Shown below is a scatter plot of position players appearing in the 1952 Topps set. Senators centerfielder Jim Busby is shown as the red dot with limited offensive production but an overall positive impact on his team. He had a productive beginning to his career and made the American League All-Star team in 1951 before Mickey Mantle could became a regular at the American League CF position. Busby’s hitting abilities tailed off soon afterward and his value on the diamond became limited to his ability to outrun fly balls and steal bases.
The scatter plot includes a few dozen colored dots, many representing members of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Busby is in no way considered a candidate, but his on-field performance closely mirrors a Hall of Famer that he was traded for. In 1957 the Cleveland Indians worked out a trade with the Baltimore Orioles. The two teams were playing each other that day, making the transaction one of simply arranging for players to exchange uniforms. Future Hall of Fame manager Dick Williams, then an outfielder, humorously learned he had been traded for Busby when the latter showed up to hang his belongings in his locker.
Busby’s Cardboard
You could describe Jim Busby as a man of many hats. He was traded numerous times and his baseball card photography reflects this. White Sox caps show up in early Bowman and Berk Ross issues, followed by the Senators through 1955. He then joins the Cleveland Indians and by 1958 is routinely spotted as a Baltimore Oriole. When the 1960s begin he is in Boston. A decade later he’s still around as an Atlanta Braves coach. This last role brings him back alongside another throwback to the ’52 Topps set: He appears with Eddie Mathews on multiplayer -coach cards in the 1973 and 1974 issues.
In 1952 Topps Jim Busby is shown looking slightly to his left…presumably to see the Mickey Mantle card that sits just two over in that direction in the set’s checklist. I love how the later series of ’52 Topps include facts about the current season in the text on the back. This one mentions how he was traded midseason from the White Sox to the Senators.
