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Herbert Jude Score
Cleveland Indians
Pitcher
Born: June 7, 1933, Rosedale, NY
Signed: Signed by the Cleveland Indians as a free agent, June 7, 1952
Major League Teams: Cleveland Indians 1955-1959; Chicago White Sox 1960-1962
Died: November 11, 2008, Rocky River, OH (age 75)
Herb Score was the 1955 American League Rookie of the Year, and a 20-game winner the following season before a scary on field incident in 1957 altered his career trajectory. Score led the league in strikeouts his first two seasons with 245 in 1955 and a career high 263 in 1956. He rocketed to stardom early, joining a dominant pitching staff that already had Early Wynn (#187) and Bob Lemon (#255), and Score appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated on May 30, 1955. On May 7, 1957, Score was hit with a line drive off the bat of Gil McDougald (#225), missing the rest of the season. He returned in 1958 but tore a tendon in his arm, limiting him to just 12 games. A trade at the start of the 1960 season sent Score to the White Sox, where he'd pitch the final three years of his career.
After retiring as a player, Score pivoted to the broadcast booth, where he announced Indians games for 34 years between 1964 and 1997. A fan favorite, he was inducted into the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame in 2006.Building the Set
October 3, 1999 in Raleigh, NC - Card #186
We bought this card on October 3rd at the Raleigh Sports Card Show, and it ended up being part of a birthday present to me from my Dad. I was still living in Raleigh in late 1999, and my parents made the trip south to visit me for my birthday. We bought 8 cards that day (that I knew about) paying $5 for six of the cards, including this Score card, and $2 for the Grady Hatton (#26) and Danny O'Connell (#272) cards. Unbeknownst to me, my Dad also purchased the Sandy Koufax card (#79) but he squirreled that one away until Christmas morning 1999.
From the back of a checklist from this time period, my notes show we were simultaneously collecting the 1972 Topps set during this timeframe.
The Card / Indians Team Set
I imagine this would have been a highly desirable card when found in series two packs during the summer of 1956, given Score was the reigning American League Rookie of the Year and this was his first readily available baseball card. For the record, the reigning National League Rookie of the Year was the Cardinals' Bill Virdon (#170). The back of the card mentions his rookie strikeout record. His 245 strikeouts in 1955 easily eclipsed the mark set by the Phillies' Grover Cleveland Alexander in 1911 who had 227 strikeouts. And Dwight Gooden easily eclipsed Score's mark with 276 strikeouts in 1984. Sadly, due to the injuries mentioned above, the Hall of Fame induction imagined in the final panel never came to fruition.
From the back of a checklist from this time period, my notes show we were simultaneously collecting the 1972 Topps set during this timeframe.
The Card / Indians Team Set
I imagine this would have been a highly desirable card when found in series two packs during the summer of 1956, given Score was the reigning American League Rookie of the Year and this was his first readily available baseball card. For the record, the reigning National League Rookie of the Year was the Cardinals' Bill Virdon (#170). The back of the card mentions his rookie strikeout record. His 245 strikeouts in 1955 easily eclipsed the mark set by the Phillies' Grover Cleveland Alexander in 1911 who had 227 strikeouts. And Dwight Gooden easily eclipsed Score's mark with 276 strikeouts in 1984. Sadly, due to the injuries mentioned above, the Hall of Fame induction imagined in the final panel never came to fruition.
Score's reprinted Topps rookie card can be found in the following sets: 2001 Topps Archives and Archives Reserve, 2001 Topps Team Topps Autographs and 2002 Topps Archives.
1956 Season
Score continued his dominance, appearing in 35 games and going 20-9 with a 2.53 ERA with 16 complete games and 5 shutouts. Wynn and Lemon also both won 20 games. He became the first player in modern baseball history to strike out more than 200 batters in his first two seasons, and he pitched a scoreless eighth inning in the 1956 All-Star Game. His 7.5 WAR for the year was third in the American League behind Wynn's 8.4 and Mickey Mantle's (#135) 11.2.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1956 Topps #140
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (7): 1956-1962
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2009 Tristar Obak #68
84 - Score non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 2/10/21.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
1956 Season
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First Mainstream Card: 1956 Topps #140
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (7): 1956-1962
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2009 Tristar Obak #68
84 - Score non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 2/10/21.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
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