teddy ballgame final tribute

ted williams hit a home run in his final big league at bat.  fleer also hit a home run with the splendid splinter's final tribute card, issued as part of their 1961 set that focused on 'baseball greats'.

williams hadn't contracted with topps since 1958.  instead, fleer had the rights to produce his cards, and went all out with a 1959 set devoted entirely to him.  he was also included in their 1960 set, but it is this one that i sought out to own.  having retired after the 1960 season, the back includes his major league totals

'twice the most valuable player'.  should have been thrice.  maybe someone could explain why joe dimaggio won the award in 1941 (was it 'the streak' or the fact that the yankees made the postseason?) when williams bested him in most offensive categories.

this is the oldest final tribute card that i own of a hall of famer or otherwise notable player that i would seek out such a card for.  if only jackie or pee wee or campy were given the same courtesy from topps...  anyway, as the oldest, it sits first in my final tribute binder.  if i were to rank them, however, this would finish behind the 1973 topps roberto clemente card.

in fact, here are my rankings of final tribute cards (so far).  there is a fair amount of bias in these rankings, which makes sense because they are my rankings.  i'll update this list as i post more from my collection.

1.  1973 topps roberto clemente
2.  1961 fleer ted williams
3.  1988 score steve garvey
4.  1969 topps mickey mantle
5.  1993 topps gary carter
6.  1988 fleer reggie jackson
7.  1983 topps reggie smith
8.  1987 fleer bill russell
9.  1988 topps dave lopes
10.  1978 topps joe torre
11.  1985 o-pee-chee joe morgan
12.  1989 score don sutton
13.  1973 topps wes parker
14.  1977 topps tommy davis
15.  1987 topps pete rose
16.  1994 topps george brett
17.  1998 upper deck eddie murray
18.  1998 upper deck fernando valenzuela
19.  2004 upper deck rickey henderson
20.  1997 upper deck ozzie smith

here are the other final tributes that i have posted, but didn't crack my top 20 (this time)

1984 topps elias sosa
1986 topps rod carew
1997 upper deck andre dawson
1997 upper deck kirby puckett
1997 upper deck alan trammell
1987 topps tom seaver
1986 topps rollie fingers
1982 fleer johnny oates
1985 o-pee-chee greg luzinski
1997 udcc tim wallach
1981 topps gary thomasson
2000 topps wade boggs
1984 fleer johnny bench
1984 fleer gaylord perry
1984 fleer carl yastrzemski
1980 topps ted martinez
1979 topps mike garman
1978 topps ed goodson
1986 topps jay johnstone
1998 upper deck brett butler
1983 topps mark belanger
1978 topps willie crawford