In 1976, Topps had the Sporting News All Time All Stars. For me at age 11, what that did was open me up to a new realm of statistics. Prior to that the only stats, (yearly and career numbers) I had ever seen was on the back of Topps cards from 1971 to 1975. To see Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Ted Williams numbers, full stats, stats dating back to the 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, was an fascinating sight to me. This evolved into me wanting to know what was the greatest year in baseball history. What I did was compare stats on the back of the cards against each other (AB, Runs, Hits, 2B, 3B, HR, RBI, AVG). Who won the most categories was the winner.
I created a tournament among the TSN all-time all-stars – I picked what years I thought were the best years for Ruth(1927) Williams (1941) Cobb (1911) etc… and had them compete. I remember who won - Rogers Hornsby 1922 - because I wrote that down on a box I kept my cards in for years
I decided to recreate the tournament and expand it to see if Rogers Hornsby 1922 season will still win.
I have decided to expand it to a 32 card+ tournament (which will be heavy pre-1981 - before the backs of cards were expanded to include slug pct etc…..)
In addition to the above 4 players:
I have decided to include George Brett (1980), Suzuki (2004), Manny Ramirez (1999), Barry Bonds (2001), Sammy Sosa (1998), Albert Pujols (2006). Miguel Cabrera (2012).
For the Old Timers I have included: Mickey Mantle (1956), Willie Mays (1965), Hank Aaron (1959), Johnny Bench (1970), Frank Robinson (1966), Yaz (1967), Reggie Jackson (1969), Pete Rose (1973), Rod Carew (1977), Roberto Clemente (1966), Willie McCovey (1969), Harmon Killebrew (1969), Ernie Banks (1958), Willie Stargell (1971), Stan Musial (1948)
The other TSN All Stars – Mickey Cochrane (1932), Pie Traynor (1923), Honus Wagner (1900) Lou Gehrig (1931)
There is also a play in tournament (I could not limit it 32 great years/players)
Play in Tournament A
Griffey (1997) vs Arod (2002), and Walker (1997) vs Helton (2000), winners meet and that winner will go against Hornsby (1922)
Play in Tournament B
Mathews (1953) vs Snider (1954) and the winner meets Schmidt (1981) and that winner meets McCovey (1969)
Ricky Henderson does not appear in the tournament because stolen bases were not on the back of the card until 1981. Sorry Joe DiMaggio there are no Topps card with your stats
*What happens if there is a tie, I recall that both players would advance and go against the winner (s) of the other bracket.
(If that does not produce a winner then the tie breaker will be batting average.)
Back of the Baseball Card Stat Tournament
THE BRACKETS
Hornsby |
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| Mantle |
Play in A |
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| Pujols |
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Cochrane |
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| Brett |
Bench |
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| Clemente |
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Cobb |
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| Aaron |
Musial |
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| Banks |
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Gehrig |
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| Mays |
Suzuki |
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| Bonds |
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Ruth |
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| Rose |
Sosa |
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| Stargell |
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Traynor |
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| Jackson |
Carew |
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| Killebrew |
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Williams |
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| Yaz |
Ramirez |
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| Cabrera |
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Wagner |
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| McCovey |
Robinson |
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| Play in B |
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I kept the TSN All Stars on the left side or the bracket. The bottom right is flooded with mostly players from my youth. Top right is mostly players from the 1960s. I wanted to give Stan the Man a difficult path because I have a sneaky suspicion, he might beat Hornsby.
Let the games begin
