BY SPECIAL REQUEST: AIRBRUSHING & THE 1961 BILL KUNKEL CARD

Today on the blog, a fun look at the 1961 Topps Bill Kunkel card, which was brought up recently by my buddy Thomas (Milwaukee Mauler) because of its crazy colorization:

I absolutely love all the old Topps black and white photo colorizations in the 1950s and 1960s sets, and this is one of them!

The poor guy, as his first Topps card turns out to be some cartoon-like image, obviously a black-and-white photo that Topps colored in. Not airbrushing by any means, but most likely hand-painted to the result you see here.

A much more successful card that utilized this technique would be Carl Yastrzemski's rookie card, as well as his 1961 card which was the same image.

On this Kunkel however, it is funny that while the "artist" went into some detail with the signage in the background, he kind of took a massive shortcut when it came time to work on the uniform, leaving it white except for the number "12" just above the waist.

You gotta love this stuff!!!

As for Kunkel, he put three years in the Majors, going 3-4 in his 1961 rookie season with a 5.18 earned run average for the Kansas City Athletics, followed by a no decision year in 1962 when he appeared in only nine games for K.C., capped off by a 1963 season that saw him suit up for the New York Yankees, going 3-2 over 22 games, all in relief, sporting a very nice 2.72 ERA.

After his playing days were over, he turned in quie a successful career as an official both in the Majors and the NBA/ABA.

While he only officiated in basketball for three years, he went on to umpire in the Majors for 17 years, between 1968 and 1984, umpiring a total of 2227 regular season games, including the game in which Harmon Killebrew hit his 500th home run in 1971, Nolan Ryan's third MLB no-hitter in 1974 and the Oakland A's combined no-hitter on September 28th of 1975, when four A's hurlers turned in the gem against the California Angels.

Not too shabby a baseball life!

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS: LEGENDS EDITION- JIMMIE FOXX

The next legend added to my long-running "Minor League Days: Legends Edition" set is the "Beast", Jimmie Foxx, all-timer and about as nasty a batter the game has ever seen:

Shown here as a 16-year old with the Easton Farmers in his first year of pro ball, Foxx would hit .296 over 76 games as a catcher with 10 homers among his 77 hits.

He'd put in another year of Minor League ball the following season with Newark and Providence before making it to the Majors in 1925, and ripping the cover off the ball over the next 20 years.

From age 21 through 32 he was absolutely ELITE, with only guys like Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth that could compare to both the average and power numbers he was putting up year after year.

He'd win TWO Triple Crowns, four home run titles, three RBI titles, and his high mark in offensive categories were, well, offensive to opposing pitchers!

His career-bests: 151 runs scored in 1932, 58 home runs in 1932, 213 hits in 1932, 175 RBIs in 1938, .364 average in 1932, 438 total bases in 1932, .749 slugging in 1932.

Clearly, it's also obvious his 1932 seasons goes down as one of the top offensive years by a player in baseball history, and it brought him the first of his eventual three MVP Awards.

Incredibly, by the time he was 33 in 1941, his numbers would drop off dramatically, with his career done in 1945 after some time with the Philadelphia Phillies.

However, his final stats: a .325 batting average, 534 homers, 1922 RBIs, 1751 runs scored, 2646 hits, and a career .609 slugging percentage.

Just incredible.

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS: LEGENDS EDITION- LEFTY GROVE

On the blog today, we add the great Lefty Grove to my on-going 1971 "Minor League Days: Legends Edition", celebrating his time with the Baltimore Orioles before dominating the Major Leagues:

Take into account those "lost" years pitching for the Baltimore Orioles Minor League franchise in the early 1920's, when the team owner refused to sell him to a Major League franchise.

Those were some of the all-time best Minor League clubs, and all Grove did in his five years there was go 111-39!

That's a .740 winning percentage. Imagine some of those wins tacked on to his Major League totals. Just awesome.

In his five years in the Minors, his win totals were: 15, 25, 18, 27 and 26!

So he started out in the Big Leagues at the age of 25 because his Minor League team refused to sell him earlier in his career, and all Grove did was go on to win 300 games against only 141 losses, good for the best winning percentage among all 300-game winners at .680.
He won nine E.R.A. titles, four games won titles, and seven strikeout titles in his 17 year career.
In 1931 he won the first BBWA American league M.V.P. award when he went 31-4 with a 2.06 E.R.A. and 175 strikeouts, all league leading numbers. That would also be his second straight pitching triple-crown, as he lead the league in the same categories in 1930 as well.
His .886 winning percentage that year is second all-time among 20+ game winning seasons, behind Ron Guidry's .893 winning percentage when he went 25-3 in 1978.
How about this for a cool performance: in 1930, as Grove went 28-5 with a 2.54 E.R.A. and 209 strikeouts for his first pitching triple-crown, he also lead the league in saves with nine.
By the time Grove retired after the 1941 season playing for the Red Sox, he was a sure fire Hall of Famer, and was inducted his first year of eligibility in 1947, getting named on 123 of 161 ballots cast.

1960'S DEDICATED ROOKIE: 1965 JIM "CATFISH" HUNTER

On the blog today, we spotlight another card from my 1960's Dedicated Rookie set released a couple of years ago, this time my 1965 card for Hall of Famer Jim "Catfish" Hunter:

Hunter was a 19-year-old who hadn't yet pitched in a Big League game when this card would have come out, who would go on to finish 8-8 over 32 games with two shutouts and a 4.26 earned run average over 133 innings.

Over his 15-year career, which wrapped up in 1979 due to arm troubles, Hunter racked up 224 wins, a 3.26 earned run average, 42 shutouts and 2012 strikeouts.

He took home the Cy Young Award in 1974 in his last season with the A's, came in second for the award the following year in his first year as a landmark Free-Agent with the Yankees, and threw a perfect game back in 1968 at the young age of 22.

A big-game pitcher, Hunter was a member of no less than five World Champion teams: 1972-74 Oakland A's, and the "Bronx Zoo" Yankee teams of 1977-78.

Did you know that Hunter is the last pitcher in the Major Leagues to complete 30 or more games in a season? 

In 1975 he completed 30 of his 39 starts, on his way to a 23-14 record with seven shutouts and a 2.58 E.R.A.

Between 1971 and 1975 he won 20 or more games each year, a great five year run which saw him win 111 games.

As a matter of fact, Hunter was the first pitcher since the all-time great Walter Johnson to win 200 games before the age of 31! And the only other guys at that time to also do it? Christy Mathewson and Cy Young. Incredible.

Sadly arm troubles and diabetes started to affect his career, forcing him to retire in 1979 at the age of only 33.

The final feather in his baseball cap would be a Hall of Fame induction in 1987 along with Chicago Cubs great Billy Williams, giving him a solid place in baseball history, if he didn't have one already...

 

BASEBALL'S GREATEST MOMENTS: JIM HUNTER'S 1968 PERFECT GAME

The next 1971 "Baseball's Greatest Moments" card added to my custom "extended set" is a card celebrating Hall of Famer Jim "Catfish" Hunter and his 1968 perfect game:

 

On May 8th of that year, one year and one day before I was born FYI, Oakland A's starter Jim Hunter took the mound against the heavy-hitting Minnesota Twins, a line-up that featured THREE future Hall of Famers in a row in Rod Carew, Harmon Killebrew and Tony Oliva.

It was only the 25th game for the Oakland franchise after moving there from Kansas City, and the scant 6,300 fans were treated to history, as Hunter ended up tossing the ninth perfect game at the time in MLB history, beating the Twins 4-0 at Oakland-Alameda County Stadium.

Hunter struck out eleven batters, including the last two of the game, with only two batters even reaching a three-ball count: Tony Oliva in the second inning and the final hitter of the game, pinch-hitter Rich Reese, who actually fouled-off five straight 3-2 pitches before whiffing.

It was actually the first regular season perfect game in the American League since 1922, when Chicago White Sox pitcher Charlie Robertson accomplished the feat, and first no-hitter in the Athletics franchise since the Philadelphia days, when Bill McCaha threw a no-no in 1947.

Incredibly, what is often forgotten is that the star HITTER of the game was Hunter himself, as he went 3-for-4 at the plate with three runs batted in!

Just amazing!

The game took a nice 2:28 minutes to complete, and really introduced the budding ace to the rest of the baseball world, as he would become a perennial 20-game winner, 1974 Cy Young recipient, and five-time champion before retiring in 1979.

JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT: 1966 SATCHEL PAIGE

Today on the blog, just for the fun of it, we have a "not so missing" 1966 card for the great Satchel Paige, a card that was featured in my last custom set the "Whole Nine":

 

On September 25th of 1965, as a publicity stunt by the publicity-loving Charlie Finley, owner of the Kansas City Athletics, the 58-year-old Paige was "signed" to pitch a Major League game.

Twelve years removed from his last Big League game, the incredible ageless one did not disappoint, as he pitched three innings of scoreless ball against the Boston Red Sox, allowing only one hit while striking out a batter.

Just phenomenal, and adding to the legend that was Satchel Paige!

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.

This card was one of 16 produced for my "Whole Nine" set, which also had full statistic backs in my October, 2021 set.

Featuring other fun cards "that never were" like 1959 Ted Williams, 1933 Delong Babe Ruth, 1966 Steve Carlton, it was available for a short time through yours truly.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1971 ALLAN LEWIS

Today on the blog we have a “not so missing” 1971 card for the “Panamanian Express” Allan Lewis, a prototype of sorts of the “designated runner” the Oakland A’s would really utilize later in the mid-70’s:

Before Herb Washington, before Larry Lintz, Lewis put in a six season Major League career that saw him have more game appearances than at-bats, usually in the pinch-running role between 1967 and 1973, all with the Athletics organization.
In 1969, Lewis appeared in 12 games for Oakland, but getting only one hitless plate appearance while scoring two runs without a stolen base.
In 1970, Lewis appeared in 25 games, picked up eight at-bats, and collected two hits for s .250 aevrage, while stealing seven bases on eight attempts.
It was the common thread for him over his career, as he would end up with 156 games played in the Big Leagues while only collecting 31 plate appearances and 29 “official” at-bats, picking up six hits for a .207 batting average while scoring 47 runs and stealing 44 bases.
In his final MLB season of 1973, he appeared in 35 games, all as a pinch runner, scored 16 runs and stole seven bases, without a single plate appearance.
In 1966 while with Leesburg of the Florida State League he set a Minor League record with 116 stolen bases in 131 games, a record that stood until Alan Wiggins stole 120 in 1980.
Over his entire professional career between 1961 and 1973, he would steal 530 bases across all levels, with 486 of those in Minor League play.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1971 BOB JOHNSON

Up on the blog today is a “not so missing” 1971 card for former infielder Bob Johnson, who finished up an 11-year Major League career with 30 games in Oakland during the 1970 season:

Johnson, who originally came up with the Athletics (when they were in Kansas City) back in 1960 as a 24-year-old, hit .174 in those last 30 games in 1970, with eight hits over 46 at-bats with six runs scored and two runs batted in.
His best season was 1962 when, with the Washington Senators, he hit .288 in what turned out to be his only full-season of play, appearing in 135 games and collecting 134 hits over 466 at-bats and 504 plate appearances.
In all his other Big League seasons he never even had 300 plate appearances or 100 games played, averaging about 75 games a year.
By the time he retired, he finished with a very nice .272 batting average, with 628 hits in 2307 at-bats in 874 games, playing for seven different teams and five different positions.
Not a bad “under-the-radar” MLB tenure.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1971 FRED TALBOT

Here’s a career-capping “not so missing” 1971 card for former pitcher Fred Talbot, who made one last appearance in a Major League game during the 1970 season:

Talbot threw 1.2 innings on June 14th, 1970, giving up a couple of runs on a homer against the Baltimore Orioles, closing out a nice eight year career that began in 1963 when he came up with the Chicago White Sox as a 22-year-old.
He would go on to play for Chicago, Oakland/Kansas City, the New York Yankees and the Seattle Pilots over those eight seasons, compiling a record of 38-56, with an earned run average of 4.12 over 195 appearances, with 126 of them starts, as well as four shutouts and collected a save in that time, with 26 complete games and 853.2 innings pitched.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1971 DARRELL OSTEEN

Today we have a “not so missing” 1971 card for former pitcher Darrell Osteen, who played the final three games of his brief Major League career for the Oakland Athletics in 1970, going 1-0 with a 6.35 earned run average over 5.2 innings:

Osteen played the first three years of his career with the Cincinnati Reds between 1965 and 1967, accumulating a record of 0-4 with a bloated ERA over 26 games and 32.1 innings of work.
He’d miss the 1968 and 1969 seasons before making it all the way back to the Majors for that last tour, before spending all of 1971 in the Minors playing for both the Oakland and New York Yankees organizations.
All told, he finished his Big League career with a record of 1-4, with a 8.05 ERA over 29 appearances, with one of them being a start, in 38 innings pitched, with three saves.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1976 HERB WASHINGTON

“ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE!”
Someone suggested to me that I should try my hand at a 1976 Herb Washington “Career-Capping” card, particularly with regards to the position player at bottom left.
Well this is what I came up with:

I took the base-runner from the shortstop illustration, took out the fielder, and filled-in the base runner, and here you go, a “designated runner” card for the man who stole 31 career bases, scored 33 runs, yet never played an out in the field nor had a Major League plate appearance.
Something you will never see again!
All told, Washington appeared in 105 MLB games between 1974 and 1975, stealing 31 bases out of 48 tries, while scoring those aforementioned 33 runs for the powerhouse Oakland A’s team.
A unique experiment that only those wild-70’s could have given us!

LONG TIME NO SEE: 1970 BOB MEYER (#667)

Here's one that almost slipped by me: Bob Meyer and his five years between baseball cards.

He appeared in the 1965 Topps set, shown here:

Then would find himself in baseball "limbo" until the 1970 set came out, when he appeared as a Seattle Pilot, shown here:

Well it was all for good reason, as Meyer first came up as a 24 year old in 1964, playing for three different Major League franchises that season, the Yankees, Angels and Athletics, for whom he was pictured on his 1965 card (Though I suspect that's a Yankee pinstripe jersey he has on in the photo).

But it turned out he wouldn't appear in another Major League game until the 1969 season, the inaugural such season for the one-year franchise, thus culminating in the card you see above (funny enough sporting a Kansas City Athletics uniform in THIS photo!).

In 1964 Meyer posted a 2-8 record and 4.37 earned run average spread out among the three teams and 22 games, 13 of which were as a starter.

After toiling in the Minors between 1965 and 1968, Meyer managed to make it back onto a Major League mound in '69, going 0-3 with a 3.31 E.R.A. in just six games, five of which were starts.

He hung on with the team for the next season, though now they were the Milwaukee Brewers, and went 0-1 over ten games, all in relief, with a 6.38 E.R.A.

That would be the last big league action he'd taste, ending his career with a 2-12 record along with a 4.38 E.R.A. over 129.1 innings pitched.

Three years, five "different" franchises, two Topps cards, relived 44 years later…

TOPPS 1976 "ALL-TIME ALL-STARS"- AN EXPANDED VIEW #5: CATCHERS

Next position up on my "All-Time All-Stars" thread is catcher, and today we look at who the Sporting News picked for their all-time team in 1976, Mickey Cochrane, and who I figure would have been the National League pick had they chosen an A.L. and N.L. back then, Roy Campanella.

First off, let's take a look at the original Cochrane card as issued by Topps, as well as my design for the "Campy" card:

The Sporting News pick back in 1976.

My National League pick.

Ironically enough, both catchers ended up having somewhat tragically short careers, as Cochrane's playing days were cut short because of a beanball in 1937, while Campanella's career was cut short because of a traffic accident during the off-season in 1957-58.

Mickey Cochrane was an easy choice at the time as the All-Time catcher for the American League (I'm still torn as to whether Campanella would have been a better choice outright).

A two-time Most Valuable Player, once for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1928 and then for the Detroit Tigers in 1934, he was the first catcher to ever score and drive in 100 runs in the same season in 1932, and was the lynch-pin for two powerhouse "mini-dynasties" in the Athletics of the late-20's/early-30's and Tigers of the mid-30's.

In 1930 he batted .357, followed by .349 in 1931, and he finished his career with a .320 lifetime average.

But as stated before, his career was cut short, and life almost ended, by a pitched ball on May 25th, 1937 when New York Yankees pitcher Bump Hadley hit him in the head, which hospitalized Cochrane for seven days.

His lifetime .419 on-base percentage is still the all-tme best among catchers, and his .320 average is only behind current catcher Joe Mauer.

Roy Campanella, who is MY personal pick for all-time catcher (as of 1976), was simply a powerhouse of a player throughout the 1950's for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Three times he was M.V.P. (1951, 1953, 1955) and an important part of the strong Dodger teams of the decade along with Duke Snider, Jackie Robinson, and Gil Hodges.

Though unable to play Major League ball until the age of 26 because of segregation, he still managed to hit 242 lifetime homers, with a high of 41 in 1953, as well as drive in 856 runs in his short ten-year career.

During his second M.V.P. season, Campy lead the Brooklyn offense by driving in a league-leading 142 runs while hitting .312 and scoring 103 runs. One of the top-offensive catcher seasons in baseball history.

Tragically, as he was getting prepared to move to Los Angeles with the rest of the Dodgers over the Winter of 1957-58, Campanella was driving home to Long Island and hit a patch of ice near his home, flipping his car over and breaking his neck in the process, rendering him paralyzed from the shoulders down.

The L.A. Fans would never get to see the future Hall of Famer play in Chavez Ravine.

Who do YOU think should have been named "all-time all-star" at catcher back in 1976? Anyone have a pick OTHER than the two here?

A close friend of mine strongly feels that Yogi Berra should have been picked over Cochrane to begin with. 

However, he's about as rabid a Yankee fan as there is, so I take his argument with a grain of salt.

Next up on this thread, we move on to he outfield, where the American League had a clean sweep by the Sporting News picks in 1976.
But my National League picks are no joke either!
So we'll start with Babe Ruth and the N.L. superstar next week.

Stay tuned here for that one…

1975 "CY YOUNG AWARD" SUB-SET: WHAT IF? 1952

Next up on my thread regarding my imagined 1975 sub-set of Cy Young winners is 1952, and this one is about as easy as it gets!

First off, take a look at my designed card for my sub-set:

As we all know, the American League winner most definitely would have been Bobby Shantz of the Philadelphia Athletics since he was the Most Valuable Player that season.

A "gimmie" as far as guessing who the winner would have been there, and the fine people as SABR felt the same way in their article back in 1993 or so, where they speculated on Cy Young winners pre-award.

Shantz had a MONSTER year in 1952, going 24-7 with a neat 2.48 earned run average.

In his 33 starts that year he completed 27 of them, pitching five shoutouts along the way as well.

Considering the Athletics went 79-75 that year, Shantz's record is even more amazing!

No wonder when it was time to select an M.V.P., he won over another pitcher, Allie Reynolds of the Yankees.

Now, as clear-cut the American League winner seems to be, for the National League it was an even EASIER pick both for me and the voting at SABR!

Robin Roberts of the Philadelphia Phillies was "all-WORLD" that year!

All Roberts did in 1952 was go an incredible 28-7 with a 2.59 E.R.A.!

Throw in 30 complete games out of 37 starts for a league-leading 330 innings with three shutouts and two saves, and you see why he left all other pitchers in the dust that year.

Roberts almost matched Shantz in taking home the M.V.P., finishing second to Hank Bauer of the Cubs by only 15 points.

And considering that the Cubs were a .500 team at 77-77 while the Phillies ended up at 87-67, you have to wonder what the deal was with voting?!

Roberts had some run between 1950 and 1955, winning at least 20 games each year, leading the league in wins four times, games started six times, complete games four times, innings five times, shutouts once and strikeouts twice.

He was a beast on the mound and well on his way to a Hall of Fame election, albeit a bit delayed, as he was inducted in 1976, ten years after he hung up the spikes in 1966.

Next up on the thread, the 1953 "Cy Young" winners as assumed by SABR, and I can't really disagree.

Keep an eye out for it and see what YOU think…