1963 Topps Baseball

Long before there was Lowell Palmer, there was Eli Grba (pronounced GUR-bah). Actually, this photo (#231) is of Grba's teammate Ryne Duren, but that's a story for another day.

Eli was signed by the Red Sox in 1952, and made his way to the Yankees' organization in March 1957.

After missing the '57 and '58 seasons while in military service, he made his major-league debut with the Yankees in July 1959. He pitched in 19 games in the second half of the '59 season, but found himself back in AAA in 1960. After his mid-June call-up, he pitched in 24 games that season.


Grba was the #1 pick of the expansion Los Angeles Angels prior to the 1961 season, and was the opening-day pitcher in their inaugural season. He was one of their top 2 starting pitchers in their first 2 seasons, winning 11 and 8 games.

In 1963 he was converted to a reliever, but after pitching 7 games in April, Grba was sent down to the minors. He returned in late-July to pitch in 5 more games, but his final game of the season (and of his major-league career) came on August 4th.

Eli played for the Senators' AAA team in '64 and '65, then played in Mexico in 1966. He retired after 5 games with the White Sox' AAA team in 1967.

I'm starting this 1963 blog with Ken Hubbs, the Cubs' regular 2nd baseman from 1962-63.

Hubbs was signed by the Cubs in 1959, and spent 3 seasons in their farm system. In 1959, he played both class D and class AAA ball. In 1960, he was at the A and double-A levels. In 1961, he played the entire season for the Cubs' class B team. Throughout his minor-league career, he was primarily a shortstop, although playing in several games at 3rd base and the outfield.

Ken made his major-league debut with the Cubs on September 10, 1961. He made 6 starts at 2nd base that month, including the final 3 games of the season, This brought an end to Don Zimmer's tenure as a Cubs' starter. (Zim had started 174 games at 2nd base since moving over from 3rd in early 1960, due to the combination of Tony Taylor being traded to the Phillies, and the arrival of rookie Ron Santo.)



1962 was a season of change for the Cubs' infield. Longtime shortstop Ernie Banks moved over to 1st base as of opening day. He was replaced at shortstop by Andre Rogers, who took over the starting job and would hold it to the end of the 1964 season. Hubbs claimed the 2nd base job, starting 158 games there in his rookie season. Ken batted .260 in 715 plate appearances, but also led the league in strikeouts and grounding into double plays. Still, he won the National League Rookie of the Year in 1962. Hubbs was also the first rookie to win a Gold Glove award.

Ken had similar playing time in 1963 (154 games, 149 starts at 2B), but his numbers were significantly down from his rookie season. He had 39 fewer hits, 36 fewer runs scored, 5 fewer doubles, 6 fewer triples, and his average dropped 25 points. On the plus side, he hit 3 more home runs, and cut his strikeouts by 36.

After the 1963 season, Hubbs decided to take flying lessons, and received his pilot's license in January 1964. A month later, he and a friend were flying a private plane from Utah to California, when it crashed in Utah during a snowstorm, killing both occupants.

Topps issued a tribute card in its 1964 set, and embarrassingly, used a photo of Hubbs on their 1966 Dick Ellsworth card.

I noticed today that Hubbs' position does not appear on the front of this card. It is normally found to the right of the team name.