ABSOLUTELY TRAGIC: JOSE FERNANDEZ R.I.P. 1992-2016

Jose Fernandez: 1992-2016

Wow. I am stunned beyond words.

Rest in Peace Jose Fernandez.

Sad that such a young life ended so suddenly.

Just terrible news.

ANOTHER AIRBRUSHING GEM- 1972 RICHIE SCHEINBLUM

Here’s another paint-job courtesy of the people from Topps, from the 1972 set: the Richie Scheinblum edition:

After playing in a handful of games with the Washington Senators in 1971, Scheinblum found himself with the young Kansas City Royals team after being purchased on October 21st of 1971.
Topps was able to tweak him into a Royals cap, coming up with the work you see here for his 1972 card.
Great stuff as usual from the Topps art team!
Just a nice shot of him at Yankee Stadium, neon blue “KC” cap painted over what was surely a Senators cap.
Funny enough Scheinblum was the American Association’s Player of the Year in 1971 after hitting 25 homers while driving in 108 runs along with an eye-popping .388 batting average for Denver.
Yet he was sold by Washington just like that. Odd.
He would do very well for the Royals his first year there, getting selected to represent the team at the All Star game, and going on to bat .300 over the course of the season.
But he would be on the move again, and would play sporadically until 1974 with a few different organizations before finishing up his pro career with Hiroshima of the Japanese Central League in 1976

TURN BACK THE CLOCK- 1962 SANDY KOUFAX THROWS 1ST NO-HITTER

Next up in the “Turn Back The Clock” thread is a celebration of Los Angeles Dodgers legend Sandy Koufax throwing what would be the first of his four no-hitters, this one in 1962 against the Mets:

On June 30th, 1962, a year in which it was becoming evident that the young lefty from Brooklyn was beginning to harness all his potential, Koufax struck out 13 Mets, though still walking five, while cruising to a 5-0 win.
Just under 30,000 witnessed the pitching gem in person,, not realizing that they were seeing the unveiling of one of the most dominant pitching stretches in baseball history, as Koufax would go on to throw three more no-nos, including a perfect game in 1965, while collecting three Cy Young Awards and an MVP while leading the Dodgers to two World Championships in 1963 and 1965.
Sadly as we all know Koufax would have that dominance swept out from under him after the 1966 season because of arm troubles, and he had to retire while at the height of his career.
Nevertheless he accomplished enough in those few short years that he would be welcomed into the Hall of Fame’s hallowed doors just six years later in his first year of eligibility.

MISSING IN ACTION- 1972 WILLIE SMITH

Here’s a “missing” 1972 card for outfielder Willie Smith, who played the last games of his Major League career in 1971 with the Cincinnati Reds:

Smith appeared in 31 games for the Reds, batting .164 with nine hits over 55 at-bats while playing first base.
Never really a full time player, Smith came up with the Detroit Tigers in 1963, but was sent to the (then) Los Angeles Angels where he played through the 1966 season.
He then went on to the Cleveland Indians for a year and a half before moving on to the Chicago Cubs until 1970.
All told Smith played in 691 Major League games during his nine-year run, batting .248 with 410 hits over 1654 at-bats with 171 runs scored and 211 runs batted in.

THEN AND NOW: COOKIE ROJAS 1963-1977

Let’s celebrate the career of former all-star second baseman Cookie Rojas, who pretty much split a very nice 16-year career between the Philadelphia Phillies and Kansas City Royals with a brief stop over in St. Louis during the 1970 season and his promotion to the Major Leagues with the Cincinnati Reds in 1962:

The five-time all-star, and fan-favorite, was closing out his career with the American League West champion Royals, doling out the wisdom to young studs like George Brett and Al Cowens.
By the time he retired, he left with 1660 hits, 713 runs scored and a .263 lifetime average over 1822 games.

MISSING IN ACTION- 1970 WADE BLASINGAME

Here’s a “missing” 1970 card for former pitcher Wade Blasingame, who appeared in 26 games for the Houston Astros in 1969:

In those 26 appearances, Blasingame posted a 0-5 record with a bloated 5.37 earned run average over 52 innings pitched.
He would finish up his ten-year career in 1972 split between Houston and the New York Yankees, ending up with a 46-51 record, with a 4.52 ERA and 512 strikeouts over 222 games, 128 of them starts, and 863.2 innings pitched.
His best season as a Major League pitcher was easily his 1965 campaign when he went 16-10 for the Milwaukee Braves in their final year before moving to Atlanta.
But he could never match those numbers, becoming an arm out of the bullpen except for the 1971 season the rest of his career.

WTHBALLS ISSUE #3 IS HERE! "1971 MISSING IN ACTION"

Hey everyone, the newest issue of “wthballs” is here, #3 “1971 Missing In Action”, and it looks great!

There was an odd printer’s error when they produced the booklet, having a flap on the back because of some over-printed pages, but nevertheless the issue in it’s entirety is here to add to the growing magazine collection!

From former Indians slugger Tony Horton to future Hall of Fame manager Tony LaRussa, all the 1971 "missing" cards to date from the blog are in there.

Anyone interested can pick up a copy the usual way, $7 paypal to john@slogun.com and I’ll get this out asap!

Thanks!

Gio

@wthballs