Dick Groat is one of the original two sports stars, long before Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders. He excelled at basketball with the Duke Blue Devils, where he won the National Player of the Year award in 1952 and baseball where he was a 5 time all-star, won 2 World Series and was named National League Most Valuable Player in 1960.Card number 205 in the set of 609 displays Dick Groat as a shortshop for the Philadelphia Phillies. This card was the 1st autograph that I obtained that started my desire to collect the 1967 Topps autographed set. Purchased on ebay in October 2008, I originally planned on giving it to my friend, Philip, who is a long time Phillies fan and a alumni at Duke University. However, I fell in love this the idea of collecting this set and could not part with it. I have subsequently purchased another Dick Groat autograph for my friend. Now that I collected 439 autographed for the set, this will always be the first!.
During Dick's 16 year baseball career, he played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants. He won World Series with the Pirates in 1960 and the Cardinals in 1964, both defeating the New York Yankees.
Dick was elected to the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007 and his #10 uniform has been retired by Duke University. To learn more about Dick Groat, go to wikipedia.com.
Looking for Duke Blue Devils or Philadelphia Phillies collectibles, go to dugoutdug.com.
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