Phillies Oddballs: 1960 Topps Tattoos

Richie Ashburn - Autographed Ball
1960 Topps Tattoo

1960 was year of great change for the Phillies.  Ten years removed from the Whiz Kids run to the World Series, the team began to make adjustments with the hopes of another postseason push.  In January of that year Richie Ashburn was traded to the Cubs, Curt Simmons was released in May and future stars of 1964, Johnny Callison, Tony Gonzalez and Clay Dalrymple made their debuts. The 1960 Topps Tattoo set features more past than future during this turbulent time in team history.

According to Keymancollectibles.com, the set contains 96 tattoos - 55 players, 16 team logos, 15 action drawings and 10 autographed balls.  I have occasionally seen these tattoos online and at the Philly Show and had noticed the slight tear that seems to mark each wrapper.  In researching for this post I ran across a potential explanation for this phenomenon.  It appears the mark is the result of the Topps production process as shown in the examples shown in this Topps Archive blog post. 

Robin Roberts
1960 Topps Tattoo

Phillies included in the set are:
Richie Ashburn
Gene Freese
Robin Roberts
Richie Ashburn autographed ball
Phillies team logo

Full set checklist (via Keyman Collectibles)

Gene Freese
1960 Topps Tattoo