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Early Wynn
Cleveland Indians
Pitcher
Born: January 6, 1920, Hartford, AL
Signed: Signed by the Washington Senators as an amateur free agent before 1937 season
Major League Teams: Washington Senators 1939, 1941-1944, 1946-1948; Cleveland Indians 1949-1957; Chicago White Sox 1958-1962; Cleveland Indians 1963
Hall of Fame Induction: 1972
Died: April 4, 1999, Venice, FL (age 79)
One of the game's toughest competitors, Early Wynn used a blazing fastball and his willingness to pitch inside to batters, more than occasionally hitting them, to craft a Hall of Fame career. Wynn began his career with the Senators and enjoyed an 18-win season in 1943 when he first crossed the 200-inning plateau and led the league with 33 games started. He made his first All-Star team in 1947, but his career really took off after a December 1948 trade sent him to the Indians. With Cleveland, Wynn was part of one of the strongest starting pitching rotations in the game's history, joining Bob Feller (#200), Mike Garcia (#210) and Bob Lemon (#255). Wynn was a 20-game winner in four seasons with the Indians, winning an ERA title in 1950 and helping the club reach the World Series in 1954. His best seasons came in 1955 and 1956. Wynn was 20-9 in 1956 with a 2.72 ERA in 35 starts. A blockbuster trade that saw Minnie Minoso (#125) head to the Indians sent Wynn to the White Sox for the 1958 season.
With the White Sox, Wynn won the Cy Young Award in 1959, going 22-10 with a 3.17 ERA and leading the league with 255 2/3 innings pitched. He'd again reach the World Series, but the White Sox would fall to the Dodgers in six games. Wynn would pitch through the 1963 season, signing with the Indians that June in an attempt to win his 300th career game. He finally reached the milestone on July 13th and was released following the season. Wynn was a nine-time All-Star. He retired with a career record of 300-244 over 691 games pitched with an ERA of 3.54. His 4,564 innings pitched are currently 22nd all-time, his strikeout total of 2,334 is 54th all-time, and he's ranked 21st all time in shutouts with 49. He'd later serve as the pitching coach for the Indians (1964-1966) and Twins (1967-1969) and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1972.
Building the Set
Summer of 1983 or 1984 in Millville, NJ - Card #8
This Wynn card was one of the Original 44 and the last time I told the full story of the Original 44 was over a year ago within the Ed Mathews (#107) post, so I'll repeat it again here. This is one of eight Hall of Famers from the Original 44 and the next Hall of Famer coming up is Larry Doby (#250).
Technically speaking, my Dad and I actually began collecting the set in the summer of 1987, but this card (along with the other Original 44) first entered my collection three or four years before that.
I think it was either the summer of 1983 or 1984 when a shoebox of vintage baseball cards, football cards and a few non-sports cards arrived into my world. The box contained about a hundred cards dating between 1950 and 1956, and for the most part, they were all in excellent shape. A friend of the family was in the process of cleaning up and moving into her new house when she found the old shoebox and she wondered if the only kid she knew who collected baseball cards (me) would be interested in looking through it – maybe even taking the box off her hands.
She dropped the box off to my parents and asked them to have me look through the box and take what I was interested in. Turns out, I was interested in everything. Up to that point, the oldest cards in my collection were cards from the early '70s I had obtained through trades or cards that my Dad had picked up for me at yard sales or small baseball card shows. (My Dad had given me a few dog-earred and rough Topps cards – Juan Pizzaro and Jim Busby – a few years prior, and I completely forget how or why he had purchased these cards for me.)
My parents asked me to pick out a few cards from the box, and then we’d return the rest to the family friend. Problem was, I wanted them all. I really wanted them all. I diligently and meticulously went through one of my price guides and determined the “value” of the treasure chest. I probably used my Sport Americana Baseball Card Price Guide No. 4, edited by Dr. James Beckett, and I had no way to value the football or non-sports cards. My memory is fuzzy, and I can't find the original tally, but I think I came up with the box being worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $300 to $400, which I knew my parents definitely did not have in their discretionary spending budget. But they could tell how much I wanted those cards, as I lovingly studied each and every one and handled each as if it were some long-lost artifact.
I don’t know the exact details, but I believe my Dad went back to the friend and told her we’d take the whole box, but only if she let him give her some money for it. I believe she was genuinely shocked that the box of old cardboard pictures had some value, and that someone was willing to give her cash for it. My Dad shared the list I had created showing the “book value” of the cards and he mentioned how it was going to be close to impossible to get me to pick and choose which ones I wanted. When all was said and done, the family friend, who had absolutely no intention of making money on this endeavor, walked away with (I think) something in the neighborhood of $100 for the whole lot.
The Card / Indians Team Set
This card is badly off center, but I don't mind that much, given its sentimental value. Wynn returned to Topps sets with this card after a two-year absence and exclusive appearances in Bowman sets. His facsimile autograph includes his nickname, "Gus." The middle cartoon panel on the back of the card highlights Wynn's pitch repertoire, which included his aforementioned fastball and a knuckleball. The left panel highlights Wynn's 200th career victory attained during the 1955 season. At the time, the only other active 200-game winner was teammate Feller, who had 266.
1956 Season
As mentioned above, this was probably Wynn's career year as he tallied a 7.8 WAR, tops in the league. Wynn, Lemon and Herb Score (#140) were all 20-game winners for the second place Indians. Wynn pitched a scoreless ninth inning in the 1956 All-Star Game, retiring Henry Aaron (#31), Ken Boyer (#14) and Willie Mays (#130) in order and striking out Mays to boot.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1949 Bowman #110
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (10): 1951-1953, 1956-1962
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2021 Panini Mosaic #27
390 - Wynn non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 1/15/22.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
National Baseball Hall of Fame
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Building the Set
Summer of 1983 or 1984 in Millville, NJ - Card #8
This Wynn card was one of the Original 44 and the last time I told the full story of the Original 44 was over a year ago within the Ed Mathews (#107) post, so I'll repeat it again here. This is one of eight Hall of Famers from the Original 44 and the next Hall of Famer coming up is Larry Doby (#250).
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| June 1983 - Ocean City Baseball Card Show |
I think it was either the summer of 1983 or 1984 when a shoebox of vintage baseball cards, football cards and a few non-sports cards arrived into my world. The box contained about a hundred cards dating between 1950 and 1956, and for the most part, they were all in excellent shape. A friend of the family was in the process of cleaning up and moving into her new house when she found the old shoebox and she wondered if the only kid she knew who collected baseball cards (me) would be interested in looking through it – maybe even taking the box off her hands.
She dropped the box off to my parents and asked them to have me look through the box and take what I was interested in. Turns out, I was interested in everything. Up to that point, the oldest cards in my collection were cards from the early '70s I had obtained through trades or cards that my Dad had picked up for me at yard sales or small baseball card shows. (My Dad had given me a few dog-earred and rough Topps cards – Juan Pizzaro and Jim Busby – a few years prior, and I completely forget how or why he had purchased these cards for me.)
My parents asked me to pick out a few cards from the box, and then we’d return the rest to the family friend. Problem was, I wanted them all. I really wanted them all. I diligently and meticulously went through one of my price guides and determined the “value” of the treasure chest. I probably used my Sport Americana Baseball Card Price Guide No. 4, edited by Dr. James Beckett, and I had no way to value the football or non-sports cards. My memory is fuzzy, and I can't find the original tally, but I think I came up with the box being worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $300 to $400, which I knew my parents definitely did not have in their discretionary spending budget. But they could tell how much I wanted those cards, as I lovingly studied each and every one and handled each as if it were some long-lost artifact.
Within the spoils were 44 cards from the 1956 Topps set – by far the most cards from any one set. I studied them, I sorted them, and I pretty much memorized every detail of those 44 cards.
And so a few years later, in the summer of 1987 while on a family vacation, I was giddy with excitement when we came across a few ’56 Topps cards in the Walker Gallery on the main drag in Cooperstown, New York. My Dad and I studied the cards for sale and he casually asked me the question, “Why don’t we try to put together the whole set?” We bought four cards that day for $9.25. Those cards, along with the 44 from the magic shoebox, became the basis for our 1956 Topps set.
The Card / Indians Team Set
This card is badly off center, but I don't mind that much, given its sentimental value. Wynn returned to Topps sets with this card after a two-year absence and exclusive appearances in Bowman sets. His facsimile autograph includes his nickname, "Gus." The middle cartoon panel on the back of the card highlights Wynn's pitch repertoire, which included his aforementioned fastball and a knuckleball. The left panel highlights Wynn's 200th career victory attained during the 1955 season. At the time, the only other active 200-game winner was teammate Feller, who had 266.
1956 Season
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First Mainstream Card: 1949 Bowman #110
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (10): 1951-1953, 1956-1962
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2021 Panini Mosaic #27
390 - Wynn non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 1/15/22.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
National Baseball Hall of Fame
SABR
The Trading Card Database
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