WTHBALLS CUSTOM SET SPOTLIGHT: 19TH CENTURY "BASEBALL CHAMPIONS" BILLY HAMILTON

Up on the blog today, the next custom card from my early set, "19th Century Base Ball Champions", featuring the game's best players from the 1800's, this time giving the spotlight to Billy Hamilton, Hall of Fame outfielder:

If you're not familiar with this incredible player, do yourself a favor and check out his career and get ready to have your mind blown!

Over his 14-year Major League career, Hamilton hit a blistering .344 while scoring 1697 runs in 1594 games. You read that correctly! The man averaged more than a run per game over 14 years!

In 1894 he set what is STILL the Major League record for runs scored in a season when he made it home 198 times in only 132 games!

This was a season when he hit .403 for Philadelphia with an on-base-percentage of .521, with 100 stolen bases, 225 hits and 90 runs batted in.

A career that is heavily marked up in the "black ink", he stole over 100 bases four times, hit over .350 five times, won two batting titles, and scored 100+ runs in a season eleven times.

His numbers upon retirement in addition to those mentioned earlier: 2164 hits, 914 stolen bases and a .455 on-base-percentage.

Incredibly, in 1894 with the Phillies, he formed a .400-hitting outfield alongside Hall of Famers Ed Delahanty (.405) and Sam Thompson (.415), while even the UTILITY outfielder Tuck Turner hit .418 over 382 plate appearances!

Get this: as a TEAM, that Phillies team hit .350 that year. Absolutely insane.

In 1961 Hamilton was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans committee, and he also got renewed fame later in the 1970's when Lou Brock was chasing the all-time stolen base title.

A somewhat forgotten all-time great that helped set the game on its path as the sport we have today.

 

REVISITING A 10-YEAR-OLD POST: MISSING 1973 JERRY McNERTNEY

Revisiting a 10-year-old post today, that of my "missing" 1973 card for former catcher Jerry McNertney, which originally "aired" here on the blog in October of 2014:

Here's the write-up for the original post:

Here's a "missing" 1973 card for a guy who spent nine years on the Major League level, though in only two seasons did he really see "full time" action: catcher Jerry McNertney.

In actuality McNertney was closing out his career in 1973, appearing in only nine games with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

But in 1972 he did play in 39 games for St. Louis, mainly as a pinch-hitter and back-up to a young up and coming stud behind the plate, Ted Simmons.

McNertney's numbers for the 1972 season were: 10 hits in 48 at-bats (a .208 average), with three doubles and a triple among his "knocks".

So I figured why not give him a card in the 1973 set since I came across a nice photo of him in a Cardinals uniform, so here you go.

He came up rather late at the age of 27 in 1964 with the Chicago White Sox, appearing in 73 games, and stayed with the Sox until 1969 where he found himself suiting up for the Seattle Pilots in their only year of existence.

That season would have McNertney see the most playing time, appearing in 128 games, good for 449 plate appearances.

The following season, as the organization moved to Milwaukee and renamed the "Brewers", McNertney's playing time was diminished a bit, appearing in 111 games with 330 plate appearances.

The next two years saw him as a backup in St. Louis, playing in only 95 games combined before moving on to Pittsburgh, as I mentioned earlier, for his last hurrah in the big leagues.

MISSING ALL-STAR MANAGER: 1973 EARL WEAVER

Just as I had done years ago with the starting line-ups of the 1972 All-Star game, today I add American League manager for that game Earl Weaver to my "missing" All-Star cards, in this case completely creating a new card for the Hall of Fame skipper to get it done:

With the Baltimore Orioles pennant winning season of 1971 with Weaver at the helm, the 1972 Midsummer Classic saw the diminutive yet fiery manager lead the Junior Circuit to a chance to defend their 1971 All-Star game win against the N.L.

Well sadly, it was not to be, as the National League got back to "business as usual" with another win 4-3, something they would keep on doing all the way through to the 1983 game, much to THIS young A.L. fan through his elementary and Junior High School days!

I loved Earl Weaver as a kid, who paired up nicely with my favorite manager, Billy Martin: fiery, combative, and always ready to stick his neck out for his team.

By the time he retired after the 1986 season, Weaver finished with a record of 1480 wins against 1060 losses, for a very nice .583 winning percentage, with four Pennants and a World Championship in 1970, posting a winning season every year of his tenure except his very last, when he finished 73-89.

In 1996 he was voted into the Hall of Fame as a manager, celebrating one of the most colorful managers of the era, and rightly so!

WTHBALLS "BASEBALL ICONS" SPECIAL SET: MICKEY MANTLE

The next superstar who gets a custom "Icons" card in my future custom set is the "Commerce Comet" Mickey Mantle, New York Yankees legend, making for a fun "artsy" set based on home field background art from the Golden Era of baseball:

As I have stated before here on the blog, Mantle is one of those guys I really don't think we need to get into as far as his tenure on the baseball diamond. It'd be kind of a joke to start writing about his career since it would take up a book's worth.

But alas, 500+ homers, a bushel of World Championships, three Most Valuable Player Awards, and the hearts of more fans than we can even imagine to this day.

"The Mick" in all his glory, enshrined in his rightful place in Cooperstown, along with his longtime buddy Whitey Ford in the same HOF class.

One of the great icons of the sport over its 150+ year history.

Not too bad a Hollywood script...

I just wished I would have gotten to see him play!

Keep an eye out for this set when I release it!

 

OPC IMAGE VARIATION: 1977 JOE FERGUSON

Up on the blog today, we take a closer look at the OPC and Topps image variation for Joe Ferguson's 1977 cards:

OPC version

Topps version

Whereas the Topps card has the catcher with the St. Louis Cardinals, for whom he suited up in 1976, the OPC card has him airbrushed into a Houston Astros uniform, reflecting his recent trade to the team.

After putting in half a season with the Cardinals in 1976, Ferguson was part of a multi-player trade that also saw former All-Star pitcher Larry Dierker head to St. Louis.

Ferguson would have a decent year for the Astros in 1977, hitting .257 over 132 games with 16 homers and 61 runs batted in.

He'd start 1978 with the Astros before finding himself where it all began, the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he started his career in 1970 and where he played up until 1976.

He had himself a nice 14-year Major League career, really acting as a back-up or platooning catcher, with only two seasons seeing him get as many as 500 plate appearances: 1973 with L.A. and 1977 with Houston.
His 1973 season with the Dodgers got him some MVP consideration, as he hit .263 with 25 homers and 88 runs batted in, along with 87 walks and 84 runs scored. Not bad at all!
For his career, he finished with a .240 average with 122 homers and 445 RBIs, with 719 hits over 3001 at-bats.

 

1960S ALL-DECADE TEAM: N.L. RIGHT-HANDED PITCHER: JUAN MARICHAL

Hello all!

On the blog today, my pick for the "All-1960s" National League right-handed pitcher of the decade, and I went with an easy pick, San Francisco Giants legend Juam Marichal, the "Dominican Dandy":

I don't think many of you would argue with me on this pick!

The man was born to pitch.

Once called up to the big show in 1961, he would go 6-2 over his first 11 starts, with a 2.66 ERA and six complete games, including a shutout in his 1st MLB start.
As much as Marichal is celebrated as an all-time pitching legend, you still have to feel for the guy when you consider the timing of all his banner years in the big leagues.
In 1963 he has his breakout year, going 25-8 with a 2.41 E.R.A., but takes a back seat to another guy who has a breakout year, Sandy Koufax.
In 1966 he wins 25 games again, but again takes a backseat to a now dominating Koufax, who wins 27 along with a bunch of other eye-popping numbers.
In 1968 he sets a career high of 26 wins to go along with a 2.43 earned run average, but wait, a guy named Bob Gibson has a year for the ages, winning both the Cy Young Award and the M.V.P.
But when you look at the decade as a whole, there wasn't a better pitcher in the game from 1960-1969, as Marichal went on to win 191 games, winning 25 or more wins three times, post seven sub-3.00 E.R.A. seasons,  top 200+ strikeouts six times , and get selected as an all-star every year between 1962-1969.
What a BEAST on the mound!
Easily would have been the first 3-time Cy Young winner if not for Koufax and Gibson.
Ah well, I’m sure his spot in Cooperstown makes it a bit easier to take.

"Dominican Dandy" indeed!

 

WTHBALLS CUSTOM SET SPOTLIGHT: 1890 "BASEBALL CHAMPIONS" AMOS RUSIE

The next 19th Century baseball star from my early custom WTHBALLS set to get the spotlight here on the blog is the "Hoosier Thunderbolt" Amos Rusie:

This was a really fun set to create and release back in 2018, in special cigarette pack packaging with loads of goodies, along with a double-mounted cabinet postcard of the 1869 Cincinnati red Stockings.

Rusie was an anchor for the New York Giants at the end of the 19th Century, reeling off eight 20-win seasons (four of them 30+ seasons), while topping the National League in strikeouts five times and shutouts four times, with two ERA titles thrown in.
His final numbers of 246-174, with a 3.07 ERA and 1707 may not seem overwhelming, but if you can imagine, his career was over by the time he turned 30!
As a matter of fact he really pitched his last full season at the age of 27, with a three game appearance in 1901 with the Cincinnati Reds that encompassed only 22 innings of work.
So really those final numbers represent nine years of Major League ball!
And for those of you that may not know this, the trade that got him to Cincinnati for those scant three games in 1901 goes down as one of the all-time worst trades, sadly for the Reds, as they shipped to New York a young collegiate pitcher who’d go on to an even greater career than Rusie, none other than all-time great Christy Mathewson!

Ouch!

WTHBALLS "BASEBALL ICONS" SPECIAL SET: ROBERTO CLEMENTE

Up on the blog today, my special "Icons" custom card for "The Great One", Roberto Clemente, creating a set utilizing artwork of a players' home field as a background:

I have some pretty cool ideas of how this set will be released, and I hope you all find it just as interesting, with deluxe packaging and special inserts!

Anyway, as for the man himself, Clemente's career is the stuff of legend: His fiery play on the field, his good deeds, and his absolute adoration by teammates and fans alike.

On the field Clemente's numbers were incredible: four batting titles, five seasons batting over .340, four 200 hit seasons, 12 all-star nods, 12 Gold Gloves and a Most Valuable Player Award in 1966.

And a prime example of Clemente's importance to the game was his immediate induction into Cooperstown by special committee in 1973, waiving the standard five-year wait before a player joins the Hall ballot, as well as the establishment of the "Roberto Clemente Award", given every year to the player that exemplified "outstanding baseball playing skills who is personally involved in community work."

The man was truly something else, and I'm not even thinking of his baseball prowess.

Just special and truly one of a kind!

 

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: STAN MUSIAL

Up on the blog today, we add "Stan The Man" Musial to my custom "Classic Baseball" set, celebrating the great game that has brought me so much joy throughout my life for close to 50 years:

Just a fun, clean layout for this set, which I plan to release in five different series adding up to over 100 cards in what should be the largest set in the WTHBALLS card stable.

Regarding the great Stan Musial, his MLB numbers are just absurd: seven batting titles, two R.B.I. titles, five triples titles and eight doubles titles, with career numbers of 475 home runs, 1951 runs batted in and a .331 career average. Throw in his 725 doubles, 177 triples and 3630 hits along with 1949 runs scored and the numbers are staggering. 

And don't forget that Musial also lost a year to military duty, easily putting him over 500 homers, close to 3900 hits and around 2100 runs batted in if he played in 1945.

Along with the great Frank Robinson I always felt Stan Musial was often overlooked in the decades since his playing days ended.

When talk of "Greatest Living Player" came up it was always Williams, DiMaggio, Mays or even Aaron that would come up. But Stan Musial would always kind of be that after-thought.

Criminal.

Three Most Valuable Player Awards, FOUR second-place finishes, including three in a row between 1949-1951, and twenty consecutive all-star appearances, Musial definitely is a member of that rarified stratosphere of baseball royalty along with the likes of Ruth, Cobb, Mays and Wagner, among others.

WTHBALLS GUM PACK CUSTOM SET: FRED LYNN

On the blog today, my Fred Lynn mini custom card from my "Gum Pack" set released a few months back:

Fun little set to get out there in the world in Gum Pack packaging, using a velvety smooth card stock for the mini-cards themselves.

As for Mr. Lynn, after a wonderful college career at USC, Lynn became an instant star in 1975 when he led the Boston Red Sox to the World Series after copping both the Rookie of the Year AND Most Valuable Player Awards. The first player ever to do so, and still only one of two (Ichiro Suzuki joined him in 2001).
He’d go on to win four Gold Gloves, get named to nine all-star teams, and hit the only Grand Slam in All-Star game history, a memorable shot off of Atlee Hammaker in the 1983 classic that gave the American League it’s first win over the National League since 1971.
Hampered by injuries throughout his 17-year career, he still finished with a very solid MLB resume: 306 homers, 1111 RBI’s, 1063 runs scored and a .283 batting average, with 10 seasons of 20+ homers over 1969 games.

REVISITING A 10-YEAR OLD POST: MISSING IN ACTION JEFF TORBORG

Today on the blog we revisit a 10-year old post featuring an early "missing in action" card, this one of catcher Jeff Torborg of the California Angels:

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

"You know, California Angels catchers of the early to mid 1970's got "dissed" left and right by Topps.

My last "Missing in Action" subject was Angels' backstop Art Kusnyer, and today's player is another California signal-caller, Jeff Torborg, who should have had a card in the 1974 set.

You think a guy who caught no-hitters by BOTH Nolan Ryan and Sandy Koufax in his career would get a little love, especially since he did actually play in 102 games in 1973!

In those 102 games played he had 284 plate appearances and started more than half the Angels games that year with 95.

Then take into account that Topps instead went ahead and gave a card in their 1974 set to both Charlie Sands and Rick Stelmaszek, who appeared in only 17 and 22 games respectively as the Angels fourth and fifth string catchers the previous year!

How does that compute?

If you're keeping track, I've only named four catchers here, yet I stated Sands and Stelmaszek as the fourth and fifth string.

Turns out (and thank you to reader "ecloy" for the heads up) Topps also omitted ANOTHER Angels catcher that year by leaving out their second-most active back-stop in 1973, catcher John Stephenson, who appeared in 60 games, good for 132 plate appearances.

???

So Topps leaves out the three most active Angels catchers of 1973 and gives cards to two guys who totaled 39 games between them!?

I just can't figure it out.

Nevertheless, with the missing 1973 Kusnyer card, this 1974 Torborg card, and in the near future the missing Stephenson cards (yes, there were multiple missing cards for this player in the decade), I hope to fill in all the blanks for Angels catchers of the 1970's.

I'll also be writing about Charlie Sands and his TWO inexplicable cards during the '70's as well.

Keep an eye out for all of them here…

As for Torborg, after a very successful college career playing for Rutgers University in New Jersey in the early 60's Torborg was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers as an amateur free agent in 1963.

He made it to the Majors in 1964 and went on to play seven years for L.A. as a back-up catcher before being purchased by the California Angels in March of 1971, where he went on to play for another three seasons.

After the 1973 season, as the Angels primary catcher among a slew of guys behind the plate that year, Torborg was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for pitcher John Andrews.

Turns out both players never appeared in another Major League game again.

Torborg was out of the game as a player for good, but he almost immediately made a go of it as a Major League manager, landing the job of Cleveland Indians skipper during the 1977 season (remember his card as manager in that awesome manager sub-set in the 1978 Topps set?).

This lead to an on-again/off-again eleven year managerial career between 1977 and 2003 managing five teams: the Indians, White Sox, Mets, Expos and Marlins.

Some of you may also remember that Torborg was the Marlins manager at the beginning of what was to be their World Championship season in 2003 before being replaced by Jack McKeon after a rough 16 and 22 start.

As a player Torborg never really became a full-time player, but man was he lucky with the opportunity to catch some memorable games for some memorable pitchers!

On September 9th, 1965 while with the Dodgers he was behind the plate for Sandy Koufax's perfect game against the Chicago Cubs.

Then on July 20th, 1970 he caught Bill Singer's no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies (funny enough he'd also be a teammate of Singer over in California).

But if that wasn't enough, Torborg ended up catching Nolan Ryan's first of a record seven Major League no-hitters when he was behind the plate for Ryan's masterpiece on May 15th, 1973 against the Kansas City Royals.

Not a bad string of historical experience for a part-time catcher in ten years!

As for Angels' catchers, next week I should have a card (or two) designed for yet another missing player, John Stephenson, who really got shafted multiple times by Topps.

Keep an eye out for it.."

MISSING ALL-STAR MANAGER: 1973 DANNY MURTAUGH

Good day all.

Up on the blog today we have a "missing" 1973 Danny Murtaugh All-Star manager card, in the case of the 1973 set a complete fabrication by yours truly since Topps didn't have all-star cards in this set:

Murtaugh was given the honors as the National League skipper for the 1972 game based on his leading the Pittsburgh Pirates to a World Series win over the favored Baltimore Orioles in the 1971 Fall Classic.

He began his managerial career in 1957, and would go on to lead the Pirates through 1976 with gaps in 1965-1966, 1968-1969, and 1972.

Overall he led the team to five first place finishes, with two championships, the first in 1960 when the Pirates stunned the favored New York Yankees, capped off by Bill Mazeroski's Game Seven ninth-inning walk-off, and the second when they beat the defending champion Baltimore Orioles.

His final numbers as a manager, he finished with a record of 1115 and 950, good for a .540 winning percentage.

Battling ailments including heart issues throughout his managerial career, he sadly suffered a stroke and passed away at the age of only 59, just two months after retiring.

1960S ALL-DECADE TEAM: A.L. OUTFIELDER AL KALINE

Good day all!

On the blog today we come to my third outfielder for my "All-Decade 1960s" American League squad, and I went with Detroit Tigers legend Al kaline, a player who often gets overlooked even though he had one heck of a career:

What a quiet legend Kaline was. Buried under names like Aaron, Mays, Mantle, etc, he just went about his business year in and year out and paved the way for his eventual induction into Cooperstown's hallowed halls in 1980.

The 1960's saw Kaline make eight All-Star teams, win seven Gold Gloves, and receive solid M.V.P. support seven of ten years, finishing as high as second in 1963.

Though he only led the league in a primary offensive category only once (doubles in 1961) in the 1960s, Kaline's consistency was his strength, as he topped .300 four times, 20 homers five times, and a .500 slugging percentage five times.

The 15-time all-star topped 3000 hits, 1600 runs, 1500 runs batted in and came one home run short of 400 over his stellar career, which also included 10 Gold Gloves for his defensive prowess.
An easy Hall of Fame pick, he was inducted in his first year of eligibility in 1980 with 88.3% of the ballots cast.
“Mr. Tiger” indeed!

 

WTHBALLS CUSTOM SET SPOTLIGHT: 19TH CENTURY "BASEBALL CHAMPIONS" AL SPALDING

Today on the blog, a fun thread to start after many years, a spotlight of one of my first custom sets to be produced, my 1890 "Baseball Champions" set celebrating the greats of the game before the turn of the Century, beginning with legend Al Spalding:

This set was definitely a "labor of love", putting in a ton of work with elaborate packaging, having the player cards come in cigarette box with authentic 19th Century Tobacco Tax stamp along with 100+ year old "Nations of the World" pin and bonus 1869 Cincinnati Red Stocking cabinet card.

The cards themselves came on textured card stock in familiar 19th century card size, somewhat resembling one of my all-time favorite card sets, the 1894 Mayo Plug set.

Al Spalding was the premier pitcher with the Boston club in the National Association before helping form the Major Leagues in 1876 and heading the Chicago team.
Ever since I got my first Macmillan Baseball Encyclopedia around 1980 I became obsessed with these 19th Century players, and Spalding was one of THE reasons.
Just look at his ridiculous stats between 1871 and 1876!
All he did was put together a 251-65 record as a pitcher, with a .795 winning percentage and a 2.13 earned run average.
Sure the game was not nearly what it evolved to be years later, but those numbers are hilarious, almost a joke, so for a young kid like me seeing these for the first time I was amazed.
Oddly, since then I have read pretty much every book on 19th-Century baseball and cannot seem to remember why Spalding decided to stop playing the game at the age of 26 and really put his efforts into administration, organization and equipment manufacture.
I mean, yes he was immensely successful with all three, but it would have been awesome to see what he ended up with stat-wise.
As it was, he finished with a 252-65 record, leading his league in wins every single season he played except for his abbreviated 4-game season of 1877.
In 1875 he posted a phenomenal 54-5 record with a 1.59 ERA, seven shutouts and nine saves over 72 games, 62 of which were starts.

After his playing days he would become one of the most important figures in the game's progression to that of the "National Pastime", though by both boosting the game's appeal world wide, and by lying to help create the Nelson Doubleday myth of the game's origin.

Nevertheless the man was a business stalwart, creating the "Spalding" equipment empire, or as we in the Brooklyn area in the late-1970s called it, "Spaldeen", a brand still producing goods to this day!

Amazing life

REVISITING A BLOG POST FROM 2013: "MISSING IN ACTION" 1971 TONY LaRUSSA

On the blog today we revisit an old blog post from November of 2013, my "missing" 1971 card for future Hall of Fame manager Tony LaRussa:

Here's the write-up for the post as originally written way back when:

As we all know, Tony LaRussa the "manager" is one of the all-time greats.

Between 1979 and 2011, a span of 33 years, he managed three teams (White Sox, A's and Cardinals) to 2728 victories, six pennants, three world championships, and 12 first place finishes.

You can easily make an argument for LaRussa as the best modern era manager in baseball.

Now, Tony LaRussa the "player". Well…

Let's just say that he never really fulfilled the promise on THAT end of his career.

He came up in 1963 for a brief cup of coffee with the Kansas City Athletics, but wouldn't make it back up to the big leagues again until 1968, when he appeared in only five games, good for three at-bats.

Actually, in his six year playing career, he never really got a chunk of playing time in any one season.

However, ironically enough, the MOST action he ever saw was during the 1970 season while still playing for the A's, when he got into 52 games at second base, good for 106 at-bats.

He didn't make much of the opportunity, batting .198 with 21 hits and six runs batted in.

However, if there was EVER a year where Topps should have given the guy a baseball card you think it would be the only year he scraped together more than 100+ plate appearances, no?

Yet Topps didn't have a LaRussa card in their 1971 set, even though he WAS included in their sets in 1964, 1968 and 1972.

Go figure…

Well, today I post up a "missing" design for a 1971 Tony LaRussa card.

Even though his playing days left a lot to be desired, he was well on his way to the Hall of Fame once he got the hold of managing a squad in 1979.

 

OPC IMAGE VARIATION: 1977 JOHNNY GRUBB

Today on the blog we spotlight one of the best image variations between OPC and Topps, that of Johnny Grubb, who found himself airbrushed into a Cleveland Indians uni on his OPC card, while Topps went to press before his trade, thus giving us the card you see here, suited up with his original team, the San Diego Padres:

OPC version

Topps version

 

Really fun that the Topps image is the original image that OPC used for the airbrush job, really giving us a better understanding at how amazing the paint-job was to create an Indians version.

Amazing work here, especially for that era where we didn't have the advantage of Photoshop to create life-like images like we do in the present day.

In December of 1976 Grubb was traded to the Indians along with Fred Kendall and Hector Torres for slugger George Hendrick, leaving the only team he played for after five solid years.

Grubb had himself a very nice rookie campaign in 1973, finishing up the season hitting .311 with 121 hits over 389 at-bats, scoring 52 runs while collecting 33 extra base hits.

He would also hit .286 in 1974 and .284 in 1976, with a .269 season sandwiched in between, not too shabby in an era of "dead ball" as anyone growing up in that time period as yours truly could attest to.

He would hit .301 for the Indians in only 34 games in 1977, before coming back and hitting .265 over 113 games for the Tribe before getting traded to the Texas Rangers for two players to be named later at the deadline, Minor Leaguers Bobby Cuellar and Dave Rivera.

He would go on to have a nice 16-year career in the Big Leagues, easily overlooked with his .278 batting average playing for the Padres, Cleveland Indians, Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers between 1973 and 1987.
Sadly for him, though he did stick around for 16 seasons as a Big Leaguer, that .311 batting average in 1973 turned out to be a career-high, and it was also arguably his finest season in Major League ball.
Nevertheless, by the time he retired he left the game with 1153 hits over 4154 at-bats, along with 553 runs scored and 475 runs batted in, while also being a member of the World Champion juggernaut 1984 Detroit Tigers team that went wire to wire.
Not too shabby...

WTHBALLS GUM PACK CUSTOM SET: GEORGE BRETT

On the blog today, my George Brett mini custom, from my "Gum Pack" set produced and released a few months ago in fun little packaging resembling a pack of chewing gum:

Brett made his Big League debut in 1973 with 13 games for the Kansas City Royals, the only team he'd suit up for over his magnificent 21 year career.

In that initial showing he hit .125 with five hits in 40 at-bats, including two doubles and two runs scored.

The following season he'd be here to stay, finishing third in the American League Rookie of the Year race in 1974, hitting .282 with 129 hits, 49 runs scored and 47 runs batted in over 133 games for the Kansas City Royals.
He’d have his breakout season quickly, leading the league with 195 hits as well as 13 triples in 1975 before winning his first batting title a year later when he hit .333 with a league-leading 215 hits and 14 triples.

His 1979 season is just not appreciated enough!

That season Brett led the league with 212 hits and 20 triples, while also collecting 42 doubles, 23 homers, 107 runs batted in and 119 runs scored, hitting .329 and also stealing 17 bases!

This was arguably his best season overall for his career, and remember, he hit .390 the following year!

The man was born to hit, and would finish his career with 3154 hits, a .305 average, 317 homers and let’s not forget the 201 stolen bases and 137 triples!
The 13-time all-star was a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 1993, getting named to 98.2% of the ballot, while taking home the MVP in 1980 after his magical .390 hitting season, while finishing second twice and third once.
Legend!

 

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: EDDIE MATHEWS

Today we add the great Eddie Mathews to my custom WTHBALLS baseball set, "Classic Baseball", celebrating the beautiful game with iconic images of all-time greats during the Golden Age of the sport:

Mathews was a beast at the plate, hitting 30 or more homers in a season ten times during his career, with four of those seasons totaling over 40.
He’d also drive in over 100 runs five times and score over 100 eight times while topping a .300 batting average on three occasions while leading the National League in walks four times, homers twice, and getting named to nine all-star teams.
Twice a runner-up in Most Valuable Player voting, he played for the Braves from Boston, to Milwaukee and their inaugural season in Atlanta in 1966, the only player to do so.
By the time he finished his stellar career Mathews collected 512 homers, 1453 runs batted in, 1509 runs scored and a .271 average along 1444 walks and a .509 slugging average.
Until a guy by the name of Mike Schmidt came along, he was THE power-hitting third baseman in the game's long history.

Incredibly overlooked these days!

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS LEGENDS EDITION: WARREN SPAHN

Up on the blog today, adding one of my all-time favorite players, Warren Spahn, to my on-going "Minor League Days: Legends Edition" set, celebrating his time in the Minors before moving on to greatness on the Major League diamond:

Spahn is shown here suited up for the Hartford Bees of the Eastern League in 1942 at the age of 21.

It was his only season with the team and he did not disappoint, going 17-12 over 33 games with a brilliant 1.96 earned run average over 248 innings of work.

This earned him his promotion to the Majors later in the year, appearing in four games for the Boston Braves, getting hit hard to the tune of a 5.74 ERA over 15.2 innings.

Sadly, with the onset of World War II, Spahn, as well as so many others, found themselves trading baseball cleats for army boots, serving his country for the next three years before returning in 1946, now 25 years old.

Anyone who has followed this blog long enough knows by now that any time I can create a card for the mighty lefty, I will take it!

The man was amazing, flat out, and by the time he retired in 1965 he posted a 363-245 record, with a 3.09 ERA, 63 shutouts, 28 saves and 2583 strikeouts over 750 appearances, 665 of which were starts.

Oh yeah, he also hit 35 career home runs along with 189 runs batted in with (coincidentally) 363 hits!

And again, remember he didn’t win his first game until he was 25 years of age, as he served in the military from 1943 to 1945.

His first 20-game season was 1947 (at the age of 26), and he kept right on rolling until his final 20-game season in 1963!

In between, he ended up posting 13 such campaigns, leading the league eight times (with five of those coming consecutively from 1957 to 1961).

Just an incredible career for the lefty from Buffalo, New York, who would have easily posted over 400 wins had it not been for a World War.

 

1960S ALL-DECADE TEAM: N.L. OUTFIELDER HANK AARON

Good day all!

On the blog today, my final pick for National League outfielder of the decade to go along with Willie Mays and Roberto Clemente, none other than Hank Aaron, which makes for a RIDICULOUS outfield trip leading the Senior League through the 1960s:

I mean, it's not even fair to have these three together patrolling the outfield under any circumstance.

As for Aaron?

There's really no need to get into it with one of the All-Time best, but let's do it anyway.

For the decade, all Aaron did was score over 100 runs a season every year but 1968 (the "year of the pitcher"), hit over 40 homers five times, drive in over 100 runs six times, and lead the National league in primary offensive categories 17 times.

He was an All-Star every single season, and finish in the top-10 in M.V.P. voting seven times.

The man was a machine, and it was that consistency that lead to his massive lifetime totals in almost every offensive category: homers, runs batted in, runs scored, hits, total bases, you name it.

On top of all of that, the 1960's brought out the "speed" in Aaron, as he totaled double digits in stolen bases nine times during the decade, the ONLY times he stole as much in his entire 23 year career.

Imagine: Mays, Clemente and Aaron on the same team. Just wild...

WTHBALLS "BASEBALL ICONS" SPECIAL SET: WILLIE MAYS

The next "icon" of the sweet game of baseball to be featured in my custom "Icons" set that will see the light of day later this year is none other than Willie Mays, perhaps the greatest of them all:

This set features greats of the game during the "Golden Era" of baseball, with special home field background art from the 1950s and 1960s.

Just a fun creative set to work on, which will come in a special package that I conceived some time ago.

Keep your eyes peeled for it!

As for the man himself, what needs to be said about perhaps the greatest player in history?
660 home runs, 3000+ hits, over 2000 runs scored and over 1900 runs batted in, with over 300 stolen bases and a .300+ batting average as well!
He took home the Rookie of the Year Award in 1951, then proceeded to win two Most Valuable Player Awards, the first in 1954 and the second eleven years later in 1965.
Let’s also not forget the 20 all-star nods and 12 Gold Gloves, leaving him in that rarified company of Ruth, Cobb, Aaron and Gehrig as far as accomplishments and legend.
Of course, Hall of Fame voting being what it is, he wasn’t a UNANIMOUS selection because of this silly unspoken rule of “no one gets 100% voting”, something I will NEVER understand.