WTHBALLS GUM PACK CUSTOM SET: CARLTON FISK

Today on the blog we take a look at my mini Carlton Fisk custom, from my fun "Gum Pack" set released last year in special packaging:

This was a quick little set that slipped under the radar for many, selling out pretty quickly I am proud to say!

Beautiful velvet touch card stock mini-cards that came wrapped in a pack of gum-sized package a la Wrigleys, etc.

As for Carlton Fisk, he 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.

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…

 

"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.

ON-CARD ALL-STAR: 1974 CARLTON FISK

On the blog today, a fun "On-Card All-Star" card to add to my on-going 1974 project, a totally redone card for Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk:

Being that Fisks' card in 1974 was of the landscape variety, it did not fit with the blazing bold "All-Star" banner I created for this thread, so I figured, why not just create a new portrait-oriented version?

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.

 

1971 FANTASY CARD- CARLTON FISK

I always wanted to create a 1971 card for Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk, even though he didn’t appear in a Major League game during the 1970 season, so here goes:

I created a 1970 “not so missing” card for him a while back since he did make his MLB debut as a 21-year-old in 1969, so having a nice “fill-in” card to run his entire career of 1969-1993 was a must in my eyes.
What needs to be stated about his Big League career that hasn’t been said?
All the man did was put in 24 seasons as a catcher, hitting 376 homers, making eleven All-Star teams, giving us one of the iconic moments in the game’s history in 1975 with his homer off the foul pole in the World Series, and playing his way straight to the Hall of Fame.
I will never forget the day as an eleven year old that I heard he was now with the Chicago White Sox! To me he was such a Boston Red Sox player it even stunned the young Yankee fan in me.
Nevertheless, Fisk would end up playing another 13 seasons with the White Sox after eleven with Boston, something I am sure NONE of us expected back in 1981.
Just amazing. The man was a tank! And tough as nails as well!

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1970 CARLTON FISK

Here’s a card that to be honest, I don’t know what took me so long to create, a 1970 “not so missing” card for the great Carlton Fisk, who made his Major League debut at the age of 21 during the 1969 season:

Fisk went 0-for-5 over two games for the Boston Red Sox in 1969, but at the age of 21 got his first taste of the “big show” before spending all of 1970 in the Minor Leagues.
He’d make it all the way back in 1971 for 14 games, before making a splash the following season, taking home the 1972 American League Rookie of the Year Award after a .293 batting average with a league-leading nine triples as well as 22 home runs to give Red Sox fans a look into what would be a Hall of Fame career over the next 22 seasons, 24 total.
Incredible to think, that when Fisk shocked the baseball world on March 18th, 1981 and signed with the Chicago White Sox after the Red Sox truly messed up and failed to get him paperwork before the deadline, he STILL had another 13 years of Major League ball ahead of him after the eleven seasons spent in Boston!
This as a veteran All-Star catcher, who would go on to play in 2499 games, hitting 376 home runs, drive in 1330, and even steal 128 bases.
The man was tough as nails, enough to play through the age of 45.
Incredible!

1975 IN-ACTION: CARLTON FISK

Next player up in my on-going 1975 “In-Action” sub-set is All-Star catcher of the Boston Red Sox Carlton Fisk, who was quickly asserting himself as arguably the best catcher of the American League by the time this card would have come out:

Fisk was already a Rookie of the Year with three straight All-Star nods and a Gold Glove by the time the 1975 season opened, and was about to help lead the Red Sox to their first World Series berth since 1967, giving us one of the game’s most memorable moments when he homered off the foul pole against the Cincinnati Reds in the 12th inning of Game 6, forcing a seventh and deciding game.
Incredibly, though playing the rough position of catcher, Fisk would go on to play 24 years in the Big Leagues, the final 13 with the Chicago White Sox, for whom he suited up between 1981 and 1993, playing across four decades!
By the time “Pudge” retired, he left behind 2356 hits, 376 homers, eleven All-Star selections and at the time, the career-record for home runs by a catcher with 351 and games caught with 2226, both since passed by Mike Piazza and Ivan Rodriguez respectively.
To cap it all off, in 2000, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, even though he was inexplicably dissed his 1st eligible year, receiving only 66.4% of the vote.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR AWARD- 1973 SUB-SET

The final 1972 award we celebrate with a 1973 sub-set card is Rookie of the Year, won by a solid starter over the next decade, Jon Matlack, and future Hall of Famer catcher Carlton Fisk:

In the National League, Matlack joined an already solid New York Mets staff and proceeded to post a 15-10 record, with a very nice 2.32 earned run average over 32 starts, including four shutouts.
It would pretty much be the prototypical Matlack season as he’d go on to lead the league in shutouts twice, and average about 15 wins over the next seven years.
He’d split his time as a big league pitcher evenly between the Mets and Texas Rangers, and retire with an excellent 3.18 E.R.A., along with a final record of 125-126 and 30 shutouts in 361 appearances, 318 of them starts.
In the American League, Carlton Fisk of the Boston Red Sox immediately made his impact on the game, unanimously winning the 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 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.

NICKNAMES OF THE '70'S #40: "PUDGE" CARLTON FISK

Next up in my “Nicknames” thread is the premier catcher of the American League during the 1970’s, Boston Red Sox all-star backstop Carlton “Pudge” Fisk.
Check it out:

“Pudge” was well on his way to a Hall of Fame career by 1979, the template I used for this card, with 6 all-star games already to his credit, on his way to 11 such honors.
Man it killed me in 1977 and 1978 to see him starting the all-star game over my beloved Thurman Munson!
Later on in his career, during the 1980’s, it also killed me when he seemed to play at his best with against the Yankees, never letting up no matter what.
A rare four-decade ballplayer, Fisk would end up with over 2000 hits, 375 homers, 1275 runs scored and 1300 runs batted in with a .269 batting average.
All of that was MORE than enough to get him into Cooperstown when they came calling, albeit in his second year of eligibility, which is beyond me since, again, he was the best catcher in his league for a long period of time.
Then again, since when does Hall of Fame voting ever make sense, as we have seen with many of the elected players of the decade?

***How lame was it that the Veteran's Committee didn't see fit to elect anyone to the Hall of Fame this year!?
Seriously? Harry Stovey and Bill Dahlen should have gotten the necessary votes to get in!
What about Pete Browning? A career .341 hitter? What about George Van Haltren? What about Bob Caruthers, the only pitcher ever to win more than 200 games while losing less than 100?
Of course the list goes on and on. But to pretty much state that there aren't any players from the past to get into the Hall is absurd.
  

DEDICATED "ROOKIE CARDS" #6: 1972 CARLTON FISK

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.

Great rookie card featuring two stars of the game.

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…

Dedicated 1972 Carlton Fisk design.

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…

ACCIDENTAL PHOTO BOMBING: PART V

Today's accidental photo-bombing cards are two of the first cards where I spotted a star player on someone elses baseball card way back when: 1973 #145 Bobby Bonds and 1977 #640 Carlton Fisk.
First up we have the Bonds card. It's a nice horizontal photo with Bonds getting back to the bag, perhaps on a pick-off attempt. After all, Bonds was the proto-type "double threat" when it came to slugging and stealing, so this was a crucial part of his game. (Many of you will say Willie Mays was really the first double-threat, and I can't really argue, but I always saw Bonds as the guy who put "30/30" on the map).
Anyway, manning first base, awaiting the throw from the pitcher is none other than the Pirates Willie Stargell.  This photo was taken right about when Stargell began playing more games at first base than in the outfield. Just a nice clean card with two stars for the price of one.
The second card I'm posting today was always one of my favorites. As a young Yankee fan I was quick to notice that my favorite second basemen, #30 Willie Randolph, was sliding into home plate while Carlton Fisk waited for the throw home.
Action shots of plays at the plate are always the best shots! Look at the crowd in the background: they're frozen in time waiting for the play's outcome. Fisk looks like he's about to get the ball and sweep tag Randolph as he's crossing the plate.
Just awesome. I wonder if he was safe or not.

Willie Stargell making an appearance at first base.

Willie Randolph going in for the slide.

"GIMME A DO-OVER"- PART VIII: 1974 #105 CARLTON FISK

Today's "do-over" is the 1974 Carlton Fisk card, #105 in the set.

While I do like the action shot, sadly Fisk is almost lost in the crowd that makes up the background. It's almost like he's on the same plane as the crowd, blending in perfectly instead of appearing in the forefront of the shot. He doesn't "pop-out" in the picture.

I ended up choosing a cleaner image from his days with the Red Sox (though admittedly I think it's from a couple years later), and I tried to give it that "lesser quality" that the original picture has. However after a few filters and messing with the saturation and contrast, I couldn't get rid of that "clean" look so I stopped and let it fly the way it was.

Definitely an improvement I think, as it fills the horizontal orientation a bit more while still keeping that action-feel.

On a side-note I noticed something on the original card I never spotted before: there's a problem with the original photo to the left of Fisk, where the image seems like it got wrinkled or cut. Check it out, just about where the guy in the yellow shirt is in the front row. It runs straight up from yellow shit to the top of the frame.

Oddly enough, it only runs vertically in the "crowd area" of the shot. Check out one of the images below where I circled it. 

I never noticed this before, and have never heard anyone mention it either. Strange.

Topps issued Carlton Fisk, #105.

My re-done version.

Film error/smudge on card. Never noticed this before.