#580 Jim Northrup - Detroit Tigers

James Thomas Northrup
Detroit Tigers
Outfield

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'3"  Weight:  190
Born:  November 24, 1939, Breckenridge, MI
Signed:  Signed by the Detroit Tigers as an amateur free agent before 1960 season
Major League Teams:  Detroit Tigers 1964-74; Montreal Expos 1974; Baltimore Orioles 1974-75

World Series Appearances:  Detroit Tigers 1968
Died:  June 8, 2011, Grand Blanc, MI (age 71)

Slugger Jim Northrup played over a decade with the Tigers, hitting at least 10 home runs in eight different seasons and playing as the regular right fielder on the 1968 World Championship team.  He shifted to center field for the World Series, as Tigers' manager Mayo Smith (#40) moved regular center fielder Mickey Stanley (#13) to shortstop to replace the light-hitting Ray Oyler (#178).  Northrup led that Tigers squad in hits (153) and RBIs (90) and had a game-winning two-run triple off the Cardinals' Bob Gibson (#200) in the decisive Game 7 of the Series.  He hit four grand slams during the regular season and another in Game 6 of the World Series.  Northrup was dealt to the Expos in August 1974 and he'd play the last two seasons of his career with the Expos and Orioles.  Northrup collected 1,254 hits in the majors while batting .267 with 153 home runs and 610 RBIs.

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

Building the Set / Card #489
December 15, 2024 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)
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 had success the prior two shows at Uncle Dick's Cards with his well-organized, neon common binders, I opted to pull up a chair once again at the friendly dealer's array of tables.  The aim was simple:  Clear out Uncle Dick's 1969 Topps commons, starting off where I had left off the year before with card #501 and going through the end of the set, card #664.  In less than 25 minutes, I completed my quest, and this is the 45th of 98 commons pulled from the binder.  After a generous dealer discount due to my bulk purchase, this card cost me less than $2.

The Card / Tigers Team Set / Accuracy Index +5

This is most likely the only card from the 1969 Topps set to feature a tractor in the background.  There's a front office guy (maybe?) in a suit next to the tractor, just to make things a little more interesting.  This is Northrup's third and final appearance in the set, as he was featured on the American League RBI Leaders card (#3) and was front and center on the World Series Game 6 card (#167).  The back of the card highlights his career grand slams and shows his two World Series home run balls hitting a hapless cardinal in mid-flight.

Accuracy Index:  Northrup's card earns a +5 and sadly doesn't earn any extra points for the tractor cameo.

1969 Season
Northrup followed up his career year in 1968 with another solid season in 1969.  Now the team's regular center fielder, he batted .295 in 148 games, with a career-high 25 home runs and 66 RBIs.  Northrup was sixth in the American League with 31 doubles.  He led all Tigers position players with a 5.0 bWAR.  On August 28th, Northrup became the first Tiger since Ty Cobb to have a 6 for 6 game, capping the feat with a 13th-inning walk-off home run.

1965 Topps #259

1966 Topps #554

1968 Topps #78

1973 Topps #168

1975 Topps #641

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #259
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (11):  1965-75
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2004 Upper Deck Legends Timeless Teams #75
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards:  85 in the Beckett online database as of 3/21/25.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia

Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1965 Topps Blog

#579 Dave Nelson - Cleveland Indians / #581 Gary Nolan - Cincinnati Reds

#167 1968 World Series Game 6 - Tiger 10-Run Inning Ties Mark

The 1968 World series marked the last time two teams faced off in the Fall Classic without having to first advance via a playoff series.  With Major League Baseball expanding to 24 teams in 1969, the two leagues were split into four divisions and a League Championship Series would determine the World Series opponents between 1969 and 1993.

The Cardinals and Tigers were powerhouses in their respective leagues, easily advancing to the World Series.  This was a rematch of the 1934 World Series, when the Gashouse Gang of the Cardinals had bested the Tigers in seven games.  The Tigers would prevail this time, winning their first title since 1945, and their third World Series title overall as the Cardinals couldn't repeat after winning in 1967 against the Red Sox.

World Series cards were a key subset in Topps flagship sets throughout the 1960s and 1970s, with a card highlighting each game along with a series capping "Celebration" card.  Topps designed its World Series cards in its 1969 set to have the appearance of the front page of a newspaper, with The Sporting News getting some free publicity as the paper's banner.

Building the Set / Card #189
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 112th 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 a little over $3.

The Card / Tigers Team Set / Cardinals Team Set  

The Cardinals returned home to Busch Stadium for Game 6, on Wednesday, October 9th, needing one more win to repeat as World Series Champions.  Denny McLain (#150) was starting for the Tigers, facing off against Ray Washburn (#415) for the Cardinals.  Washburn had been the Game 3 winner for the Cardinals, but he had endured a shaky outing on the way to a 7-3 win.  McLain had already lost two World Series games, Game 1 and Game 4, and was back on short rest to try to keep the Tigers' season alive.  The 31-game winner and the eventual Cy Young and MVP winner for 1968 would pitch a complete game for the Tigers, allowing a run while striking out seven.

Washburn did not fare nearly as well, getting knocked out in the third inning with his team already trailing and the bases loaded.  Al Kaline's (#410) single chased Washburn and gave the Tigers a 3-0 lead.  Larry Jaster (#496) replaced Washburn and threw fuel onto the fire.  Norm Cash (#80) singled home Mickey Stanley (#13), putting runners at the corners and giving the Tigers a 4-0 lead.  Jaster walked Willie Horton (#180) to load the bases, and Jim Northrup (#580), who had already hit four regular season grand slams, launched a home run to deep right field, giving the Tigers a 8-0 advantage.  Three more runs would score and the game went to the bottom of the the third with the Tigers holding a commanding 12-0 lead.

The Tigers would eventually win the game, 13-1, forcing a Game 7.

Sources:

Baseball Reference / Wikipedia

#166 1968 World Series Game 5 / #168 1968 World Series Game 7

#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