A final (custom) card for Bill Skowron

I've mentioned before that Topps generally showed no sentimentality towards retired players in the 1950s-1970s. If they knew about a player's retirement before the presses started to roll on its new series of baseball cards, the player was omitted from the new year's checklist.


This resulted in there being no "career wrap-up" card for many players. showing the entirety of their major league record.


Such was the case with the late Bill Skowron. He ended his career after the 1967 season. Early that season he had been traded from the Chicago White Sox to the California Angels. He is pictured on his final career-contemporary Topps card (1967) in a White Sox uniform.


Skowron doesn't need me to enhance his baseball card legacy. Besides appearing dozens of regular and subset cards between his 1954 rookie season and 1967, he can be found on tons of regional issues, many of them quite scarce. And, of course, when the card companies began using former stars in retro and tribute sets, etc., Skowron appeared on many more cards. 


However, since he didn't get a card in the 1968 Topps set as an Angel, I decided to create the custom card you see here.


I always liked Moose Skowron . . . as far as 1950s Yankees went. I was fortunate enough to meet him a decade or so ago at one of the Chicago card shows. He had struck up a relationship with Alan Rosen, and would show up to hang out with Mr. Mint when there was a big show in Chicago, where he lived in retirement.
It was a real pleasure to talk 1950s baseball with one of the era's stars.


Regular readers of this blog may remember that this is not my first Bill Skowron custom card. A couple of years ago I made a 1955 All-American style football card marking his career at Purdue.