Topps All-Time Fan Favorites Favorites -- S

Topps put out 150 card sets of retired players in 2003-2004-2005. Players are pictured on card designs from their playing days but with different photos than were in the originals. Here are my favorites, alphabetically.

Ron Santo is my favorite player and had a card in each set. It's just a happy coincidence that he is the first "S".

2003 #145

1966 design. A classic shot. The bear cub patch these days looks a lot meaner than the one here. It hasn't help them get to the World Series. Ron had some nice (non-steroid) guns.

2004 #19

1961 design. 1961 was Santo's first card. In his first full year, 1961, he hit .284 with 23 HR's and 83 RBI's.

2005 #124

1965 design. Is that a golf glove on his left hand?

2003 #87

1953 design. I remember Red as the Cards manager, but in 1953 he hit a career high .342.

2004 #139

1957 design. The longtime Indians announcer won 38 games before being hit in the face by a line drive in May 7, 1957. Score rejects the theory that the injury and fear of being hit again had anything to do with his lack of success in the years that followed citing an elbow injury in 1958. He last pitched in 1962 for the White Sox, finishing his promising career with a 55-46 record.

2004 #17

1967 design. It's hard to find fault with the 1967 set. Boomer hit .303 in 1967 helping the Sox reach the World Series, which they unfortunately lost to the Cardinals.

2003 #135

1969 design. Tom Terrific. Miracle Mets. Please don't tell Mr. Santo that Seaver's here.

2004 #15

2000 design. The legendary Bob Sheppard was the public address announcer for the New York Yankees for more than half a century. Reggie Jackson called him "the Voice of God".

2003 #66

1960 design. I love this shot of Moose with the two bats and the trees in the background.

2004 #120

1955 design. Terrific looking card. Duke hit 42 home runs and drove in 136 in 1955. Incidentally, the Dodgers won the World Series that year.

2004 #104

1984 design. Rick looks a little like he's modeling for a Cubs apparel catalog here but he was 16-1 in 1984. How did the Cubs lose three in a row to the Padres? I still have a jacket like Rick's.