WTHBALLS NATIONAL LEAGUE ALL-DECADE TEAM SET AVAILABLE NOW!

Hello all!

Time to release my next WTHBALLS set, the 1980 National League "All-Decade" 1970s set that I've been posting on the blog lately!

This set has 13 cards in total: 12 cards of the N.L. All-Decade team plus a "Player of the 1970s" card for Pete Rose, as voted on by all of you on Twitter recently in my 24-hour poll:

 

 

Since the topic is not finished yet on the blog/Twitter, you'll see some cards for the first time attached here, so if you don't want to ruin the surprise don't look! Ha!

Unique to the printed set are new images for each player from the web-posted cards, so they are different from what everyone "out there" saw.

The set is $13 plus the usual $4.50 postage, a one-time fee no matter how many you buy.

The American League team set will be issued after this one, which will then complete a sweet custom 1980 set to add to your binders!

My paypal is the usual: slogun23@gmail.com
Thank you all for the continued support and interest!

I'll be packing these up and getting them out over the Labor Day Weekend!

Be well and safe!
Gio/wthballs

 

1977 N.L. CENTENNIAL: PHIL NIEKRO

Good day all!

On the blog today, we add Hall of Fame knuckler Phil Niekro to my on-going N.L. Centennial 1977 sub-set, celebrating the National league's 100th anniversary season of 1976:

Incredibly, though getting a bit of a "late-start" in his career, the man would end up putting in 24 years in the Majors, pitching his knuckler until the age of 48 in 1987.

It is astonishing to think Niekro didn’t have a full season on Big League duty until 1967 at the age of 28, yet still went on to pitch those 24 seasons, winning 318 games with a very nice 3.35 ERA along with 45 shutouts and 3342 strikeouts before he was done at the age of 48!
I always thought it amazing that at the age of 44 in 1983, he took home the last of his five Gold Gloves, ALL of which were garnered beginning his age 39 season in 1978.

Just an amazing talent!

REVISITING A BLOG POST FROM MARCH, 2018: 1973 NICKNAMES AL OLIVER

On the blog today, thought it'd be fun to revisit a post from five years ago, my 1973 "Nicknames of the 1970s" card for Al "Scoop" Oliver:

Here's the original write-up from that post:

"Oliver was the model of all-star consistency through the decade, from his rookie year of 1969 when he was robbed of the Rookie of the Year Award (losing to the Dodgers’ Ted Sizemore), straight through to his being colluded against in the mid-80’s with many others, prematurely ending his MLB career.
All he did was hit between .280 and .300 every season, racking up hits, doubles, runs batted in, while other players got the accolades: Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, Dave Parker, Tim Raines, Andre Dawson, Gary Carter.
Of course when you get to play alongside these guys, it’s understandable how a man who put up the numbers year after year like Oliver did could go under-appreciated like he did.
But come on! Look at his career!
The seven-time All-Star finished his Big League tenure with 2743 hits, 529 doubles, 219 homers, 1326 RBIs, a .303 batting average, with ONLY 756 strikeouts over 9049 at-bats.
In 1982 he had his best season, leading the National League in batting, doubles, total bases and RBIs while also hitting 22 homers and scoring 90 runs, finishing third in MVP voting.
In 1980, thanks to guys like George Brett, Rickey Henderson and Reggie Jackson in the American League, Oliver’s season went almost unnoticed as he collected career-highs with 209 hits, 96 runs scored, 117 RBI’s and 43 doubles while hitting .319.
I always felt he, Cecil Cooper and Miguel Dilone had great years at the wrong time (if there is such a thing), in 1980.
Seemed Oliver had a few of those years throughout his 18-year career.
Oliver for the Hall of Fame? I don’t know. I’d put him in along with Steve Garvey, Dave Parker, Vada Pinson and even Bob Johnson from the 1930’s, in appreciation for the HIGH level of play these guys put in over a long period, with brief moments of top-notch play.
Seems silly to see these careers get lost in the non-HOF shuffle for no other reason than not hitting those “magic numbers”."

1972 25TH ANNIVERSARY JACKIE ROBINSON SPECIAL: "MINOR LEAGUES"

Today on the blog we celebrate the next stage in the great Jackie Robinson's sporting career, this time his arrival to Minor League baseball:

He would suit up for one season with the Brooklyn Dodgers' Triple-A team, the Montreal Royals, and he'd give the fans everything he had, with a monster performance that saw him hit .349 over 124 games, scoring 113 runs and stealing 40 bases.

As if he had anything to prove, it was clear the man needed to be center stage in the Majors, so his time in Minor League ball was kept to one season before he made his historic MLB debut the following year, changing the game for good in every sense of the word.

1947 would open up with Jackie charging ahead to a Rookie of the Year Award, followed by an MVP just two seasons later, and onto history, opening up the game to other African-Americans and taking the sport to the next level.

Next card up in this series, his MLB debut!

1975 "IN-ACTION": MIKE CUELLAR

Haven't added a player to my 1975 "In-Action"  set in a long while, so today we go and add Baltimore Orioles ace Mike Cuellar:

By 1975 Cuellar was coming close to closing out a nice 15-year career that saw him win 185 games, post four 20+ win seasons, win a Cy Young Award (shared with Tigers pitcher Denny McLain in 1969) and post four sub-3.00 E.R.A. Seasons.

His 1974 season saw him post his last 20-win season, going 22-10 for the Orioles with a 3.11 ERA over 38 starts, with five shutouts and 20 complete games, ending up sixth in the Cy Young race at season's end.

I never realized that even though he came up in 1959 with the Cincinnati Reds, appearing in two games as a 22-year old, he didn't make it back to the Major's until 1964 at the age of 27, now as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Considering his lifetime win total mentioned above, he could have possibly approached 250 wins had he not missed those four-plus years in the early-1960's.

In 1977 Cuellar found himself with the California Angels, appearing in only two games, which would be the last two games of his career.

His lifetime numbers were impressive: the 185 wins mentioned above, a 3.14 lifetime E.R.A., 36 shutouts and 1632 strikeouts over 453 games, 379 of which were starts.

SPECIAL 1969 "TEAM" CEREAL EXTENSION SET: ERNIE BANKS

Hello all!

Today on the blog we add "Mr. Cub", Ernie banks to my fun 1969 Nabisco Team Flakes "extension" set, adding eight Hall of Famers to the great cereal box set that were "missing" the first time around:

This special set will be produced by yours truly in the near future, as a genuine full-sized cereal box with cut out cards on the back panel, as you see here.

As for Mr. Banks, 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, with a Hall of Fame induction, and rightly so!

1977 N.L. CENTENNIAL: PETE ROSE

Time to add "Charlie Hustle", Pete Rose to my on-going 1977 N.L. Centennial sub-set, celebrating the Senior League's 100th anniversary of 1976:

This stud pictured here would win the Rookie of the Year in 1963, three batting titles, an MVP in 1973, be selected as an All-Star at FIVE different positions, and end up the all-time hit leader with his staggering 4256 knocks over his illustrious 24-year career.

At the time this card would have been pulled from packs in 1977, Rose spear-headed the "Big Red Machine" to two straight championships with his relentless play.

Growing up in the 1970's as a baseball nut, Pete Rose was an almost mythic figure. Even though his Reds steamrolled through "my" Yankees in the 1976 World Series, Rose, along with his all-star teammates, seemed like something made-up, not real.

I guess a part of that could be that the very first Pete Rose baseball card I ever saw, at the age of seven, was his 1976 Topps masterpiece, which had that glare of his, staring down the camera, showing that intensity that created the "Charlie Hustle" legend.

What a player, a Hall of Fame player. But I won't get into THAT here.

The "Player of the Decade" for the 1970's, Rose etched his name into the history of the game many times over.

Really, along with guys like Tom Seaver and Reggie Jackson, you just can't have too many Pete Rose cards from the 1970's in my eyes.

 

1970'S ALL-DECADE TEAM: A.L. OUTFIELDER AMOS OTIS

OK now!

Today I post up my first American League outfielder of the 1970s, often overlooked and underappreciated Kansas City Royal Amos Otis:

The man just needs to get his due when it comes to top outfielders of the 1970s, and I am happy to oblige!

Otis could very well be THE most overlooked player of the 1970's as he was nothing but steady through the entire decade, going on to be the American League's top run scorer with 861. driving in 90+ three times while stealing 30+ bases five times.

He led the A.L. in doubles twice, steals once, and made five All-Star teams while bringing home three Gold Gloves.

By the time he retired after the 1984 season after one year with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he ended up with 193 homers, 341 stolen bases, 1092 runs scored and 2020 hits along with a batting average of .277 and 1007 runs batted in.
Considering the “dead ball” era of the early-70’s in the American League, his numbers are up there with the best of them, and it’s sad he gets lost among his contemporaries when looking back at that time in Major League baseball.

We can easily put together a top-notch squad of overlooked A.L. players from the era, including Roy White, Jim Sundberg, Toby Harrah and Buddy Bell, who I'd put up against just about anyone else!

 

VINTAGE CUSTOM SPOTLIGHT: 1950 DRAKE'S "EXTENDED" SET: BOB LEMON

Hello everyone!

Today on the blog we add Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Lemon to my 1950 custom Drake's "Extension" set, which I produced a couple of years ago packaged in a deluxe floating frame:

Over the course of his 13-year career, he only actually put in 10 full seasons, yet he posted an incredible seven 20-win campaigns!

Along the way as part of the legendary Indians rotation that also included Early Wynn, Mike Garcia and a dude named Bob Feller, Lemon led the league in wins three times, complete games five times, shutouts (with 10) once, and was named to seven straight all-star teams between 1948-1954.

When he retired after the 1958 season, he finished with a 207-128 record with a 3.32 earned run average, 31 shutouts and 1277 K's over 460 games (350 of which were starts), and 2850 innings pitched.

After his playing days were over he went on to a respectable managerial career, leading the Kansas City Royals, Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees between 1970 and 1982.

Of course he's remembered as the skipper who took over the famous "Bronx Zoo" Yankees in 1978 and led them to an incredible drive that saw them go 48-20.

That drive eventually tying the Boston Red Sox and forcing the "Bucky &^%$% Dent Game", and a World Championship over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

If not for the War, we could easily be looking at a near-300 game winner being that he didn't even start playing until he was 25.

Nevertheless, Cooperstown came calling and he found his place alongside former teammates Feller and Wynn. 

Three Hall of Fame starters on one rotation. Awesome…

1972 25TH ANNIVERSARY JACKIE ROBINSON SPECIAL: "NEGRO LEAGUES"

On the blog today, we move on to the next stage of the great Jackie Robinson's sports career in my 1972 tribute thread, celebrating the 25th anniversary of his MLB debut of 1947.

Today we have his time in the Negro Leagues, playing for the Kansas City Monarchs in 1945:

The road to baseball was still a long way off, as Robinson would put in a military stretch that formed the path that would lead to the sport somewhat by "accident", as he would return to semi-pro football, put time in Samuel Huston College as Athletic Director, then as coach of the school's basketball team, until being contacted by the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues for a tryout after he wrote to the team at the encouragement of a former player that he met while stationed at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky  a year or so earlier.

Well, the young man would NOT disappoint!

All Robinson would do in arguably his fourth best sport was lead the Negro Leagues with 13 doubles and four home runs over 34 games, making the All-Star team, and ending up with a blistering .375 batting average while slugging an even .600 with a .449 on-base-percentage.

Over those 34 games he drove in 27 runs for the Monarchs, while also scoring 25 himself, collecting 45 hits and stealing three bases, giving everyone, especially some Major League scouts and owners, a look at what he could do on a baseball diamond.

Of course, the mindset of many was evolving, and thankfully the game, and our nation was about to change for the better, with Jackie's debut in Major League baseball just two years later, when Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers signed the young man, instantly giving everyone an elite player, but more importantly a new hero.

Up next, a card celebrating the next stage of Robinson's career, which took him North of the border!

Stay tuned...

SPECIAL 1969 "TEAM" CEREAL EXTENSION SET: HARMON KILLEBREW

Today on the blog, we add one of my favorite players, Harmon Killebrew, to my 1969 Nabisco "Team Flakes" cereal box extension set, a custom set I plan on releasing in the coming months, adding eight more superstars who were "missing" when Nabisco released their original set way back when:

 

Killebrew was about to put in an MVP 1969 season when this card would have seen the light of day, matching his career-best with 49 home runs while setting a new best with his 140 runs batted in, 145 walks and .427 on-base-pct, all numbers that led the American League.

After a second-place finish for the MVP in 1967, a third-place finish in 1962, and two fourth-place finishes in 1963 and 1966, he finally brought home the hardware, finishing ahead of the Orioles Boog Powell, 294 points to 227.

The man was amazing!

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.
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.

1971 TOPPS ROOKIE ALL-STARS: BERNIE CARBO

On the blog today, we take a closer look at the unreleased Bernie Carbo 1971 Topps Rookie All-Star card, as part of my recent thread looking at the super rare card set that Topps decided NOT to move forward with, though they DID in fact create a paste-board set before scrapping the project:

It was a fun design that really fit more in-line with the 1972 set than the 1971 set, and I wish Topps would have moved forward with it!

As for Carbo, the young Cincinnati Reds outfielder made the squad after an excellent rookie year in 1970, one that could have easily won him Rookie of the Year to be honest.

Carbo hit .310 for the National League champs, with 21 homers and 63 runs batted in over just 125 games, also drawing 94 walks for an awesome .454 on-base-percentage.

Those are some impressive numbers for only 125 games!

Sadly for him however, though he would go on to put in twelve years in the Big Leagues, that season would the best of his career, never reaching any of those numbers again before retiring after the 1980 season.

All told, Carbo finished with a .264 batting average, with 96 homers and 358 RBIs over 1010 games, playing for six organizations, appearing in two World Series, though on the losing side with the Reds in 1970 and the Boston Red Sox in 1975, when he was one of the Boston hitting stars against the "Big Red Machine", hitting .429 with two homers and four RBIs in four games.

 

1970 "20-WIN CIRCLE": TOM SEAVER

Up on the blog today, we add the top pitcher of the Majors in 1969 to my 1970 "20-Win Circle" sub-set, where we celebrate the 20-game winners of 1969, Cy Young winner Tom Seaver of the New York Mets:

What needs to be said about the greatest New York Met to ever suit up?

When this "card" would have hit the shelves in 1970, Seaver was coming off his first of three Cy Young Awards, leading the Mets to their improbable World Championship against the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles.

In that Cy Young campaign all he did was go 25-7, with a 2.21 ERA, five shutouts and 208 strikeouts over 273.1 innings of work, completing 18 of 35 starts at the age of 24.

The man would end up with a 311-205 record along with 61 shutouts and 3640 strikeouts to go with a brilliant 2.86 ERA over 20-seasons and 656 appearances, 647 of which were starts.

He was in prime form in the mid-70’s, putting together nine straight 200 strikeouts seasons while getting tabbed to ten all-star teams in his first eleven seasons.

God I loved Tom Seaver when I was a kid. More than any other pitcher of that era I was in awe of this man. He just seemed like a "super-hero" to me.

Just look at all my other posts dedicated to the man here on this blog. He was other-worldly to me growing up in New York City as a kid in the 1970s.

Even if he WAS a Met, to this young Yankee fan he was unquestionably the best pitcher in the game at that time.

Rest in Peace "Tom Terrific"!

 

1970'S ALL-DECADE TEAM: N.L. OUTFIELDER LOU BROCK

Good day everyone!

Today's blog post has me adding the great, and overlooked, Lou Brock to my National league team of the 1970s, as one of my outfielders for the Senior League:

It's easy to forget about Brock sometimes, as he put in season after season of All-Star level play in the quietest way.

But when you go and look at his performance over both his career and the 1970s, you'll see that he deserves this spot as he averaged around .300 with five seasons of 190+ hits, two of this 200+, with four 100-run years and of course four stolen base titles among his eight overall.

He hit .300 or better seven times in the decade, while making five All-Star teams, and was a national news story in 1974 when he ran mad on the bases and set a new Major League record with 118 stolen bases.

The man made six All-Star squads, finished second in the MVP race for the National League in 1974, and would go on to a Hall of Fame induction thanks to 3000+ hits, an MLB record 938 stolen bases, and 1610 runs scored.
Did you realize that between 1964 and 1974 the LEAST amount of hits he collected in any one season was 182!?
As a matter of fact in those eleven seasons he collected over 190 hits eight times, while scoring less than 90 only once.
Just an amazing 19-year career!

VINTAGE SPECIAL! "MISSING" 1954 WILSON'S FRANKS JACKIE ROBINSON

Good day all!

On the blog today, I created a "missing" 1954 Wilson Franks card for the great Jackie Robinson, a card I truly look forward to printing up when I tackle this "extension" set I'm slowly rolling out here on the blog:

Once I can find a printer out there that handles larger trading cards, I'll eagerly have this ten-card set printed and ready to share with you all!

As for the man himself, what needs to be stated at this point regarding his Hall of Fame career?

He broke the color-line, which I cannot even begin to imagine the difficulty in that alone, yet still managed to put in 10 great years as a Major League all-star second baseman, winning Rookie of the Year in 1947, league MVP in 1949, six all-star nods, and a batting title in 1949 when he hit .342.

Before he made baseball history in 1947, he suited up with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues in 1945 while he was still in college.

He played in only 47 games, but excelled, hitting .387 with 5 home runs and 13 stolen bases, even appearing in the East-West All Star Game.

At this point talking about statistics seems trivial in relation to the sheer impact he had to the sport and American culture.

It still crushes me when I remember that the man was still only 53 years of age when he passed away, imagining if he would have lived another 20, 30 years and gracing us into the 21st Century.

An American Legend.

SPECIAL 1969 "TEAM" CEREAL EXTENSION SET: CARL YASTRZEMSKI

Up on the blog this fine day, my "missing" 1969 Nabisco Team Flakes card for Boston Red Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski, part of a custom release I plan on producing later this year as a full-sized cereal box with cut-out cards:

This should be a really fun set to add to theWTHBALLS stable, recreating the original cereal issue of my birth year with card panel on back that kids could cut and trade one of 24 different players.

I go an add eight more players, all whom would go on to the Hall of Fame later on, such as the great "Yaz" in today's post.

The man was at his height at the time this card would have seen the light of day, already a three-time batting champion, Triple Crown winner in 1967, and five-time Gold Glove winner.

As someone who grew up in New York City during the second half of his career, it's really easy to forget that Yastrzemski was a Long Island, New York boy before he went on to become a New England legend.

And how could he NOT become a legend, what with 23 years of Major League ball, all with the Red Sox, turning in three batting titles, a Triple Crown in 1967 along with an MVP Award, seven Gold Gloves, 18 all-star nods, and 25 league-leads in primary offensive categories.

By the time he did the retirement tour in 1983, he scored 1816 runs, collected 3419 hits, 646 doubles, 452 homers, 1844 runs batted in along with a .285 batting average.

He was just plain awesome…

1977 N.L. CENTENNIAL: MIKE SCHMIDT

Today on the blog we add perhaps the greatest third baseman of them all, Philadelphia Phillies slugger Mike Schmidt to my N.L. Centennial 1977 sub-set, which celebrates the league's 100th anniversary of 1976:

What a career Schmidt had: 12 All-Star nods, 10 Gold Gloves, three Most Valuable Player Awards, all while anchoring a Philadelphia Phillies team that would reach their apex in 1980, taking home the World Series with a victory over the Kansas City Royals.
By the time he hung them up in 1989, he’d hit 548 home runs, drive in 1595 runs while scoring 1506, while also stealing 174 bases! Easy to forget he could steal a base or two. As a matter of fact, it’s real easy to forget that he came one stolen base short of joining the (then) exclusive 30-30 club back in 1975, slamming 38 homers to lead the league while swiping 29.
Nevertheless, “Schmitty” rode that success straight to a Hall of Fame induction come 1995, a lock if there ever was one.

VINTAGE CUSTOM SPOTLIGHT: 1950 DRAKE'S "EXTENDED" SET: RALPH KINER

Hello all!

Up on the blog, we add slugger Ralph Kiner to my 1950 Drake's baseball "extension set", filling out the great oddball issue with HOFers that missed out the first time around:

I produced this custom set a couple of years ago in special deluxe packaging, and it came out just the way I envisioned it!

As for Kiner, imagine averaging 97 runs, 37 homers and 101 runs batted in over your ENTIRE career?! Just awesome.

Kiner broke in with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1946 and promptly led the National League in homers with 23, then proceeded to lead his league in that same department for the next six years, with FIVE of those seasons with 40 or more, all consecutively.

In 1947 he smashed 51 homers, then topped himself two years later when he outright demolished the ball, hitting 54 home runs while setting his personal best in slugging with a .658 mark

In his 10 short years as a Major League player he led the league 17 times in a positive offensive category.

All told, he finished with 369 homers, 1015 RBIs, 971 runs scored and a .279 average over 10 seasons, playing in only 1472 games with 5205 at-bats.

Injuries curtailed what could have been a monster career, but he produced plenty enough for the BBWA to induct him in 1975, cementing his place in baseball history, and he was already entrenched as the long-time New York Mets TV announcer, where he even copped an Emmy Award and kept us all in stitches with malapropisms for over 50 years.

 

GIMMIE A DO-OVER: 1975 BILLY WILLIAMS

On the blog today, we go and do-over a 1975 card for underrated Hall of Fame outfielder Billy Williams, who saw himself out West after a stellar career in the "Windy City":

I wanted a nice Chicago Cubs card for him in the 1975 set, as he played the last season there in 1974, before heading to the Oakland A's.

I just love the colors on the Cubs version, though as usual, the A's color sheme in this era of Topps was always top notch!

For those that need a refresher on what Topps had out there for "Sweet Swingin' Billy from Whistler", here you go:

They did a decent airbrush job in anticipation of his new team, but I'm a fan of sets reflecting the previous season as opposed to the upcoming one.

By the time Williams retired after the 1976 season, he finished with 2711 hits, 1410 runs scored, 426 home runs, 1475 runs batted in and a .290 batting average over 2488 games.
Along with his Rookie of the Year in 1961, he was a two-time runner-up to the MVP Award (thanks to Johnny Bench each time) in 1970 and 1972 and a six-time All-Star.
What a career he put together, yet always in the shadows of giants like teammate Ernie Banks, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Roberto Clemente.
Nevertheless, though it took him six years of eligibility to make it, he was elected for a rightful place in Cooperstown in 1987 when he received 85.7% of the vote.
Just a great player all around.

 

1970'S ALL-DECADE TEAM: A.L. OUTFIELDER REGGIE JACKSON

Good day everyone!

On the blog today, we move on to the American League's first outfielder in my "All-Decade" 1970s team, the incomparable Reggie Jackson:

About as big an icon of the game for the era, there was no way he wasn't going to be on my All-Decade team.

He truly became one of the eternal icons of the game, just destined for baseball greatness since his days at Cheltenham High School in Pennsylvania.
Recruited by pro teams and colleges alike, he went on to Arizona State where he was actually on a football scholarship.
Of course we all know the story of the 1966 amateur draft, where the New York Mets held the #1 pick, and opted for high school catcher Steve Chilcott instead of who many considered the true #1 overall amateur, Jackson.
With the second pick, the Kansas City Athletics (later Oakland) picked the slugger and the rest is history, as he would eventually lead the organization to three straight championships between 1972-1974 before being traded in a blockbuster to the Baltimore Orioles where he’d play for one season in 1976.
As a highly coveted free agent before the 1977 season, Jackson signed with the New York Yankees, and with Reggie in NYC, the legend exploded as he helped the Yankees to two championships in 1977-78.
With his larger than life persona, New York ate it up and before you knew it, he was known around the world, even getting his own candy-bar by the end of the decade.
For a kid like me growing up in Brooklyn in the ‘70’s, Reggie was like a God, larger than life, and before he finished up his career in 1987, putting in 21 seasons, he would put together a Hall of Fame career with 563 homers, 1702 runs batted in, an MVP Award in 1973, and five championships.
Add to that 14 all-star nods, four home run titles, a legendary homer in the 1971 All-Star Game against Dock Ellis, his 1977 World Series performance, and you can see why he goes down as one of the most well-known baseball personalities the game has ever seen!

JAPANESE SPECIAL: 1971 SHIGEO NAGASHIMA

Hello all!

On the blog today, a 1971 Japanese special card of all-time great Shigeo Nagashima to keep things super interesting:

Nagashima put in 17 seasons with Yomiuri alongside the great Sadaharu Oh, with Oh batting third and Nagashima clean-up.

Over that time he was a part of eleven champion teams, while taking home the Rookie of the Year Award in 1958, as well as five Central League MVP Awards, eventually having his #3 retired.

By the time he retired after the 1974 season, he finished with 2471 hits, 444 home runs and 1522 runs batted in, hitting .305 over 2186 games, five times topping 100 RBI while hitting 20+ homers thirteen times.

Incredibly, he won the "Best Nine Award" every single year he played, seventeen times (equivalent to the All-Star team here).

Right after his playing days were over, Nagashima went on to manage the Tokyo Giants for 15 seasons, 1975-1980, 1993-2001, guiding the team to five first-place finishes and three titles, winning 1034 games against 889 losses for a .538 winning percentage.

I love inserting some legends of the Japanese League from time to time here on the blog, something that would have been so cool for Topps to do throughout their card sets so we could learn more than just Sadaharu Oh.

 

1971 TOPPS ROOKIE ALL-STARS: LES CAIN

The next rookie All-Star featured in my 1971 unreleased Topps Rookie All-Star set is Detroit Tigers pitcher Les Cain, who had a very nice rookie year in 1970:

As I mentioned last week with the initial Larry Bowa card in this set, these were never made into cards, but prototypes that were pasted onto poster board.

Well, as is usually the case with this stuff, somehow one full set made it out and began floating on the auction circuit some years ago, giving many their first look at perhaps the rarest Topps odd-ball set.

Anyway, I certainly do not fault Topps for picking the young lefty for their rookie team, as Cain would post a 12-7 record in his first full season, pitching to a 3.84 earned run average, with five complete games over his 29 starts, striking out 156 batters in 180.2 innings.

Sadly, in his final season in the Big Leagues, 1972, Cain appeared in five games for the Tigers that season, going 0-3 with a 3.80 earned run average over 23.2 innings of work, all five of those appearances starts.
The previous two seasons were good for Cain, as he posted records of 12-7 and 10-9 respectively, filling a spot as one of Detroit’s main starters.
However, in what turned out to be a landmark case against Major League baseball, after Cain developed arm trouble in that 1972 season at the age of only 24, he insisted that manager Billy Martin still made him pitch, resulting in career-ending arm troubles (sound familiar?), which led him to sue the organization.
In a stunning move, the Michigan Bureau of Workman’s Compensation ruled in favor of Cain and judged that the Detroit Tigers would have to pay Cain $111 a week for the rest of his life!
Incredible!
Cain is still alive, and I’m assuming still collecting his checks from the Tigers to this day, some 47 years later.
As for his Big League career, he finished with a record of 23-19 over 68 appearances, starting 64 of those games and pitching to a 3.98 ERA over 373 innings in parts of four seasons between 1968 and 1972.

 

SPECIAL 1969 "TEAM" CEREAL EXTENSION SET: JOHNNY BENCH

Next up in my "missing" 1969 Nabisco Team Flakes set, the great (if not greatest) Johnny Bench, who was just starting out on his mission to become perhaps the greatest catcher the game has ever seen:

All the man would do in his first full season at the age of 20 in 1968 was catch a staggering 154 games, hitting .275 with 15 homers and 82 RBIs, with 67 runs scored and 40 doubles, easily taking home the Rookie of the Year Award.

Of course as we all know, he would go on to put together a career rarely seen by ANY player, let alone a catcher: TWO N.L. MVP Awards, 14 all-star games, 10 Gold Gloves, two home run titles and three RBI titles, all while donning the “tools of ignorance” for 17 seasons, all with the Reds.
As a kid growing up in the 1970’s, this man was a mythic figure, a “god”, and he and the rest of his "Big Red Machine" teammates were steamrolling through the league towards two straight championships in 1975 & 1976, while appearing in two other series in 1970 and 1972.

It still amazes me that they didn't win any other titles during the 1970's, especially after adding Tom Seaver in 1977.

Go figure...

REVISITING A BLOG POST FROM JUNE, 2014: 1970 HIGHLIGHTS REGGIE JACKSON

Thought it was time to revisit a blog post from nine years ago, my "Highlights from the 1970's" card celebrating a young Reggie Jackson and his epic 10-RBI game from 1969:

Here's the original write-up:

"In a game where the Oakland A's stomped the Boston Red Sox 21-7, Reggie led the way by going 5 for 6 at the plate with two homers, a double and two singles.

While he "only" scored two runs, he drove in ten, becoming the first player to drive in that many in a single game since Norm Zauchin of the Red Sox did it on May 27th, 1955 against the Washington Senators.

Reggie was on his way to his first power-house season, slamming 47 homers while driving in 118 runs, scoring a league-leading 123, and hitting at a .275 clip.

Those numbers would get him his first all-star berth, as well as a fifth-place finish in M.V.P. voting.

The Oakland dynasty of the mid-70's was starting to brew in 1969, as players like Reggie, Sal Bando, Vida Blue, Jim Hunter and Rollie Fingers were starting to ramp up their Major League careers.

They'd be joined by other future stars in Joe Rudi, Gene Tenace, and an already established "veteran" (compared to these young studs) Bert Campaneris.

Before anyone knew it, the A's would reel-off three straight World Championships before flamboyant owner Charlie Finley raped his team and got rid of all his star players either by trade or free agency.

By the end of the 1970's they'd be a last-place team, far from the juggernaut everyone witnessed just a few years earlier.

But on this day in 1969, Reggie reigned supreme!

It wouldn't be until Fred Lynn burst on to the baseball scene in 1975 that another Major Leaguer would drive in 10 or more runs in a game, (June 18th, 1975) and then another 18-years until someone ELSE did it, when Mark Whiten had a game of a lifetime, hitting four homers while driving in 12 runs (tying the MLB record that still stands), on September 7th of 1993."

1977 N.L. CENTENNIAL: MANNY SANGUILLEN

Today on the blog, we go and add catcher Manny Sanguillen to my long-running 1977 "N.L. Centennial" sub-set, celebrating the National League's 100th anniversary of 1976:

Sanguillen really gets overlooked when it comes to how well he played during his 13-year career, all but 1977 spent with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

This was a catcher who hit over .300 four times, with a high of .328 in 1975, while also topping .280 another four times, before retiring with a robust .296 career average.

I personally think he may have been ripped off a Rookie of the Year in 1969 when he hit .303 with 62 runs scored and 57 runs batted in as a rookie catcher, losing to the Dodgers Ted Sizemore (a STRONG argument can also be made for Sanguillen's teammate Al Oliver, who also could have won).

He was named to three all-star teams, and even garnered some MVP support in 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1975 as a member of the Bucs.

A very nice career for a solid catcher during the 1970's who gets forgotten among the Benchs, Fisks, Munsons and Simmons of the Majors…

1970 "20-WIN CIRCLE": PHIL NIEKRO

On the blog today, we have Phil Niekro added to my 1970 "20-Win Circle" sub-set, celebrating all the 20-game winners of the 1969 season:

Niekro had his best season yet in the Major Leagues in 1969, finishing runner up in the Cy Young race with a record of 23-13 and a sparkling 2.56 earned run average.

Over his 40 appearances, of which 35 were starts, Niekro also completed 21 games, tossed four shutouts and struck out 193 batters over 284.1 innings for the N.L. West champ Atlanta Braves.

It is incredible to think Niekro didn’t have a full season on Big League duty until 1967 at the age of 28, yet still went on to pitch 24 seasons, winning 318 games with a very nice 3.35 ERA along with 45 shutouts and 3342 strikeouts before he was done at the age of 48!
I always thought it amazing that at the age of 44 in 1983, he took home the last of his five Gold Gloves, ALL of which were garnered beginning his age 39 season in 1978.
Ageless!

 

1970'S ALL-DECADE TEAM: N.L. OUTFIELDER GREG LUZINSKI

Up on the blog today, we move on to my first pick for one of the "outfielders of the decade" for the National League, and I went with Greg Luzinski, the "Bull":

Any time I can have a guy who slugs the heck out of the ball while also hovering near .300, I'll take him!

Between 1975 and 1978 Luzinski was a top-10 MVP candidate, with two second-place finishes in 1975 and 1977 when he drove in 120 and 130 runs respectively along with 34 and 39 home runs.
And like I stated earlier, he was a .300 hitter! He topped .300 three straight seasons, from 1975 to 1977 while making the All-Star team each year.
Thing about this: Luzinski retired after the 1984 season with 307 homers, 1128 runs batted in, and 1795 hits, and he was only 33 years of age.

He topped 100 RBIs four times, 20 homers seven times, and got MVP attention seven times.

It’s easy to forget that he really put up great numbers while retiring at a relatively young age, even if he played for parts of 15 seasons between 1970 and 1984.

When you see my picks for the other two outfielders in the N.L. for the decade, you'll see how Luzinski compliments my hypothetical line-up!

 

VINTAGE CUSTOM SPOTLIGHT: 1950 DRAKE'S "EXTENDED" SET: ROBIN ROBERTS

On the blog today, we spotlight my "missing" 1950 Drakes card for the great Robin Roberts, ace of the Philadelphia Phillies:

It was fun adding the great pitcher to one of my favorite odd-ball sets of the era, celebrating a guy who put in an incredible run in the early-50's that I believe is not appreciated enough.

Roberts was a machine during the 1950’s pitching for the Philadelphia Phillies, posting six 20-win seasons with  a 19 and 17 win season thrown in as well.
He led the league in wins four times with a high of 28 in 1952, while also leading the National league in strikeouts twice, complete games five times, innings pitched five times and shutouts once.
By the time he retired after the 1966 season, he finished with 286 wins and a 3.41 earned run average, with 45 shutouts and 2357 strikeouts over 676 games and 4688.2 innings pitched.
Between 1950 and 1956 he was named to the all-star team each year, while also garnering MVP attention every season.
To be honest how he didn’t win the MVP in 1952 is beyond me, as the award went to Chicago Cubs slugger Hank Sauer.
Granted the Phillies finished in fourth place with an 87-67 record, 9.5 games behind the Dodgers.
But the Cubs finished in fifth place, with a 77-77 record.
So what went on there is something worth looking into considering all Roberts did was go 28-7 with a 2.59 ERA, three shutouts, 148 strikeouts and 30 complete games out of his 37 starts!

VINTAGE SPECIAL! "MISSING" 1954 WILSON'S FRANKS SATCHEL PAIGE

Super fun card to create and add to the WTHBALLS stable, a "missing" 1954 Wilson Franks Satchel Paige edition, celebrating the legend during his stint with the St. Louis Browns:

Now THIS would have been an awesome card to exist, though most likely painful for collectors to chase these days in pursuit of perhaps the greatest baseball odd-ball set of the era.

Paige just wrapped up his third and final season with the Browns in 1953, appearing in 57 games at the age of 46, posting a record of 3-9 with a 3.53 earned run average over 117.1 innings, saving 11 games and making his second straight All-Star team.

From his start as a 20-year old playing for the Birmingham Black Barons in 1927 to his final Major League appearance as a 58-year old for the Kansas City Athletics, Paige became an American icon not only for his on-field play but for his infectious personality.
Though his career Negro League record is listed as 100-50 over 18-seasons, he won countless other games along the way, as was the usual for the Negro Leagues as they played exhibition and non-league games during gaps in their schedule.
His stories are legend, enough so that by the time the Baseball Hall of Fame got off their ass and finally began electing Negro League all-time greats to Cooperstown, Paige was the very 1st to be so honored.
A 5x time Negro League all-star, 2x American League all-star, Negro League champ in 1942 with the Homestead Grays, and Major League World Champion with the 1948 Cleveland Indians, Paige left a baseball legacy that few could come close to.

 

1970 "20-WIN CIRCLE": MIKE CUELLAR

Up on the blog today, we add former Baltimore Orioles ace Mike Cuellar to my 1970 "20-Win Circle" sub-set, celebrating all the 20-game winner in 1969:

Cuellar had a breakout season in 1969, winning 23 games while posting a 2.38 earned run average and five shutouts over 39 starts, completing 18 with 182 strikeouts.

The man was as solid as they came over his career, which began in 1959 with the Cincinnati Reds as a 22-year-old.

He ended up putting in a nice 15-year career that saw him win 185 games, post four 20+ win seasons, win a Cy Young Award (shared with Tigers pitcher Denny McLain in 1969) and post four sub-3.00 E.R.A. Seasons.

I never realized that even though he came up in 1959 with the Cincinnati Reds, appearing in two games as a 22-year old, he didn't make it back to the Major's until 1964 at the age of 27, now as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Considering his lifetime win total mentioned above, he could have possibly approached 250 wins had he not missed those four-plus years in the early-1960's.

His lifetime numbers nevertheless were impressive: the 185 wins mentioned above, a 3.14 lifetime E.R.A., 36 shutouts and 1632 strikeouts over 453 games, 379 of which were starts, completing almost half of them with 172.

1972 25TH ANNIVERSARY JACKIE ROBINSON SPECIAL: "COLLEGE STAR"

Today on the blog I begin a short yet fun 1972 sub-set honoring the 25th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in 1947, celebrating different stages of his great athletic life, beginning with his fantastic college career at UCLA:

More than just a baseball player, Robinson excelled at many sports, and was actually the first in school history to letter in four varsity activities: baseball, basketball, football and track.

In football the Bruins went undefeated in 1939, his first year with the squad, as he led the NCAA in punt return average while also setting the (still) record of 12.2 yards per carry out of the backfield.

In track, he incredibly won the 1940 NCAA championship in the long jump at 24 feet, 10.25 inches, while funny enough, baseball was his "worst" sport, hitting only .097 in his one season.

Shortly after, he left school to work for National Youth Administration before embarking on a semi-pro football career, which was shortened due to the outbreak of World War II and the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The road to baseball was still a long way off, as Robinson would put in a military stretch that formed the path that would lead to the sport somewhat by "accident", as he would return to semi-pro football, put time in Samuel Huston College as Athletic Director, then as coach of the school's basketball team, until being contacted by the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues for a tryout after he wrote to the team at the encouragement of a former player that he met while stationed at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky  a year or so earlier.

Next stage, and card in the series, the Negro Leagues.

Stay tuned!