It's been a while since Mike Marshall has made an appearance on
this blog when it comes to "missing cards". And lord knows he has a few
of them throughout the 1970's.
I already designed a "missing" 1979 card for him, which I posted
here a while back, and I'm in the middle of designing a 1978 card for
him in a Texas Rangers uniform ("Photoshopping" a Texas uniform is
turning out to be quite a b*tch!).
But for today, allow me to present to you all a "missing" 1970
edition of the Mike Marshall hit-parade, showing the former all-star
reliever in a Seattle Pilots uniform, for whom he played in 1969
totaling 20 games and 87.2 innings of work.
For the somewhat forgettable season he posted a 3-10 record along with a 5.13 earned run average.
But things would change rather quickly for Marshall, as he soon
became arguably THE relief pitcher in the Majors by 1972, pitching for
the Montreal Expos before moving on to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
1972 would see him post his first truly great year, as he went 14-8
with 18 saves and a sparkling 1.78 earned run average over the course
of 65 games of relief work.
It was a sign of things to come.
While over in L.A. he'd win a Cy Young Award in 1974 when he posted
a season for the ages, appearing in a still-record 106 games, going
15-12 with a 2.42 E.R.A., saving a league-leading 21 games while
totaling a mind-boggling 208.1 innings out of the 'pen!
Incredible!
As I stated in my previous post regarding Marshall, he was a
constant headache for Topps, at first refusing to pose for a photo on a
baseball card, and eventually refusing to appear on a card all-together.
Hence the missing Marshall cards in 1978/79/80.
His missing 1970 card seems to be more of a decision by Topps
rather than Marshall himself, since his playing time in '69 was a bit
sparse. But I can't be 100% sure.
Anyway, here's a design I whipped up for a 1970 Mike Marshall card
showing him in that great Seattle Pilots foam-green uniform before they
became the Milwaukee Brewers the following year.
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| Marshall before his mid-70's reliever "super-run". |