealer discount, I handed over the last of my cash, and we exited the show for the drive home.

The Card / Red Sox Team Set / Carl Yastrzemski Puzzle

This is Ken Harrelson's fourth and final appearance in the set, after having appeared on two League Leaders cards (#3 and #5) and his base card (#240).  He's in a Senators uniform on the League Leaders cards, and a Kansas City Athletics uniform on the latter two cards.  After enjoying an All-Star season with the Red Sox in 1968, Harrelson was surprisingly dealt to the Indians on April 19, 1969, as part of a six-player deal.  Harmon Killebrew (#375) started at first base for the American League All-Stars in 1968, with Harrelson making a pinch-hitting appearance in the game's third inning.  He flew to left against Don Drysdale (#400).  Boog Powell (#15) started at first in the 1969 All-Star Game, and it's odd Topps went with Harrelson here instead of Killebrew or Powell. 

The stock photo used in the background behind Harrelson has yet to be identified, but the article linked below figured out by combining the background photos on this card and Johnny Bench's All-Star card (#430), a full action scene showing a mystery play emerges.  The backs of these All-Star cards contain a puzzle piece of either Pete Rose (#120) or Carl Yastrzemski (#130).  The back of Harrelson's card features Yaz, Harrelson's former teammate by the time this card came out.

Topps All-Star Card Appearances (1):  1969

Sources:  
Baseball Reference

Sports Collectors Daily - Mistaken Identities

#416 Willie McCovey AS - San Francisco Giants / #418 Tommy Helms AS - Cincinnati Reds

#240 Ken Harrelson - Boston Red Sox

Kenneth Smith Harrelson
Boston Red Sox
First Base-Outfield

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'2"  Weight:  190
Born:  September 4, 1941, Woodruff, SC
Signed:  Signed by the Kansas City Athletics as an amateur free agent before 1959 season
Major League Teams:  Kansas City Athletics 1963-1966; Washington Senators 1966-1967; Kansas City Athletics 1967; Boston Red Sox 1967-1969; Cleveland Indians 1969-1971

World Series Appearances:  Boston Red Sox 1967

Before he was a long-time television broadcaster with the White Sox, and recipient of the 2020 Ford C. Frick Award for his contributions to baseball as a broadcaster, Ken "Hawk" Harrelson played nine seasons in the majors with the Athletics, Senators, Red Sox and Indians.  Never one to shy away from sharing his opinions, Harrelson's second stint with the Athletics came to an end in August 1967 when the team abruptly released him.  He had been quoted as calling Athletics' owner Charlie Finley "a menace to baseball" after the firing of popular manager Alvin Dark (#91).  Harrelson signed with the Red Sox where he'd see his only postseason play in the 1967 World Series.

His three seasons in Boston were the best of his career.  Harrelson was an All-Star in 1968, led the league in RBIs with 109 and finished third in MVP voting behind Denny McLain (#150) and Bill Freehan (#390).  He wrapped up his playing career with three seasons with the Indians and a broken leg suffered in the spring training 1970 cut down significantly on his playing time.  After retiring from baseball, Harrelson attempted a career as a professional golfer but he'd find his true calling as a broadcaster.  He was the play-by-play announcer for the Red Sox between 1975 and 1980, and joined the White Sox booth in 1981.  Following a brief stint in the White Sox front office, and working Yankees' broadcasts between 1987 and 1990, Harrelson returned to the White Sox broadcasting team where he announced games for 28 seasons between 1991 and 2018.

Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.

Building the Set / Card #235
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)

In mid-March, Doug and I attended the Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show, held within the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania.  My main focus for this show was accumulating as many 1969 Topps commons as possible, which I did by adding a grand total of 193 cards to our set.  That's almost 30% of the entire set added in one enjoyable afternoon.  I wrote a full summary of the show in a post over at The Phillies Room, found here.

This is the 158th of the 193 commons and semi-stars purchased, pulled and stacked from the first two neon green binders housing 1969 Topps cards at the multi-table spread of Uncle Dick's Cards from Babylon, New York.  My method was simple - I pulled up a chair, found a card I needed, picked the best of the group from the binder page and set it aside.  After each 100 cards, I'd ask the dealer to tell me how much damage I had done so far.  With a budget in mind, I kept going twice, continuing after card #100 and card #200, and stopping at card #298.  The final amount due was 17% off the sticker price for the pile of 193 cards, with this card costing me a little over $2.

The Card / Red Sox Team Set / Accuracy Index -8

Was Topps clever enough to purposely put Harrelson and Bob Taylor (#239), two players with the nickname "Hawk," back to back in the set?

Harrelson is clearly wearing an Athletics jersey here, a team he hadn't played for since the summer of 1967.  His insert in the Decals set at least tries to make it look as if he's wearing a Red Sox uniform.  this is also one of four appearances by Harrelson in the 1969 Topps set.  He's on two League Leaders cards (#3 and #5) and an American League All-Star card (#417).  Topps pays tribute to Harrelson's nickname with the swinging cartoon hawk on the back of the card.

Accuracy Index:  Harrelson drops to only a -8, but if I had set up my scoring system for a discretionary docking of points based on players obviously wearing the jerseys of their former teams, he would have definitely lost more points.

Inserts:  Harrelson is included in the 35 card Topps Deckle Edge insert set and is one of 48 decals in the Topps Decals insert set.  He's one of 27 players to appear in both insert sets.

1969 Season
The popular Harrelson was shockingly traded to the Cleveland Indians on April 19th, after having played in 10 games for the Red Sox over the first week-plus of the season.  Harrelson, Dick Ellsworth (#605) and Juan Pizarro (#498) were shipped to the Indians in exchange for Joe Azcue (#176), Vicente Romo (#267) and Sonny Siebert (#455).  Initially refusing to report to Cleveland, a meeting with then Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, among others, convinced Harrelson to accept the trade.  Harrelson settled in as the team's regular right fielder, batting .222 in 149 games, with 27 home runs and 84 RBIs.  He tied Tony Horton for the team lead in home runs, while Horton led the team with 93 RBIs.

1964 Topps #419

1966 Topps #55

1967 Topps #188

1968 Topps #566

1971 Topps #510

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1964 Topps #419
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (8):  1964-1971
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2020 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-KH
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards:  86 in the Beckett online database as of 2/11/24.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia

Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1965 Topps Blog

#239 Bob Taylor - Kansas City Royals / #241 Jim Brewer - Los Angeles Dodgers

#5 1968 A.L. Home Run Leaders - Frank Howard / Willie Horton / Ken Harrelson

Beginning in 1961, Topps started including league leader cards in its sets and there are 12 league leaders cards kicking off the 1969 Topps set.  League leader cards can be found at the beginning of each Topps set issued in 1963, 1964, 1965, 1968 and 1969.

Building the Set / Card #79
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)

In mid-March, Doug and I attended the Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show, held within the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania.  My main focus for this show was accumulating as many 1969 Topps commons as possible, which I did by adding a grand total of 193 cards to our set.  That's almost 30% of the entire set added in one enjoyable afternoon.  I wrote a full summary of the show in a post over at The Phillies Room, found here.

This is the second of the 193 commons and semi-stars purchased, pulled and stacked from the first two neon green binders housing 1969 Topps cards at the multi-table spread of Uncle Dick's Cards from Babylon, New York.  My method was simple - I pulled up a chair, found a card I needed, picked the best of the group from the binder page and set it aside.  After each 100 cards, I'd ask the dealer to tell me how much damage I had done so far.  With a budget in mind, I kept going twice, continuing after card #100 and card #200, and stopping at card #298.  The final amount due was 17% off the sticker price for the pile of 193 cards.  (This card was marked $2.50, but goes down as $2.08 in my tracking schedule.)  If I stick to composing posts five times a week, which may slip through the summer months, I should go through the stack and be caught up by the week of January 22, 2024!

The Card / Red Sox Team Set / Senators Team Set / Tigers Team Set

A number of the league leaders cards in the 1969 set lack serious star power, and this card is no exception.  The same three teams featured on the A.L. RBI Leaders card (#3) are repeated here, with Frank Howard (#170) and Ken Harrelson (#240) making their second appearances, and Willie Horton (#180) replacing Jim Northrup (#580).  As shown on the back, Northrup had 21 home runs in 1968, and four of those were grand slams, which helped propel him onto the RBI Leaders card.

All three sluggers shown here hit their career high marks in 1968 for home runs.  44 home runs were a career high for Howard, and he'd match the total while leading the league again in 1970.  Horton also reached his career high with 36 home runs, and this would be the closest he'd ever come to leading the league.  He'd finish within the top 10 in five different seasons between 1965 and 1979.  Harrelson, most likely wearing a Senators uniform in this photo, would hit 30 home runs in 1969, then only six more home runs in 1970 and 1971.

#4 1968 N.L. RBI Leaders / #6 1968 N.L. Home Run Leaders

#3 1968 A.L. RBI Leaders - Ken Harrelson / Frank Howard / Jim Northrup

Beginning in 1961, Topps started including league leader cards in its sets and there are 12 league leaders cards kicking off the 1969 Topps set.  League leader cards can be found at the beginning of each Topps set issued in 1963, 1964, 1965, 1968 and 1969.

Building the Set / Card #78
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)

Here we go!  In mid-March, Doug and I attended the Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show, held within the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania.  My main focus for this show was accumulating as many 1969 Topps commons as possible, which I did by adding a grand total of 193 cards to our set.  That's almost 30% of the entire set added in one enjoyable afternoon.  I wrote a full summary of the show in a post over at The Phillies Room, found here.

This is the first of the 193 commons and semi-stars purchased, pulled and stacked from the first two neon green binders housing 1969 Topps cards at the multi-table spread of Uncle Dick's Cards from Babylon, New York.  My method was simple - I pulled up a chair, found a card I needed, picked the best of the group from the binder page and set it aside.  After each 100 cards, I'd ask the dealer to tell me how much damage I had done so far.  With a budget in mind, I kept going twice, continuing after card #100 and card #200, and stopping at card #298.  The final amount due was 17% off the sticker price for the pile of 193 cards.  (This card was marked $2.50, but goes down as $2.08 in my tracking schedule.)  If I stick to composing posts five times a week, which may slip through the summer months, I should go through the stack and be caught up by the week of January 22, 2024!

The Card / Red Sox Team Set / Senators Team Set / Tigers Team Set

A number of the league leaders cards in the 1969 set lack serious star power, and this card is no exception.  This is the only time Ken Harrelson (#240) would lead the league in RBIs, eclipsing Frank Howard (#170) by three.  Harrelson sat on 109 for the final week of the season, as his last RBI came during the game of September 21st, with seven more games to go.  This is also the only time Harrelson would finish in the top 10 of the cartegory during his nine-year playing career.  Howard crossed the 100-RBI plateau on September 12th, and then he'd add just four more over the final weeks of the season.  He had at least 100 RBIs in four different seasons, and would lead the league with 126 in 1970.

90 RBIs was a career high for the Tigers' Jim Northrup (#580), and like Harrelson, 1968 was the only year he'd finish in the league's top ten for the mark.  Curt Blefary (#458), Bobby Knoop (#445) and John Roseboro (#218) all had 39 RBIs in 1968 and just missed the cut for inclusion on the back of this card.

#2 1968 N.L. Batting Leaders / #4 1968 N.L. RBI Leaders