I'll tell you, I am having way too much fun designing cards from
the 1950's for this thread! I may have to consider expanding my
"redesigns" and custom cards in the future, when I've exhausted the
1970's!
For today's entry into the imagined 1975 Cy Young sub-set, we come
to 1955, and two future Hall of Fame pitchers who did not have cards in
the 1955 Topps set: Whitey Ford of the New York Yankees and Robin
Roberts of the Philadelphia Phillies.
So, before I could create a 1955 Cy Young winners card for the 1975 set, I had to design the two 1955 cards for the players.
Take a look at these first:
Now take a look at the two cards placed onto the sub-set card:
Not bad if I say so myself…
As stated earlier on this thread, these are Cy Young award winners
as speculated by the people at SABR in an article from the early 1990's
that always stuck with me.
For Whitey Ford, this would have been the first of three Cy Young
awards had their been an award before 1956, and had there been an award
for each league instead of just one between 1956 and 1966.
All Whitey did in 1955 was go 18-7, with the 18 wins leading the
league, as well as a fine 2.63 E.R.A. along with 18 complete games and
five shutouts. He even threw in two saves for good measure!
For Roberts, this is the second time we see him in this thread, as
he was the assumed winner in 1952 with his monster season where he went
28-7.
In 1955, he had another great year, going 23-14, with the 23 wins
leading the league. He also posted an E.R.A. of 3.28 while leading the
National league with 26 complete games and 305 innings pitched.
Funny enough, he also managed to also throw in a few saves as well, totaling three in addition to his 23 wins.
Two future Hall of Fame inductees in the prime of their careers.
Next up on this thread, we have the very first Cy Young Award
winner, Don Newcombe of the Brooklyn Dodgers, as well as who SABR
figured would have won the award for the American League, young
flame-throwing phenom Herb Score of the Cleveland Indians.
