Offered is the original artwork for Topps 1953 card #165, Billy Hoeft. An actual Hoeft #165 card, made from the original artwork, is also included. The beauty and appeal of the Topps '53 baseball set is legendary. Billy Hoeft was a left-handed pitcher who played 15 Major League seasons (1952-66) for six teams, spending eight seasons with the Detroit Tigers. Hoeft's two best seasons were in 1955-56, both with Detroit, when he went 16-7, with a 2.99 ERA in '55 and was selected for the American League All-Star Team, and in '56, with a 20-14 record and a 4.06 ERA. For their 1953 baseball card set, Topps decided to make the cards from paintings of the players that were created by at least five different artists, for $25 per painting. Because of litigation disputes with Bowman Cards, involving the rights to produce player cards for the '53 season, Topps only produced a set of 274 cards in '53, down from the 407 cards in the '52 set. Instead of colorizing photographs as was done in the '52 set, Topps had artists produce original artworks, real paintings created by the artists. Most of the '53 cards feature head shots, in exquisite detail, resulting in many player close-ups seeming to be alive, with detailed facial expressions never seen before on baseball cards. Slightly large at 3.75x2.625", the card front has the player's name, team, and position, plus a large team logo. The details on the front were placed within an oblong box at the bottom, red for American League and black for National League. The back of the cards had a facsimile signature, vital personal statistics, and both year and lifetime playing statistics, a short bio, and a Dugout Quiz. The beautiful original artwork measures 3.5x5", and it makes a unique, artistic addition to any collection.