1970'S ALL-DECADE TEAM: N.L. SHORTSTOP DAVE CONCEPCION

Today on the blog, we move to shortstop and the National League for my pick as top at the position in his league for the 1970s, and I go with Dave Concepcion:

There were some really good shortstops in the N.L. during the 1970's, especially Philadelphia Phillies Larry Bowa, but I just had to go with a cog of the "Big Red Machine", arguably a Hall of Famer who took home five Gold Gloves and made six All-Star teams.

Often overlooked by teammates like Pete Rose, Johnny Bench and Joe Morgan, Concepcion was also a valuable piece to the four-time Pennant winners and two-time World Champs, giving them a solid man up-the-middle to compliment Bench and Morgan.

He would end up putting in 19-seasons in the Major Leagues, all with Cincinnati, finishing up with 2326 hits and a .267 batting average over 2488 games and 8723 at-bats between 1970 and 1988.
He played in all four of the “Big Red Machine” World Series appearances and batted a cool .297 over his Postseason action, with 30 hits in 101 at-bats over 34 games.
I’ll never forget opening up a pack of 1979 cards and seeing that the “All-Star” banner was NOT on his card. I was stunned since he was always the National League All-Star shortstop since I started collecting in 1976.
For me, he became somewhat of a baseball institution, playing through my youth straight through college, retiring at the age of 40.
Anyway, once he became eligible for Hall of Fame induction, he was on the ballot all 15 years and never got more than 16.9% (1998), but really, if it IS called the Hall of “Fame”, I think you can make a pretty good argument for the guy since he was indeed in that upper-echelon during the wild-70’s.

He certainly has my pick for the N.L. shortstop of the decade for the 1970's!

1977 N.L. CENTENNIAL SPECIAL: DAVE CONCEPCION

On the blog today, we add Cincinnati Reds All-Star shortstop Dave Concepcion to my fun 1977 N.L. Centennial sub-set, celebrating the league's 100th anniversary of 1976:

Concepcion was a cog in the Reds’ two-time championship squad of 1975 & 1976, on his way to nine all-star nods, with five Gold Gloves and two top-10 MVP finishes during his prime.
He would end up putting in 19-seasons in the Major Leagues, all with Cincinnati, finishing up with 2326 hits and a .267 batting average over 2488 games and 8723 at-bats between 1970 and 1988.
He played in all four of the “Big Red Machine” World Series appearances and batted a cool .297 over his Postseason action, with 30 hits in 101 at-bats over 34 games.
I’ll never forget opening up a pack of 1979 cards and seeing that the “All-Star” banner was NOT on his card. I was stunned since he was always the National League All-Star shortstop since I started collecting in 1976.
For me, he became somewhat of a baseball institution, playing through my youth straight through college, retiring at the age of 40.
Anyway, once he became eligible for Hall of Fame induction, he was on the ballot all 15 years and never got more than 16.9% (1998), but really, if it IS called the Hall of “Fame”, I think you can make a pretty good argument for the guy since he was indeed in that upper-echelon during the wild-70’s.

He certainly has my pick for the N.L. shortstop of the decade for the 1970's!

1975 IN-ACTION: DAVE CONCEPCION

Time to add the “Big Red Machine’s” all-star shortstop to the on-going 1975 “In-Action” sub-set, Dave Concepcion, who was smack in the middle of his arguably Hall of Fame worthy career:

Concepcion was a cog in the Reds’ two-time championship squad of 1975 & 1976, on his way to nine all-star nods, with five Gold Gloves and two top-10 MVP finishes during his prime.
He would end up putting in 19-seasons in the Major Leagues, all with Cincinnati, finishing up with 2326 hits and a .267 batting average over 2488 games and 8723 at-bats between 1970 and 1988.
He played in all four of the “Big Red Machine” World Series appearances and batted a cool .297 over his Post Season action, with 30 hits in 101 at-bats over 34 games.
I’ll never forget opening up a pack of 1979 cards and seeing that the “All-Star” banner was NOT on his card. I was stunned since he was always the National league All-Star shortstop since I started collecting in 1976.
For me, he became somewhat of a baseball institution, playing through my youth straight through college, retiring at the age of 40.
Anyway, once he became eligible for Hall of Fame induction, he was on the ballot all 15 years and never got more than 16.9% (1998), but really, if it IS called the Hall of “Fame”, I think you can make a pretty good argument for the guy since he was indeed in that upper-echelon during the wild-70’s.

GUEST WRITER "RAJ" WITH SOME GREAT EXAMPLES OF TOPPS & AIRBRUSHING IN 1979

I received a GREAT email recently from blog-reader "RAJ" with some excellent examples of Topps and their airbrushing choices which really left me wondering how many other examples like these exist throughout the 1970's.
I liked the email so much I thought it'd make a perfect post.
Some good stuff here! Thanks Robert!

"Here is a great example of how Topps would remove certain elements in the background of photos for their cards using airbrushing when it really didn’t seem to be all that necessary.  On the left we see Mike Lum batting against the Pirates in Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium during the 1978 season.  On the right is a photo take during that same game, with no Topps airbrushing applied to it.  I’m not sure what was gained by painstakingly removing the photographers and their tri-pods.  

I guess Topps was wanting a clean background for this card as well as the cards for Johnny Bench and Dave Concepcion (below):

However, they chose to leave photographers and their equipment in the cards for Ray Knight, Ken Griffey, and Joe Morgan although they certainly removed portions of a photographer who was wearing blue jeans and a red shirt because you can see remnants of him in the Griffey and Morgan cards: 

In the cards we also see some strange happenings in the crowd as it appears that there are flesh-colored arms (or limbs of some sort) next to and below the big fella in blue in the Lum card.  What could they have done THAT for?

Hope this was of interest to you.  It always fascinated me the airbrushing “hack jobs” that Topps pawned off on us with some of those horrific baseball hats as well as the terrible football helmets in the 70s.  Classic..."  

MISSING IN ACTION-"IN ACTION" #48: 1972 DAVE CONCEPCION

Though just beginning what was (and still is) an arguably Hall of Fame career in 1972, I nevertheless wanted to give former all-star shortstop of the "Big Red Machine" Dave Concepcion a "missing" In-Action card in the 1972 set, and I think I came up with a doozy!

Take a look:

Gotta say, it's a beaut!

Granted, he has his back to the camera and it's really all about the other two guys, Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench and Hall of Fame manager Sparky Anderson, but come on, THAT is some in game action right there!

Concepcion was a major cog in that machine we called "Big Red".

A nine-time all-star, he went on to take home five Gold Glove Awards and even two Silver Slugger Awards later on in the early-80's.

Teamed up with guys like Bench, Pete Rose, George Foster and Joe Morgan, they were incredible for a while there.

By the time he retired after the 1988 season he collected over 2300 hits, scored just under 1000 runs, and stole over 320 bases.

For a kid growing up then, he was up there among the recognizable players that seemed other-wordly, even if he wasn't bashing the ball out of the park or stealing a bushel of bases.

ACCIDENTAL PHOTO BOMBING: PART III:

This week, we'll take a look at another couple of star players who were caught on someone else's baseball card: Dave Concepcion and Johnny Bench, members of the "Big Red Machine".
Both cards come from the 1973 set, and as a matter of fact, were probably photographed during the same game.

First up is Dave Radar and his regular issue card, #121. Here we have what looks like a called third strike on Concepcion, while he stares down in disbelief. Just a guess here, but it seems like it. 

Dave Concepcion looking at a called third strike?

Next up is Willie McCovey's card, #410. Looks like "Stretch" just fouled one off while he and Johnny Bench look over to see where it's headed. So this is a nice card where TWO Hall-of Famers are present in an action shot. Pretty cool.

Johnny Bench follows a foul ball