"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: BILL MADLOCK

Today on the blog we add four-time batting champ Bill Madlock to my custom "Classic Baseball" set, which will be a fun higher-end custom release later this year spread out over a few series:

Just a nice portrait shot of the man during his time with the Chicago Cubs, for whom he took home two of his batting titles.

"Mad Dog" was coming off of TWO straight National League batting titles in 1977 when he was traded to the San Francisco Giants in a multi-player deal, with Chicago landing Bobby Murcer among others.
Madlock didn’t disappoint, as he’d put in two solid seasons of .300+ averages with some pop before he was shipped off to Pittsburgh in the middle of the 1979 season.
He would go on to put together a very nice 15-year career between 1973 and 1987, but apparently not quite Hall material, finishing with a .305 average with 2008 hits, 920 runs scored and 860 runs batted in with 163 homers and 174 stolen bases.
Just one of those historical quirks that has him as a four-time batting champ, but not really one of the all-time greats.

As a matter of fact, I believe he is still the only eligible four-time (or more) batting champ NOT in the Hall of Fame.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1973 ADRIAN GARRETT

Up on the blog today, we have a rarity nowadays on the blog, a "not really missing" card, once a staple here until the players/images began drying up after ten years.

Today's player that gets a "missing" card is Adrian Garrett of the Oakland A's:

Garrett appeared in only 14 games for the repeating World Champions, going 0-11 at the plate while putting in some time out in leftfield.

It was a typical season for the catcher-outfielder, as he would never have even close to a full season of action over his career which began in 1966 with four games as an Atlanta Brave.

This is the fourth such card I've created for Garrett over the years, joining my 1972, 1975 and 1977 creations.

He would play for four organizations: Atlanta Braves, Chicago Cubs, Oakland A’s and California Angels, ending up with a .185 batting average with 51 hits in 276 at-bats in 163 games, with 30 runs scored, 11 homers and 37 runs batted in.

 

WTHBALLS "BASEBALL ICONS" SPECIAL SET: HANK AARON

Good day all!

On the blog today, the first card from my special WTHBALLS "Baseball Icons" set, that I hope to get printed up this year and released in special packaging that should be a special treat for the WTHBALLS checklist crowd, this of the great Hank Aaron:

Each card is designed with a home stadium image in the background while the player is outlined in the fore-front, in a square 4x4 template that is suited for the packaging I came up with, which is special to say the least!

Generally elite players from the 1960s and 1970s, I wanted to create a more "artistic" set to have some fun with designing in an almost painterly setting.

As for Aaron the player?

Let his numbers do all the talking: 2174 runs scored, 3771 hits, 624 doubles, 98 triples, 755 home runs, 2297 runs batted in, a .305 batting average no less than 21 all-star selections!
Just tremendous!
He also had eight top-5 finishes for MVP, including taking home the award in 1957, as well as three Gold Gloves won consecutively between 1958-1960.
It's incredible to look at his 15 years of topping 100 or more runs scored, 11 seasons of 100 or more runs batted in, five more seasons of 90+ RBI's, and TWENTY STRAIGHT years of 20 or more home runs.

Rest in Peace to one of the absolute greats of the game, Mr. Henry Aaron...aka "Hammerin' Hank"!

Look for the other players included in this fun custom set in the coming weeks!

1960S ALL-DECADE TEAM: A.L. OUTFIELDER CARL YASTRZEMSKI

On the blog today, my pick for one of the three outfield slots in my 1960s American League All-Star team, and I went with Boston Red Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski:

Easy to pick the legend for this squad, as he had his best decade of his lengthy career in the 1960s, marked by three batting titles, an MVP monster year in 1967 when he took the red Sox on his shoulders and helped them reach the World Series, 

The man was at his height of his game at the time this photo was taken, 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…

MISSING ALL-STAR MANAGER: 1971 EARL WEAVER

On the blog today, a fun little "tweak" to Earl Weaver's 1971 card, this an All-Star designation as the American League's skipper in the 1970 Midsummer Classic, something I did with the starting nine for both leagues almost ten years ago:

Weaver had the honors of leading the A.L. in the 1970 All-Star game based off his pennant winning season of 1969, when the Orioles were stunned in the World Series by the "Miracle Mets".

It was Weaver's first full season as a Major League manager, taking over at mid-season the year before for Baltimore and leading them to a second place finish before his run of three first place finishes between 1969 and 1971.

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 GUM PACK CUSTOM SET: DICK ALLEN

Up on the blog this fine day, my Dick (Richie) Allen mini  card, from my custom "Gum Pack" set released a few months back:

As many of you know by now, any time I can create a new custom card of Dick Allen here on the blog, I'll do it!

This time I had a chance at a St. Louis Cardinals edition for the slugger, marking his brief time with the club.

He would find himself part of a blockbuster trade on October 7th of 1969 when he was shipped off to the St. Louis Cardinals with Jerry Johnson and Cookie Rojas for Byron Brown, Joe Hoerner and Curt Flood.

Allen would fare well for the Cardinals in 1970, hitting 34 homers while driving in 101 runs in only 122 games, yet would be on the move again, this time being traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he'd suit up in 1971, driving in 90 while hitting 23 homers, hitting .295 over on the West Coast.

The man was a beast at the plate, putting up numbers that were consistently up in the league-leaders year after year.

Needless to say, he took home the Rookie of the Year in 1964, and in 1972 would take home the MVP trophy while with the White Sox when he paced the American League with 37 homers and 113 RBI's, while just missing out on the Triple Crown, batting .308, just ten points off the league-leading mark by perennial winner Rod Carew.

By the time he left the game at the age of 35, Allen hit over 350 homers, batted .292 and scored 1099 runs with 1119 RBI's.

The seven-time all-star also led his league in triples once, walks once, on-base-percentage twice and slugging three times.

I'm not saying the man is a lock-tight Hall of Fame candidate, but I do think in light of some of the guys already in, HE should also be in there.

The fact that the most support he got was an 18.9% showing in 1996 seems like a joke to me.

What do you all think?

OPC IMAGE VARIATION: 1977 BOBBY MURCER

Today on the blog we take a look at Bobby Murcer and the image variations between his 1977 Topps and OPC cards:

OPC version

Topps version

Reflecting the mega-trade that saw Murcer head to Chicago for reigning National League batting king Bill Madlock, OPC scrambled to get Murcer airbrushed into a Cubs uni, while Topps had an in-game shot of him at the plate.

Murcer really did have a very nice career, especially those seasons between 1969 and 1977 when he drove in over 80 runs eight times, while topping 90 five of those seasons.
He hit as high as .331 (1971) while hitting as many as 33 homers (1972), while also leading the league in runs scored with 102 in 1972, OBP with a .427 mark in 1971 and total bases with 314 again in 1972.
He made five straight All-Star teams from 1971 through 1975, and was in the top-10 in MVP voting three straight years: 1971-1973.
Much more importantly, the man was one of the nicest human beings on the planet, as I can attest to, meeting him on more than a few occasions.
He was just as “real” as it got.
Rest in Peace Bobby. You are truly missed.

REVISITING A 10-YEAR OLD POST: 1972 CARLTON FISK DEDICATED ROOKIE

Thought it'd be fun to revisit an old post today, this one my 1972 "dedicated rookie" for all-time great Carlton Fisk:

Here's the original write-up as it appeared way back when:

While Carlton Fisk's 1972 rookie card (#79) is one of the nicer rookie cards of the decade in my book, both for design AND the fact that one of my favorite players from my childhood is also on it, Cecil Cooper, it still would have been nice to have a "dedicated" rookie card of "Pudge" instead of a three-player card as seen below:

Today I post up what could be the last "dedicated rookie" subject in the thread, since Fisk is the last of future Hall of Fame players who had a shared rookie card during the 70's.

(Jack Morris may make the Hall, but he DID have a nice 1978 Burger King card that would qualify as a dedicated rookie.)

I may branch out to other stars of the game during the era, like Thurman Munson and Dale Murphy, but time will tell.

But for now, allow me to present my design of a 1972 Carlton Fisk "dedicated" rookie card, using a great 1972 photo from Sports Illustrated as the card image.

Enjoy…

 

On a side note, Cecil Cooper really was one of my favorite players growing up, and I feel he is often a forgotten star of the late 1970's-early 1980's with the Milwaukee Brewers.

I'll have to find something to profile him with later on…

 

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS: LEGENDS EDITION- GEORGE SISLER

Today on the blog we have all-time great George Sisler added to my long-running 1971 "Minor League Days: Legends Edition" thread, in this case a baseball legend who put time in the Minors at the end of his career rather than the beginning:

Here we see Sisler during his year with the Rochester Red Wings in 1931, one year removed from his last Major League season.

In that year at Rochester, Sisler just continued doing what he did best, hit, to the tune of a .309 average with 186 hits over 613 at-bats at the age of 38.

The man was a hitting machine, twice topping .400 and finishing up his 15-year career with a .340 average, with 2812 hits in 8267 at-bats.

Somewhat forgotten was that the man also possessed some speed on the base-paths, as evidenced by his 375 career steals, leading the league four times with a high of 51 in 1922, the year he took home league MVP honors when he collected 246 hits and a batting titles, one of two, hitting an incredible .420 while scoring 134 runs and driving in 105.

Incredibly, at the height of his career, he lost an entire season (1923) due to vision problems, something that definitely kept him from reaching 3000 hits.

But he did return in 1924 and kept on hitting, reaching 200+ hits three more times, six such seasons total, and reaching .300+ six of his final seven seasons.

About as easy a Hall of Fame pick as they came, he was selected for the Hall in 1939, one of the all-time greatest hitters the game has ever seen.

 

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: AL ROSEN

Up on the blog today, we add former Cleveland Indians slugger Al Rosen to my custom "Classic Baseball" set, celebrating the sport I have loved for close to 50 years now:

Rosen had somewhat of a meteoric Major League career, with superstar seasons between 1950 and 1955 before a pedestrian 1956 season, then retirement. Just like that.

One of the heavy hitters of the Indian teams blessed with uber-pitching (Feller, Garcia, Lemon, Wynn), Rosen had his peak season in 1953 when he just missed a Triple Crown, though taking home the American League MVP Award when he led the league with 43 homers and 145 RBIs to go along with 201 hits and a .336 batting average.

His rookie season of 1950 would have normally gotten someone the Rookie of the Year Award, when he led the league with 37 homers, while driving in 116 runs and scoring 100.

But it happened to fall in the same season as Walt Dropo, who put in one of the greatest rookie seasons of all-time, easily taking home the award over the Cleveland third baseman.

Sadly for him, though still only 32 years of age by 1956, he retired from baseball due to back and leg injuries, thus ending an amazing Big League career just like that, to which he then moved into the world of stock brokerage, which he held for the next two decades before returning to baseball as a Front Office figure.

As a Front Office man, Rosen also saw success, guiding the New York Yankees during their return to greatness during the "Bronx Zoo" days before moving on to the Houston Astros and then the San Francisco Giants through the 1980's.

The man was as tough as they came, and because of his Jewish ancestry, would challenge those who hurled ethnic slurs at him throughout his career, usually with the person backing down.

A very interesting personality in baseball's rich history!

Nevertheless, over his shortened 10 year career, of which there were only seven full seasons, Rosen retired with a .285 average, with 192 homers and 717 RBIs, making four All-Star teams and taking home the aforementioned MVP in 1953.

Not too shabby!

1960S ALL-DECADE TEAM: N.L. OUTFIELDER ROBERTO CLEMENTE

The first National League outfielder I've picked on my "All-1960s Decade Team" is an easy one, as are pretty much ALL outfield slots for both leagues to be honest, and today we start with the great Roberto Clemente of the Pittsburgh Pirates:

I'm sure you can also figure out who the other two outfielders for the National League will be as well!

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!

MISSING ALL-STAR MANAGER: 1970 RED SCHOENDIENST

Today on the blog, we "tweak" Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst's 1970 Topps card to reflect his status as the All-Star Manager from the 1969 All-Star game for the National league, based on his 1968 Pennant-winning season with the St. Louis Cardinals:

As I did many years ago on the blog for the starting nine for each league in the 1969 Midsummer Classic, I added the "All-Star" banner across the bottom of Schoendienst's card to mark his All-Star status of the previous season.

I've always been an on-card" All-Star fan, as Topps did between 1975 and 1981, and never preferred the "extra" All-Star cards of other sets/years.

Something about the All-Star call out on the player's base-card that made it so special in my humble opinion.

Schoendienst first put together a 19-year Hall of Fame career between 1945 and 1963, winning a championship with the Cards as well as the Milwaukee Braves in 1957, before coaching and then managing St. Louis from 1965 to 1976, winning yet another championship in 1967, with a spot managing gig in 1980 and then 1990 all while coaching the team in between, including the 1982 season, giving him a FIFTH championship in his illustrious career.

He put in 2216 games as a player, then went on to manage 1999 games, winning 1041 of them for a .522 winning percentage, while coaching at LEAST another couple thousand games on top of that!
A true baseball "lifer"!

WTHBALLS GUM PACK CUSTOM SET: DAVE PARKER

Today on the blog, my Dave Parker mini-card from my custom "Gum Pack" set released months ago as a bit of an "extra" kick to the WTHBALLS checklist:

Fun little set to create and produce in unique gum pack packaging!

An all-around super-star, Parker hit for average, for power, had a cannon for an arm, and would even steal some bases if needed.

By the time he retired after the 1991 season, a nice 19-year career, he posted over 2700 hits, 1200 runs scored, 500 doubles, almost 1500 runs batted in, 339 home runs and over 150 stolen bases!

He was a seven-time all-star who also finished in the top-10 in M.V.P. voting six times, with three Gold Gloves thrown in for good measure.

The fact that Dave Parker never garnered more than 24.5% of the BBWA Hall of Fame vote (1998) before becoming ineligible in 2011 is just criminal in my eyes.

This man should be in the Hall of Fame. Plain and simple! "Analytics" be damned!

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: CARLTON FISK

Time to go and add Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk to my custom WTHBALLS "Classic Baseball" set, a custom production I plan on issuing over five series later this year in celebration of the sport I love so much pretty much my entire life:

Just a nice in-game shot of the elite catcher.

Carlton Fisk immediately made his impact on the game, unanimously winning the 1972 Rookie of the Year Award by hitting .293 and leading the league with nine triples along with 22 homers and 61 runs batted in.
Of course, we all know he’d go on to star for both the Red Sox and then the Chicago White Sox over the next 21 seasosn, 24 overall, becoming one of the greatest catchers in the history of the game.
He'd be named to eleven all-star games, collect 2356 Major League hits, and slam 376 home runs with 1330 runs batted in and 1276 runs scored.
Of course, he’d also give us one of baseball’s all-time moments, hitting the game-winning home run in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series versus the “Big Red Machine” Cincinnati Reds, the image of him waving the ball fair a part of Major League history.
After eleven years in Boston, he would go on to play 13 more with the White Sox, playing until the age of 45! A tank of a man, and continue to put in solid season after season.
In 1985 at the age of 37, he set career highs in home runs (37) and Runs batted in (107), while tying his career high in stolen bases (17) while catching 130 games. Just amazing.
After missing out on a Hall of Fame selection in 1999 (how the Hell did that happen?), he made it in the following year when he was named on 79.6% of ballots, joining other all-time catchers like Campanella, Berra and Bench in baseball immortality.

1960S "IN-ACTION": 1961 HANK AARON

Up on the blog today, my 1961 "In-Action" card for "Hammerin' Hank Aaron", from my recent custom "1960s In-Action" Series 2 set released a couple months back:

Love this image of Aaron at the plate, and it was fun to create a unique 1961-based template to place it into for the set!

As I've stated so many times on this blog, the man was simply out of this world...

Let his numbers do all the talking: 2174 runs scored, 3771 hits, 624 doubles, 98 triples, 755 home runs, 2297 runs batted in, a .305 batting average no less than 21 all-star selections!
Just tremendous!
He also had eight top-5 finishes for MVP, including taking home the award in 1957, as well as three Gold Gloves won consecutively between 1958-1960.
It's incredible to look at his 15 years of topping 100 or more runs scored, 11 seasons of 100 or more runs batted in, five more seasons of 90+ RBI's, and TWENTY STRAIGHT years of 20 or more home runs.

How can he be underrated, yet celebrated so much? Yet it seems to be true.

Just incredible.

"Oh Henry!"

OPC IMAGE VARIATION: 1977 PETE MACKANIN

Good day all!

On the blog today we take a closer look at former Montreal Expo infielder Pete Mackanin and his 1977 image variations between OPC and Topps:

OPC version

Topps version

 

While OPC went with a clear posed photo for their card, the Topps version had this shadowy image of Mackanin out in the Sunshine.

Nothing Earth-shattering by any means, but again, questionable image pick for the fine folks at Topps!

Mackanin put in nine years in the Majors, between 1973 when he came up with the Texas Rangers and 1981 when he wrapped up his Big League tenure as a member of the Minnesota Twins.

In between he hit .226 over that time, collecting 355 hits over 1570 at-bats in 548 games, with his finest year 1980 when he hit .266 for the Twins, with 31 runs scored and 35 runs batted in.

A versatile player out in the field, he would see time at both corner outfield spots and all four infield positions during his career.

He would also put in time as a Major League manager in parts of five seasons: 2005 with the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2007 with the Cincinnati Reds, and 2015 through 2017 as skipper of the Philadelphia Phillies.

MISSING ALL-STAR MANAGER: 1970 MAYO SMITH

On the blog today, a "missing" 1970 All-Star manager card, even though Topps didn't have base-card All-Star designations, but I did a while back, so I added to that thread with such a card for former Detroit Tigers skipper Mayo Smith, who led the A.L. in the 1969 game:

Thanks to his World Championship season of 1968 at the helm of the Detroit Tigers, Smith was the manager for the A.L. in the 1969 "Midsummer Classic", a game that saw the National League prevail 9-3.

The Tigers marched to a championship with a memorable 1968 year that saw them win 103 games before stunning the reigning champion St. Louis Cardinals and taking home the title.

Smith was manager of the Tigers from 1967 to 1970, posting three 90+ win seasons and two second place finishes in addition to the first place finish of 1968.

His other managerial jobs were as skipper of the Philadelphia Phillies between 1955 and 1958, and a part of the 1959 season with the Cincinnati reds in 1959, with his greatest success in those tenures two .500 seasons with Philly when he finished 77-77 in both 1955 and 1957.

As a player, he put in only 73 games during the 1945 season with the Philadelphia Athletics as an outfielder, hitting .212 with 18 runs scored and 11 runs batted in.

 

1960S ALL-DECADE TEAM: A.L. THIRD BASEMAN BROOKS ROBINSON

Today's blog post has my pick (as well as I'm assuming everyone else's pick) for the American League third baseman of the 1960s, Baltimore Orioles legend Brooks Robinson:

I mean, as if there would be any other selection for the position!

In 1958 he’d play his first full season in the Big Leagues, and it was all cruise control from there, as the great third baseman would go on to grab 16 Gold Gloves, an MVP Award in 1964, appear in 15 All-Star games, and help guide the Baltimore Orioles to two Championships and four A.L. Pennants.
By the time he hung up that golden glove after the 1977 season, he finished with 2848 hits, 1357 runs batted in, 268 home runs and 1232 runs scored in 2896 games.
Needless to say, by the time Cooperstown came calling, he was voted in on his first try, receiving 92% support in 1983.

The man set the standard for superstar third basemen, at the plate and with his glove, a standard they still use to this day, some 50 years after his retirement.

WTHBALLS GUM PACK CUSTOM SET: CARL YASTRZEMSKI

Today on the blog, we have my mini custom card for Boston Red Sox legend Carl yastrzemski, from my "Gum Pack" custom set released a few months back:

Really fun set to create!

The man was at his height at the time this card would have seen the light of day in the mid to late 1970s, 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…

1970 "IN-GAME ACTION": LUIS APARICIO

On the blog today, a card I created a while back that I never profiled here on the blog to my surprise, my 1970 "In-Game Action" card for "Little Louie" Aparicio, from me Series 2 set released a couple years back:

Just a nice action shot of the perennial All-Star shortstop, who was well on his way to a Hall of Fame selection when it was all said and done.

From the moment he made it to the Majors in 1956 with the Chicago White Sox, Aparicio was a star.

He took home the A.L. Rookie of the Year that season, and proceeded to be an all-star player for most of his 18-year career.

Between 1956 and 1964, nine consecutive years, he led the American League in stolen bases every single season!

As a member of the "Go-Go" 1959 Chicago White Sox he finished second to teammate Nellie Fox for Most Valuable Player, and he'd go on to win nine Gold Glove Awards before hanging up the spikes.

All told he suited up for the White Sox, Baltimore Orioles, and Boston Red Sox for the final three years of his illustrious career.

By the time he retired the numbers were solid: 2677 hits, 1335 runs scored, 506 stolen bases and over 10000 at-bats!

It took a few years on the ballot, but he was finally inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1984.

REVISITING A 10-YEAR-OLD POST: MISSING 1971 TONY HORTON

Up on the blog today, time to revisit a 10-year-old post, this one my "missing" 1971 card for slugger Tony Horton, a bit of an enigma both to his missing Topps cards and to his issues with mental health:

Here's the original write-up I had here way back when:

" Yesterday I presented my design for the "missing" 1970 Topps card for Indians player Tony Horton, explaining that he never had an "official" Topps card in his seven-year career.

Today I present what would have been his last card after his sudden and sad retirement from the game during the 1970 season.

I still don't know why Topps never produced a card for the young slugger, but it makes the Tony Horton story that much more mysterious and begs a few more answers to some tough questions.

For the 1970 season, Horton was hitting .269 with 17 homers and 59 runs batted in by August, certainly good numbers for that era.

But as I stated yesterday, Horton was battling serious issues and walked away from the game, literally, during a doubleheader, leading to a suicide attempt that very night.

Luckily for him, he sought treatment and was helped with his problems.

However he never did return to professional ball, and went on to live a private life, refusing to talk to media post-retirement.

If anyone knows why Topps never had Horton under contract I'd love to hear it. Was it Horton's decision? Was it Topps?"

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: ROBERTO CLEMENTE

Up on the blog today, a spotlight on my "Classic Baseball" custom card for "The Great One", Roberto Clemente, all-time great and true hero in a time when the term gets thrown around a bit too freely:

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...

As we all know, after the 1972 season, a season which saw him attain his 3000th career hit on the last at-bat of the regular season, Clemente was was killed on December 31, when the plane he was a passenger on crashed on it's way to deliver relief packages to victims of a massive earthquake in Managua, Nicaragua.

A tragic end to one of the game's greatest players of the post-war era.

It's even more tragic when you read that the only reason Clemente was on the plane in the first place was to ensure the supplies would reach their intended target, since the previous three planes full of supplies were diverted by corrupt politicians.

MISSING IN ACTION: 1975 RUSTY TORRES

Good day folks.

On the blog today we have a missing 1975 card for Rusty Torres, who appeared in 109 games for the Cleveland Indians during the 1974 season yet was left out of the 1975 set by Topps:

Torres hit .187 over 150 at-bats that year, collecting 28 hits with 19 runs scored and 12 runs batted in for the Tribe, playing all three outfield positions while also putting in some time as a designated hitter.

His career began in 1971 as a member of the New York Yankees, for whom he played parts of two seasons before heading to Cleveland as part of the trade that got the Yanks Graig Nettles in November of 1972.

He'd spend all of 1975 in the Minors before making it back to the Big Leagues in 1976, now a member of the California Angels, where he'd play in 1976 and 1977, before putting in two years with the Chicago White Sox, and one final year as a Kansas City Royal in 1980.

All told, he'd hit .212 over 655 career games between 1971 and 1980, scoring 159 runs and driving in 126, with 35 homers, finishing his pro career with one season in the Mexican League in 1982 for Monterrey.

Sadly, his life outside of baseball was marked with serious criminal charges, including sexual abuse of a minor in 2012, for which he was sentenced to three years in prison.

1960S ALL-DECADE TEAM: N.L. THIRD BASEMAN RON SANTO

Up on the blog today, my pick for the National League's top third baseman of the 1960s, and I went with Chicago Cubs legend Ron Santo:

Ron Santo was no slouch at the hot corner: nine All-Star games, five Gold Gloves, 342 lifetime homers and 1331 runs batted in in a somewhat short 15-year career, mainly for the North Side Chicago Cubs (he played his last year for the South Side Chicago White Sox) in 1974.

Just take a look at his career, and see the solid numbers year after year, about as consistent a player you could ever ask for.

Between 1963 and 1973 Santo was selected for nine All-Star games, received five Gold Gloves for his defensive work, and four-time finished Top-10 in the National League MVP race, with a high of fourth in 1967.
Post-playing career, Santo moved on to broadcasting, where he was a beloved color commentator over the years, working with guys like Harry Caray, Thom Brennaman and Steve Stone.

He was about as beloved a Cub as there ever was, and finally made it into the Hall of Fame in 2012 as a Veteran's Committee selection, even though tragically it was two years after he passed away.

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS: LEGENDS EDITION- CHARLIE GEHRINGER

Today on the blog we add the "Mechanical man" Charlie Gehringer, one of the most overlooked all-time greats of the game, to my "Minor League Days: Legends Edition" thread:

I have him shown here as a member of his first minor league team, the London Tecumsehs, for whom he suited up in 1924 at the age of 21.

During his time there he hit .292 before a late-season call-up to the Majors for a five-game stint where he hit a blistering .462 with six hits in 13 at-bats.

The following year he began the season with Toronto in the International league, where all he did was collect over 200 hits while on his way to a .325 average before yet another Big League call-up, the last of its kind since he was a Major leaguer for good from here on out.

Gehringer would go on to one of the greatest careers an infielder would have in the Major Leagues, all with the Detroit Tigers, where he would take home the MVP Award in 1937, with another nine top-10 MVP finishes thrown in.

Along the way the man collected seven seasons of 200+ hits, seven 100+ RBI campaigns, 12 100+ runs scored, seven 40+ doubles with a high of 60 in 1936, while making the first six All-Star games between 1933 and 1938.

By the time he retired after the 1942 season, he racked up 2839 hits and a .320 average over 2323 games, with 1775 runs scored and 1427 RBIs, walking 1186 times with only 372 strikeouts!

Remember, this guy was a second baseman!

It is criminal how overlooked he is when the discussion for greatest second baseman of all-time comes up.

WTHBALLS GUM PACK CUSTOM SET: HANK AARON

On the blog today, we spotlight my Hank Aaron mini card from my recent custom "Gum Pack" special set:

 

 

Again, just a fun little card to create and print up for fun, celebrating the game I love so much from the era that got me started down this path.

The man was simply out of this world...

Let his numbers do all the talking: 2174 runs scored, 3771 hits, 624 doubles, 98 triples, 755 home runs, 2297 runs batted in, a .305 batting average no less than 21 all-star selections!
Just tremendous!
He also had eight top-5 finishes for MVP, including taking home the award in 1957, as well as three Gold Gloves won consecutively between 1958-1960.
It's incredible to look at his 15 years of topping 100 or more runs scored, 11 seasons of 100 or more runs batted in, five more seasons of 90+ RBI's, and TWENTY STRAIGHT years of 20 or more home runs.

How can he be underrated, yet celebrated so much? Yet it seems to be true.

Just incredible.

"Oh Henry!"

 

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: DON NEWCOMBE

Today we go and add the very first recipient of the Cy Young Award, Brooklyn Dodgers ace Don Newcombe, to my custom "Classic Baseball" set:

Just a beautiful photo of the original Black Ace, the first African-American 20-game winner in either the American or National Leagues, when he first turned in 20 wins in 1951.

The N.L. Rookie of the Year in 1949 when he posted 17 wins for the Dodgers, he followed that up with 19 wins in 1950 before the first of his three 20-win seasons the following year.

Sadly for him, he would spend the next two years in the military, losing two peak seasons to serving his country before coming back in 1954 when he would go 9-8 over 29 games.

In 1955 he'd be in the 20-win circle once again, helping the Dodgers win the World Series as he would go 20-5 and finishing seventh in the MVP race, the last year without an Award dedicated to pitchers.

And then came 1956...

For Don Newcombe, 1956 was a magical year. He was a monster on the mound, going 27-7 with a 3.06 earned run average and five shutouts and leading the Dodgers to another face-off with the New York Yankees in the World Series.

Not only did that get him the very first Cy Young Award, but it also bagged him a Most Valuable Player Award, thus making him the answer to a clever trivia question: who was the only pitcher to win a Rookie of the Year, Cy Young and M.V.P.? (He would be joined in this by Detroit Tiger pitcher Justin Verlander in 2011).

Sadly for him however, it would be the peak, followed by a quick decline at only 31 years of age, winning 11 games in 1957 before managing just 26 wins over the last three years of his career, which came to a close in 1960 after a split year between the Cincinnati reds and Cleveland Indians.

All told, the man won the aforementioned awards while posting 153 wins against just 96 losses, good for a very nice .614 winning percentage, with a 3.57 earned run average and 24 shutouts over 360 games.

 

OPC IMAGE VARIATION: 1977 DON GULLETT

Good day my friends!

On the blog today, we take a gander at the image variation between OPC and Topps 1977 cards for pitcher Don Gullett:

OPC version

Topps version

Different takes on the same theme here to be honest.

Both companies worked quickly to get the ace pitcher into a New York Yankees uniform, for whom he was about to suit up for in 1977 after being an integral part of the "Big Red Machine" Cincinnati Reds, bringing home two straight World Championships in 1975 and 1976.

Though hampered by injuries, Gullet would then be a member of another back-to-back championship squad, the "Bronx Zoo" Yankees who won it all in both 1977 and 1978.

The man was a champion four straight seasons between 1975 and 1978!

Sadly, arm troubles cut his career short by the age of 27, though he ended up with an incredible .686 winning percentage, going 109-50 over nine seasons, with an ERA of 3.11 over 266 appearances, 186 of those starts, with 14 shutouts.

Of his nine MLB seasons, he was part of SIX World Series teams!

Would have been something to see him pitch into the 1980's if not for health issues...

1960S "IN-ACTION": 1960 WHITEY FORD

Up on the blog today, another of my "1960s In-Action" cards from my Series 2 custom set just released, this one a 1960 card of New York Yankees legend Whitey Ford:

Just a fun card to create and print up for the "Chairman of the Board", showing him most likely on his way to another victory based off his stellar .690 lifetime winning percentage.

What else needs to be said about quite possibly the greatest Yankee pitcher of all?

Cy Young winner in 1961, winner of 236 games against only 106 losses (a nifty .690 winning percentage), a 2.75 career earned run average, and a member of six world championship clubs.

He led the league in wins three times, winning percentage three times, ERA twice, shutouts twice, and was named to eight all-star teams during his 16-year career.

His 10 World Series wins (along with his eight losses) are Major League high marks to this day, and who knows how much more he could have padded all of his numbers had he not lost two seasons to the military in 1951 and 1952!

When the Hall of Fame came calling he was inducted on his first try, getting named to 284 of 365 ballots in 1974.

Obviously there's so much more to get into with Whitey, but I could end up writing a book here if I did, so I'll leave it up to the Wikipedia's out there to fill anyone in who wants to learn more.

I only wish Ford didn't try to hang on those last couple of years in 1966 and 1967, when he went a combined 4-9, thus eliminating the chance of him being only the second pitcher to this day to retire with 200+ wins and LESS than 100 losses (the other being 19th-century pitcher Bob Caruthers, who finished at 218-99 between 1884-1893).

Oh well, I know I'm nitpicking here…It's the nerd in me I guess.