JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT, ANOTHER 1977 RE-DO FOR RICK JONES

Up on the blog today, we have my SECOND re-do for former pitcher Rick Jones' 1977 card. The first was just an actual photo of him as a Seattle Mariner to "fix" the original as-issued Topps card which was an odd (to say the least) COMPLETE airbrush job, which was originally a black-and-white photo.This one reflects the team for whom he actually played in 1976, the Boston Red Sox:

Jones appeared in 24 games for the Red Sox in 1976, putting in a nice performance as he posted a 5-3 record along with a 3.36 earned run average, starting 14 of those appearances. Once onto Seattle however, he didn’t fair so well, going 1-4 with a 5.10 ERA over ten appearances, all starts and 42,1 innings of work.
The following year he’d make only three appearances for Seattle, starting two games and going 0-2 before spending 1979 and 1980 in the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league system, posting double-digit wins each year, yet leaving the game for good at the age of 25.Interesting to see his 1975 minor league season, as he posted a record of 20-7 with a 2.67 ERA and 177 strikeouts over 29 starts and 226 innings at the age of only 20. 

 

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1977 KERRY DINEEN

On the blog today, how about a "not so missing" 1977 card for former New York Yankee outfielder Kerry Dineen, who appeared in four games over the 1976 season for the American League champs:

Dineen, who made his MLB debut in 1975 with seven games as a Yankee and hit a scorching .364 in his limited play, came back for those few games in 1976 and hit a respectable .286 with two hits over seven at-bats, including a run batted in and a stolen base.

He would find himself traded to the Philadelphia Phillies just before the 1977 started for Sergio Ferrer and spend the whole year in the Minors, before making it back to the Big Leagues in 1978.

In what turned out to be his last taste of the Majors, he appeared in five games for the Phillies in 1978, hitting .250 with two hits over eight at-bats, spending the rest of the year tearing up Minor League pitching to the tune of a .345 batting average.

Sadly that didn't turn into another Major League shot, as he would play all of 1979 in the Minors, then retiring by year's end. All told, he finished his career with a very nice .324 career average, with 12 hits in 37 at-bats over 16 games between 1975 and 1978.

 

A 1976 CAREER-CAPPER FOR "MIRACLE MET" GARY GENTRY

Up on the blog today we have a 1976 "Career-Capper" for Gary Gentry, former 1969 "Miracle Mets" starter, who finished up his injury-plagued seven year Major League career with seven games for the Atlanta Braves in 1975:

Gentry went 1-1 over his brief final season, with an earned run average of 4.95 in 20 innings of work, with two of the appearances starts.

Still only 28 years of age, he would call it a professional career after the season, ended what was a seven-year career that began with great promise in 1969.

That season, making his Big League debut, he'd post a record of 13-12 over 35 starts, pitching to an ERA of 3.43 with three shutouts as the New York Mets shocked the baseball world by steamrolling to a World Championship, beating the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles.

He would have a decent four-year run with the Mets, winning 13, 9, 12 and seven games respectively between 1969 and 1972 before finding himself with Atlanta in 1973.

But once in Atlanta he couldn't get much playing time, appearing in a total of 26 games over the three seasons, winning a total of five games.

By the time he retired, he finished with a record of 46-49, with an ERA of 3.56 over 157 games and 902.2 innings pitched, with eight shutouts and two saves.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1975 BUTCH METZGER

Today on the blog we have a "not so missing" 1975 card for FUTURE National League Rookie of the Year Butch Metzger, who made his Big League debut during the 1974 season with the San Francisco Giants, appearing in 10 games:

Over those ten relief appearances, Metzger went 1-0 with an earned run average at 3.55, striking out five while walking 12 over 12.2 innings.

His 1975 season was more of the same, as he'd only appear in four games, now for the San Diego Padres, again posting a record of 1-0 with an ERA at 7.71 in 4.2 innings.

In 1976 he had quite a rookie season, appearing in 77 games and posting a very nice record of 11-4, with an ERA of 2.92 over 123.1 innings, all in relief.

He closed out a league-leading 62 games that year, picking up 16 saves while striking out 89 with 52 walks.

Those numbers got him a shared Rookie of the Year Award, which he split with the Cincinnati Reds Pat Zachry.

Sadly, that would end up being the high point of what turned out to be a short Big League career, as Metzger would falter a bit in 1977, even getting traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for John D'Acquisto and Pat Scanlon and going a combined 4-2 over 75 appearances with a 3.59 ERA in 115.1 innings, with only seven saves.

He would find himself a New York Met in 1978, appearing in 25 games while pitching to a 1-3 record with a 6.51 ERA over 37.1 innings, the last innings he'd pitch in the Majors, still only 26 years of age.

After a full season in the Atlanta Braves system in 1980, he would call it a career, ending up with a record of 18-9 with an ERA of 3.74 over 191 appearances and 293.1 innings pitched.

MISSING IN ACTION- 1973 ANDY KOSCO

 Up on the blog this morning we have a "missing" 1973 card for Andy Kosco, who split his 1972 campaign with the California Angels and Boston Red Sox:

Kosco appeared in 66 games that Summer, hitting .233 with 44 hits over 189 at-bats, certainly enough to warrant a card in the 1973 set, especially since he'd play for another two seasons before calling it a career after 1974.

Originally up with the Minnesota Twins during the Pennant Winning 1965 season, he'd end up playing 10 years in the Majors, finishing up with a .236 batting average, with 464 hits over 1963 at-bats in 658 games.

THE "WTHBALLS" CARDS SO FAR! SERIES 1 THROUGH 4 ALONG WITH 1960'S "DEDICATED ROOKIE" SPECIAL

Hello everyone!

Just thought it'd be fun to post a collection of photos of all the Series of cards produced so far in my pack-series started a few months ago.

SO FOR ANYONE THAT WANTS TO BE SURPRISED WITH SERIES 4 DON'T LOOK AT THE PHOTOS!

It's been a blast producing these so far and I want to thank all of you who have been supporting this endeavor! THANKS!!!

 

JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT: ON CARD ALL-STARS- 1970 JOHNNY BENCH

OK. Now today I start what I hope grows on me, a full set of 1970 cards with on-card All-Star designations, like my favorite cards between 1975 and 1981.We will begin this new thread with all-time great Johnny Bench, who of course was the National League starting catcher for the 1969 game:

 

Now, to begin with, if you recall Topps ended up producing All-Star cards in the 1970 that were actually the "Sporting News" All-Stars, not necessarily the starters from the game, so there will be some cool players getting their rightful All-Star call-out after all these years.

Now for the design: I weighed everything Topps did for this set and figured they wouldn't have done much to call-our an All-Star with this design, so I played it safe with a banner running across the bottom somewhat like the 1977 set.

Not a design that reaches out and grabs you by the throat, but just a little something extra to draw your eyes to an All-Star player.

Now as for Mr. Bench, the young rising star was already entrenched as the catcher of the era, making his second straight All-Star team in just his second season.

All he would go on to do in his career is win the National League Rookie of the Year as a 20-year old in 1968, win TWO Most Valuable Player Awards by the age of 24, and win a couple of championships by the age of 28.

Oh yeah, he'd also end up being what most consider the greatest catcher the game has ever seen!
Just an incredible career that took him straight to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1989, as if there was any chance of that NOT happening!
All-time legend of the game.