TURN BACK THE CLOCK 1953: BOBO TOSSES NO-NO IN MLB DEBUT!

Today we have a 1973 “Turn Back the Clock” 20th Anniversary card for quite possibly one of the most interesting and unexpected no-hitters the game has ever seen: Bobo Hollomon’s no-no against the Philadelphia Athletics on May 6th.
Take a look at the card:

Improbable, historically odd, and “kind of” ugly, the no-hitter was achieved in Hollomon’s very first start in the Major Leagues.
But there’s so much more to this story: in beating the Athletics 6-0, Hollomon also went 2-3 with three runs batted in at the plate. These would be the only hits Hollomon would get in his Major League career.
About this career, it turns out it would last 22 games, all in 1953! Yep, he throws a no-hitter in his first start, gets beat up in his subsequent start, then performs poorly the rest of the way to end up with a 3-7 career record, with a 5.23 earned run average and 25 K’s over 65.1 innings of work.
In that no-hitter, Hollomon walked five batters, struck out only three, and according to accounts of the game, Athletics players made hard contact many times over the course of the game, only to find that there was a St. Louis Browns player right there to snare the ball.
Hollomon is STILL the only modern player to achieve this feat to this day, although there were two pitchers before the mound was moved back to 60’ 6” who also did the same: Bumpus Jones and Ted Breitenstein.
Incredible.

TURN BACK THE CLOCK 1953: MICKEY MANTLE SENDS ONE INTO ORBIT! A 565-FOOT BLAST

Here’s a “Turn Back the Clock” card for something I was always fascinated with as a kid going through Baseball Digests and baseball history gems: Mickey Mantle’s 565-foot home run hit against the Washington Senators.
Check it out:

Mantle’s homer came off of Senators pitcher Chuck Stobbs at Griffith Stadium in Washington D.C. On April 17th of 1953.
It was THE homer that led to the phrase “Tape Measure Home Run”, since former Yankees public relations man Arthur Patterson claims to have measured where the ball landed to the edge of the stadium with an actual tape measure after retrieving the ball from a 10-year old boy.
Over the years many have claimed this story false, and that the ball could not have traveled that far.
Regardless, the monster shot hit the “Natty Boh” sign in straight-away centerfield and glanced off onto the streets behind the stadium, allegedly ina backyard on Oakdale Lane.
Many agree the ball did indeed travel about 500-feet, which is still a whopper of a homer, but it was the historical legacy the shot left behind, frequently showing up in baseball books and magazines for decades to come that made it so memorable, and added to the mythical stature of a guy named Mickey Mantle.

TURN BACK THE CLOCK 1953: THE YANKEES WIN THEIR FIFTH STRAIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP

Today’s “Turn Back the Clock” moment is a 20th anniversary card for a record that still stands today: The New York Yankees winning their fifth straight World Series, beating the Brooklyn Dodgers in six games.
Here’s a card design based off the 1973 template:

The Yanks went 99-52, easily taking home their 20th American League pennant with an 8.5 game lead over second place Cleveland.
Once in the Fall Classic, they faced their National League nemesis Brooklyn Dodgers, who took them to seven games in the previous year’s series.
But the Yankees would prevail, taking home their unprecedented FIFTH straight crown, topping the four straight of the 1936-1939 Yankees.
With a balanced attack at the plate from guys like Mantle, Berra and Gil McDougald, and a pitching staff that had five pitchers chip-in 13 or more wins (Ford, Raschi, Lopat, Sain and Reynolds), this wasn’t the “usual” Bronx Bomber team which would have a stand-out offensive or pitching great leading the way. This was more of a “team-effort” than most of the other championships.
Anyway, I remember when Alfonso Soriano hit that dang homer off Curt Schilling in the seventh game of the World Series in 2001, thinking “Holy crap they’re going to win their fourth straight series”, only to be GROSSLY disappointed. Yet that would have been four straight, with another series win in 2002 to even MATCH this team’s accomplishment, let alone try to break the record with SIX straight. Crazy.
Granted with the playoffs (heck, the EXPANDED playoffs), it’s tougher to find yourself in the Series these days than in 1953, But nevertheless five straight is something else!
I’m sure non-Yankee fans were not too pleased though!

1975 "CY YOUNG AWARD" SUB-SET: WHAT IF? 1953

Next up on my "what if" Cy Young Award 1975 sub-set thread are the 1953 picks by the fine people at SABR: Warren Spahn in the National League and Bob Porterfield in the American league.

First off here's my design for the '53 entry in my imagined set. I was lucky there wasn't too much work to do here since both players were included in Topps set that year. Take a look:

So let's start off with what was the "gimmie" choice that year, Warren Spahn.

All the legendary lefthander did that year for the Braves was post a 23-7 record to go along with a 2.10 earned run average, both league leading numbers.

On top of that Spahn had 24 complete games and five shutouts for a team that finished 92-62, good for second place in their first year in Milwaukee after relocating from Boston over the off-season.

He was the top vote-getter for pitchers that year in the N.L., good for a fifth place finish.

Funny enough, just behind him in sixth place for M.V.P. voting was Phillies pitcher Robin Roberts, the 1952 "assumed" Cy winner.

It was Spahn's fifth 20-win season of his career, on his way to an astounding 13!!

And don't forget, Spahn didn't pitch his first full season of big-league ball until he was 25 years old because of military service between 1943-1945.
One can only imagine how many more wins he would have added to his career number of 363 if he had the chance to pitch 3+ more full-years in the Majors.

Just incredible.

The 1953 Topps Spahn card is one of my favorites, and I clearly remember the day I scored mine years ago at a local card show.

I must have bought about two-dozen cards that day, but that '53 Spahn was my highlight!

Anyway, onto what turns out to be another relatively easy pick for a Cy Young in 1953, the guy SABR picked for the American League: Washington Senators pitcher Bob Porterfield.

Entering his sixth season in the big leagues, Porterfield had a great year for a .500 team that finished fifth in the A.L., going 76-76, posting league-leading numbers of 22 wins, 24 complete games and nine shutouts to go along with a 3.35 E.R.A. and a .688 winning percentage.

Some could have made the argument for Mel Parnell of the Boston Red Sox being the "winner" in the A.L. that year, after posting a 21-8 record to go along with a 3.06 earned run average for a team that went 84-69, good for fourth place.

Some may even want to argue that Billy Pierce of the Chicago White Sox (my personal pick) should be the "virtual" winner.

All Pierce did that season was guide the White Sox to a 3rd place finish in the American league with a record of 18-12 to go along with a second-best E.R.A. of 2.72 (behind Eddie Lopat of the Yankees).

Pierce would also lead the league in 1953 with 186 strikeouts and post 19 complete games and seven shutouts.

But looking back, it seems that Porterfield's 22 wins and nine shutouts pulled him away from the pack.

Porterfield was kind of a "one-year wonder", as he was never able to have a season like 1953 before or after in his career.

His next highest win total over the course of his 12 year career would be 13, which he garnered in 1952 and 1954.

As a matter of fact, his 22 wins in 1953 would pretty much represent 25% of his career total of 87 wins lifetime. And his nine shutouts that year were a big chunk of the 23 lifetime shutouts he'd post in the big leagues as well.

Next up on this "Cy Young" fantasy-fest: 1954, featuring a Hall of Famer in Cleveland Indian Bob Lemon and a custom designed card by yours truly), and New York Giant breakout star Johnny Antonelli.
Keep an eye out for it...