Today we move out into the outfield for my "All-Decade" team of the 1960's, as a sub-set in Topps 1970 set.
Would have been a nice reflection on the past decade for the otherwise bland set.
The first set of outfielders are two future Hall of Famers that lit it up during the 1960's: Carl Yastrzemski and Hank Aaron.
Take a look at my card design:
Yastrzemski was at the height of the baseball world by the end of
the 1960's, coming off of a Triple Crown and M.V.P. in 1967 when it
seems like the threw the entire city of Boston on his back and carried
them to the World Series against the Cardinals,
and then followed it up with his third batting title in 1968 and his
second 40 home run season in 1969.
During the decade, "Yaz" won three batting titles, lead the
American League in 20 primary offensive categories, won five Gold Gloves
and had four top-10 finishes in M.V.P. Voting.
For Aaron, there's really no need to get into with one of the All-Time best, but let's do it anyway.
For the decade, all Aaron did was score over 100 runs a season
every year but 1968 (the "year of the pitcher"), hit over 40 homers five
times, drive in over 100 runs six times, and lead the National league
in primary offensive categories 17 times.
He was an All-Star every single season, and finish in the top-10 in M.V.P. voting seven times.
The man was a machine, and it was that consistency that lead to his
massive lifetime totals in almost every offensive category: homers,
runs batted in, runs scored, hits, total bases, you name it.
On top of all of that, the 1960's brought out the "speed" in Aaron,
as he totaled double digits in stolen bases nine time during the
decade, the ONLY times he stole as much in his entire 23 year career.
A fantastic outfield duo to kick-off the position on this thread!
Next up, the dynamic duo of Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays. About as good as it gets right there…
