1955 Bowman #97 Johnny Podres Photo Variations?

This is obviously not 1967 Topps set related but this really has been bugging me. Are there photo variations in the '55 Bowman set or is this a printing issue? I don't own the specific cards pictured here but I do have the two cards with the two differences. Podres on the top is looking toward the camera and Podres on the bottom looks to be looking well over it.

I never noticed it before last night because I never owned two at the same time before and I tried to consult a bonafide expert in the field but learned he passed away last January so, anyone out there with info. Please comment. Given the value of error cards in the Bowman set, I am not expecting much in the way of value difference but if this is a sign of a characteristic in the Bowman set, it could open the door to other variations.

#53 Philadelphia Phillie Catcher - Clay Dalrymple

 Up next is long time Phillie catcher, Clay Dalrymple. Dalrymple had regular work with the Phillies from '61 to '68 before being a backup Catcher on the Orioles from '69 to '71. He has a 1.000 batting average in World Series play. Going 2 for 2 in the '69 World Series.

His career batting average remained in the low to mid ,200s with some power. His fielding was considerably more impressive with a career 49% caught stealing percentage. That's equal to Yogi Berra's percentage.

The card has a good friend. The bright red hat stands out, the cold blue eyes, the yellow lettering and especially the field in the background all adds up to a good looking card. Typically, you just see massive sky in the back, here, you have a good shot of the stands, and the left field foul line. A nice break from the standard images used.


'Dimples' was featured regularly in Topps sets from '60 to '71. His rookie is a high number which carries some value. While he never made it to an all star game, he no doubt developed into being a fan favorite in Philadelphia.

#52 Dennis Higgins - Chicago White Sox Pitcher.

Dennis Higgins is featured on his first solo card in this set. Higgins hit the ground running in the Majors. His '66 stats are very impressive for a reliever. He pitched in 42 games, starting in one, saving 5 and with a 2.52 ERA. He went on to see alot of work for the Senator in '68 and '69 and with the Indians in '70. His career ended with St Louis in '72. Relievers didn't get much respect until the mid 70s with pitching counts making their role more prominent. That's when they started getting national attention. Only the World Series teams seemed to have relievers that national audiences really noticed. Fans saw pitchers like Larry Sherry, Ron Perranoski, Moe Drabowsky, Joe Page, Bob Kuzava be called on to save a team's season in the clutch and respond in heroic fashion. The Higgins' of the league on teams that never made it to a 90 win season didn't get much recognition unfortunately.

The White Sox cards in the '67 set must have been a little confusing for fans at the time. The White Sox were one of those teams that changed their uniforms, often and I mean, often. This did not really begin to kick in until 1967. Higgins is featured in the '66 uniform which is still like the Go GO White Sox uniforms of the 50's. '67 featured a navy blue tinge to the road and home jerseys in place of the black and white uniforms of the era Higgins is featured in here. This blog post has gone on long enough without me going into the 5 or 6 other changes in their uniforms up until 1991 so I will leave it at that.

This card never made much of an impact on me. The grass looks a little yellowish and it is a standard spring training photo from probably 1966.

Higgins had cards in the '66, '67, '68. '69, '71 and '72 sets.

Random thought. Did Topps hire photographers to take photos, pay the teams for photos or paid for photos already taken by freelancers? Topps during this era broke from their tradition of taking photos during a season at local ball parks. Spring Training photos were not as common in the late 50s as they would become by the 60s. I feel it was a change in company policy to hire their own photographers and fly them to Florida or Arizona and work for a handful of weeks and be done with the whole project instead of keeping photographers busy all year taking photos at Shea or Yankee Stadium. They surely did both but spring training photos became characteristic of Topps cards until the early 90s when the demand for more action photos in the sets was elevated by Score and Upper Deck.

#51 Astros Rookie Stars Dave Adlesh & Wes Bales

Next is our 2nd rookie star card in the set and our first for the Houston Astros. These cards were hit or miss depending on the success of the prospects featured. I never liked them although I do like that the '67 card doesn't stick four prospects on it like in '63 or in the mid to late 70's sets. Dave Adlesh struggled to gain a toehold in the Majors. Astros looked at 3 or 4 catchers a year in those days and usually settled on John Bateman. Adlesh knocked around in the minors until 1970 but he never quite developed.

Wes 'Lee' Bales also had his struggles breaking into the Majors. He too went through various levels of the minors for years.

Bales was never featured on a card again while Adlesh appeared in the '68 set on his own card in the semi high number series and in the '69 set, posed without a hat and listed as being on the Cardinals although he never played for them in the Majors.

It's just a reminder how difficult a game it is to break into. If it's not injuries, it's the competition and in those days, the draft was an additional complication.

The card never appealed to me any more than the other Rookie star cards with the yellow borders, maybe even a little less with the terrible airbrush job done to Bales hat. They were no doubt trying to hide the fancy A of the Atlanta Braves on the hat. Bales debuted with them in '66.

#50 Minnesota Twin Outfielder - Tony Oliva -

Baseball spring training is heating up. I haven't yet come down from the high of seeing the Chicago Cubs not only in a World Series but winning one and to do it dramatically, coming back from down 3 to 1. I was content to enjoy that lone Wrigley Field  World Series win and hope for the best back in Cleveland. What followed, was a pleasant shock. Perhaps in hindsight, I shouldn't have felt that way. The Cubs struck out alot but they had a better team batting average than the Indians and a lower ERA than Cleveland. Stats are just stats, it's the wins that count but more often than not, the team with the better stats in a series win it in the end.

I was gravitating back to baseball and away from football before last season but my interest in this set has increased.

We're back to a card ending with a 5 or 0 so we have another contemporary star card from the mid 60s. Tony Oliva was one of the major Latin American stars of his day. Like in every sport, when one team is able to find first class talent in a new way, the others follow their lead. Tony Oliva was not just a great player, he was a pioneering great along with Orlando Cepeda and Felipe Alou. Technically, Oliva followed their lead but unlike them, Oliva was featured in eight straight All Star games as well as the '65 Series. Perhaps it was that the Minnesota Twins, like the San Francisco Giants, added more than one or two players from south of the border. Along with Oliva, the Twins had Cesar Tobar,Zoilo Versalles, Camilo Pasqual,and Sandy Valdespino on a team that took the Dodgers to 7 games in another nail biter of a fall classic in 1965,

Sure, Latin American players go back to the late 40s in the Majors but the trend of teams scouting in this area of the world didn't take hold until the 60s. Horace Clarke, Rico Carty, Manny Mota, Felix Mantilla, Juan Marichal and the three Alou brothers come to mind immediately. It is hard to imagine today's game without such talented players from Latin America taking it to the next level.

Oliva finished up as a career .300 hitter and perhaps the only reason he does not receive regular consideration for Hall of Fame honors is his somewhat short career. He played in 14 seasons but his career totals on offense are an apparent handicap for Hall honors.

Oliva was certainly one of the premiere players on a strong Minnesota ball club and few got higher recognition in his day than him.

The card features Oliva posing in the original Yankee Stadium with the trademark facade in the background. Other Twin players featured in this set were clearly taken in this location, if not the same day.

There is a change with Twin cards in the '67 set. A combo card has the banner on the bottom colored in deep purple block letters, Twin cards in the lower to mid series have the green lettering and, for some reason, the semi high Killebrew card has bright yellow letters for the tea name.