The Koufax Countdown! 1959 Topps

We have made it to the 50's. I am not sure how many other complimentary Koufax things I can come up with. I'm sure there are plenty of stories out there.

The card is nice too:

A bit off center but still displays nice! The run looks really good all together. Koufax never played in the minors. He signed for a 14,000 bonus and per MLB rules at the time was required to be on the Dodgers roster for 2 years. He was 19 years old when he debuted in 1955.

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The Koufax Countdown! 1960 Topps

We are getting down to the last few years of The Koufax Countdown! No one really knows how fast Sandy Koufax threw throughout his career because they didn't use a radar gun. It was estimated around 93-94 MPH but some say thats way off. He did strikeout basically everyone.

The side picture looks a lot like the Fleer picture from 1963. Koufax led the league in strikeouts per nine in 1960. He did that 6 times in his 12 year career. In 1960 Koufax was 24 years old and really started to come into his own. His true dominance began the next year (maybe I should've counted up?)

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The Koufax Countdown! 1961 Topps

Let's keep this train rolling! Up next is the often not talked about set 1961. I rarely see it on the top sets of the 60s. The design is rather non descript but that's ok makes the cards slightly cheaper! In this crazy market we are in now with everyone and their mother collecting (seriously my mom has me buy her baseball cards) it is nice to find a good or even a fair deal now and again.

Since I was talking price, for this nice PSA 5 I spent 61 dollars. Very happy with that price. I do like the random fielding pose that Koufax is in as well.

1961 was Koufax's first all star appearance. 255.2 IP, 269 Ks, 3.52 ERA. It was the beginning of his dominant reign.

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The Koufax Countdown! 1962 Topps

This is one of my personal favorite sets. I really like the wood border look. Probably why I am also a big fan of 1955 Bowman. These have different designs but both look good in their own right. This Koufax was the first one I picked up and am really happy with the way the card looks. It looks good next to the Mantle and Brock that I have from this set.

Really nice looking card. Obviously, slightly off-center but the rest of it looks nice. Hard to find super good centering on a lot of these old sets (and some of the modern sets for that matter).

Koufax was still pretty good in 62. 2.54 ERA, 184.1 IP, 216 Ks.

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The Koufax Countdown! 1963 Topps and Fleer

 To "truely" complete the Koufax basic card run I needed the Fleer as well as the Topps. The Topps card in 1963 is a much more eye appealing card in my opinion. There is also a lot more of them available that run up for auction and what not. It wasn't super cheap but I didn't get fleeced on it or anything.

Got the Fleer in a PSA 4.5 and the Topps in a PSA 6. I like the picture in picture of the 1963 cards. Gives them some pop. Although, Koufax is smiling in his Fleer photo.

63 was quite the year for him. He won Cy Young and MVP. Doesn't happen too often for pitchers. I believe the last one if I remember correctly was Justin Verlander. ERA of 1.88, 311 IP, 306 strikeouts. 11 Shutouts. Just straight domination.

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The Koufax Countdown! 1964 Topps

 Thank you for all the well wishes on the previous post! We are very excited and the first week has been fun, much more fun times to come! 

Back to baseball cards. I've been actively collecting through the pandemic just in my own way. I've largely avoided buying wax because I tend to not sell very much so even if I hit the hot card, odds are I would keep it and it would lose it's value. I will wait til prices get to a level that I'm comfortable just collecting the cards and enjoying it. 

I did pick up some vintage though, mainly Koufax! 

A pretty sweet 1964 Koufax! He finished 3rd in the Cy Young voting that year. His ERA was 1.74. 223 IP and 223 K's, perfect synergy. 

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New addition to the team!

 My wife has been pregnant for the last 9 months or so. Little guy decided to join us about 3 weeks early. She went into labor around 4 pm Friday night. He joined our family at 1:32 am Sunday Morning. Wife is a champ. (and I now know why woman get pregnant and not men, we could not handle it) 

Future Phillies centerfielder.. Ian Franklin Rauer. Big boy at 8 pounds 10 ounces. By next week he will be 6'5", I am sure of it. 

Your regularly scheduled baseball card posts will resume after this one!

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The Koufax Countdown! 1965 Topps

The next card in this series is from 1965 Topps! This set is widely popular and rightfully so. The design is pleasing to the eye and the cards look good in person. I don't have a ton of them but I now have the Phillies team set, the Koufax and the Mantle. 

I actually ended up getting 2 of these, I'm not complaining just sort of happened. I won 2 auctions within 8 seconds of each other.  

One is a PSA 4 and one is a PSA 6.5. The 4's corners are obviously worse but the card still presents nicely. The 6.5 is pretty sharp. 

In 65, Koufax won the 2nd of his 3 Cy Youngs. 335 IP, 382 K's, 27 CG's, ERA 2.04. He also finished 2nd in the MVP voting. Quite a year. His brilliance is quite evident just looking at his peak stats. 

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The Koufax Countdown! 1966 Topps

I started a new side PC. I am always into Hall of Famers, Phillies and Frank Thomas and various other cards that fit my interests. Whether it be a cool set that I like (2002 Upper Deck Vintage, 2000 Upper Deck Ionix), I am always open to trying new things in the card collecting world. I have a Mantle run that I've posted here several years ago but this is my latest and greatest Koufax run! 

Check out the beginning.. 

A pretty nice 1966 Koufax. 1966 was the last year of Sandy's career mainly because his arm was basically falling off after every start and he was still amazing. 

323 IP, 27 CG's, 1.73 ERA, 317 K's, 1st in Cy Young Voting and 2nd in MVP voting. 

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