TRADED- 1976 KEN HOLTZMAN

Time to go and create a 1976 “Traded” card (wasn’t really a fan of the Topps original lay-out) for former lefty Ken Holtzman, who found himself in the Bronx a couple months into the season:

Holtzman actually started the season with the Baltimore Orioles, for whom he just got traded to right before the season started on April 2nd as part of the blockbuster Reggie Jackson deal.
Some two and a half months later he was on the move again, as part of a huge 10-player deal that saw Rick Dempsey, Tippy Martinez, Rudy May, Scott McGregor and Dave Pagan go to Baltimore with Holtzman, Doyle Alexander, Elrod Hendricks, Grant Jackson and Jimmy Freeman coming to the Yankees.
Though he’d go 9-7 for the Yankees the rest of the way, helping them to their first World Series berth in 12 years, his best days were already behind him, winning only nine more games over the next three years before retiring for good in 1979 at the age of 33 with a career 174-150 record along with 31 shutouts and 1601 strikeouts.
Along the way he was part of three World Champion teams (A’s 1972-1974), and was named to a couple of All-Star teams.

1974 SPECIAL- THE OAKLAND A'S 20-WIN TRIO

Today I thought I’d love to post up my 1974 special card of the Oakland A’s trio of 20-games winners from 1973, Vida Blue, Catfish Hunter and Ken Holtzman:

The A’s would march on to their second straight World Championship that season, led by the 62 combined wins of the three starters, with Hunter and Holtzman posting 21 wins and Blue coming in at 20.
The team would post a record of 94-68, beating the Baltimore Orioles in the Playoffs 3 games to 2 before proceeding to beat the New York Mets 4 games to 3 in the World Series.
It was be the last time a team would have as many as three 20-game winners in the same season, with the 1989 A’s coming close when they were led by Dave Stewart’s 21 wins, with teammates Mike Moore and Storm Davis coming in at 19.
It’s also worth noting that in 1989 the A’s also had Bob Welch come in with 17 wins. Amazing to think just how close they were to have four 20-game winners.

NO-HITTERS SPECIAL SUB-SET: KEN HOLTZMAN, JUNE 3RD, 1971

The next no-hitter profiled here on the blog is the second gem tossed by Chicago Cubs pitcher Ken Holtzman, who kept the heavy-hitting Cincinnati Reds hitless on June 3rd of 1971:

Holtzman, who threw his first no-hitter in 1969, struck out six batters while walking four in this one in beating the Reds 1-0, scoring that lone run himself after reaching on an error in the third and coming around on a single by second baseman Glenn Beckert.
Hard-luck losing pitcher Gary Nolan pitched eight innings, striking out three and walking none, dropping to 3-6 while Holtzman improved his record to 4-6.
That Cincinnati team was no slouch, featuring a line-up of Hal McRae, Lee May, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, George Foster and Dave Concepcion.
Pretty amazing feat, but once again proves that the game of baseball is one incredible game when the unexpected seems to happen every day!

NO-HITTERS SPECIAL SUB-SET: KEN HOLTZMAN AUGUST 19TH, 1969

The next no-hit gem on the thread is the one tossed by Chicago Cubs pitcher Ken Holtzman, who would also throw yet another before he was through with his Major League career:

Holtzman took the mound on August 19th of 1969 and faced a tough Atlanta Braves team, led by Hank Aaron of course, while facing future Hall of Famer Phil Niekro.
After keeping the Braves hitless in the top of the first inning, Holtzman was given a three-run lead to work with when Ron Santo blasted his 25th homer of the season with two men on board.
Well, all Holtzman did was go the rest of the game, not only surrendering NO hits, but also doing it without the aid of a strikeout!
While he did walk three, he ended up winning his 14th game against seven losses, lowering his ERA to 3.12, throwing the games fifth no-hitter of the season.
Two years later, Holtzman would throw another no-hitter, and once again, would do it against the eventual Division champions, this time the Cincinnati Reds, loaded with the likes of Pete Rose, Johnny Bench and Tony Perez.
That’s two no-hitters against top-notch teams! Just amazing.

ANOTHER NEON AIRBRUSH JOB- 1972 KEN HOLTZMAN

Here’s a GREAT airbrush classic of former pitching wiz Ken Holtzman, who found himself in Oakland after some excellent seasons with the Chicago Cubs:

LOVE the green and yellow cap along with the green turtle-neck! Not a bad shadow-job on the sweater either!
Holtzman was traded over to the West Coast for Rick Monday, and was one lucky dude as he joined the A’s for their THREE straight championships.
All he did was produce in a big way, posting 19, 21 and 19 wins in those seasons with earned run averages of 2.51, 2.97 and 3.01.
A winner his whole career, he would end up with 174 wins with a very nice 3.49 ERA and 31 shutouts over his 15-year career, along with TWO no-hitters.
Definitely somewhat of a forgotten arm of the era that deserves a bit more attention!

MISSING IN ACTION-"IN ACTION" #42: 1972 KEN HOLTZMAN

Next up on my ongoing "missing" 1972 In-Action card sub-set is former pitcher Ken Holtzman:

Holtzman was pitching in his first season for the Oakland A's in '72 after coming over from the Chicago Cubs, and he would contribute exceptionally well for the team that would go on to three straight championships in his first three years.

He'd go on to win 19, 21 and 19 wins between 1972 and 1974, posting ERA's of 2.51, 2.97 and 3.07 with 10 shutouts, while never pitching less than 255.1 innings.

Then he'd go on to win 18 in '75 with a 3.14 ERA while topping 250+ innings pitched once again in his last year for the A's before being part of the monster Reggie Jackson trade that sent them to Baltimore in the Spring of '76.

He'd put together a very nice 15-year career, finishing with a 174-150 record, with a 3.49 ERA, 31 shutouts and 1601 strikeouts before retiring after the 1979 season.

What a pitching staff the A's had when you put Holtzman in there with Catfish Hunter and Vida Blue. Not a bad trio, and on top of that you had future Hall of Fame reliever Rollie Fingers out of the 'pen!

1974 KEN HOLTZMAN #180- A PHOTOBOMB ON A NICE CARD

I always felt that the 1974 and 1976 cards of Oakland A's players were so beautifully colorful.

A perfect marriage between the card design and the Oakland uniforms made the complete made the composition of so many of them perfect.

Here's one of them, the 1974 Ken Holtzman card (#180):

Man. 

Doesn't it always look like the most sunny day in world history with these Oakland cards?!

Look at the colors flying off of there! Beautiful…

And if I'm not mistaken, that should be none other than Reggie Jackson out there in the outfield. I'm not 100%, but I think I even read that somewhere.

Look at some of the other Oakland cards from the set that year: Rollie Fingers, Reggie Jackson, Darrell Knowles, Paul Lindblad and Jim Hunter.

Just awesome in-game action shots with green and yellow all over the place!

Very nice stuff. I've always been a sucker for cards that have design and photo blended together so perfectly!

Ken Holtzman was definitely a somewhat underrated starter from the 1970's, as he posted a decent career spanning 15 years, pitching for no less than five championship teams (1972-74 A's and 1977-78 Yankees).

Six times he won 17 or more games in a season, topping out with 21 wins in 1973 for Oakland.

He also had a 9-0 season with the Chicago Cubs in 1967, a year which had him serving in the National Guard, which only allowed him to play on weekends.

He also threw two no-hitters in his career, both while pitching for the Cubs.

In 1969 he no-hit the Atlanta Braves, eventual Western Division champs, and two years later at Riverfront Stadium, the guy threw a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds, defending National League champs! 

All told he ended up with a 174-150 record to go along with a 3.49 E.R.A. and 1601 K's.

A bit of a side-note on Holtzman: oddly enough he appears as a Sporting News All-Star selection in the 1968 Topps set, even though he wasn't even named to the National league team in 1967.

Seems the Sporting News selected him based on his 9-0 record, even though he only managed the twelve starts I mentioned earlier for the entire year.