Walt Alston was a HELL of a manager (despite what Zimm writes in his book!), but he never quite got it together as player in the majors or the minors. Makes you wonder what he thinks he's doing around those bats, but have you ever seen a better composed manager card? Usually they are visually uninteresting throw-aways, but a pensive Walt hanging over the bat rack is pure gold.
Funny thing about this card is that, in 1962, you'd think Walt was kind of a lion in winter. He'd managed the Dodgers to 2 consecutive second-place finishes, and that was on the heels of a WS victory in '59. These days that'll get you on the HotSeat on one of those WWL shows where a scrawny balding guy and a rotund blowhard loudly trade pretty insults for an hour while ostensibly discussing sports.
But Walt had A LOT left in the tank. He'd not only managed the Los Dodgers for another 14 years, but lead them to 4 more WS (2 championships). Yeah, you can tell from his eyes here that Walt Alston knows something we don't, and that's why he's the manager and we're people who blog about baseball or read blogs about baseball. Walt Aston knows. The rest is insignificant.
Have a good one everybody and good night Pumpsie Green, wherever you are!
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