MISSING IN ACTION- 1974 JIM GOSGER

Here’s yet another “missing” New York Mets player, a 1974 card for former outfielder Jim Gosger. And I like the “authenticity” of the final result.
Check it out:

Gosger appeared in 38 games for the National League champs in 1973, hitting .239 with 22 hits in 92 at-bats while manning the outfield.
It was the second to last year of a 10-year career that saw him suit up for the Boston Red Sox, Kansas City/Oakland A’s, Seattle Pilots, Montreal Expos and Mets before retiring after the 1974 season.
All told he batted .226 for his career with 411 hits, 197 runs scored, 30 homers and 177 runs batted in over 705 career games and 1815 at-bats.

TURN BACK THE CLOCK 1952: VIRGIL TRUCKS SPINS TWO NO-HITTERS

Here’s an interesting card to make up: a “Turn Back The Clock” card for one of the most unlikely “highlights” to ever occur, Virgil Trucks and his two no-hitters in 1952.
First, let’s take a look at the card I designed, following the 1972 template for a 20th anniversary:

Now, for those who do not know, why is it so unlikely that Trucks threw these two no-hitters? Well, if you look at his 1952 season you won’t even believe it. The man posted a 5-19 record, with a 3.97 earned run average over 29 starts and 35 appearances.
Granted, he was a much better pitcher than this over his career, but that 1952 season was one for the ages.
On May 15th he beat the Washington Senators 1-0, and then on August 25th he topped himself by spinning his second no-hitter of the year, beating the eventual (and reigning) World Champion New York Yankees by the very same score, 1-0.
At the time he was only the third pitcher to accomplish this feat, joining Johnny Vander Meer, who spun two consecutive no-no’s in 1938, and Allie Reynolds, who’s feat was featured here just about a week ago, as he pitched two no-hitters the year before Trucks in 1951.
Trucks would go on to pitch a very nice 17-year career in the Majors, winning 177 games with a 3.39 ERA and 1534 strikeouts.
He’d post a 20-win season in 1953, and would lead the American League in shutouts twice, with 6 in 1949 and five in 1954, while leading the league in K’s with 153 in ‘49 as well.
And speaking of K’s, in 1938 with the Andalusia team at D-Level, he posted a 25-6 record with a sparkling 1.25 ERA and an eye-popping 418 strikeouts!
Gotta love those Minor League whacky stats!

HALL OF FAME #38: JOHN "POP" LLOYD: CLASS OF 1977

Next up in our “Hall of Fame Inductees” thread is another Negro Leagues great, one of the best shortstops to ever suit up, John “Pop” Lloyd.
Check out the card I whipped up:

Jumping around from team to team since, as he put it, “wherever the money was, I went”, he played for no less than ten organizations during his Hall of Fame career, batting a cumulative .343 as far as recirds show.
Referred to as the “Black Honus Wagner”, he also played in the Cuban League between Negro League stints (and even during off-seasons) for 12 seasons, hitting a combined .329 there as well.
He finally got the recognition he deserved when the Negro League Committee elected him into Cooperstown’s hallowed halls in 1977, securing his place in baseball history.

MISSING IN ACTION: 1976 RAY SADECKI (1976 PROJECT)

Here’s one of the very first “missing” 1976 cards I created for “Reader Jim” way back when we started the “1976 Project”, a “missing” card for former pitcher Ray Sadecki.
Check it out:

Now, this card has a bit of a twist to it, since if I followed my usual routine, I’d have had Sadecki shown as a Kansas City Royal, the team that he finished the 1975 season with.
However, following Jim’s lead, we felt it better to have him for the team he saw the most action with, the Atlanta Braves, for whom he tallied 25 appearances and 66.1 innings pitched.
He also suited up for the St. Louis Cardinals (who he opened up the season with), and the Royals as I mentioned.
All together with all three organizations Sadecki appeared in 38 games, good for 80.1 innings of work, posting a combined 4-3 record with a 4.03 earned run average while striking out 32 batters.
Sadecki put in a nice long 18-year career in the Majors, coming up as a young arm with the St. Louis Cardinals, even posting a 20-win season in 1964, helping them win the World Series over the New York Yankees.
All told he pitched for six teams (Cardinals, Giants, Mets, Royals, Braves and Brewers), posting a final record of 135-131 with a 3.78 ERA and 1614 K’s over 563 games and 2500.1 innings.

JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT- 1970'S BASEBALL TRIVIA PART #123 (A REVISIT OF #41)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Another Thursday, another quiz.
Let’s revisit my 41st set from March of 2014.
Today's trivia is a bit of a mish-mosh of interesting stuff I've come across putting lists together.
See if you know any of the answers.
I'll post them up tomorrow…

1. During the decade, what player finished the season with the most at-bats and a 1.000 batting average?

2. What pitcher threw the most innings in a season while still posting a 0.00 E.R.A.?

3. What pitcher saw the most at-bats in a season during the 1970's?

4. Who had the highest batting average in a season for someone with more than 50 at-bats during the decade?

5. What pitcher faced the most hitters while allowing each one to get a hit off of him in a season?

***SPOILER ALERT! ANSWERS BELOW: 

1.  John Hale, Dodgers. He went four for four in 1974.

2. Mike Norris, A's. 16.2 innings with a 0.00 E.R.A. in 1975.

3. Wilbur Wood, White Sox. 125 at-bats in 1972.

4. Roger Freed, Cardinals. .398 average in 1977, going 33 for 83.

5. Bob Kammeyer, Yankees. He allowed all seven batters he faced to get a hit, including two homers and a hit batsman, for eight earned runs, in 1979. 

MISSING IN ACTION- 1971 JOHN ROSEBORO

Time to go and give former all-star catcher Johnny Roseboro a “caeer Capping” and “missing” 1971 card as he closed out a very nice career after the 1970 season:

Roseboro played the final 46 games of his career with the Washington Senators in 1970, posting a .233 batting average with 20 hits over 86 at-bats.
It was nice 14-year career that saw him named to four all-star teams, while taking home two Gold Gloves, both while still with the Los Angelos Dodgers, for whom he played 11-years and had his finest seasons as a big leaguer.
He would be a member of three world champion clubs while in L.A., in 1959, 1963 and 1965, and would help manage the incredible pitching staff that included the likes of Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Don Sutton.
Not too shabby!
Over all he batted .249 for his career, with 1206 hits in 4847 at-bats, hitting 104 homers and driving in 548 runs in 1585 games.

DEDICATED ROOKIE- 1970 VIDA BLUE

Here’s a 1970 “Dedicated Rookie” card for former Oakland A’s pitching ace Vida Blue, who was about to explode onto the baseball world a year later.

Blue made a handful of appearances in 1969, and even less in 1970 before absolutely dominating the Major Leagues in 1971, posting a 24-8 record with 301 strikeouts and a 1.82 earned run average, allowing him to take home not only a Cy Young Award, but the American League MVP as well.
He would go on to post two more 20-win seasons, while also starting an all-star game for both the A.L. (1971) and N.L. (1978), with six seasons of sub-3.00 ERA as well.
By the time he retired after the 1986 season he was the owner of over 200 career wins (209), with a nice 3.27 ERA and 2175 K’s.
In addition to his Cy Young win in 1971 he also posted a third-place finish in 1978, and was named to six all-star games, while leading the Oakland A’s to three straight World Series championships between 1972-1974.
Not a bad career at that!

MISSING IN ACTION- 1975 DAL MAXVILL

Let’s go and give former shortstop Dal Maxvill one last Topps card, this one in the 1975 set, shall we?
Take a look:

Maxvill would actually play in a handful of games during the 1975 season, 20 games to be precise, but he was left out of the 1975 set even though he played in 68 games during the 1974 season, so I figured why not whip up a card for ‘75.
Splitting time between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Oakland A’s, Maxvill hit .189 with 14 hits in 74 at-bats, all singles.
It was the fourth championship team he’d play for during his 14-year career, with the first three being the Cardinals in 1964 &1967, and the A’s in 1972.
For his career Maxvill was pretty much a “Mendoza-Line” hitter, finishing with a .217 lifetime average with 748 hits over 3443 at-bats, topping .250 only once, in 1968.
Incredibly, he received MVP votes that year while taking home a Gold Glove for his defensive work. Easily the best season of his career.

NICKNAMES OF THE '70'S #39: "BABY BULL" ORLANDO CEPEDA

Time to go and give Hall of Fame star Orlando “Baby Bull” Cepeda a “nickname” card in my ongoing “Nicknames of the ‘70’s” thread.
Check out the card:

I used the 1970 template since he had his last great year that year, slamming 34 homers for the Atlanta Braves with 111 runs batted in and a .305 batting average.
Cepeda’s dad was a star player in Puerto Rico, and had the nickname “Perucho”, or “Bull”, thus when Orlando came along he naturally was tagged with “Baby Bull”, and the nickname was born.
Even though Cepeda would put together a Hall of Fame worthy career, one has to wonder what numbers he could have really put up had his legs not curtailed the momentum he had in the 1960’s.
Nevertheless, the “Baby Bull” eventually found his place in Cooperstown, alongside former teammates like Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Juan Marichal.

TURN BACK THE CLOCK 1951: ALLIE REYNOLDS SPINS TWO NO-HITTERS

Today we celebrate Allie Reynolds and his two no-hitters in 1951, which he threw against the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Red Sox, in my “Turn Back The Clock” series.
Take a look at the card I created:

The “Super Chief” had it going on in 1951, winning 17 games and leading the league with seven shutouts.
On July 12th of that year he faced his old team, the Indians, and beat them 1-0 thanks to a solo home run by Gene Woodling. He retired the last 17 batters he faced, and his rival pitcher, Bob Feller, pitched a no-hitter himself just eleven days earlier!
On September 28th, he faced Boston and easily beat them 8-0, which allowed the Yankees at least a tie for first in the American League.
Reynolds struck out nine and walked four, and of course we all know that the final batter he faced was none other than Ted Williams, arguably the greatest all-around hitter in baseball history.
All Reynolds had to do was, in a sense, retire him TWICE, as Yogi Berra dropped a foul pop-up for the final out, before catching the very next one, as Williams popped out to end the game.
Only six pitchers have thrown two no-hitters in one season, with Roy Halladay (2010) and Max Scherzer (2015) being the most recent to the exclusive club.

MISSING IN ACTION- 1970 BUBBA MORTON

Here’s a “missing” 1970 Topps card for the California Angels’ Bubba Morton:

Morton played in 87 games during the 1969 season while manning the outfield, batting .244 with 42 hits in 172 official at-bats, with 206 total plate appearances.
Those would actually be the final games of his seven-year career, which were spent with the Angels, Detroit Tigers and Milwaukee Braves.
All told he finished with a lifetime .267 average with 248 hits in 928 at-bats, with 37 doubles, eight triples and 14 homers in the mix, before moving on to some playing time in Japan.

JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT- 1970'S BASEBALL TRIVIA PART #122 (A REVISIT OF #40)

Let's hit some 1970's baseball trivia once again and revisit my set from March, 2014.
Today we'll deal with 200-hit seasons of the 1970's.
See what you can answer and I'll post the answers tomorrow, as usual…
1. Among all 200-hit seasons in the decade, who had the lowest batting average?

2. Who had the fewest at-bats in a 200-hit season during the '70's?

3. Who played in the fewest games in a 200-hit season during the 1970's?

4. Who hit the most homers while also getting 200+ hits in a season during the '70's?

5. Who posted the lowest on base percentage among all 200-hit seasons in the 1970's?



***SPOILER ALERT! ANSWERS BELOW: 

1.  Matty Alou, Pirates. He batted .297 in 1970.

2. Rod Carew, Twins. 580 AB's in 1973.

3. Ralph Garr, Braves. He played in only 143 games in 1974 and STILL lead the league with 214 hits.

4. Jim Rice, Red Sox. 213 hits and a whopping 46 homers in 1978.

5. Ralph Garr, Braves. He had a .323 OBP while getting 200 hits and a .299 average with only 22 walks in 698 plate appearances.

MISSING IN ACTION: 1976 DON HOPKINS

Here’s an interesting “missing” 1976 card: a card for former designated hitter/runner Don Hopkins of the Oakland A’s:

Hopkins line for the 1975 season is just as odd as Herb Washington’s was for the A’s in 1974.
Though he appeared in 82 games for Oakland during the 1975 season, Hopkins posted eight plate appearances and six official at-bats, yet scored 25 runs and stole 21 bases.
I LOVE stuff like this!
Used as a pinch runner he took over where Washington left off, and this would pretty much encompass the entirety of his career except for three games in 1976.
He’d finish with one single hit over six at-bats, with 25 runs scored and 21 stolen bases in 85 games.
Interesting bit of baseball oddity right here, and I think derserving of a card, no?

TRADED: 1978 VIDA BLUE

Next up in the “Traded” thread is former Cy Young winner Vida Blue, with a 1978 Topps card showing him as a San Francisco Giant, after a brilliant career with the Oakland A’s:

Blue was traded in March of 1978, and immediately made an impact, starting the 1978 All-Star game for the National League on his way to an 18-win season with a 2.79 earned run average and a third-place finish in Cy Young voting.
Of course we all know he won the award back in 1971 with a monster year, going 24-8 with a 1.82 ERA and 301 strikeouts.
Over the next three seasons in Oakland he’d anchor a staff that led the A’s to three straight World Series championships, and the Vida Blue superstar was born.
By the time he retired after the 1986 season he would post a 209-161 record with a nice 3.27 ERA and 2175 strikeouts with six all-star nods.

MISSING IN ACTION- 1973 BOBBY KNOOP

Let’s go and give former second baseman Bobby Knoop one last card as a Major League player, capping off his career with a 1973 Topps card:

Knoop finished off his nine-year career in 1972, playing in 44 games with the Kansas City Royals and hitting .237 with 23 hits over 97 at-bats.
Knoop was awarded three Gold Gloves for his excellent fielding, all consecutive between 1966-68 while with the California Angels, for whom he came up with.
In 1966 he was named to his only All-Star team, and also led the American League with 11 triples while hitting 17 homers and driving in 72 runs.
He’d retire with a .236 lifetime average, with 856 hits over 3622 at bats in 1153 games with the Angels, Chicago White Sox and Royals.
 

MAN, MY MEMORY IS SLIPPING BIG TIME! 1977 MAURY WILLS "TURN BACK THE CLOCK"

I tell you, this one has me wondering whether my “old” age is getting to my memory.
I recently came across the 1977 Maury Wills “Turn Back the Clock” card from that sub-set, and I swear I don’t remember it at all!
Now, of course I had it since the 1977 set was the very first set I completed as a kid when I was 8-years-old back during the “Summer of Sam” here in NYC.

But for the life of me when I saw it a couple weeks back I was sitting there, blank as hell, almost angry that I could possibly even NOT remember a card from the 1970’s.
Hilarious...
Just a “random quickie” that popped up recently.
Then again, seems more and more little memories keep slipping by me these days as I creep up to 50.
Ugh.

HALL OF FAME #37: MARTIN DIHIGO: CLASS OF 1977

Today’s Hall of Fame inductee is long time Negro League and Cuban legend Martin Dihigo, “El Maestro”., who was inducted into Cooperstown in 1977.
Check out my card first:

Dihigo starred in the American Negro Leagues for such teams as the Homestead Grays, as well as the Mexican and Cuban leagues as both a second baseman and a pitcher.
Though stats were not entirely kept in the leagues he played in, sources cite his final career numbers at a .302 batting average while also winning 252 games as a pitcher.
In 1938 in the Mexican League he posted an 18-2 record with a 0.90 earned run average, while winning the batting title with a .387 average!
He;s also one of two players (Willie Wells being the other) that is inducted into the American, Cuban and Mexican Baseball Halls of Fame, while Dihigo is ALSO in the Dominican and Venezuelan Hall of Fames!
Not too shabby!

MISSING IN ACTION- 1976 TONY SCOTT "1976 PROJECT"

Here’s a “missing” 1976 card as part of the “1976 Project” for a guy I never knew came up with the Montreal Expos, Tony Scott:

Turns out after a couple of “cups of coffee” with Montreal in 1973 and 1974, Scott played in 92 games in 1975, good for 159 plate appearances with 26 hits over 143 at-bats, giving him a .182 average.
He’d miss the 1976 season but then go on to play through to 1984 after appearing in 45 games with, who else, the Montreal Expos.
In between he played for the St. Louis Cardinals and Houston Astros, giving him an 11-year career that saw him bat .249 with 699 hits in 2803 at-bats, playing in 991 games before his career ended.

JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT- 1970'S BASEBALL TRIVIA PART #121 (A REVISIT OF #39)

Trivia time again…And we’ll revisit my 39th trivia post from back in February of 2014.

This week deals with all pitchers in the 1970's who threw 250+ innings in a season.
So get your minds racing and see how many you can get.
I threw in a couple extra "bonus" questions since I had the answers handy, so have fun.
Answers tomorrow…

1. Of all 250+ inning seasons hurled in the decade, what pitcher posted the highest E.R.A.?
2. Among all 250+ inning seasons in the '70's, who posted the fewest wins? There's a tie between two pitchers.
3. Who struck out the fewest batters in a 250+ inning season during the decade?
4. Who attained 250+ innings pitched in a season with the fewest games?
5. Who allowed the fewest hits in a season they pitched 250+ innings in the '70's?
6. Who pitched the fewest complete games during a 250+ inning season in the 1970's?
7. What pitcher walked the fewest batters among all 250+ inning pitchers in the decade?



***SPOILER ALERT! ANSWERS BELOW: 

1.  Jim Bibby, Rangers. 4.74 in 1974.

2. Steve Carlton, Cardinals. 1970 & Steve Arlin, Padres. 1972. 10 wins apiece.

3. Clyde Wright, Angels. 65 K's in 257 innings in 1973.

4. Mark Fidrych, Tigers. 31 games in 1976.

5. Nolan Ryan, Angels. 166 hits in 284 innings. 1972.

MISSING IN ACTION: 1979 MARDIE CORNEJO

Here’s a fun card to make: a “missing” 1979 Topps card of former New York Mets pitcher Mardie Cornejo.
Take a look:

Cornejo is a bit of a mystery since he appeared in only one season of Major League ball (1978), and performed rather well, posting a 4-2 record with the Mets while posting a 2.45 earned run average over 25 appearances and 36.2 innings, all out of the bullpen.
So why no other action in his career? Anyone familiar with Cornejo and what happened?
Nevertheless it was awesome finding this photo of the guy so I could whip this card up for the blog.

TURN BACK THE CLOCK 1951: BOB FELLER TOSSES HIS THIRD CAREER NO-HITTER

Today’s “Turn Back the Clock” card creation celebrates all-time great Bob Feller’s third career no-hitter, which he achieved on July 1st, 1951 against the Detroit Tigers.
Take a look:

Feller was already on his way to a legendary career when he posted the third no-no of his illustrious career. He already owned the Major League record for strikeouts in a season, strikeouts in a game, and pitched two previous no-hitters before taking the mound that day in 1951.
Funny enough he had no command of his fastball that day and was relying on his slider, not even thinking of what he was accomplishing until the seventh-inning.
In pitching his third no-hitter, Feller joined Larry Corcoran and Cy Young as the only pitchers to do so at the time in Major League history, adding yet another feat to an already incredible career.
What I always wonder is what kind of career numbers could we have been looking at had he not missed some prime seasons because of World War II?
The man could have whiffed close to 4000 while easily posting over 300 wins, if not close to 350!

MISSING IN ACTION-1977 JERRY HAIRSTON

Here’s a “missing” 1977 Topps card for long time “player off the bench” Jerry Hairston:

Hairston played in 44 games for the Chicago White Sox during the 1976 season, good for a .227 batting average based on his 27 hits in 119 official at-bats.
He was just in his fourth of what would end up being 14 years in the Major Leagues, with a three year gap between 1978 and 1980 before playing out the next nine years with the White Sox after a short stint with the Pittsburgh Pirates at the tail end of 1977.
Though never a full-time player I always remember him as a solid guy off the bench in a pinch-hitting role with the Sox in the early ‘80’s.
In his 14 years as a big leaguer, the most games he appeared in was 115 in 1984, and the most plate appearances he ever collected in any one campaign was 274 back in 1975.
Also, for those of you not familiar, Hairston was part of some true family baseball lineage, as his father Sam, brother John and two sons Scott and Jerry Jr were all also Major League ball players. Pretty amazing stuff.

ANOTHER AIRBRUSHING CLASSIC: 1976 TOPPS DAVE NELSON

Just wanted to spotlight another airbrushing gem from the 1970’s, the 1976 Topps card for former speedster Dave Nelson, then of the Kansas City Royals:

Man, the work on the uniform is actually really well done, but then you take a gander at that cap and wonder why Topps even bothered doing this.
How do you all feel about the following: would it have been better of Topps just used a photo of the player in his uniform with his prior team, and just went and had the card call out his NEW team?
In other words: why not just have a Royals card with a photo of Nelson still in his Texas Rangers uniform?
I honestly don’t know what I’d prefer, but it could have been a cool way for young kids like myself to see right off the bat the players that changed teams in the off-season.
What do you all think? Topps did the right thing with the airbrushing? Or should they have just used an existing photo and show the “new” team?
Curious to see what everyone feels about this...

1979 TOPPS REGGIE JACKSON REDONE: FOR THE SAKE OF "ACTION"

Here’s a card I have always wanted to re-do with a better image: the 1979 Topps Reggie Jackson card.
Take a look at what I came up with:

I always felt that super close up of him with his shades was a let down after his absolutely AWESOME action 1978 card (one of my all-time favorites).
So I just went and replaced the “Hollywood” portrait shot with an in-game action picture of him instead.
I have always been a fan of the all-stars in the 1979 set because I’ve always felt the layout and graphics worked well (think of the Brett, Carew and Bowa cards), so to have an action shot of baseball’s biggest star then would have been epic in my eyes.
“Mr. October” was in full-swing by the time these 1979 cards hit the market, and I remember first pulling out a Reggie card from packs that year and being bummed out.
Then again I was a bit bummed out with the 1979 card design as a whole (except for aforementioned all-star cards), and don’t even get me started on the black and white rookie cards and the “all-time” sub-set. Ugh...

WHAT IF? A DON BAYLOR 1977 OAKLAND A'S CARD

Allow me some latitude here with my newest card creation: a 1977 Topps Oakland A’s card since he never appeared on a card as an Oakland Player:

Baylor put in a solid year in his only season as an Oakland player. First off he had his career high in stolen bases when he swiped 52, along with the rest of the team who combined to steal 341 for the year! Incredible.
He also chipped in 85 runs scored, 15 homers and 68 runs batted in while (of course) leading the league in hit-by-pitch with 20.
As we all know he would appear as a California Angels player in the 1977 set since he signed with them after the 1976 season as one of the earlier Free Agents.
And since he was part of the (in)famous Reggie Jackson trade in April of 1976, he was still depicted as a Baltimore Oriole in the 1976 set (watch for my “traded” card for this in the near future).
Just one of those cards that I always wanted to create and post up here because of the quirk in timing with his transactions and Topps deadlines for filling out their sets.
Hope this fills in a gap of sorts for some of you out there!

JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT- 1970'S BASEBALL TRIVIA PART #120 (A REVISIT OF #38)

Hello again everyone. Time for Thursday trivia.
This week I focus on all players that had 100 or more walks in a season during the 1970's.
See how many you can get.
Answers will be posted tomorrow.

1. Among all 100+ walk seasons in the '70's, who posted the lowest batting average that season?

2. Of all 100+ walk seasons during the decade, who had the fewest hits?

3. Who posted the lowest On Base Percentage during a 100+ walk season in the '70's?

4. Who scored the fewest runs in a season where they walked 100+ times in the 1970's?

5. Who hit the fewest home runs in a 100+ walk year during the decade?

***SPOILER ALERT! ANSWERS BELOW: 

1. Jimmy Wynn, Braves. A .207 average in 1976.

2. Gene Tenace, Padres. Only 90 hits in a year with 100+ walks, 1978.

3. Dick McAuliffe, Tigers. A .358 OBP in 1970.

4. Willie McCovey, Giants. 52 runs scored in 1973.

5. Pete Rose, Reds. He hit 3 homers in 1974. 

MISSING IN ACTION- 1972 JIM HANNAN

Here’s a “missing” 1972 Topps card for former pitcher Jim Hannan.
Check it out:

Hannan appeared in 28 games for the Detroit Tigers and Milwaukee Brewers in 1971, his last games in the Major Leagues after pitching for 10 years.
During the 1971 season he posted a 2-1 record with a 4.57 earned run average over 43.1 innings pitched
The previous nine years were spent with the Washington Senators, for whom he came up with in 1962 as a 22 year old arm out of the ‘pen.
All told in his 10 year career he posted a 41-48 record with a 3.88 ERA over 276 games and 822 innings pitched, 101 of which were starts which also yielded four shutouts and nine complete games.

NICKNAMES OF THE '70'S #38: "MAD DOG" BILL MADLOCK

Let’s go and give former four-time batting champ Bill Madlock a “nickname card of the 70’s” shall we?
Take a look at my card for “Mad Dog”:

I used the 1977 template since he was fresh off two consecutive batting titles while with the Chicago Cubs.
He’d go on to win two more as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1981 and 1983 as well, putting him in rare company with four or more such titles.
He’d put in a very nice 15-year career which would see him top 2000 hits, a .305 average and get named to three all-star teams while playing for the Rangers, Cubs, Giants, Pirates, Dodgers and Tigers before retiring after the 1987 season.
Here’s to “Mad Dog” and his excellent career!

MISSING IN ACTION: 1971 GUS GIL

Here’s a “missing” 1971 Topps card for former Milwaukee Brewers infielder Gus Gil:

Gil appeared in 64 games for Milwaukee during the 1970 season, batting .185 with 22 hits in 119 official at-bats with 12 runs scored and 12 runs batted in.
He put in a four-year Major League career between 1967 and 1971, missing the 1968 season after coming up with the Cleveland Indians before playing for the Seattle Pilots in 1969.
The final two years of his career were with the Brewers, wrapping up with 14 games at second and third base in 1971 while hitting .156, bringing his lifetime average to .186 with 87 hits over 468 at-bats in 221 games.

HALL OF FAME #36: ERNIE BANKS: CLASS OF 1977

Our travels through 1970’s Hall of Fame inductees takes us to 1977, and none other than “Mr. Cub” himself, Ernie Banks.
Take a look at my card first:

What needs to be said about quite possibly the most well-liked baseball legend there ever was?
Easily a first ballot inductee, Banks was named to 83.8% of the ballots after posting a career that saw him win two Most Valuable Player Awards (1958 and 1959), slam over 500 home runs while knocking in 1636 Cubbies during his illustrious 19-year career.
The man IS what the word “legend” is all about, getting named to eleven all-star teams hitting 30+ homers seven times during his career, with five of those seasons topping 40.
Sadly he’d never taste the sweet taste of a World Series, but that certainly did not take away from all of his successes.
“Mr. Cub” gets his due in 1977, and rightly so!