NOT SO MISSING IN ACTION- 1974 OTIS THORNTON

Love creating cards like this: here’s my “not so missing” 1974 Otis Thornton, he of two Major League games in 1973:

Thornton’s entire Major League career came and went in one day, appearing in both games of a double-header for the Astros against the Montreal Expos on July 6th.
He went a combined 0-3 in the two games, while taking up catching duties, though he did drive in a run while striking out twice.
The following season he’d spend toiling in the Minors, where he’d play the last of his pro career, which began in 1965, all with the Houston Astros.
What a unique post for the blog, even after all these years!

MISSING IN ACTION- 1972 JIM GOSGER

Here’s a “missing” 1972 card for former outfielder Jim Gosger, who I also created a 1974 card for many moons ago:

Gosger actually would end up playing the entire 1972 season in the Minor Leagues in the Mets system, but he did appear in 51 games for the Montreal Expos in 1971.
Over that Big League action, he hit .157 16 hits over 102 at-bats while playing both outfield and some first base.
He’d end up putting in 10 years in the Majors, hitting .226 with 411 hits over 1815 at-bats in 705 games between 1963 and 1974.
Along the way he was a member of the 1969 Seattle Pilots, before getting shipped to the New York Mets during their “Miracle Mets” run, and he was also a member of the inaugural 1968 Oakland A’s team when they relocated from Kansas City.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1977 FRED ANDREWS

Here’s a 1977 card for Fred Andrews of the Philadelphia Phillies, for whom I also produced a 1978 card a while back, thus representing the entirety of his two-year Major League career:

Andrews appeared in the first four games of his brief MLB career in 1976, going an impressive 4-for-6 while playing second base.
The following season he’d get a bit more action, appearing in 12 games while batting .174, which would be the final games of his career before spending the next few years in the Minor & Mexican Leagues.
Though he only played in bits of two seasons on the Big League level, he did play 10 years of pro ball, spanning 1970 and 1979 before retiring for good.

1977 HOSTESS REGGIE JACKSON- ANOTHER AIRBRUSH SPOTLIGHT

Once again we’ll take a closer look at an original image used by Hostess to create a card for their set, this time the 1977 Reggie Jackson card:

I guess it was easier (??) to use an image of him while still with the Oakland A’s instead of one with the Baltimore Orioles, for whom he suited up the previous year, though I really can’t figure out why.
Nevertheless, it wasn’t such a bad job. I mean, it’s somewhat impressive how they removed all traces of that glorious Oakland Green and Gold to create a faux Yankee pinstripe uni!
Of course, we all know that Reggie was about to go on and become “Mr. October” with the Bronx Bombers, leading them to two straight world championships.
His clinic in hitting against the Dodgers in the 1977 series was the stuff of legend, and at the very least made THIS kid of eight years old in Brooklyn look at him like a GOD!
By the time he hung up the cleats in 1987, he was simply “Reggie”, enough said. All-Time great and icon of the era, carving his name into baseball’s long, rich history.

CY YOUNG WINNERS- 1977 SUB-SET

We’re moving on to 1977 for my on-going “Awards” sub-set through the 1970’s, starting off with the 1976 Cy Young winners: Randy Jones in the National league and once again Jim Palmer in the American League:

In the N.L., Randy Jones took home the award after finishing as runner-up to Tom Seaver for the 1975 award.
Jones’ season in 1976 was brilliant, as he cruised to a record of 22-14, with an ERA of 2.74, leading the league in wins, starts with a whopping 40, complete games with 25 and innings pitched with 315.1.
Along the way he also tossed five shutouts, starting the All-Star game for the N.L., and ending up 10th in MVP voting at the end of the year.
Though he’d play through the 1982 season, he’d never again taste success in the Majors, never winning more than 13 games in any season between 1977 and 1982.
Over in the American League, once again we have the Orioles Jim Palmer, who took home his third Cy Young Award in four seasons, leading the league in wins (22), starts (40) and innings pitched (315), while tossing six shutouts and posting an ERA of 2.51.
Palmer wasn’t done yet as we all know, posting two more 20-win seasons while going on to win 268 games in the Major Leagues, eventually heading straight for the Hall of Fame with his induction in 1990.
Arguably (without much argument from me) the American League’s best pitcher in the wild decade of the 1970’s.

A CAREER-CAPPING NOT SO MISSING 1973 CARD FOR MEL QUEEN

Let’s go and give former pitcher Mel Queen a career-capping 1973 card after finishing his seven-year career with the California Angels in 1972:

Queen appeared in 17 games for the Angels, not factoring in a decision while posting an earned run average of 4.35 over 31 innings pitched.
He was coming off a very nice season in 1971 out of the bullpen where he posted an ERA of 1.78 over 44 appearances and 65.2 innings along with four saves.
His best year in the Majors was his rookie year of 1967, which was with the Cincinnati Reds, when he posted a record of 14-8 with a 2.76 earned run average over 31 appearances, 24 of which were starts.
He also threw two shutouts and struck out 154 batters over 195.2 innings pitched in his only season as a starter.
All told, he’d finish his career with a record of 20-17, with an ERA 3.14, those two shutouts and 14 saves over 140 appearances and 389.2 innings pitched.

1975 IN-ACTION: JEFF BURROUGHS

Time to go and give the reigning American League MVP, Jeff Burroughs, an “In Action” card in my on-going 1975 sub-set:

Burroughs was coming off of the finest season of his 16-year career, taking home the MVP trophy while leading the Texas Rangers to an excellent season while under the managerial eye of Billy Martin.
The team also had the rookie of the year in Mike Hargrove, and the second-place finisher in the Cy Young race in Fergie Jenkins!
For Burroughs, he went on to drive in a career-high 118 runs, which led the league, as well as bat .301 with 25 homers and 84 runs scored.
I never really realized that this was all done at the age of only 23, yet already in his fifth season in the Majors after being the #1 overall pick in the 1969 amateur draft by the (then) Washington Senators.
He would have another monster year in 1977, now with the Atlanta Braves, where he hit a career-high 41 home runs while driving in 114 runs.
But when you do this in a season that had George Foster’s incredible MVP year, you can expect to get lost in the shuffle.
By the time Burroughs retired after the 1985 season, he finished with 240 homers, a .261 batting average and 882 runs batted in, with 1443 hits over 5536 at-bats.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1976 DON HAHN AND A HOMEMADE AIRBRUSH JAMMIE

Today I post up a modern take on a 1970’s airbrush job, my 1976 “not so missing” Don Hahn card, who finished up his seven year Major League career in 1975, playing 34 games with the San Diego Padres:

Though I could not find a single image of him in a San Diego Padres uniform, I did find this shot of him in typical circa 1972 Topps angle, conveniently NOT showing a cap logo.
Forgive me, but I just had to make it a crude colorization to mimic what Topps was putting out there at the time.
Hahn actually split the 1975 season between three clubs: the Phillies for nine games, the Cardinals for seven games, and those 34 games with the Padres.
Over those combined 50 games, he batted .179 with seven hits over 39 at-bats along with 10 runs scored.
Ironically, the year before, while playing for the New York Mets, Hahn saw the most action in any of his Major League seasons when he played in 110 games, batting .251 with 81 hits over 323 at-bats, all career-highs.
Over his career, which spanned 1969 and 1975, he hit .236 with 235 hits in 997 at-bats, appearing in 454 games on a Big League playing field while playing all three outfield positions..

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1970 STEVE KEALEY

Today I post my “not so missing” card for former Angels pitcher Steve Kealey, who after having his rookie card in the 1969 Topps set, was left out of the ‘70 set:

Kealey appeared  in 15 games for the Angels in 1969, going 2-0 with a 3.93 earned run average, with a shutout thrown in for good measure.
He’d pitch one more season with California before moving on to the Chicago White Sox, where he’d pitch the final three seasons in the Big Leagues, finishing up in in 1973 with only seven appearances with no decision.
All told, he finished his Major League career with a record of 8-5, a 4.28 ERA and 11 saves over 139 appearances and 214.1 innings pitched.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1971 LARRY JASTER

Here’s a “not really missing” 1971 card for former pitcher Larry Jaster, who put in seven seasons as a Big League pitcher:

Jaster, who came up with the St. Louis Cardinals and was a member of the 1967 World Championship team, appeared in 14 games for the Atlanta Braves in 1970, going 1-1 with a 6.85 earned run average over 22.1 innings pitched.
He’d spend the whole of 1971 in the Minors, going 10-6, before making back for his final taste of the Majors in 1972, when he went 1-1 with a 5.11 ERA in five appearances and 12.1 innings of work.
His finest season was easily 1966, his first full year in the Major Leagues, when he posted a record of 11-5 with a 3.26 earned run average, leading the National League with five shutouts over 26 appearances, 21 of them starts.
All told, he finished 35-33 with a 3.65 ERA over 138 appearances and 597.1 innings pitched between 1965 and 1972.

NEGRO BASEBALL LEGENDS- TURKEY STEARNES

Definitely time to add Negro League legend and baseball Hall of Famer Turkey Stearnes to my on-going NBL series:

Over the course of 18 seasons between 1923 and 1940, Stearnes put up impressive numbers, finishing his career with a .344 batting average while clubbing 183 home runs, unofficially the NBL record.
The man was such an accomplished all-around five-tool player that Bill James ranked him 25th in all-time players, regardless of league!
The great Satchel Paige was even quoted as saying that he considered Stearnes just as good as legend Josh Gibson, or anyone else who held a bat in his hand.
Sadly, as was the case with so many NBL greats, by the time Stearnes was recognized by Cooperstown with induction to the Hall of Fame, he had passed away 21 years prior in 1979 at the age of 78.
It was tough finding an image for Stearnes to create this card! If anyone has a better one I’d love to re-do it for the set. Please let me know, it’d be greatly appreciated!
Such a great player, I’d love to have a better card for the series.

"STARS OF 1950" CUSTOM CARD SET AVAILABLE NOW! 4th IN THE "WTHBALLS" SERIES

Hey everyone!
Happy to announce that the fourth set in my on-going custom cards series, "Stars of 1950", is now available for purchase!
40 of the top stars in baseball from 1950, along with a bonus 6-card sub-set of "All-Time Leaders", wrapped up in a nice candy-bar package.
Limited to only 25 sets, with two of course going in my collection, email me at: slogun23@gmail.com if you want to pick one up. They're $25 postpaid.
Here are some pics:

MISSING IN ACTION- 1973 TOM KELLEY

Here’s a card that I have no idea why it took so long to create, a “Missing” 1973 Tom Kelley card, who was really left out of the set though he pitched a nice relatively full season for the Atlanta Braves:

Kelley, who was ironically given a 1971 card though he last pitched in the Majors in 1967 for the Cleveland Indians, appeared in 27 games for Atlanta in 1972, going 5-7 with a 4.56 earned run average over 116.1 innings of work.
Of those 27 appearances, 14 were starts, and he completed two of them with one being a shutout, along with 59 strikeouts.
That amount of action certainly seems like enough to warrant a card in the ‘73 set don’t you think?
Anyway, once the 1973 season started, Kelley would end up only appearing in seven games for the Braves, going 0-1 over 12.2 innings, which would end up being the last appearances of his Big League career.
His finest season in the Big Leagues was easily 1971 when he made his return to the Majors, going 9-5 with a nice 2.96 ERA over 28 appearances after toiling in the Minors really since 1967.
When Topps gave him that 1971 card in their set, he pitched a total of ONE inning since the end of the 1966 season, and I wrote about it was back on this blog in August of 2013:

http://whentoppshadballs.blogspot.com/2013/08/one-inning-in-four-years-gets-you.html

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION-1977 JAY KLEVEN

Always fun to add to one of my favorite sets, 1977, and today’s entry is a doozy, a “not so missing” card for two-game Major League catcher Jay Kleven of the New York Mets:

Kleven’s Big League career began with an appearance on June 20th of 1976, with his next appearance being his last, on June 27th, with the sum total being a 1-for-5 tally with two runs batted in while taking on duties behind the plate.
Signed as an amateur free agent before the 1972 season, Kleven spent the bulk of his pro career in the Mets Minor League system before his taste of the big time, generally as a part-time backstop.
After his Big League debut, he’d go on to split the 1977 season in both the Mets and Cincinnati Reds systems, then seemingly retiring from the game after 34 games at Triple-A.
Couldn’t really find much else on him, though I did read that he sadly passed away at the age of 59 following hip surgery in 2009.
R.I.P.

ANOTHER AIRBRUSHED PHOTO SPOTLIGHT: 1976 KEN BRETT TRADED CARD

Time to take a closer look at another airbrushed photo Topps used for their 1976 traded set, the Ken Brett image showing him as a member of the New York Yankees, albeit a mere two-game stop in his 14-year Major League career:

Seems this original image was a dream for the re-toucher since they didn't have to deal with a cap. logos, etc. Just some fake pinstripes, which were well done, and voila!
As for Brett, he came to the Bronx as a part of the HUGE deal that included Dock Ellis and Willie Randolph, for pitcher Doc Medich.
Needless to say the Yanks made out like bandits on this one, as Ellis had a great season for the Bronx Bombers, going 17-8 with a 3.19 earned run average, while Randolph...well, no need to see what was the KEY acquisition here!
As for Brett? He made it to May of 1976 before getting traded to the Chicago White Sox along with Rich Coggins for slugging first baseman Carlos Lee.
He’d end up pitching for 14 years, retiring after the 1981 season after getting to play with younger brother George in 1980 and 1981.
On a personal note: I always wanted to know where in Brooklyn the Bretts were originally from, seeing that Ken was born there before they moved out West.
I knew a couple of Brett families in Bay Ridge, which was the next neighborhood over from me, though both told me they weren’t related to the baseball family.
Nevertheless, it always stuck with me.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1971 GEORGE LAUZERIQUE

Here’s a “career-capping” 1971 card for former Milwaukee Brewers pitcher George Lauzerique, born in Cuba but a graduate of George Washington High School in New York City, the same high school that gave us Manny Ramirez and Rod Carew:

Lauzerique played the first three seasons of his Major League career with the team that drafted him, the Kansas City/Oakland A’s between 1967 and 1969.
In 1970 he was part of the trade that brought the A’s soon to be ERA champ Diego Segui, with Lauzerique appearing in what would be the final eleven games of his Major League career.
Over those 11 games, four of them were starts, and he’d finish with a record of 1-2 with a 6.94 ERA in 35 innings pitched.
He would spend the 1971 season in the Minor Leagues, playing for both the St. Louis and Minnesota organizations, before falling completely off the radar for three years.
He’d be back in pro ball in 1975 and 1976, playing for the Houston Astros system, generally as a reliever, before bowing out of the game for good.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1978 DUANE THEISS

Here’s a 1978 card that can arguably be considered truly “missing” as opposed to “not really...”, a card for former pitcher Duane Theiss of the Atlanta Braves:

Theiss made his Major League debut during the 1977 season, appearing in 17 games for Atlanta, going 1-1 with a 6.53 earned run average over 20.2 innings, all in relief.
Lord knows Topps had a few guys who appeared in less games in that set!
The following season, Theiss only made it into three games, again for the Braves, not factoring in a decision while posting a nice 1.42 ERA over 6.1 innings pitched.
He’d actually play in the Minors through the 1980 season, still with Atlanta, but never get back on a Big League mound again.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1970 WAYNE REDMOND

Literally just realized I already created a 1970 card for former Tigers player Wayne Redmond, but it's 4:29AM and I'm not about to draw up another entry for the blog, so here's a "2nd Variation" for the nine-game Major Leaguer, who appeared in five of those nine games during the 1969, his last taste of the Big Show:

Redmond first appeared in a Major League mound in 1965 as a 19-year-old, going hitless in four at-bats while scoring a run over four games.
After toiling in the Minors for a few years he made it back in 1969 and was used solely as a pinch-hitter, though he ended up going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
It would be the last time he’d appear in a Big League game, as he’d go on to play Minor League ball through the 1973 season, but never get a chance to get that first MLB hit.
All told he finished hitless over seven at-bats in nine games, with a run and a walk thrown in.
I do remember him appearing on a multi-rookie 1971 card as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies, his only appearance on a Topps card.

1972 FRANK HOWARD REDONE: IT'S ABOUT TIME...

Time to finally go ahead and re-do the 1972 Frank Howard Topps card, though it’s no fault of Topps since they were dealing with The Washington Senators relocating to Arlington, becoming the Texas rangers. But hey, all the years later we are graced with photos that can make it all happen:

Howard would only end up playing a part of the 1972 season with the Rangers, before finding himself in Detroit, where he’s end up playing the last season and a half of his Major League career with the Tigers.
An absolute beast at the plate, he would be the last Big League player until Jay Buhner (1995-97) to hit 40+ homers three years in a row from 1968-1970, with a high of 48 in 1969, though leading the league in 1968 and 1970 with 44.
He was also one of the early players to join the 30-home runs in each league club, hitting 31 with the Dodgers in 1962 before reaching the plateau again in 1967 when he slammed 36 taters.
All told, he finished his career with 382 homers over 16 seasons, before moving on to a coaching and managerial career, making him somewhat of a baseball lifer.
I loved him when he was with the New York Yankees later in his coaching career! I mean, how often do you get to appreciate a guy who was so nasty as a player that he had TWO great nicknames: “The Capital Punisher”, and “Hondo”!

SPOTLIGHTING ANOTHER AIRBRUSHING JOB- 1976 LEE LACY

Today we take a look at another airbrush job from the 1976 Topps set, Lee Lacy, who was traded from the Los Angeles Dodgers to the Atlanta Braves:

Always fun to see that Topps’ airbrushers would only cover-up just enough to get the image on a card.
You can see that they cropped the image literally without a tenth of an inch to spare before the “Dodgers” across the front of his jersey would have appeared at the bottom of the card.
Funny enough Lacy would return to the Dodgers during the 1976 season, then go on to play all the way up to the 1987 season, putting in some really solid seasons well into his 30’s when he’d hit as high as .335 at the age of 32, then .321 in 1984 at the age of 36.
I always remember him and Juan Beniquez as a couple of guys who suddenly seemed to hit their stride in their 30’s, putting up some impressive seasons in the 1980’s.
Lacy would end up retiring with a very nice .286 batting average over 16 years in the Majors, being a part of the World Champion 1979 Pirates, while playing in three other World Series, all with the Dodgers.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1974 JOHN LAMB

After creating a “missing” 1972 card for former Pirates pitcher John Lamb, I figured I’d go ahead and create a “not so missing” 1974 card as well:

Lamb pitched what would be the final 22 games of his brief three-year career in 1973, collecting two saves while posting a record of 0-1.
He had a bloated ERA of 6.07 over his 29.2 innings pitched, all out of the bullpen, while striking out 11 and walking 10.
That would be it for him as a Big League pitcher, as he’d spend all of 1974 in the Pirates Minor Leagues system before leaving the game for good.
His final numbers would be a record of 0-2, with a 4.07 earned run average over 66.1 innings and 47 appearances, all as a reliever.

CAREER-CAPPER: 1978 "DOWNTOWN" OLLIE BROWN

Time to go and give “Downtown” Ollie Brown a “career-capping” 1978 card to celebrate his 13-year Big League career that spanned 1965 and 1977:

Brown finished up his time in the Big Leagues with 53 games with the Philadelphia Phillies, for whom he played the last three-and-a-half seasons after coming over from the Houston Astros in 1974.
During the 1977 season he hit .243 with 17 hits over 70 at-bats, while driving in 13 runs while generally playing left field for the Phillies.
Brown was one of the San Diego Padres first stars, hitting 43 home runs during their first two seasons in 1969 and 1970.
His finest season is easily 1970 when he hit 23 of those homers, along with 89 runs batted in and a .292 batting average and 34 doubles, all career-highs.
By the time he retired after the 1977 season, he ended up with a .265 batting average, with 964 hits in 3642 at-bats in 1221 games, with 102 home runs and 454 RBIs.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1974 BOBBY BROOKS

Time to go and give former California Angels outfielder (albeit for all of four games in 1973) a “not so missing” 1974 card to cap-off his brief four-year career:

Brooks, who played the first three years of his Big League career with the Oakland A’s, came over to the Angels from the Tigers, who originally purchased Brooks from Oakland, and flipped him for Bruce Kimm.
He’d only play in the aforementioned four games for the Angels, going 1-for-7 mainly as a pinch-hitter, with one game out in the outfield.
The following year he’d find himself out of pro ball completely, though I don’t really know why, before going on to play in the Mexican League for both the Chihuahua and Aguascalientes clubs in 1975.
For his Major League career, he finished with a .231 career average, with 33 hits over 143 at-bats in 55 games, with five homers and 20 runs batted in.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR- 1976 SUB-SET

Next up in my on-going “1970’s Awards” thread are the 1975 Rookies of the Year, celebrated on the following 1976 card:

In the National League we have pitcher John “The Count” Montefusco of the San Francisco Giants, who cruised to the rookie-award by posting a record of 15-9 with a 2.88 earned run average and a very impressive 215 strikeouts.
He also chipped in four shutouts over his 34 starts, completing 10 of them while throwing 243.2 innings, even finishing fourth in the league Cy Young race.
In the American League, of course it was all about “Mr. World” that year, rookie superstar Fred Lynn, who also took home the MVP Award, thus becoming the first player ever to pull that off.
In his monstrous rookie season, Lynn helped the Red Sox to a World Series berth by hitting .331 with 21 homers and 105 runs batted in along with a league-leading 103 runs scored and 47 doubles.
The man was a beast!
On top of all that he even took home a Gold Glove, something he’d do three more times in his 17-year career that spanned 1974 to 1990.
Of the two, Lynn definitely had the star-power throughout his career, but Montefusco also put in some time as a Major Leaguer, finishing up his Big League tenure in 1986 after a few seasons with the Yankees.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1976 JERRY MOSES

Here’s a “career-capping” 1976 “not so missing” card for catcher Jerry (or was it Gerry?) Moses, who put together a nine-year Major League career:

Moses finished up his career as a back-up catcher in 1975, splitting the season between the San Diego Padres and Chicago White Sox.
He originally came up for his first taste of the Big Leagues in 1965 as an 18-year-old, getting into four games before putting in more time in the Minors until 1968.
After three more years in Boston, even making the All-Star team in 1970, he’d end up moving from team to team between 1971 and 1975.
He’d would end up playing for six teams in five years between 1971 and 1975: Angels, Indians, Yankees, Tigers, Padres and White Sox, finishing up with those 15 games in his final season, batting .190 with four hits over 21 at-bats.
For his career he’d finish with a .251 batting average, with 269 hits over 1072 at-bats in 386 games, with 25 homers and 109 runs batted in along with 89 runs scored.

BASEBALL BROTHERS- 1971 OLLIE AND OSCAR BROWN

Been a little while since I created a “Baseball Brothers” card, so here’s a 1971 card of Ollie and Oscar Brown:

Ollie, aka “Downtown” Ollie Brown, was perhaps the first star of the San Diego Padres, as he hit 20 homers with 61 runs batted in in their inaugural season of 1969.
He’d put together a nice 13-year Major League career spanning 1965 and 1977, hitting 102 homers with a .265 batting average playing for six teams: San Francisco, San Diego, Oakland, Milwaukee, Houston and Philadelphia.
Younger brother Oscar however, would play for a brief five seasons, between 1969 and 1973, all for the Atlanta Braves, never really getting close to full-time action.
He’d finish his career hitting .244 with 77 hits over 316 at-bats in 160 appearances as a Major League outfielder, never playing more than 76 games in any one season, that being in 1972.
I’ll start up this thread again, though it’s tougher to find images of the lesser-known brother sets from the Majors from this time period. We’ll see how lucky I get.

THE EXTREME RECYCLING OF IMAGES: 1970 RON STONE

I’ve always thought the following card was an incredible example of Topps using old images, recycling them as it were, in the early-70’s, the 1970 Ron Stone:

You can clearly see him in that glorious Athletics uniform in the photo, though he is properly tagged as a Philadelphia Phillies player.
The thing is, Stone LAST played for the Athletics in June of 1966!
He was returned the Baltimore Orioles, the team from which the Athletics drafted him in November of 195, on July 1st, 1966!
Amazing.
As a matter of fact, Stone played over half a season in 1969 with the Phillies, yet if I recall correctly, the didn’t take new photos because of a licensing dispute with the Players’ Union. Something like that. Hence all the blotted out logos and outdated photos rampant throughout the 1969 and 1970 sets.
Anyone have any further info on this?

BILL MCNULTY'S 1973 PHOTO. AIRBRUSHED 1970'S STYLE

Came across this image that was used for Bill McNulty’s 1973 Topps card appearance, as part of a three-player rookie card, thought it’s be fun to spotlight:

McNulty appeared on a multi-player rookie alongside Ken Reitz and Terry Hughes, and once you see the original image you see that he was actually in a Milwaukee Brewers uniform, a team he never actually played for in regular season play, which is OK since he also never played for the Texas Rangers in a regular season game!
As a matter of fact, the ONLY Major League action McNulty ever saw were five games in 1969 and four games in 1972, as a member of the Oakland A’s.
By the time this card came out, all of McNulty’s Major League action was already behind him, though he would put in two nice seasons, one of them tremendous, in the Minors over the next two years, before heading to Japan in 1975 to play one season there.
In 1973 he was in the New York Mets system, and hit 25 homers while driving in 69 runs with 78 runs scored. Not bad.
But it was his 1974 season, playing in the Brewers system again, that he put in one of the better seasons in Minor League play during the decade.
Over 144 games for the Sacramento Solons of the Pacific Coast League, he batted .329 with a whopping 55 homers and 135 runs batted in, while scoring 135 himself with a huge .690 slugging percentage.
Just huge.
Yet all that would get him was that tour in Japan the following season playing for the Lotte Orions alongside former 1965 N.L. Rookie of the Year Jim Lefebvre.
It seems it was the last professional action he saw as a player.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1976 WILLIE PRALL

Here was a fun card to whip up, a “not so missing” 1976 card for former (brief) Major League pitcher Willie Prall of the Chicago Cubs:

Prall appeared in the only games of his career in the first couple of weeks of the 1975 season, going 0-2 over three games with a bloated 8.59 earned run average, all starts.
Originally drafter by the San Francisco Giants, he played in their Minor League system between 1971 and 1973 before being traded to Chicago for catcher Ken Rudolph.
After his brief MLB tenure he’d stick around pitching in the Minor Leagues, for both the Cubs and finally the Milwaukee Brewers before retiring for good after the 1977 season.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1972 JIMMIE PRICE

Let’s go and give former Detroit Tiger catcher Jimmie Price a “career-capping” 1972 card after appearing in 29 games in 1971:

Price finished up a five-year Major League career, all with the Tigers, batting .241 in 1971 with 13 hits over 54 at-bats with seven runs batted in and four runs scored serving as backup catcher to All-Star Bill Freehan.
According to the records I found he never appeared in any pro games after that season, including Minor League play, ending up with a career average of .214 with 129 hits in 602 at-bats, along with 18 home runs and 71 RBIs.
Post playing career he went on to carve out a second career, now in broadcasting baseball both on television and radio for the Tigers. Something he still does to this very day as color-commentator for  Detroit Tigers Radio Network.

NICKNAMES OF THE 1970'S: 1978 "BIG DADDY" RICK REUSCHEL

If we’re gonna talk nicknames of players in the 1970’s, we’re going to have to make one up for “Big Daddy” Rick Reuschel, who was the Chicago Cubs anchor after Fergie Jenkins headed to Texas in 1974:

I used the 1978 template since Reuschel was coming off of a 20-win 1977 campaign, finishing third in the Cy Young arms race.
He posted a 20-10 record with a very nice 2.79 earned run average over 39 appearances, 37 of which were starts, including four shutouts.
His career would seemingly sputter in the early-80’s after a brief time with the New York Yankees in 1981. So much so that he’d be out of baseball all of 1982 before coming back with his original team, the Cubs.
Suddenly, the man was an effective starter again, as he reeled off another ten years with the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants, even posting win totals of 19 and 17 as a 39/40 year old in 1988 and 1989.
By the time he was finally done after the 1991 season, he finished with a record of 214 and 191, with a nice 3.37 ERA over 557 appearances, with 26 shutouts, three All-Star game nods and two Gold Gloves, BOTH won after the age of 35!

NOT SO MISSING IN ACTION- 1975 PHIL GAGLIANO

Happy New Years everyone! Here's to a happy and healthy new year. Hope 2018 brings you all some peace and happiness...
Time to go and give long-time MLB infielder Phil Gagliano and career-capping “not so missing” 1975 card after a 12-year career:

Gagliano appeared in 46 games for the burgeoning “Big Red Machine” Reds in 1974, batting .065 with two hits over 31 at-bats.
Originally a St. Louis Cardinal from 1963 to the middle of 1970, he appeared in both their 1967 and 1968 World Series, going hitless over four at-bats.
By the time he retired after the 1974 season, he finished with 336 lifetime hits over 1411 at-bats and 702 games, good for a .238 batting average, with 150 runs scored and 159 runs batted in.