GIMMIE A DO-OVER: 1970 RUDY MAY

Thought it'd be fun to give former pitcher Rudy May a "do-over" on his 1970 card, so here you go, using a much better image of him during his time as a California Angel:

My re-done version

Original Topps release

May made his Major League debut in 1965 as a 20-year-old, appearing in 30 games and tossing 124 innings, certainly good enough for a card in the 1966 set.

He posted a record of 4-9 with a 3.92 earned run average, striking out 76 batters while throwing a shutout.

All told, he posted a 152-159 career record, with a 3.46 earned run average, 24 shutouts, 12 saves and 1760 strikeouts between 1965 and 1983.

His finest year was easily 1980, when he led the American League in E.R.A. with a nice 2.46 mark, WHIP at 1.044 and strikeouts-to-walks with a 3.41 number as a member of the New York Yankees.

 

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: MINNIE MINOSO

Let us go and add the great Minnie Minoso to my long-running custom "Classic Baseball" set, a WTHBALLS exclusive design that I hope to have printed up this Spring:

I'm so happy that Minoso is finally a Hall of Famer, and I always felt the stunts in 1976 and 1980 may have even hurt his chances of getting into Cooperstown.
From 1951 to 1961 he had a wonderful Major League career, leading the league in stolen bases three times, triples three times, and hits and doubles once each, while also driving in over 100 runs four times and topping 20 homers four times.
Eight times in that span he would top a .300 batting average, and in 1951 many consider him the true American League Rookie of the Year when he hit .326 split between the Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox, while topping the league in triples with 14 and stolen bases with 31.
Along the way he was named to seven All-Star games, winning three Gold Gloves as well, funny enough finishing fourth in the A.L. MVP race four times.
Of course, 12 years after his last playing days, in 1976, he ended up going 1-for-8 at the plate as a 50 year-old, then coming back in 1980 at the age of 54 and going hitless in two at-bats.
Nevertheless, Minoso finished his career with a .298 average, with 1963 hits over 6579 at-bats, along with 186 homers and 205 stolen bases while also topping 1000 runs scored and RBIs, 1136 & 1023 respectively.

If only he didn't have to wait until his age 27 season to show the ENTIRE country what he could do on a ball field.

 

CAREER-CAPPER: 1985 JIM PALMER

Let's venture into the 1980s again and have me post up my 1985 "career-capper" for the great Jim Palmer, who finished up his incredible Hall of Fame career in 1984:

Palmer’s road to Cooperstown was a bit rocky at first, with a couple of jumps and starts because of injuries between 1964 and 1968.
As a matter of fact we’d probably be looking at a 300-game winner if not for over a season of missed time between 1967 and 1968.
Though he had a great first professional season in 1964 as an 18-year-old, going a combined 15-5 in the O’s system, he found himself on a Major League mound in 1966, still a teen, going 5-4.
In 1966 he’d improve to a record of 15-10 for the surprising eventual World Champs, shocking everyone with a sweep of the reigning champion Los Angeles Dodgers, with Palmer contributing a complete game shutout.
But injuries derailed him until 1969 when he hit his stride, going 16-4 with a 2.34 ERA and six shutouts, completing 11 of 23 starts.
From there, all the man did was top 20-wins in eight of the next nine seasons, winning three Cy Young Awards, the first American League pitcher to do so, helping the Orioles to another championship in 1970, eventually finishing with a career 268-152 record along with a brilliant 2.86 ERA and 53 shutouts before he was done in 1984.

 

DEDICATED ROOKIE: 1969 AL OLIVER

Super psyched to post today's card creation, a 1969 "Dedicated Rookie" of "Scoop" Al Oliver, which I definitely hope to have printed up sometime soon:

Now, what do you call a guy who was a seven-time all-star, Silver Slugger winner at three different positions, collector of over 2700 hits, 200 home runs, .300 career average, 1300 runs batted in, and 500 doubles?

I call that a Hall of Famer, especially when you consider that the first nine years or so of his career were the "dead" 1970's.

Yes I know an argument can be made here for Oliver's Hall-worthiness.

But I have always felt that he fell into that Vada Pinson, Dave Parker, Steve Garvey crowd that should have gotten, at the very LEAST, more of a shot at Cooperstown.

I mean, when he was finally eligible for Hall voting, he only got 4.3% and was dropped just like that! THAT is just insane.

He won three consecutive Silver Slugger Awards in 1980-1982, as an outfielder, a designated hitter and a first baseman and he batted .300 or better eleven times in his 18-year career!

He finished in the top-10 in batting eight times during his career, in the top-10 in hits eight times in his career, top-10 in doubles nine times in his career, top-10 in total bases five times, runs scored four times, runs batted in four times, triples three times, extra base hits five times and slugging percentage twice.

Is THAT enough of a statement? His consistency was amazing.

And to top it off, he should have been the National League Rookie of the Year in 1969 but got ripped off, with the award going to Los Angeles Dodger Ted Sizemore.

Al Oliver is grossly overlooked as far as players of that era in my book.

REVISITING MY 1974 "MISSING IN ACTION" FOR LARRY BIITNER

Time to revisit a ten-year-old post featuring my "missing" 1974 card for Larry Biitner, from October 23rd, 2015:

For some reason he was left out of the ‘74 set even though he played in 83 games during the 1973 season.
In that campaign he he collected 65 hits over 258 official at-bats. Good for a .252 average with a homer and 12 runs batted in.
He’d go on to play straight through to the 1983 season before retiring, a nice 14-year career that saw him hit a very respectable .273 with 861 hits in 3151 at-bats in 1217 games
I’ll always remember him as a Chicago Cubs player, for whom he suited up between 1976 and 1980, even though he also played for the Washington Senators/Texas Rangers, Montreal Expos and Cincinnati Reds.
And of course for his unique surname with the consecutive "I"...

OPC IMAGE VARIATIONS: 1977 BOB BAILOR

The next OPC to Topps image variation to get the spotlight here on the blog is the one for "original" Blue Jay Bob Bailor:

OPC version

Topps version

While Topps gave him a spot in their multi-player rookie card, OPC of course gave him a dedicated card celebrating the new Canadian franchise.

Bailor originally made his Big League debut as a Baltimore Oriole in 1975 when he appeared in only five games, before returning for another nine games in 1976, collecting three hits over those 14 appearances with two runs scored and a triple among the scant highlights.

1977 would see him suited up for the new Toronto Blue jays franchise, being their second overall pick in the expansion draft held on November 5th, 1976.

With a chance to play everyday, Bailor did not disappoint, hitting a very nice .310 over a full rookie year, with 154 hits in 496 at-bats, stealing 15 bases and scoring 62 runs.

Surprisingly, he didn't get a single vote for Rookie of the Year, though he had tough competition with Eddie Murray leading the way followed by the Oakland A's Mitchell Page.

Nevertheless, he was one of the bright spots of the Blue Jays inaugural season for sure.

While he would never come close to that performance over the next eight seasons of his career, he did provide his team with a player who could fill in both all over the outfield and infield, putting in time "around the horn" as a solid utility man for the Jays, New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers before calling it a career after the 1985 campaign.

All told, he finished with a career .264 average, with 775 hits in 2937 at-bats in 954 games, with 90 stolen bases and 339 runs scored along the way.

 

1980 CAREER-CAPPER: LOU BROCK

Fun card on the blog today, and one that will get printed in the future for sure, my 1980 "Career-Capper" for Lou Brock:

Man! Here's a guy who is often overlooked in baseball history!

By the end of the 1979 season Brock was closing out his Hall of Fame career, nailing down his 3000th hit to go along with his 938 stolen bases, 1610 runs scored and .293 lifetime average.

Even at the age of 40 he was doing well, batting over .300 (.304) with 21 stolen bases!

An eight-time stolen base champ, he also collected 200 hits in a season four times, with another four seasons of over 190, and he also scored 100+ runs in a season seven times.

Incredibly enough, in Brock's 19-year career, he made the All-Star team only six times! 

The price you pay for coming up during the years of Mays, Aaron, and Clemente! 

Tough luck indeed!