1960 Fleer Chuck Klein a Sideways Look at History
Bet(ts) you don't see this card too often!
1960 Fleer Chuck Klein (#30) - Card of the Day
Chuck Klein is the legend cardboard forgot.
Or, at least, he’s one of the many baseball men who slipped into the folds of the Great Depression and World War II, where even superstar careers too often became side notes to the darkness of the day and eventually just slid from consciousness entirely as the sunny recovery of the 1950s boomed.
But back in the late 1920s, young Klein was an up and comer with the St. Louis Cardinals, who had plucked him from the ranks of the Indianapolis semi-pro ball teams.
By 1928, he was tearing the cover off the ball with the Central League Fort Wayne Chiefs when the Cards were forced to sell the team and relinquish rights to the players — seems they had another Central League team in Dayton, and Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis was none too happy with that arrangement.
All players went to the highest bidder, with the Philadelphia Phillies winning the rights to Klein’s booming bat.
The Phils would phinish a ghastly 43-109 that season, so manager Burt Shotton likely had few qualms about plugging the rookie in at right field and watched him hit eleven home runs in just 64 games … not to mention a gaudy .360 batting average.
As it turns out, the 23-year-old was just getting in his warm-up swings, as he exploded into one of the two or three best hitters in the National League as the Roaring Twenties came to a close.
To wit, from 1929, Klein batted .359 with 180 home runs and drove in 693. He also scored 658 times himself and even threw in 51 stolen bases for good measure. In 1932, he nabbed the National League MVP award on the strength of a .348, 38 HR, 137 RBI effort that also included a league-leading 20 stolen bases.
In many respects, 1933 was even better, as Klein copped the Triple Crown.
The Phillies crested above .500 in 1932 for the first time since 1917 but fell back to seventh in ‘33, prompting them to accept the Cubs’ overwhelming offer of Harvey Hendrick, Ted Kleinhans, Mark Koenig, and $65,000 in cash for Klein’s services that offseason.
Alas, the man who was supposed to replace the production lost by a declining and traded Hack Wilson a few seasons earlier never really found his groove in Chicago, and the Cubbies traded Klein back to Philly in 1936 after he put up “just” 41 home runs in 1934 and 1935 combined.
By that time, Klein had become a regular in the baseball card sets of the era, including the popular and colorful Goudey issues from 1933-35, and their black-and-white set in 1936.
As the decade wore on, though, so did the ravages of the Great Depression, and the number of cards issued each year dwindled right along with Klein’s production on the field.
His second stint in Philadelphia didn’t go much better than his tour of Wrigley, and he slowly declined into a part-time player and pinch-hitter — even got exiled (promoted?) to the Pittsburgh Pirates for most of the 1939 season. Though Klein managed to hang on through 1944, he only played in as many as 120 games once after 1936 (in 1938), and he managed just three double-digit homer campaigns after that point.
With the advent of World War II, baseball cards all but dried up right along with Klein’s playing time, and he made just six cardboard appearances after that 1936 season.
All of those circumstances have left Klein as a superstar — a Hall of Famer, even (1980, Veterans Committee) — who is little known or collected among modern hobbyists.
Part of that owes to his bright baseball light dimming all too soon, and part is because his few mid-career cards are tough to come by — those Goudeys in particular can be pretty expensive, even in rough condition.
Luckily for all us whippersnappers who missed out on the Goudey goodies first-run, though, there is a more affordable alternative when we’re looking to get a taste of the Hoosier Hammer’s baseball cards … the 1960 Fleer Baseball Greats set!
And also the 1961 follow-up.
For me, though, if you want an old but not bank-breaking Klein card, the 1960 is tough to beat.
I mean …
It’s old.
It’s not so old that it’s impossible to find.
It’s cheap — usually under $5 in decent raw condition on eBay.
It’s unusual — one of only three horizontal cards in the set, along with Ernie Lombardi and Gabby Hartnett.
So … why did Klein get lumped in with the Cooperstown catchers?
I don’t know, but I’m sorta glad he did.
It makes for a neat, underrated card of a nearly forgotten offensive monster from baseball’s long ago.
So …
What’s not to love?
Especially today, on what would have been Klein’s 120th birthday.
Watching Mookie? Bett(s) on It!
Future Hall of Famer Mookie Betts also has a birthday today, turning 32 years old. Unlike Klein, Mookie is never far from the hobby limelight.
A few years back, I put together this page that tracks the most-watched Betts cards on eBay. Not our usual fare in these parts, maybe, but it’s always fun to get a look-see into what other (non-junk-wax, non-only-old-timers) parts of the hobby are up to.
Check it out right here if you’re so inclined.
—
Yeah, it’s Monday again, but the good news is, you’re already awake and clear-headed enough to be reading this.
The better news is, there’s still big league baseball to be played in 2024.
And the best news is, you still have more than three weeks to put the finishing touches on your Max Patkin costume before the big Halloween ball.
Thanks for reading.
—Adam
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