REVISITING A "MISSING" 1976 CARD: WAYNE SIMPSON

On the blog today, we revisit my "missing" 1976 card for pitcher Wayne Simpson, which was originally created for my buddy Jim for his "1976 Project".

The newest edition to the "1976 Project", as I like to refer to the series I am producing for "Reader Jim", is former pitcher Wayne Simpson, who I will admit played sparingly in 1975 for the Philadelphia Phillies, so Topps' omission of him in their set the following year is understood, but I felt was still a valid card to design.

Check out the card:

Simpson pitched in only seven games for the Phillies, five of them starts, totaling 30.2 innings of work. He posted a 1-0 record with a respectable 3.23 earned run average.

He missed the previous year after playing for the Kansas City Royals in 1973, and would actually miss all of 1976 before making a bit of a "comeback" with the California Angels in 1977 (see my 1978 "Missing in Action" card for him by clicking on his name on the right under "Labels").

Simpson came up with an absolute "BANG" in 1970, going 14-3 with a 3.02 E.R.A., two shutouts and 10 complete games in 24 starts with the Cincinnati Reds, finishing fourth in Rookie of the Year voting.

But arm injuries derailed his career, and he never reached those heights again before leaving the game after posting a 6-12 record for the Angels in 1977.

Normally I would not be designing a card for a guy who only appeared in seven games the previous year, but with "Reader Jim's" completist mission for the 1976 set, which happens to be my all-time favorite, I am always down to design more cards in the 1976 template. It's just a matter of finding the suitable images of the players themselves.

THE WHOLE NINE: SERIES 2- MISSING IN ACTION: 1980 KIRK GIBSON

On the blog today, from my recent "Whole Nine: Series 2" custom set, my "not so missing" 1980 card for Kirk Gibson, who made his Big League debut in 1979:

Appearing in 12 games for the Detroit Tigers in 1979, Gibson hit .237 with nine hits over 38 at-bats, including a homer, with three runs scored and four RBIs.

From there he would go on to put in 17 seasons of solid baseball, always flirting with 30/30 seasons though never managing to make it, with five straight seasons of 20+ homers and 20+ stolen bases between 1984 and 1988, culminating with his MVP season of 1988 with the Los Angeles Dodgers when he helped the in famous fashion win it all against the Oakland A's.

One of the greatest players to never make an All-Star team, Gibson was also hurt by the collusion debacle of the 1980's when owners conspired to NOT sign Free Agents, forcing them to settle for sub-pay contracts.

Who knows if Gibson could have landed somewhere else, changing the trajectory of his career later on with some other organization.

By the time he retired after the 1995 season, he finished with a career .268 batting average, with 1553 hits, 985 runs scored and 870 RBIs, hitting 255 homers while also stealing 284 bases, winning it all twice: in 1984 with the "wire-to-wire" Detroit Tigers juggernaut, and the Dodgers in 1988.

Not too shabby a career!

 

AVAILABLE NOW! 1954 WILSON'S FRANKS EXTENSION SET

Hello everyone!

Excited to announce the release of my 1954 Wilson's Franks extension set:

 

I went and added 15 baseball stars of that era to the classic and highly sought after oddball set, finally finding a commercial printer who could guarantee the very tight white borders particular to the original set.

I promise you, this took some time to find, as most printers could not guarantee such tight cuts!

Anyway, as you can see in the attached photos, the 15-cards are chock full of greatness, all packaged in a new type of package for WTHBALLS, an acetate box, with the cards wrapped in a color printed 1954 Wilson's Franks package.

The backs are fully printed biographical/statistics backs, giving further authenticity to the original great set.

Though a bit more "limited" than most WTHBALLS sets, there should still be more than enough for the WTHBALLS family!

The set costs $15 each, with the usual $4.50 shipping, no matter how many you buy.

Paypal: slogun23@gmail.com

Thank you so much for the continued interest and support!

Take Care

Gio

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: AL KALINE

On the blog today, we add an incredibly underrated and under-appreciated Hall of Famer, Detroit Tigers great Al Kaline, to my custom "Classic Baseball" set, celebrating the great game and it's "Golden Era":

What a great all-around player the Tigers had for 20 years!

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!

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1975 JOHN STROHMAYER

Up on the blog today, we have a "not so missing" 1975 card for former New York Mets pitcher John Strohmayer, who wrapped up a brief Big League career with a single game in 1974:

After about three and a half years with the Montreal Expos, Strohmayer was selected off waivers by the Mets in July of 1973 and appeared in seven games, good for 10 innings before the year was up.

For the year he appeared in 24 games and 44.2 innings between the two organizations, so I went and created a "missing" 1974 card for the blog a while back.

In 1974, he appeared in one game for the Mets, only pitching one inning, never to appear in another Major League game again.

Over those five years between 1970 and 1974, Strohmayer went 11-9 with a 4.47 earned run average in 143 games, 18 of which were starts.

As an aside, here's something I don't get to post everyday: seems Strohmayer was one of 15 employees of the Gateway Unified School District to share a $76 Million lottery jackpot in 2009!

Good for you John! We should all be so lucky!

REVISITING A "MISSING" CARD POST FROM 2014: 1973 JOHN CUMBERLAND

Here's a "missing" 1973 card for pitcher John Cumberland of the St. Louis Cardinals:

After a very nice 1971 season with the San Francisco Giants which saw him post a 9-6 record with a 2.92 E.R.A. and two shutouts in 45 games and 185 innings, Cumberland started the 1972 season 0-4 with a bloated 8.64 E.R.A., finding himself traded to the Cardinals for a minor league player on June 16th.

The change of scenery didn't exactly help, as he went on to a 1-1 record with a 6.65 earned run average over 14 games.

All told he went 1-5 with a 7.71 E.R.A. over 23 games and 46.2 innings of work.

He actually didn't appear in a Major League game in 1973, but came back for 17 appearances in 1974 with the California Angels, fairing a bit better with an 0-1 record and 3.74 E.R.A. over 21.2 innings, his last on the big league level.

For his career, Cumberland went 15-16 with a 3.82 earned run average over 110 appearances, 36 of which were starts.

WTHBALLS CUSTOM SET SPOTLIGHT: 1890 "BASEBALL CHAMPIONS" MICKEY WELCH

On the blog today, we spotlight my custom card for 300-game winner Mickey Welch, from an early WTHBALLS set released back in 2018 in deluxe packaging:

Once I got my hands on my first Macmillan Baseball Encyclopedia as a 10 year old I became obsessed with those early Gods of the mound, like Tim Keefe, Kid Nichols, Pud Galvin, and this guy, fellow Brooklyn native Welch.

All of these pitchers had incredible numbers on their Major League resume, and my eyes would strain to grasp the inning-counts, the complete games, win totals and the earned run averages.

It was mind-blowing to me, and to some extent (even after learning the differences of the game back then), it still is.

Welch put together an uber-solid 13-year career, a career that saw him post nine 20-win seasons, four 30-win seasons and a 40-win season.

All but three of his years as a pro were with the New York Giants, with his first three years playing for the Troy Trojans between 1880-1882, and he went on to become only the third pitcher to amass 300 or more career wins.

He'd finish his career after only one start in 1892, putting up a 307-210 lifetime record, with a 2.71 earned run average, a staggering 525 complete games out of 549 starts, 41 shutouts and 1850 strikeouts.

Sadly, he wouldn't gain entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame until 1973, long after he passed away in 1941, when he was voted in by the Veterans Committee.
But this time the Committee got it right as opposed to some of those other questionable picks in the early-1970's, as Welch found his place with all the other aforementioned 19th-century 300-game winners.