1967 Topps Detroit Tigers Jim Northrup #408

Today's entry in my 1967 Topps Autographed Baseball Card collection is a member of the 1968 World Series Champion Detroit Tigers and a five sport (baseball, football, basketball, golf and track) star in high school. It is Jim Northrup, Outfielder for the Tigers, card number 408 in the 1967 Topps Baseball card set of 609 subjects. Sadly, Jim Northrup passed away June 8, 2011 at the age of 71 from a seizure.

This autograph was obtained with a through the mail (TTM) request on March 18, 2009 to Mr. Northrup at his home in Michigan. If you are interested in contacting players through the mail, I highly recommend sportscollectors.net as a resource to the addresses of your favorite players and teams. Jim Northrup graciously signed my card with a blue ballpoint pen and returned it to me 13 days later. Thank you, Mr. Northrup. As of July 14, 2011, I have accumulated 544 different signatures in my collection of 1967 Topps Autographed cards.

Jim "Silver Fox" Northrup played 12 seasons in the major leagues, with the Detroit Tigers, Montreal Expos and Baltimore Orioles. The "Silver Fox" nickname came from that fact that his hair prematurely turned gray. His career started in 1964 with the Tigers, but did not win a starting position until the 1966 season. He was named the starting Right Fielder which required Future Hall of Famer Al Kaline to move to Centerfield. During the 1966 season, Northrup proved to be a major leaguer to stay by hitting 24 doubles and 16 home runs. His most memorable season was 1968, during which he hit 5 Grand Slams, including 2 in consecutive at bats and one in the World Series. Northrup helped led the Tigers during the 1968 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals by hitting 2 home runs and knocking in 8 runs.

Jim Northrup stayed with the Tigers until 1974, then was traded to the Expos and then again to the Orioles during the season. He ended his career in 1975 with the Orioles. His career statistics include a .267 batting average with 1254 hits, of which 153 were home runs, 610 runs batted in and 603 runs scored. Jim was an excellent fielder as well, with a .981 career fielding percentage in 1301 games. To learn more about Jim Northrup, go to his biography at wikipedia.org.



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