Collecting Mets 1962 Cards and Things

There is a bunch of cards and related stuff to collect from the Mets First Year, 1962. 

Topps 1962 

Obviously, there is the 598 Card Topps Base Set which contains 24 NY Mets cards (#4, 7, 26, 29, 85, 94, 162, 183, 213, 256, 279, 293, 308, 337, 365, 408, 421, 436, 464, 497, 572, 593, 597 and 598).

7 of these cards command a bit of a premium:
- #29 Casey Stengel.
- #85 Gil Hodges.
- #213 Richie Ashburn.
- #572 Bob Miller (Short Print).
- #593 Rookie Parade Pitchers (Short Print - Craig Anderson and Bob Moorhead are the Mets on this card).
- #597 Rookie Parade Infielders (Short Print - Rod Kanehl is the Met on this card).
- #598 Rookie Parade Outfielders (Short Print - Jim Hickman is the Met on this card).

Interestingly, there are 2 Bob Miller Mets cards in this set and they are of different players. The #572 mentioned above and the #293. 

And, finally, there are 2 cards which have variations - a sort of Green Tint from the printing process. They are the #162 Sammy Drake and the #183 Roger Craig.

1962 Topps Stamps

Inserted in packs of 1962 Topps were Topps Stamps. 2 Stamp panels were inserted into regular packs with a small strip between the Stamps that contained a promotional offer for an album that the Stamps went in. 

9 Mets were represented plus a Team Logo for a total of 10 stamps. They were not numbered and the Mets included in this insert set were: team Logo, Gus Bell, Roger Craig, Gil Hodges, Jay Hook, Hobie Landrith, Felix Mantilla, Bob L. Miller, Lee Wallis and Don Zimmer. 

1962 Topps Venezuelan

The very rare 1962 Topps Venezuelan Set was a 198 Card release that only contained the following Mets:

#4 John DeMerit, #7 Frank Thomas, #26 Chris Cannizzaro, #29 Casey Stengel, #85 Gil Hodges, #94 Jay Hook, #162 Sammy Drake, #183 Roger Craig and #199 Elio Chacon. The fronts were identical to the Main Topps Release but the backs were in Spanish.

1962 Topps Baseball Bucks

1962 also saw Topps issue an oddball set of "Baseball Bucks". These were sold separately from their cards and were issued in packages costing 1 Cent. There were 96 "Bucks" in total and they resembled US Currency but with players instead of Presidents. There were 62 "1 Dollars", 24 "Five Dollars" and 10 "Ten Dollars. No Mets were 10 Dollars. 2 were $5 (Ashburn, Hodges)and 3 were $1 (Craig, Bell, Mantilla)

So that about sums up 1962 Topps. 

1962 Bazooka

1962 also saw Bazooka release some cards but not in the traditional way. Like they had done in 1960 and 1961, Bazooka Cards were included on the backs of Bazooka Bubble Gum Boxes. There were 45 cards in the set and they came as 3 card panels. These had to be hand cut into individual cards if that's what you wanted or they could be cut out as the 3 card panels. These are tough to find in good condition, obviously. 

There were 2 Mets included in the 1962 Set. The cards are not numbered. 

Gil Hodges

Don Zimmer 

Gil Hodges was included on a 3 card panel with Ken McBride and Frank Robinson.

Don Zimmer was included on a 3 card panel with Harmon Killebrew and Gene Woodling. 

1962 Post

Post Cereal issued a 200 Card Set in 1962. The cards were distributed on specially marked boxes of Post Cereals. Like the Bazooka  Crds they had to be cut from the box and thus are often in bad condition. There is only one Mets Card in the set: #183 Don Zimmer. Although he is shown in a Chicago Cubs Uniform and the card has his team as the Chicago Cubs, there is a small notation on the card that he was "Drafted by the New York Mets, Oct. 10, 1961. 

1962 Coins (Salada/Junket and Shirriff)

Two "Coin" sets were released in 1962 which both contain some New York Mets. 

The first was Salada/Junket Coins. these were issued in specially-marked packages of Salada Tea and Junket Desserts. They are marked on the back "Salada Tea and Junket Brand Desserts". 

The Coins are numbered and 5 of the coins have variations where the player with both his former team as well as The Mets (Charlie Neal #102, Don Zimmer #123, Gil Hodges #146, Gus Bell #158 and Bobby Gene Smith #176). Rest of the checklist includes Hobie Landrith #181, Felix Mantilla #183, Bob Miller #185, Roger Craig #189 and John DeMerit #192. 

The second set of 1962 Coins was issued in Canada in specially marked packages of Shirriff Potato Chips. These are practically identical to the Salada/Junket Coins but have "Shirriff Potato Chips on the back of the coin. While the Salada Set had 10 Mets Coins, the Shirriff Set only has 8. The checklist and numbers are the same with the exception of Don Zimmer #123 and Bobby Gene Smith #176. Also, there are no variations where the players are shown with their previous teams. 

Well that is that for 1962 and The Mets. Hope you enjoyed this review of the issues for that year, the first year in the history of the Mets and the year they went 40-120. 

My 10,000th Mets Card

I've been aiming to get to 10,000 Mets Cards for a while now. I finally achieved yesterday when I opened a package of cards I got from a trade I made on TCDB. It was a big trade, I got 175 or so cards, mostly junk wax era stuff, but that's fine. You aren't getting to 10,000 cards with just Topps Chrome Superfractors!

I was hoping the card would be something I had a deeper connection to, like one of my favorite players or something that stirred a specific Mets memory, but that was not the case. 

It's still a Mets card though!

Anyway, my 10,000th Mets Card is a 1997 Circa #207 - Lance Johnson.

Johnson played with the Mets for 2 years (1996 and 1997). He was signed as a Free Agent in December 1995 and was traded in August 2007 to the Cubs, along with Mark Clark and Manny Alexander, for Brian McRae, Mel Rojas and Turk Wendell.

As a Met, Johnson was selected to the 1996 All-Star Squad and he compiled a .326/.369/.458/.827 line with 10 HR in 232 games. 

Here is the card:

I am currently the #9 Mets Collector on TCDB and I am aiming for #1 eventually. On to 20,000 cards!

Some Ugly Noah Syndergaard Cards

 Got a few cards in the mail from a big trade on I made on TCDB. 2 of the cards that came in the trade may very well be some of the ugliest cards in my collection.

The first is a 2018 Topps Gallery Heritage #H-28. As soon as I looked at this card, I thought this is the ugliest depiction of Noah Syndergaard I have ever seen. He looks sort of like that kid from the movie "Mask". I even showed my wife and she agreed it was a very ugly card and a terrible drawing. I mean, Noah's lip is kind of off-centered, his face is sort of twisted, his eyes don't look right.

It's a horrible looking card. I really like Topps Gallery, but not this one.

Judge for yourself:

The second card is also a Topps Gallery card. This time it is a 2020 Topps Gallery - Rainbow Foil #77. The first thing I thought when I looked at this card is it looks like some cheap Jesus painting you could buy at the big flea market in Sevierville at exit 207 on I-40. This looks like it was either done by a 12 year old or some 80 year old grandmother. Remember the scene in Goodfellas when Tommy's Mom is showing the crew her paint by number paintings after the killed Billy Batts? That's what I am talking about.

Instead of a ball, they should have had Syndergaard holding a dove or a lamb or something. Horrible.

I'm going to have to page through my folders and look for some other ugly cards.

Here it is:

That's all for now. Until next time.........

My Favorite Card

I finally finished entering my collection into TCDB. I have 8,923 individual Mets Cards in my collection. Now I just have to enter all the cards I am willing to trade (Mets duplicates and cards of other teams) and I can begin trading again and working towards 10,000 Mets Cards and beyond.

My favorite Mets Card of all time is the 1974 Topps #80 Tom Seaver. The 1974 Topps is the first set of cards I remember collecting when I was young. "Collecting" might be too strong a word for a 6 year old though. Seaver was my Mothers' favorite Met and I am sure she is asking him for an autograph in Heaven right now. 

The pose, of Seaver hurling a pitch over that long stride is classic. It looks like John Milner (one of my favorite Mets of all time) is at first and a packed house watches on. I am not sure if that photo was taken at Shea Stadium, though.

Anyway, I love the 1974 Topps set and if I ever decide to start collecting sets as opposed to just Mets Cards, I will probably start with this one.

Random Card of the Day

The Random Card of the Day from my personal collection is a 1994 Fleer Update #U169 - Mike Remlinger.

Remlinger pitched 60 1/3 innings over 15 games for the Mets during the 1994 and 1995 seasons. He compiled a 1-6 Record with a 4.77 ERA. He also recorded 17 Plate Appearances with 1 Hit and 1 RBI. 

This card is the only card on which Remlinger appears as a Met.

I have no recollection of ever seeing Remlinger play for the Mets!

Random Card of the Day

The random card of the day from my collection is:

2005 Topps #387 Kris Benson

Benson pitched for the Mets in 2004 and 2005, starting 39 Games and compiling a 14-12 record with a 4.23 ERA.

Beyond his pitching career, Benson is probably most famous for his marriage to Anna Benson. Anna, a stripper who had been previously charged with murder, was a perfect fit for the NY tabloids. 

In July 2012, Kris Benson filed for divorce. Anna was arrested on July 8, 2013 after allegedly coming to Kris' home and threatening him with a gun and metal baton while wearing a bullet-proof vest.

Random Card of the Day

It's been awhile since I posted to this blog, but I'm going to try to reactivate it, now that my personal life, which has seen some huge changes over the last 2 years, has settled down. I am reorganizing my Mets Card Collection and will soon get back into trading on TCDB.COM. Also, the 2022 season has me excited about Mets Baseball again.

I'm going to try to post a random card from my Mets Collection every day, sometimes with commentary, sometimes without. It all depends on how busy I am.

So, for 21 July 2022, the random Mets Card of the Day is:

2007 Upper Deck #383 John Maine. 

In the midst of the Mets historic 2007 collapse, Maine threw 7.2 scoreless innings allowing only 1 hit and striking out 14 Florida Marlins on the second to last day of the season (9/29/07). The Mets won that game and pulled back into a tie with the Phillies for 1st place.

The next day, the last day of the season, a game I was at with my wife and 2 sons, Tom Glavine shit the bed, giving up 7 runs in the 1st inning and the Mets lost 8-1. They were also eliminated from the playoffs. 

I'll never forget turning to my 2 sons (ages 5 and 9 at the time) and telling them:

"This is what it means to be a Mets Fan."

They are still Mets Fans to this day.