Wednesday, May 24, 2023

VINTAGE SPECIAL! "MISSING" 1954 WILSON'S FRANKS EARLY WYNN

On the blog this fine day, a "missing" 1954 Wilson's Franks card for the great Early Wynn, adding to my all-time favorite "odd-ball" set over the next few months:


The set is extremely popular for vintage collectors, and rightly so, sporting such a great design against solid color backgrounds, perfectly representing the era.
Oddly, the set had both superstars and middle-of-the-road players in it's limited 20-card set, ranging from uber-stars like ted Williams to White Sox outfielder Johnny Groth, so I figured I'd add the biggest stars of the game that are missing for fun.
Wynn's Major League romp towards 300 career wins didn't really pick up steam until he was 30-years old and a member of the Cleveland Indians in 1950, as he posted an 18-8 record with a league-leading 3.20 earned run average.
From then on he was hovering around 20-wins every year for the next ten years, topping the mark five times.
In 1959, now a member of the "Go-Go" Chicago White Sox, Wynn anchored the staff that led the team to a World Series appearance against the eventual champs, the Los Angeles Dodgers, by posting a 22-10 record, leading the league in wins and copping a Cy Young Award at the age of 39.
However, the struggle to get that elusive 300th win is now well-documented, as he hung on for the next four years until he got that final victory in 1963 at the age of 43, thus joining the exclusive club and pretty much sealing his Cooperstown induction in his fourth year of eligibility, getting 76% of the BBWA vote.
All told, Wynn finished his 23-year career with a 300-244 record, with a 3.54 E.R.A., 49 shutouts and 2334 strikeouts in 691 games, 611 of which were starts, and was named to seven all-star teams.