The newest edition to the "1976 Project", as I like to refer to the
series I am producing for "Reader Jim", is former pitcher Wayne
Simpson, who I will admit played sparingly in 1975 for the Philadelphia
Phillies, so Topps' omission of him in their set
the following year is understood, but I felt was still a valid card to
design.
Check out the card:
Simpson pitched in only seven games for the Phillies, five of them
starts, totaling 30.2 innings of work. He posted a 1-0 record with a
respectable 3.23 earned run average.
He missed the previous year after playing for the Kansas City
Royals in 1973, and would actually miss all of 1976 before making a bit
of a "comeback" with the California Angels in 1977 (see my 1978 "Missing
in Action" card for him by clicking on his name
on the right under "Labels").
Simpson came up with an absolute "BANG" in 1970, going 14-3 with a
3.02 E.R.A., two shutouts and 10 complete games in 24 starts with the
Cincinnati Reds, finishing fourth in Rookie of the Year voting.
But arm injuries derailed his career, and he never reached those
heights again before leaving the game after posting a 6-12 record for
the Angels in 1977.
Normally I would not be designing a card for a guy who only
appeared in seven games the previous year, but with "Reader Jim's"
completist mission for the 1976 set, which happens to be my all-time
favorite, I am always down to design more cards in the 1976
template. It's just a matter of finding the suitable images of the
players themselves.
