FUTURE STARS: SAL BANDO

Next up in the “Future Stars” thread is all-star third baseman Sal Bando, yet another former star at Arizona State who went on to Major League fame:

Bando was coming off of three championships as part of the Oakland A’s dynasty, anchoring their infield with three top-4 finishes in the American League MVP voting before signing with the Milwaukee Brewers during the great “purge” of Oakland after the 1976 season.
He’d play the final five years of his big league career with Milwaukee before retiring after the 1981 season, but never really put together the numbers he had while out West.
Nevertheless, he’d finish with 242 homers with 1039 runs batted in and 982 runs scored in his 16-year career, with six 20+ homer seasons along with two 100+ RBI campaigns.

FUTURE STARS- GEORGE BRETT

The next “Future Stars” card in my 1978 series is none other than George Brett, who was well on his way to a Hall of Fame career by the time this card would have come out:

Brett already had a batting title under his belt, which he won in 1976, and was about to blow the doors wide-open on his baseball legacy a couple of years later when he hit .390 on his way to an American League MVP Award in 1980.
Then he would go and win a third batting title at the age of 37 in 1990 when he topped the league with a .329 average while also leading the league with 45 doubles!
The man was born to hit, and would finish his career with 3154 hits, a .305 average, 317 homers and let’s not forget the 201 stolen bases and 137 triples!
The 13-time all-star was a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 1993, getting named to 98.2% of the ballot.
Again, I always wonder who the asses were that left him OFF the ballot that first year!

FUTURE STARS- REGGIE JACKSON

Next up in the “Future Stars” thread for the 1978 set is none other than perhaps the biggest star on the Major League scene at the time this card would have come out, “Mr. October” himself, Reggie Jackson:

Jackson was fresh off of his legendary World Series performance in October, 1977, leading the New York Yankees to their first championship since 1962.
The man was just destined for baseball greatness since his days at Cheltenham High School in Pennsylvania.
Recruited by pro teams and colleges alike, he went on to Arizona State where he was actually on a football scholarship.
Of course we all know the story of the 1966 amateur draft, where the New York Mets held the #1 pick, and opted for high school catcher Steve Chilcott instead of who many considered the true #1 overall amateur, Jackson.
With the second pick, the Kansas City Athletics (later Oakland) picked the slugger and the rest is history, as he would eventually lead the organization to three straight championships between 1972-1974 before being traded in a blockbuster to the Baltimore Orioles where he’d play for one season in 1976.
As a highly coveted free agent before the 1977 season, Jackson signed with the New York Yankees, and with Reggie in NYC, the legend exploded as he helped the Yankees to two championships in 1977-78.
With his larger than life persona, New York ate it up and before you knew it, he was known around the world, even getting his own candy-bar by the end of the decade.
For a kid like me growing up in Brooklyn in the ‘70’s, Reggie was like a God, larger than life, and before he finished up his career in 1987, putting in 21 seasons, he would put together a Hall of Fame career with 563 homers, 1702 runs batted in, an MVP Award in 1973, and five championships.
Add to that 14 all-star nods, four home run titles, a legendary homer in the 1971 All-Star Game against Dock Ellis, his 1977 World Series performance, and you can see why he goes down as one of the most well-known baseball personalities in the history of the game.

FUTURE STARS- FRED LYNN

The next “Future Stars” card in my thread is Fred Lynn, who burst onto the Major League stage and never looked back:

After a star college career at USC, Lynn became an instant star in 1975 when he led the Boston Red Sox to the World Series after copping both the Rookie of the Year AND Most Valuable Player Awards. The first player ever to do so, and still only one of two (Ichiro Suzuki joined him in 2001).
He’d go on to win four Gold Gloves, get named to nine all-star teams, and hit the only Grand Slam in All-Star game history, a memorable shot off of Atlee Hammaker in the 1983 classic that gave the American League it’s first win over the National League since 1971.
Hampered by injuries throughout his 17-year career, he still finished with a very solid MLB resume: 306 homers, 1111 RBI’s, 1063 runs scored and a .283 batting average, with 10 seasons of 20+ homers over 1969 games.

FUTURE STAR- MIKE SCHMIDT

The next “Future Star” card in my on-going thread for the 1978 set is all-time third baseman Mike Schmidt, who was putting together a Hall of Fame career with the Philadelphia Phillies:

The 3x National League MVP was tearing it up in the mid-70’s, topping the league in home runs three straight years between 1974 and 1976, with another five home run titles ahead of him in the 1980’s.
“Schmitty”  would top 30 home runs in 13 of his 14 full-time seasons during his career. Amazing when you consider the era he played in!
He would also drive in 100+ runs nine times while also getting named to 12 all-star teams before he retired in 1989.
What an awesome player!

FUTURE STAR- STEVE GARVEY

Here’s the next “Future Star” card in my imagined 1978 sub-set, Los Angeles Dodger great Steve Garvey, who put together (in my opinion) a Hall of Fame career that had him as the National League all-star first baseman ten times, eight of them consecutively:

Coming out of Michigan State University, Garvey went on to rack up the hits, the awards and the accolades over his 19-year career.
The National League M.V.P. In 1974, he reached 200+ hits six times, 100+ runs batted in five times, and batted .300+ seven times.
The four-time Gold Glover would also finish in the Top-10 in M.V.P. voting four times during his career, including a second place finish behind Dave Parker of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1978 to go along with his award from ‘74.
By the time he retired in 1987, he collected 2599 hits, 272 home runs, 1308 runs batted in and a .294 career average with five World Series appearances, including one championship in 1981.
In the post-season he batted .338 with 75 hits and eleven home runs with 31 runs batted in spread over 55 games!
Call me crazy, but when he retired I pretty much figured he was a LOCK for the Hall, expecting him to even be a first or second-year inductee!

FUTURE STARS- TOM SEAVER

The next “Future Star” card in the series is that of eventual Hall of Fame pitcher extraordinaire Tome Seaver, who was in the middle of his first full season as a Cincinnati Reds player after his heart-breaking trade (to us New Yorkers anyway) the previous season:

Though he didn’t put up the numbers that made him one of the game’s best while the ace of the New York Mets between 1967 and midway through the 1977 season, he was still effective, averaging 12 wins per season, including what should have been a FOURTH Cy Young season during the strike-shortened 1981 campaign.
That year he went 14-2 with a .875 winning percentage (both league leading numbers), along with a sparkling 2.54 earned run average and 87 strikeouts over 23 starts and 166.1 innings.
Of course, the world was wrapped up in “Fernando-mania”, so Valenzuela wound up with the award, just one of the short-ends the Reds got when you consider they had the BEST record in baseball in 1981, but because of that ridiculous “split-season” ruling they didn’t even qualify for the playoffs since they weren’t in 1st place at the beginning of the strike or at season’s end (figure that one out!).
Anyway, Seaver was a star baseball player before he was even a pro, commanding HUGE attention during his college days, eventually leading to some controversy when he originally signed with the Braves in 1966, only to have the signing voided, allowing the New York Mets to make arguably the best pick in franchise history in the 1966 amateur draft.
The man would end up 311-205 record with 61 shutouts and 3640 strikeouts along with a brilliant 2.86 ERA over 20-seasons and 656 appearances, 647 of which were starts.
The man WAS 1970’s power-pitching along with Nolan Ryan!

FUTURE STAR- RICK MONDAY

Let’s go and give the very first #1 overall amateur draft pick, Rick Monday, a “future star” card in my on-going 1978 sub-set:

By 1978 Monday was a veteran player who was entering the second season with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the third and final team of his successful 19-year career that also saw him suit up for the Kansas City/Oakland A’s and Chicago Cubs.
Between 1966 and 1984 he would be named to two all-star teams and play in three World Series, all with the Dodgers, including the 1981 team that won it all against the New York Yankees.
Of course, if we’re taking about Rick Monday, we have to mention the moment he entered baseball (and American) folk lore when he snatched an American flag from two protesters (of what I have no clue) who jumped onto the field at Dodgers Stadium on April 25th, 1976 while he was still a member of the Cubs.
Monday, who was playing centerfield, ran over and grabbed the flag in full sprint and kept running, much to the crowd’s delight, until he handed the flag off to Dodger pitcher Doug Rau in front of the L.A. dugout.
Back to that 1965 amateur draft: after the outrageous bidding war for all-world amateur Rick Reichardt the previous year, which resulted in the Los Angeles Angels winning his rights to the tune of $200,000, Major League baseball felt something needed to be done, coming up with the draft that we all follow to this day.
Coming out of Arizona State University, where he led the team to a College championship (along with teammate Reggie Jackson) over Ohio State, he earned All-America and was named College Player of the Year as a sophomore.
This made him a natural pick for #1 in a somewhat light-year, as evidenced by the picks that followed him in Les Rohr (Mets), Joe Coleman (Senators) and Alex Barrett (Astros).
As a matter of fact of the first 20 picks, the most successful player besides Monday would arguably be either Ray Fosse (7th) or Jim Spencer (11th).
Have to point out that in the second round, the Cincinnati Reds picked a kid out of Oklahoma that would fare pretty well in the big leagues, Johnny Bench, the 36th overall pick!
Nevertheless, Monday went on to have a very nice career, finishing up with 1619 hits and a .264 lifetime average along with 241 homers and 775 runs batted in over 1986 games.

FUTURE STAR- RON GUIDRY

I know I’ve been a bit heavy on the Yankee players for this thread so far, but it really was an accident as I find great pre-MLB images to use for this idea.
That being said, today’s “Future Star” is none other than my favorite pitcher growing up, Yankee lefty, “Louisiana Lightning” Ron Guidry, who had a season for the ages in 1978:

Guidry’s breakout Cy Young season of 1978 was something else, posting a 25-3 record with a winning percentage of .893 (still the Major League high-water mark for a 20-win season), along with a league-leading 1.74 earned run average to go with nine shutouts and 248 strikeouts.
Easily the Cy Young winner, he missed out on the American League MVP Award, which was given to Jim Rice for HIS awesome year for the Boston Red Sox.
A model of consistency, Guidry would anchor the Yankees pitching staff until 1988, retiring with a career record of 170-91, good for a winning percentage of .651, along with a 3.28 ERA and 1778 strikeouts and 26 shutouts over 368 appearances, 323 of which were starts.
He was named to four all-star teams and took home five straight Gold Gloves between 1982-1986, along with three 20+ win seasons and two ERA crowns.

FUTURE STARS- DAVE WINFIELD

Let’s see, would it have been too much of a stretch to proclaim Dave Winfield at ANY stage of his young baseball career to be a “Future Star”?
The guy was the fourth overall pick in the 1973 amateur draft, and was also selected by pro football and basketball teams coming out of the University of Minnesota. In other words, the world was HIS for the taking:

And he never disappointed. First by choosing baseball as his path, and once on the field, with his play.
Over the next 22-years all he did was top 3000 hits, slam 463 home runs, score 1669 runs, drive in 1833 runs (including 108 in 1992 at the age of 40!), and get named to 12-straight all-star teams.
What an overall talent and great guy! As a kid growing up in New York City in the 1980’s not only did I get to see him play a lot, but I’d also get to meet him on quite a few occasions at baseball card shows, and he was always friendly and welcoming.
An easy Hall of Fame inductee in 2001, you just have to wonder what he could have accomplished had he chosen basketball or football as his path to stardom.
Just awesome...

FUTURE STARS- THURMAN MUNSON

Here’s a card that I feel came out nice, a “Future Stars” 1978 card for Yankees all-star catcher Thurman Munson:

Munson, who came out of Kent State in his native Ohio, became an instant Yankee favorite, winning Rookie of the Year in 1970 while becoming the leader of the organization on the field.
By 1976 he was a legitimate star, winning the American League Most Valuable Player Award while leading the Yanks to their first World Series since 1964, followed by consecutive championships in 1977 and 1978.
Of course, this was all shattered when he died while piloting a small plane in August of 1979, shocking everyone, including myself as a 10-year old Yankee fan who idolized the catcher on a team filled with big personalities, like Reggie Jackson, Rich Gossage and Sparky Lyle.

FUTURE STARS- GRAIG NETTLES

Snow Day Today! Everyone on the East Coast be safe with this weather out there...
The next 1978 “future star” card I post here is of former all-star third baseman Graig Nettles, who made a name for himself both for his defensive work and his hitting, becoming a fan favorite for us kids growing up in NYC in the late-70s/early-80s:

Nettles originally came up with the Minnesota Twins in the late-60’s, but it wasn’t until he got some full-time action with the Cleveland Indians did he put up some nice numbers in 1970, becoming a productive third baseman for three years before finding himself in the Bronx after a six-player trade that left the Indians organization scratching their heads.
All Nettles would do is go on to slug 20+ homers seven straight years, leading the American League with 32 in 1976, and then topping that with 37 the following season while being an integral part of the “Bronx Zoo” championship teams of 1977 and 1978.
His incredible defensive work during the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers put him in exclusive company as a Fall Classic icon alongside the likes of Brooks Robinson and HIS defensive work in the 1970 classic against the Cincinnati Reds.
By the time Nettles was done after 22-years in the big leagues, he finished with 390 home runs, 2225 hits and 1314 runs batted in, with six all-star game nods and two Gold Gloves.

FUTURE STARS- PETE ROSE

The next 1978 “Future Stars” card in the thread is of Pete Rose, the Player of the Decade as named by the Sporting News at the end of the wild-70’s:

Nice shot of the young Rose in-action before he became the all-time hit king along with a photo of him playing third at the back-end of his prime years.
“Charlie Hustle” was still kicking-it, with a 44-game hitting streak and no-less than a decade left on his (should-be) Hall of Fame career.
The man was a baseball-machine, only to have his career derailed by gambling problems.
I hope that can all be worked out so he can finally get his rightful spot in Cooperstown, next his former teammates Morgan, Bench and Perez.

FUTURE STAR: NOLAN RYAN

Here’s a new thread I’m starting for 2017 that will be a blast to create, a “Future Star” 1978 sub-set based off the manager card template in the set, since it plays right into what I wanted to do, sort of a “before they were stars” image next to a “present-day” shot:

It’s not that easy finding an abundance of photos from when these guys were still amateurs, but I did come across enough of them to start the series.
Nolan Ryan was an easy choice to kick things off, and by 1978 he was already the “King of K’s”.
So here we have a nice card that shows him as a youngster in Alvin, Texas along with an image of him dominating batters in the Major Leagues some 20 years later.
The run he had during the decade (and way beyond), striking out batter after batter was something else. Something I had the honor of witnessing first hand a few times at Yankee Stadium.
I already have about a dozen or so stars of the time lined up for this thread, so if you like this idea, keep an eye out for them.