VINTAGE CUSTOM SPOTLIGHT: 1950 DRAKE'S "EXTENDED" SET: LUKE APPLING

Today's blog post has us taking a look at my 1950 "missing" Drakes card for Hall of Famer Luke Appling, part of my fun custom set produced in 2020 in deluxe "floating frame" packaging:

One of the All-Time great shortstops of the game who is sadly overlooked, Appling was a two-time batting champ over his 20 year career, spanning 1930 through 1950, with pretty much two seasons lost to military service in 1944 and 1945.

The six-time All-Star hit as high as .388 in 1936, which gave him the first of two batting championships, with his second coming in 1943 when he hit .328.

Sadly for him, after that second title he was shipped off to his military service before coming back to hit .300+ the final five of his six Big League seasons.

By the time he retired, he hit .310 over 2422 games, with 2749 hits in 8856 at-bats, finishing runner-up to two MVP Awards while garnering support in nine other seasons.

In 1964 he was selected for the Hall of Fame , named to 189 of 201 ballots.

"Old Aches and Pains"!

VINTAGE CUSTOM SPOTLIGHT: 1950 DRAKE'S "EXTENDED" SET: LARRY DOBY

Hello everyone!

On the blog today, we march right along and showcase my "missing" 1950 Drakes card for Larry Doby, part of my custom set released a couple years back in fun deluxe "floating frame" packaging:

Doby began his professional career at the age of 18, suiting up for the Newark Eagles at second base in 1942, putting in parts of three seasons before heading off to the Military in 1945.

He'd be back to playing ball in 1946 with Newark, and would lead the Negro Leagues with 85 hits, 10 triples  and 138 total bases while making his first All-Star team.

In 1947, just a few months after Jackie Robinson broke the MLB color-barrier playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the National League, Doby would do the same in the American League, donning the uniform of the Cleveland Indians, appearing in 29 games.

Though his initial start with Cleveland was a bit rough, to the tune of a .156 batting average over 32 at-bats, Doby would immediately find his stroke in 1948, hitting .301 for the eventual World Champions, scoring 83 runs while hitting 14 homers with 23 doubles and nine triples, even garnering some MVP attention at season's end.

He would make seven All-Star teams while with Cleveland, with MVP consideration in four of those campaigns.

He'd lead the A.L. in homers twice with 32 in both 1952 and 1954, while leading the league with 126 RBIs in the latter season, one of five seasons he'd top 100.

Never given enough praise for his ground-breaking MLB debut, often overshadowed by Jackie Robinson's debut just before him, I'm happy to see his place in Big League history getting more and more attention as time passes.

Thankfully, he was also given his rightful place in the Hall of Fame, having been selected for enshrinement in 1998, though far too late in my opinion, but at least before he passed away, which he did on June 18th of 2003 at the age of 79.

VINTAGE CUSTOM SPOTLIGHT: 1950 DRAKE'S "EXTENDED" SET: BOB LEMON

Hello everyone!

Today on the blog we add Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Lemon to my 1950 custom Drake's "Extension" set, which I produced a couple of years ago packaged in a deluxe floating frame:

Over the course of his 13-year career, he only actually put in 10 full seasons, yet he posted an incredible seven 20-win campaigns!

Along the way as part of the legendary Indians rotation that also included Early Wynn, Mike Garcia and a dude named Bob Feller, Lemon led the league in wins three times, complete games five times, shutouts (with 10) once, and was named to seven straight all-star teams between 1948-1954.

When he retired after the 1958 season, he finished with a 207-128 record with a 3.32 earned run average, 31 shutouts and 1277 K's over 460 games (350 of which were starts), and 2850 innings pitched.

After his playing days were over he went on to a respectable managerial career, leading the Kansas City Royals, Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees between 1970 and 1982.

Of course he's remembered as the skipper who took over the famous "Bronx Zoo" Yankees in 1978 and led them to an incredible drive that saw them go 48-20.

That drive eventually tying the Boston Red Sox and forcing the "Bucky &^%$% Dent Game", and a World Championship over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

If not for the War, we could easily be looking at a near-300 game winner being that he didn't even start playing until he was 25.

Nevertheless, Cooperstown came calling and he found his place alongside former teammates Feller and Wynn. 

Three Hall of Fame starters on one rotation. Awesome…

VINTAGE CUSTOM SPOTLIGHT: 1950 DRAKE'S "EXTENDED" SET: RALPH KINER

Hello all!

Up on the blog, we add slugger Ralph Kiner to my 1950 Drake's baseball "extension set", filling out the great oddball issue with HOFers that missed out the first time around:

I produced this custom set a couple of years ago in special deluxe packaging, and it came out just the way I envisioned it!

As for Kiner, imagine averaging 97 runs, 37 homers and 101 runs batted in over your ENTIRE career?! Just awesome.

Kiner broke in with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1946 and promptly led the National League in homers with 23, then proceeded to lead his league in that same department for the next six years, with FIVE of those seasons with 40 or more, all consecutively.

In 1947 he smashed 51 homers, then topped himself two years later when he outright demolished the ball, hitting 54 home runs while setting his personal best in slugging with a .658 mark

In his 10 short years as a Major League player he led the league 17 times in a positive offensive category.

All told, he finished with 369 homers, 1015 RBIs, 971 runs scored and a .279 average over 10 seasons, playing in only 1472 games with 5205 at-bats.

Injuries curtailed what could have been a monster career, but he produced plenty enough for the BBWA to induct him in 1975, cementing his place in baseball history, and he was already entrenched as the long-time New York Mets TV announcer, where he even copped an Emmy Award and kept us all in stitches with malapropisms for over 50 years.

 

VINTAGE CUSTOM SPOTLIGHT: 1950 DRAKE'S "EXTENDED" SET: ROBIN ROBERTS

On the blog today, we spotlight my "missing" 1950 Drakes card for the great Robin Roberts, ace of the Philadelphia Phillies:

It was fun adding the great pitcher to one of my favorite odd-ball sets of the era, celebrating a guy who put in an incredible run in the early-50's that I believe is not appreciated enough.

Roberts was a machine during the 1950’s pitching for the Philadelphia Phillies, posting six 20-win seasons with  a 19 and 17 win season thrown in as well.
He led the league in wins four times with a high of 28 in 1952, while also leading the National league in strikeouts twice, complete games five times, innings pitched five times and shutouts once.
By the time he retired after the 1966 season, he finished with 286 wins and a 3.41 earned run average, with 45 shutouts and 2357 strikeouts over 676 games and 4688.2 innings pitched.
Between 1950 and 1956 he was named to the all-star team each year, while also garnering MVP attention every season.
To be honest how he didn’t win the MVP in 1952 is beyond me, as the award went to Chicago Cubs slugger Hank Sauer.
Granted the Phillies finished in fourth place with an 87-67 record, 9.5 games behind the Dodgers.
But the Cubs finished in fifth place, with a 77-77 record.
So what went on there is something worth looking into considering all Roberts did was go 28-7 with a 2.59 ERA, three shutouts, 148 strikeouts and 30 complete games out of his 37 starts!

VINTAGE CUSTOM SPOTLIGHT: 1950 DRAKE'S "EXTENDED" SET: JACKIE ROBINSON

Up on the blog today, we add the great Jackie Robinson to me 1950 Drakes "extension set", which was produced and released in deluxe packaging a couple of years ago:

A really fun set to create, I went and added ten stars of the game at that time to the fantastic oddball set that has had my attention since I first laid eyes on it decades ago as a kid.

As for the man himself, what needs to be stated at this point regarding his Hall of Fame career?

He broke the color-line, which I cannot even begin to imagine the difficulty in that alone, yet still managed to put in 10 great years as a Major League all-star second baseman, winning Rookie of the Year in 1947, league MVP in 1949, six all-star nods, and a batting title in 1949 when he hit .342.

Before he made baseball history in 1947, he suited up with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues in 1945 while he was still in college.

He played in only 47 games, but excelled, hitting .387 with 5 home runs and 13 stolen bases, even appearing in the East-West All Star Game.

At this point talking about statistics seems trivial in relation to the sheer impact he had to the sport and American culture.

It still crushes me when I remember that the man was still only 53 years of age when he passed away, imagining if he would have lived another 20, 30 years and gracing us into the 21st Century.

VINTAGE CUSTOM SPOTLIGHT: 1950 DRAKE'S "EXTENDED" SET: BOB FELLER

On the blog today, spotlighting another "missing" card from my custom 1950 Drake's extension set released a couple years ago in deluxe packaging, this time the great Bob Feller:

The Cleveland Indians' legend wasn't included in the original set, one of my favorite oddball sets of the period, so I had the pleasure of creating one some seventy years later!

Really, what needs to be said about the man?

Feller finished up an incredible 18-year Major League career in 1956, one that saw him win 266 games, toss 44 shutouts including three no-hitters, and striking out 2581 batters between 1936 and 1956.

And don't forget, the man lost almost FOUR seasons in his prime serving in the military from 1942 through 1945, easily bringing him close to 400 wins, 3500 K's and 60 shutouts if it wasn't for the war.

What an unsung hero all-around!

He led the league in wins six times, strikeouts seven times, shutouts four times and earned run average once, completing 279 of his 484 career starts.

The eight-time All-Star finished in the top-3 for league MVP three straight seasons between 1939 and 1941, winning 24, 27 and 25 games before sailing off to fight in World War II at the age of 23.

Just an astounding man who incredibly gets left out of the conversation when we talk about all-time greats, especially post-war.

Legend!

VINTAGE CUSTOM SPOTLIGHT: 1950 DRAKE'S "EXTENDED" SET: TED WILLIAMS

Time to post up my "missing" 1950 Drake's Ted Williams card, from my custom 10-card set released in 2021 in special packaging:

A great oddball set for the era, I went and "filled in" many of the superstars of the day that weren't included in the original run.

The Boston legend hung them up after the 1960 season, after 19 seasons of extraordinary baseball, losing parts of five seasons to military service, denying us some absolutely bonkers career statistics.

“The Splendid Splinter” was just incredible as a hitter. The last .400 hitter, 521 home runs, a .344 lifetime average with SIX batting titles, and the man missed MULTIPLE years in his prime due to war and his service in the military.
I remember as a kid (nerd alert) I used to love averaging out the three seasons before and after his missed seasons and then factoring them into his final career numbers, and they were insane!
If I remember correctly he would have had somewhere in the neighborhood of 700 home runs, 3500 hits, 2000+ runs scored and runs batted in along with the slugging and on-base percentages that would have made his already monster career just other-worldly!

The man was truly a “hitting-machine”, perhaps the greatest pure hitter ever (or the Babe? Or Cobb? Musial?).

By the way, by today’s rules, Williams should have won SEVEN batting titles, but in 1954 he lost out to the Cleveland Indians Bobby Avila, who hit .341 with the THEN required official at-bats instead of 501 plate appearances.
Williams hit .345 with 526 plate appearances based on his 386 at-bats and 136 walks, but under the rules of the day was denied that seventh title.

VINTAGE CUSTOM SPOTLIGHT: 1950 DRAKE'S "EXTENDED" SET: STAN MUSIAL

On the blog today, we have my "missing" 1950 Stan Musial Drake's card, from my custom set released a couple of years ago in special packaging:

One of my favorite oddball sets of the vintage era, Drake's did in fact leave out some of the biggest names of the sport, including "Stan the Man".

As for the great Musial, his MLB numbers are just absurd: seven batting titles, two R.B.I. titles, five triples titles and eight doubles titles, with career numbers of 475 home runs, 1951 runs batted in and a .331 career average. Throw in his 725 doubles, 177 triples and 3630 hits along with 1949 runs scored and the numbers are staggering. 

And don't forget that Musial also lost a year to military duty, easily putting him over 500 homers, close to 3900 hits and around 2100 runs batted in if he played in 1945.

Along with the great Frank Robinson I always felt Stan Musial was often overlooked in the decades since his playing days ended.

When talk of "Greatest Living Player" came up it was always Williams, DiMaggio, Mays or even Aaron that would come up. But Stan Musial would always kind of be that after-thought.

Criminal.

Three Most Valuable Player Awards, FOUR second-place finishes, including three in a row between 1949-1951, and twenty consecutive all-star appearances, Musial definitely is a member of that rarified stratosphere of baseball royalty along with the likes of Ruth, Cobb, Mays and Wagner, among others.

VINTAGE CUSTOM SPOTLIGHT: 1950 DRAKE'S "EXTENDED" SET: JOE DiMAGGIO

Today on the blog, I begin to post customs from my 1950 Drake's "extended set, which I released in limited edition last year, beginning with a card for the "Yankee Clipper" Joe DiMaggio:

I love the Drake's set, and as with many of the oddball sets released in the 1950's, there were always many of the game's top players missing, so I decided to release a special set, in ultra-special packaging, on genuine thick card stock to help "fill-out" the checklist.

Obviously "Joltin' Joe" was an easy choice, as he put together a legendary career that had become an American Icon, taking home three league MVP Awards, hitting safely in a record 56 straight games in 1941 and being a part of a staggering NINE World Champion teams between 1936 and 1951.

If not for his military service, losing three years during his prime between 1943 and 1945, his already lofty numbers would have been even better.

One of my favorite career stats for the guy? Let's admire his incredible feat of hitting 361 home runs while striking out only 369 times over his Big League tenure.

Now, while I certainly don't think he was the game's "greatest living ballplayer" as they voted him later on, the man was definitely up there, especially capturing the nation's attention the way he did.

A true legend.