I’ve always been fascinated by errors and variations (back before they did it on purpose) and the 1964 Topps set, although never a big favorite of mine, was raft with interesting quirks. From the two cards which mentioned player’s passing: (Ken Hubbs and Jim Umbricht) to the Archie Skeen rookie card which announced his retirement, the 1964 Topps set was always sort of a ‘living set’.
However, my favorite 1964 Topps card is the Rick Wise/Dave Bennett Rookie Card (#561). Bennett was a teenage prospect on a fast track at the time but Topps wasn’t quite sure how old he really was. Collectors quickly got a chuckle when reading the text on the back of Bennett’s brief bio which states: “This 19-year old righthanded curveballer is only 18 years old”.
I don’t know about you, but I’d love to be permanently a year younger than I really am. While plenty of typos exist on cards, that may be the funniest sentence ever on any card.
It’s our eBay Card of the Day and you can buy a nice one for $20 or less including this one.
While Dave Bennett did not have much of a career, Rick Wise lasted a long time and even pitched for the pennant wining 1975 Boston Red Sox. He was also traded straight up for Steve Carlton before the 1972 season and perhaps the Cardinals would have liked a do-over on that trade. Wise, in 1971, even pitched a no-hitter while belting two homers in that same game.
To buy more cards from the 1964 set, click here.
