Today on the blog, we have a 1976 "Stars Retire" card celebrating two superstars of the game who called it a career after the 1975 season: Bob Gibson and Harmon Killebrew:
Two
baseball heavyweights who made their marks over their careers, taking
home awards and eventually both being selected for Hall of Fame glory.
For "Gibby", by the time this card would have come out you were looking at only the
second pitcher in Major League history to collect 3000K’s in their
career, joining Walter Johnson in the exclusive club.
The two-time Cy Young winner and 1968 MVP would top 250 wins with 251, finish with 3117 strikeouts along with a 2.91 earned run average and 56 shutouts over his 17-year career.
He’d also collect NINE Gold Gloves and be named to eight all-star teams, all while hurling for the Cardinals, leading them to two World Championships, 1964 and 1967.
His 1968 season is the stuff of legend, going 22-9 with 13 shutouts and a microscopic 1.12 E.R.A., completing 28 of 34 starts and striking out 268 batters.
How he lost nine games is incredible!
Of course, by the time he was eligible for selection for the Hall of Fame, he got in without a problem, claiming his rightful spot in Cooperstown in 1981.
The two-time Cy Young winner and 1968 MVP would top 250 wins with 251, finish with 3117 strikeouts along with a 2.91 earned run average and 56 shutouts over his 17-year career.
He’d also collect NINE Gold Gloves and be named to eight all-star teams, all while hurling for the Cardinals, leading them to two World Championships, 1964 and 1967.
His 1968 season is the stuff of legend, going 22-9 with 13 shutouts and a microscopic 1.12 E.R.A., completing 28 of 34 starts and striking out 268 batters.
How he lost nine games is incredible!
Of course, by the time he was eligible for selection for the Hall of Fame, he got in without a problem, claiming his rightful spot in Cooperstown in 1981.
For "Killer" Killebrew, he was an absolute BEAST at the plate, crushing 573 lifetime homers,
MOST of them during the pitching-era of the 1960's into the '70's.What a player!
Two super players closing the books on two super careers...
Eight 40+ home run seasons, nine 100+ runs batted in seasons, seven 100+
base-on-balls seasons, an M.V.P. in 1969 (with five top-5 finishes in
M.V.P. voting as well), and a Hall of Fame induction in 1984.
A
favorite player of mine "before my time" since I first discovered him
when I flipped over his 1973 card, not believing the numbers I was
seeing as a 10-year-old in 1979 at my cousin's house.