Tuesday, May 5, 2015

MISSING IN ACTION- 1976 KEN FRAILING: "1976 PROJECT"

Here'a 1976 card for a guy who appeared in 41 games for the Chicago Cubs in 1975, yet was omitted from the set the following year, pitcher Ken Frailing:
Take a look at the card I came up with for "Reader Jim" and our "1976 Project":


Frailing squeezed 53 innings out of those 41 games, all in relief, posting a 2-5 record with a 5.43 earned run average and a single save.
The previous year he put in 125.1 innings over 55 games, 16 of which were starts, going 6-9 with a 3.88 E.R.A., a save and 71 strikeouts.
Those two seasons would be the bulk of his five-year career, the first two of which were as a Chicago White Sox player in 1972 and 1973.
The 1976 season would turn out to be his last, as he appeared in six games, going 1-2 with a 2.41 E.R.A., with three starts.
He'd play in the minors until 1978 before leaving the game for good, with his final Major League numbers: a 10-16 record with a 3.96 E.R.A., two saves and 136 strikeouts over 116 games, 19 of which were starts.
 
On a side note: I'm not too familiar with the Topps Vault and that whole "scene", but one thing that I wonder about is the fact that all of the photos are posed shots, and I wonder why there are no "action" shots in the Vault considering so many of the actual cards that came out in the mid-70's on up were awesome "in game" pictures (think Johnny Bench, Willie Horton, etc in the 1976 set for example).
So are all the "action" photos taken by someone other than Topps, which Topps then licensed from the photographer?
Just curious....I thank anyone in advance for any clarification!

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER...

@wthballs
Everything baseball: cards, events, history and more.