FANTASY 1972 TRADED CARD- RUSTY STAUB

Been a long time coming to create this, but I finally got around to adding a 1972 “Traded” card for Rusty Staub to the two “missing” base cards I created seven years ago on the blog:

As we all know, Rusty Staub had contractual problems with Topps in the early '70's, and was excluded from the 1972 and 1973 baseball card sets.
He was traded by Montreal to New York on April 5th of 1972, and it's worth mentioning that this was a pretty decent trade for both teams, as Staub was sent to Flushing in exchange for Ken Singleton, Tim Foli and Mike Jorgensen. All players contributed admirably for their new teams in the next few years after the swap.
Lost in the crowd that was Rose, Bench, Jackson, Carew, etc. was this player who built a 23 year career, finishing up with over 2700 hits, 292 homers, 1466 R.B.I.'s, and six all-star appearances.
He started out as a 19 year old kid in Houston in 1963 and went on to play for Montreal, Detroit, Texas  and the New York Mets for two stints, with whom he retired with after the 1985 season.
And for those last five seasons with the Mets, he became one of the top pinch-hitters in the game and endeared himself to the Met faithful, even opening up a couple of well-liked restaurants in NYC along the way.
A few little "extras" about his career: Staub is one of three players (along with Ty Cobb and Gary Sheffield) to hit home runs as a teenager and as a 40-year old, and he is also the only player to amass 500 hits with four different teams (Astros, Mets, Expos and Tigers).
He was also the first player to play all 162 games in a season strictly as a Designated Hitter, which was for Detroit in 1978.
Seeing that the most support he ever received for the Hall was 7.9% in 1994 is a bit disappointing, to say the least.

1975 IN-ACTION: DON MONEY

Time to add former All-Star infielder Don Money to my long-running 1975 “In-Action” thread, as he was smack in the middle of a very nice 16-year Major League career:

Money was coming off of his first All-Star season of 1974, a year that also saw him set a new record of 78 straight games at third base without an error.
One thing I never realized is that he was the starting second baseman for the American League in the 1978 All-Star game, yet ended up playing more games at first base that year.
The man was versatile to say the least!
He wasn’t all defense however, as he’d hit as many as 25 home runs in a season (1977), as well as collect as many as 178 hits (1974) during his career.
The four-time all-star would retire after the 1983 season with 1623 hits, 176 homers and 798 runs scored over 1720 games.

A LITTLE PICK-ME-UP FOR TODAY! 1973 MIKE SCHMIDT PROTO-TYPE CARDS ARE IN!

So I found a great new printer that fits my "needs" for some stuff I have in mind, and I got my little "test run" today and am psyched! It was a rough test but now I know what they can do, so this is great news for anyone that was hoping I'd eventually print-up some of my creations from this blog.
Check it out:

Not too bad huh?
Professionally printed on true card stock in actual size!
And so reasonably priced!
So keep an eye out here for some ideas I have bouncing around my head: Packs? Sets? Single-offerings? I don't know yet. But you can be sure I'll be figuring it all out as soon as I can!
If anyone wants to pick this proto-type up, please email me at: slogun23@gmail.com and you can grab one for $3 postpaid in a plain white envelope. If you buy more than one I'll discount even more!
But email me so I can keep this organized...
More info on this new development as it comes!

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1975 BOB GEBHARD

On the blog today, we have a career-capping” not-so-missing 1975 card for former Montreal Expos pitcher Bob Gebhard, who saw the last of his Big League action in 1974:

Gebhard, whose only other Major League time was with the Minnesota Twins in 1971 and 1972, spent the 1973 season in the Minors before making it back North of the border with Montreal, appearing in a single game and tossing two innings.
In those two innings of work he gave up five hits, one of them a home run, for a 4.50 earned run average in a relief role.
He would spend all of 1975 in the Montreal Minor Leagues, having a decent year out of the bullpen, going 4-3 with a nice 2.67 ERA over 44 appearances and 64 innings, but even though still only 32 years of age, he retired at year’s end.
All told, his Big League time amounted to a record of 1-3, with a 5.93 ERA over 31 appearances and 41 innings pitched, picking up a save and striking out 26 in parts of three seasons.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- TERRY CROWLEY

Let’s go and give 15-year Major League veteran Terry Crowley a “not so missing” 1977 card shall we, after being left out of the Topps set that year:

Crowley split the 1976 season between the Atlanta Braves and Baltimore Orioles, hitting a combined .224 with 15 hits over 67 at-bats after spending the previous two years with the “Big Red Machine” Cincinnati Reds.
His Big League career spanned between 1969 and 1983, having the incredible luck of playing for both the 1970 Baltimore Orioles and 1975 Cincinnati Reds, the two top-winning teams of the 1970’s and World Champions.
For his career, Crowley hit .250 with 379 hits in 1518 at-bats, with 42 homers and 229 runs batted in over 865 games playing for the Orioles, Reds, Atlanta Braves and Montreal Expos.
Never more than a fill-in/pinch hitter, Crowley never had more than 283 plate appearances in any one season through his career, with only two years of more than 200.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1974 RICH CHILES

Up on the blog today we have a “not so missing” 1974 card for former outfielder Rich Chiles, who moved on to the New York Mets in 1973 after his first two seasons with the Houston Astros:

Chiles only appeared in eight games for the Mets that year, hitting .120 with three hits (two of them doubles) over 25 at-bats while scoring two and driving in one.
He would go on to play the entire 1974 and 1975 seasons in the Minors before making it back to the Big Leagues in 1976 with, you guessed it, the Astros again, though only appearing in five games, going 2-for-4 at the plate.
1977 and 1978 saw him now suiting up for the Minnesota Twins, where he saw substantial playing time, getting into 108 and 87 games respectively, hitting a combined .267 while playing the corner outfield spots.
Sadly for him however, all that got him was two seasons in the Minors in 1979/80 playing for the Cleveland and Pittsburgh organizations before retiring at the age of 30.
All told, his playing career lasted parts of six years, hitting .254 with 157 hits in 618 at-bats over 284 games between 1971 and 1978, with 68 runs scored and 76 RBIs.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1973 LES CAIN

On the blog today is a career-capping “not so missing” 1973 card for former Detroit Tigers pitcher Les Cain, who saw the last of his Big League action in 1972:

Cain appeared in five games for the Tigers that season, going 0-3 with a 3.80 earned run average over 23.2 innings of work, all five of those appearances starts.
The previous two seasons were good for Cain, as he posted records of 12-7 and 10-9 respectively, filling a spot as one of Detroit’s main starters.
However, in what turned out to be a landmark case against Major League baseball, after Cain developed arm trouble in 1972 at the age of only 24, he insisted that manager Billy Martin still made him pitch, resulting in career-ending arm troubles (sound familiar?), which led him to sue the organization.
In a stunning move, the Michigan Bureau of Workman’s Compensation ruled in favor of Cain and judged that the Detroit Tigers would have to pay Cain $111 a week for the rest of his life!
Incredible!
I never knew this until researching Cain for this blog post.
Cain is still alive, and I’m assuming still collecting his checks from the Tigers to this day, some 47 years later.
As for his Big League career, he finished with a record of 23-19 over 68 appearances, starting 64 of those games and pitching to a 3.98 ERA over 373 innings in parts of four seasons between 1968 and 1972.