Recent Acquisitions: Dick Groat and Roger Maris MVP Cards

I've posted a few times about my collection goal of building a small PSA-graded subcollection, of about 50-60 cards total.  I have a few sub-subcollections within that group, such as early black MLB players (Jackie Robinson, Don Newcombe, and Sam Jethroe are already represented, with several more to come), the 500-home run club of my youth (I have Jimmie Foxx, Mike Schmidt, Reggie Jackson, and Ernie Banks in there so far), and the subject of the present post, the 1960 World Series, won by my Pirates over the Yankees.

1961 Topps Roger Maris (1960 AL MVP).

The Yankees and the Pirates in that World Series both had their respective leagues' MVPs playing, in Roger Maris and Dick Groat.  The 1961 Topps set included a subset on the AL and NL MVPs from 1950 through 1960, and I thought the Maris and Groat cards would make good (and really quite affordable at the grade of PSA 6) additions to my commemoration of that 1960 World Series.

1961 Topps Dick Groat (1960 NL MVP).

I'm fond of players who are sub-Hall of Fame, who have a few great years but weren't very seriously candidates for Cooperstown.  Groat was an 8-time All-Star, won the World Series twice, in 1960 with the Bucs and then in 1964 with the Cardinals, and in addition to being 1960 MVP, finished second in the balloting in 1963.  Maris is of course most famous for holding for many years the single-season home run record with 61 (in 162 games, of course!, and presumably also without the use of steroids!).  His accomplishments are similar to Groat's, being a two-time MVP, a three-time World Series champ, and a 7-time All-Star.  Groat had more hits and Maris had more home runs, but overall they're not that different, I would say.  Maris, being a Yankee, surely has the more devoted advocates, who would likely disagree with my assessment, I suppose.

Roger Maris card back.

Dick Groat card back.

The card backs briefly detail their 1960 stats which led to their MVP awards.  Maris was the AL RBI leader with 112, and was second in home runs with 39.  Groat was the NL batting champ with a .325 average.

I still have quite a few cards to get in my quest to commemorate the 1960 World Series in my PSA subcollection, but these plus the Whitey Ford from the World Series subset of 1961 Topps, give me a solid start.  Thanks for reading!