Monday, November 10, 2014

THEN AND NOW #22: VADA PINSON 1976

Here is a card I had a heck of a time designing, a 1976 "Then and Now" Vada Pinson edition.
Check it out.


I have to apologize for the "sub-standard" quality of the main image…
Anyone familiar with the SSPC set would recognize the photo of Pinson as a Royal, and while I stay away from using images from that set for anything I do, you'd be amazed how impossible it was for me to find a good picture of Pinson from 1974/75!
Then again, I shouldn't be surprised, since (in my opinion) Pinson is about as underrated a player from that era as there was!
If you've followed this blog since I started it about a year and a half ago, you'd know how much I feel Vada Pinson was never given the credit he was due, especially since he retired from the game after the 1975 season.
Here's a guy who finished his career with 2757 hits, 1365 runs scored, 256 home runs and 305 stolen bases, all during the pitching-era of the 1960's/early-70's.
He posted 200-hits four times, 100-R.B.I.'s twice, 100 runs scored four times, 20+ stolen bases nine times, 20+ homers seven times, and hit 10 or more triples in a season five times!
Yet with everything I just mentioned, he was an All-Star twice. TWICE!
Then again, when you're manning the outfield in the National League during the 1960's, you're playing in the shadows of guys named Mays, Aaron and Clemente.
Heck, for the first part of his career he was even overshadowed by teammate Frank Robinson!
When Hall of Fame voting came around, Pinson never received more than 15.7% support (1988), and was in single digits 10 of the 15 years eligible for election by the BBWA.
Take a look at his career. Some really eye-popping stuff if you ask me…