After reading about the series between the 1930 Cubs and Dodgers that Brando and I did and seeing Babe Herman’s super human APBA card, Aaron Wilson emailed me and suggested that The APBA Blog write more about other monster APBA cards that are out there. I thought that was a great idea.
Hence, Monster Card Monday series is born. This is the first installment.
Some ‘monster’ APBA cards are legitimate superstars who have fantastic years. Others may be pitchers or bench warmers who make the most out of a few at-bats. The first edition of Monster Card Monday is a combination of both. Ted Williams is no doubt on everyone’s top ten list of best hitters of all time. However, in 1953, he only put in 37 games due to his service in the Korean War.
Boy, he really made those 37 games count. Thirteen homeruns and a .407 average in 91 at-bats. Here are his stats for 1953:
| G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 37 | 110 | 91 | 17 | 37 | 6 | 0 | 13 | 34 | 0 | 19 | 10 | .407 | .509 | .901 |
Wow, 34 rbis in 37 games. But what makes it interesting is that he stole 10 bases, too.
The Sox suffered without The Splendid Splinter in the lineup for most of the year. For the record, they didn’t play much better with Williams in the lineup in ‘53. They went 19-18. By the season’s end, Boston landed in 4th place, 16 games behind the Yankees. The Bleacher Report has a pretty decent article detailing the story of Williams and the year 1953.
Regardless, Ted Williams’ four 1s, six EBHs, and six 14s make this a pretty juicy card even if you can only play it for only 37 games.
For the record, this is the 1953 reprint version of Ted Williams. If anyone is lucky enough to own the original 1953 set, I’d be curious what his numbers are on that card.
Love it. My personal favorite is the legendary 1930 George “The Count” Puccinelli card with 3 HR and 9H in 16 AB.
Just wondering if any player’s card had power numbers greater then 6 on #44 and or #55?
(If I remember correctly, Al Simmons had a 6 on #44 & #55 in 1930)
I had 1998 Mark McGwire on my team. His card was awesome 1-1-1-5-5
“But what makes it interesting is that he stole 10 bases, too.”
Huh? Williams didn’t have any SBs in ’53. (If he did have 10 SBs that card would have at least a couple of 11s.)
doh!
no wonder it seemed weird to me. I think it was an issue of my mind seeing what wasn’t there. I’m used to the SB being at the end.
thx, Steve!
“Just wondering if any player’s card had power numbers greater then 6 on #44 and or #55?”
My origianl franchise all-stars Babe Ruth has 11=1, 22=5, 33=3, 44=5, 55=6
Dan
oops – and of cours 66=1
Lou Gehrig, 1927 NY Yankees Great Teams of the Past (1956 version):
66-1, 11-1, 33-3, 22-5, 44-5, 55-6, 15-6
Joe DiMaggio, 1937 NY Yankees Great Teams of the Past (1956 version):
66-1, 11-1, 33-3, 22-5, 44-5, 55-6