CAREER-CAPPERS: 1981 WILLIE HORTON

Good day everyone!

On the blog today, we break out of the 1970's and create a 1981 "career-capper" for slugger Willie Horton, who closed out a wonderful Major League career in 1980 while a member of the Seattle Mariners:

Appearing in 97 games for Seattle that season, Horton hit .221 with eight homers and 36 RBIs in the last playing action of his 18-year career.

It's easy to forget how good a career Horton put together between 1963 and 1979 with all of his contemporaries stealing the spotlight, but a quick look at what he accomplished on the baseball diamond is nothing short of impressive.

In 18 years as a big league outfielder and designated hitter, Horton slammed 325 homers with 873 runs scored and 1163 runs batted in, with a .273 batting average and just under 2000 hits (1993).

14 of his 18 seasons in the sun were spent in the Motor City, where he was an important member of their world championship team of 1968, hitting a career high 36 home runs while driving in 85 and batting .285 (in a season where Carl Yastrzemski won the batting title with a .301 average).

He topped 20 homers seven times in his career with three 100+ RBI campaigns, on his way to four all-star selections and two top-10 MVP finishes (1965 & 1968).

He finished up his career as a designated hitter, and in 1979 had a comeback year at the age of 36 that saw him hit 29 home runs with 106 RBI's while collecting a career high 180 hits with the Seattle Mariners.

After a partial 1980 season that saw him play in only 97 games, he was released by Seattle just before opening day in 1981, and though he did sign with the Pittsburgh Pirates soon afterwards, he never played a Major League game again, closing out a nice career after 2028 games and 7298 at-bats.

OPC IMAGE VARIATIONS: 1977 DAVE COLLINS (AT LEAST ON THE OPC CARD!)

Today on the blog we take a look at another OPC & Topps image variation, this time the 1977 cards for former speedster Dave Collins, or at least what was SUPPOSED to be him in the context of the Topps card:

OPC version

Topps version

Now the reason I say what I said regarding the Topps card is because it doesn't show Collins at all, but actually Bobby Jones, something Topps never bothered to fix later on.

Over on the OPC card, it was indeed the young Collins shown on the card, albeit with a comically airbrushed cap with the Seattle Mariners' logo.

Collins played his first two seasons of Big League ball with the California Angels, stealing 52 bases combined in a part-time roll, giving us a preview of what was to lie ahead.
He would go on to play 16 years in the Major Leagues, stealing as many as 79 bases in 1980 while with the Cincinnati Reds, while also stealing 60 in 1984 when he was playing for the Toronto Blue Jays, a season where he also led the league in triples with 15.
I’ll always remember him for his disappointing year with the New York Yankees in 1982, a year that was a failure for the organization in so many ways actually.
Nevertheless, Collins would finish his career with 395 steals, while also batting a very nice .272 with 1335 hits over 4907 at-bats in 1701 games, finishing up with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1990.
I never even realized he made it that far to be honest!

 

EXPANDED LEAGUE-LEADERS: 1979 A.L. STOLEN BASES

Up on the blog this fine day, my 1979 "expanded league-leader" card featuring the top three stolen base thieves in the American League for 1978:

We begin with the Detroit Tigers All-Star outfielder Ron LeFlore, who would lead the league with his 68 stolen bases in what was his third straight All-Star caliber year.

LeFlore, who made it all the way to the Big Leagues after spending time in prison, led the A.L. with 126 runs scored, while just missing out on his second straight 200-hit campaign, with 198, and a .297 batting average.

Two years later he would lead the National league in thefts, with 97 as a member of the Montreal Expos, on his way to 455 lifetime steals in just nine seasons.

He'd finish his career with a .288 average, with 731 runs scored while garnering some MVP votes in four of his nine years under the Big League sun.

In second place with 59 stolen bases, Seattle Mariners second baseman Julio Cruz, who had himself a fine first full year in the Majors.

Cruz would go on to play 10 years in the Big Leagues, stealing 343 bases, with the 59 from 1978 his career-best, also stealing 57 in 1983 split between the Mariners and White Sox.

In third place with 52 steals, Texas Rangers second baseman Bump Wills, son of a man who knew a thing or two about stealing bases, Maury Wills.

Bump had a solid Sophomore year after finishing third in Rookie of the Year consideration in 1977, following up a .287 average with a .250 number in 1978.

He scored 78 runs to go with those 52 steals, driving in 57 with 30 extra base hits, going on to score 90 and a career-best 102 runs the following two years.

After a solid year with the Chicago Cubs in 1982 that saw him hit .272 with 35 steals at the age of 29, Wills went over to Japan where he played for two years as a member of the Hankyu Braves, retiring for good as a Pro after the 1984 season, still only 31.

"HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 1970's": SEATTLE MARINERS PLAY THEIR FIRST GAME

Up on the blog today, a card I should have created a long time ago, a "Highlight" card celebrating the Seattle Mariners playing their first game on April 6th, 1977:

The card features the team's very first starter, Diego Segui, who incredibly also started the first game in Seattle Pilots history back in 1969.

Playing in the Kingdome against the California Angels, Segui would get hit hard, leading to a 7-0 loss at the hands of the Halos.

Opposing them that day on the mound, young stud Frank Tanana, who tossed a shutout, striking out nine while giving up a surprising nine hits.

For Seattle, the hitting starts would be Jose Baez, Bill Stein and Craig Reynolds, all who collected two hits apiece, with Stein's hits both being doubles.

The team would go on to post a record of 64-98 in their inaugural season, last in the A.L. West, though drawing 1.33 Million fans out to see them, right in the middle of the pack for the A.L. as far as attendance.

OPC IMAGE VARIATIONS: 1977 STEVE BRAUN

Today on the blog we take a look at Steve Braun and his 1977 image variation between his Topps and OPC cards, with both airbrushed images, this time with Topps coming out the winner in my opinion:

OPC version

Topps version

 

As I said, I'll take the Topps airbrush version on this one since the OPC one is a bit more "cartoonish".

Drafted away from the Minnesota Twins by the new Seattle Mariner franchise in the November, 1976 expansion draft, Braun would put in a season and a half with the team before being shipped off to the Kansas City Royals mid-way through the 1978 season.

Originally up with the Twins in 1971, he ended up putting in 15 years in the Majors, the first half as a starter and the rest as a guy off the bench, hitting a very respectable ,271 over that time, seeing a championship in 1982 as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals.

He'd finish with 989 hits in 3650 at-bats, with 52 homers and 388 runs batted in along with 466 runs scored in 1425 games between 1971 and 1985, the last game of his career being a pinch-hitting appearance in the 1985 World Series for St. Louis.

Not a bad way to go out!

GIMMIE A DO-OVER: 1977 DIEGO SEGUI

Been a while since I re-did one of the 1977 Seattle Mariner or Toronto Blue Jay cards, so today on the blog I post up a "re-do" for starter Diego Segui, who started the first game in Mariner history, as well as the first game in Seattle Pilots history back in 1969:

Re-done version

Original Topp-issued card

Segui closed out a decent 14-year career in 1977 with the expansion Seattle Mariners, appearing in 40 games for the new franchise, going 0-7 with a 5.69 earned run average.
He’d post a 92-111 lifetime record with a 3.81 ERA and 71 saves between 1962 and 1977, even winning the ERA crown in the American League when he finished with a 2.56 mark splitting time as a starter and an arm out of the ‘pen.

Look for Segui as the subject for an upcoming 1978 "Highlights" card celebrating the first game in Mariner history coming up in the next few weeks!

OPC IMAGE VARIATION: 1977 TOMMY SMITH

On the blog today, we look at another OPC image variation from its Topps counterpart, this time the 1977 card for Tommy Smith of the new Seattle Mariners franchise:

OPC Version

Topps Version

 

This situation is uncommon, as both the OPC and Topps cards are airbrushed, leaving us to wonder why OPC even bothered altering another image of the outfielder since it was already done for the Topps set issued earlier in the year.

As a matter of fact the Topps airbrush job is much better, with the collar of the jersey even painted unlike the OPC version which clearly shows signs of the Indians jersey Smith was wearing in the original image.

In November of 1976 Smith would be drafted by the new Seattle Mariners organization as part of the expansion draft, where he would go on to play the last games of his career, 21 to be exact, where he hit .259 with seven hits in 27 at-bats.

In 1976 he’d see the most playing time of his five Major League seasons, appearing in 55 games for the Cleveland Indians, while hitting .256 with 42 hits in 164 at-bats, driving in 12 runs and scoring 17 himself.

All told, Smith played in 121 games in five seasons, hitting .232 with 63 hits, driving in 21 while scoring 28 over 271 at-bats between Cleveland and Seattle.

 

REVISITING AN OLD BLOG POST- MARCH 11TH, 2014

Thought it would be fun to revisit a blog post from almost eight years ago, this one my last entry in my short-lived 1979 #1 Draft Pick thread celebrating the decade's #1 overall picks, this one profiling the Seattle Mariners' pick of Al Chambers in June of '79:

 

Here's the write-up from that day:

"Well, today we reach the end of my thread of an imagined sub-set for the 1979 set featuring all the overall #1 draft picks of the 1970's.
Sadly, we end it with a bit of a thud, as the #1 pick in the 1979 draft was Al Chambers, picked by the Seattle Mariners, selected ahead of future stars Andy Van Slyke, Tim Wallach and Steve Howe.
Granted, it wasn't the most stocked of drafts that year, but considering that Chambers ended up playing in 57 games for his career, you have to chalk this one up to "bust".

Chambers made it up to the Major Leagues in 1983, getting into 31 games, good for 81 plate appearances, batting .209 with three doubles and a homer.
But that would actually be the most time he'd see up in the big show, as 1984 would see him play in only 22 games, getting 49 at-bats, before getting into only four games in 1985 and marking the total playing time he'd have in his short Major League career.
After bouncing around for a few more years in the Seattle, Houston and Chicago Cubs Minor League systems, he'd move on to the Mexican League in 1988 for a year before leaving his baseball playing days for good.
I guess you can say his biggest claim to fame is being included in Topps' 1985 "#1 Draft Picks" sub-set along with more substantial picks through the years, like Darryl Strawberry, Shawon Dunston and Harold Baines.
But hey, at least Seattle did fair a bit better in the 1981 draft, picking star pitcher Mike Moore with the #1 overall pick.

That does it for the #1 draft sub-set. Wish there was more to cover, as I had fun with the cards designed for the topic.
Perhaps I should start a sub-set of "best pick of each draft" for the decade?
We'll see.."

COACH CARD- 1977 VADA PINSON

Up on the blog today, you know I'll take any excuse to create a card for one of the great under-appreciated players of his era, Vada Pinson, who was one of the coaches on the inaugural Seattle Mariners team of 1977:

 

Pinson signed with the Brewers as a Free Agent in January of 1976 after a year with the Kansas City Royals.

Sadly, the Brewers released Pinson right as the season started on April 4th, deying us an extra season of the man trying to chase 3000 hits.

Well, what would a man of his stature do with all that free time?

Take his knowledge of the game and put it to good use as a coach!

I’ve always loved his career, and wonder had he not played the bulk of his Big League time in the shadows of Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente and Frank Robinson, would he have made it all the way to the Hall of Fame.
Four-times he’d collect over 200 hits, seven times over 20-home runs, nine times over 20-stolen bases, and the man only made two All-Star teams!
Just an awesome career that saw him finish with over 2700 hits, 250 homers and 300 stolen bases, while also collecting over 480 doubles and 120 triples.

Sadly, he passed away far too soon after suffering a stroke at the age of 57 in 1995.

AIRBRUSHING THROUGH THE 1970's: 1977 DAVE PAGAN

About four years ago I redesigned the 1977 Dave Pagan card to show a photo of him suited up with the Seattle Mariners, making up for the Topps' issued airbrush classic. But today I thought it'd be fun to take a closer look at the original, so here goes:

Pagan originally came up with the New York Yankees in 1973 and played with them through the 1976 season before being traded as part of a blockbuster 10-player trade on June 15th that included Rick Dempsey, Tippy Martinez, Ken Holtzman and Doyle Alexander.
After 20 appearances with the Orioles the second half of 1976, he found himself as one of the original Mariners in 1977, appearing in 24 games, all but four out of the bullpen and posting a 1-1 record with a 6.14 earned run average over 66 innings.
But on July 27th of that season he found himself on the move yet again, this time to the Pittsburgh Pirates, for whom he’d play one game, the last game of his MLB career, pitching three innings of scoreless ball with four strikeouts.
After two years in the Pirates Minor League system in 1978 & 1979, he was out of pro ball for good, leaving the game with a 4-9 record along with a 4.96 E.R.A., 147 strikeouts and four saves over 85 appearances, 18 of them starts.

GIMMIE A DO-OVER: 1978 PAUL MITCHELL

On the blog today we have a re-done 1978 card for former pitcher Paul Mitchell, who found himself North with the new Seattle Mariners franchise after starting the year with the Oakland A's:

  

For those that need a refresher on what the original Topps airbrush looked like, here you go:

  

Mitchell appeared in five games for the A's before he was purchased by Seattle on August 4th of 1977.

He was 0-3 with a bloated 10.54 ERA for Oakland before ending the year with a 3-3 run for the Mariners, posting a much better ERA of 4.99 over nine starts.

He would be one of the Mariners' starters in 1978, appearing in 29 games and gong 8-14 with an ERA of 4.18 over 168 innings, completing four and tossing two shutouts.

He'd split the 1979 season between Seattle and the Milwaukee Brewers, where he was traded for Randy Stein on June 7th, going a combined 4-7 over 28 appearances with an ERA of 5.32, starting half of those games.

Coming back in 1980 with Milwaukee, it turned out to be the last Big League action he'd see, appearing in 17 games and going 5-5 with a 3.53 ERA over 89.1 innings, even throwing in a shutout.

But after a 1981 season that saw him pitch in the New York Yankees Minor Leagues system, he retired at the age of 31.

All told Mitchell went 32-39 over his six year career, with an ERA of 4.45 in 621.1 innings of work, throwing four shutouts while saving one, starting 96 of his 125 appearances.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1978 JIMMY SEXTON

On the blog today we have a "not so missing" 1978 card for former infielder Jimmy Sexton, who made his Big League debut with the Seattle Mariners during their inaugural 1977 season:

Sexton appeared in 14 games with the new Seattle franchise, hitting .216 with eight hits over 37 official at-bats, scoring five runs and driving in three.

He would find himself a member of the Houston Astros in 1978, and he would appear in what turned out to be a career-high 88 games that year, hitting .206 with 29 hits, 17 runs and six RBIs while stealing 16 bases.

In 1979 he'd play in 52 games before playing all of 1980 in the Minors, making it back to the Majors in 1981 as a member of the West Champion Oakland A's, though playing in only seven games before bumping up to 69 games in 1982.

In 1983, he'd be on the move again, now with the St. Louis cardinals, where he appeared in only six games in what turned out to be the last Major League action he'd see, collecting one hit over nine at-bats.

The dude was a stolen base machine in the Minors, finishing his career with 335 steals while adding another 36 in the Majors for a total of 371 stolen bases over his pro career.

Nevertheless, his Big League totals looked like this: a .218 batting average over 236 games, with 81 hits in 372 at-bats, with 53 runs scored and 24 RBIs between 1977 and 1983.

 

 

EXPANSION DO-OVER: TOMMY SMITH

Up on the blog today we have an expansion do-over for Tommy Smith and his 1977 card, originally showing him in an airbrushed Seattle Mariners uni in expectation of the upcoming inaugural season for the new franchise:

Understandably up against the wall, Topps had to scramble for both the Mariners and Toronto Blue Jay players in advance of their first seasons as member of the Major Leagues, which led to some classics as we all know.

Smiths wasn't one of the worst by far, but for those who don't remember the original, here you go:

In November of 1976 he would be drafted by the new Seattle Mariners organization as part of the expansion draft, where he would go on to play the last games of his career, 21 to be exact, where he hit .259 with seven hits in 27 at-bats.

In 1976 he’d see the most playing time of his five Major League seasons, appearing in 55 games for the Cleveland Indians, while hitting .256 with 42 hits in 164 at-bats, driving in 12 runs and scoring 17 himself.

All told, Smith played in 121 games in five seasons, hitting .232 with 63 hits, driving in 21 while scoring 28 over 271 at-bats between Cleveland and Seattle.

 

 

EXPANSION DO-OVER: 1977 JOE LIS

On the blog today we have a re-do for Joe Lis and his 1977 Topps card, which was originally part of the expansion madness that led to some memorable airbrushing.

However with the benefit of time I used a proper image of Lis as a Mariner, so here goes:

For those that do not remember the original, here you go:

 

Lis was about to play what turned out to be his final Major League season in 1977, as an inaugural member of the Seattle Mariners after two-plus seasons as a Cleveland Indian.

He ended up appearing in nine games for Seattle, hitting .231 with three hits over 13 at-bats.

He would eventually put in eight seasons in the Major Leagues, batting .233 with 182 hits in 780 at-bats over 356 career games, with 32 homers, 92 runs batted in and 96 runs scored.
The most he ever played in any one season was in 1973 while with the Minnesota Twins when he appeared in 103 games, hitting .245 over 286 plate appearances, with nine homers and 25 RBIs.
He’d eventually end his career with nine games playing fore the inaugural 1977 Seattle Mariners before playing a season in Japan in 1978, returning for one last Minor League season in 1979, his last as a pro.

 

1977 MARINERS RE-DO: LARRY COX

Time to add former catcher Larry Cox to my on-going thread of “fixing” all of the Seattle Mariner and Toronto Blue Jays airbrushed cards from the 1977 set:

Now, not that I really hate the original airbrushed cards. Since that was the first year I truly collected cards they have a special place in my heart.
However since I’m finding these nice images of the players in their respective uniforms I figured it’d be fun to have an updated set.
For those that don’t remember, here’s the original as released by the fine folks at Topps:

Though he wouldn’t get his first baseball card until the 1977 set, he did actually get some playing time in the Majors in 1973, 1974 and 1975, all with the Phillies.
He’d see his most action in 1979 & 1980 while with the Seattle Mariners, appearing in over 100 games for the only two times in his career.
Nevertheless, Cox would play nine years in the big leagues, finishing up after the 1982 season with a .221 batting average based on 182 hits in 825 at-bats over 348 games, most with Seattle.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1978 RICK HONEYCUTT

Here’s a nice “not so missing” card to add to the collection, my 1978 slab for 21-year Major League pitcher Rick Honeycutt, who started off his Big League tenure with 10 appearances in 1977:

Honeycutt went 0-1 for the new Seattle mariner team in the Summer of 1977, posting a 4.34 earned run average over 29 innings as a 23-year-old, with three starts.
He would go on to pitch through the 1997 season, 21 years as both a starter and a reliever, almost evenly split between the first half and second half of his career respectively.
In 1983 he led the American League with a 2.42 ERA while with the Texas Rangers in a season that saw him finish with the Los Angeles Dodgers in a year that saw him post a career high 16 wins combined.
By the time he retired, he finished with a record of 109-143, with a 3.72 ERA over 797 appearances and 2160 innings of work, with 11 shutouts and 38 saves along the way.

1977 MARINERS RE-DO: BOB STINSON

Time to go and add another 1977 expansion re-do to the collection, this time a redone card for former catcher Bob Stinson.
First, here’s the original as issued by Topps in the Spring of 1977:

Now here’s my re-done version with the advantage of time:

Stinson was drafted by Seattle in the 1976 expansion draft as the 25th pick away from the Kansas City Royals, for whom he played the previous two seasons.
Never a full-time player, he did appear in 124 games in 1978, the only season he topped 300 at-bats, setting career-highs across the board through all offensive categories.
Originally up with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1969, he’d play 12-years in the Big Leagues, finishing up with the Mariners in 1980, hitting .250 in 652 games, with 408 hits over 1634 at-bats, with 33 homers and 180 runs batted in.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1978 FRANK MACCORMACK

Today we have a “not so missing” 1978 card for an original Seattle Mariner, former pitcher Frank MacCormack, who happened to go to Rutgers University, not five minutes from my home here in New Jersey:

MacCormack, who made his MLB debut a season earlier with nine appearances with the Detroit Tigers, played in three games for Seattle in their inaugural 1977 campaign, not factoring in a decision while posting and earned run average of 6.31 over 7 innings of work.
Turns out, those would be the last appearances of his Big League career as he would spend the next two seasons in the Minor Leagues playing for Seattle and Detroit, retiring at the age of 24 after 1979.
All told, he finished his career with a record of 0-5, posting an ERA at 5.45 over 12 appearances and 39.2 innings pitched.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1979 RICK JONES

Today on the blog we have a 1979 “not so missing” card for former Seattle Mariners pitcher Rick Jones, who saw the last bit of Major League action of his career during the 1978 season:

Jones appeared in only three games in 1978, going 0-2 with an earned run average of 5.84 in 12.1 innings pitched, though he did strike out 11 in that time.
That would end up being the end of his Major League tenure after parts of three season in the Big Leagues, originally up with the Boston Red Sox in 1976 when he did very well as a 21-year-old, going 5-3 with a nice 3.36 ERA over 24 appearances, 14 of them starts, and 104.1 innings pitched.
Sadly for him, he would end up being selected by the new Seattle organization as the 22nd pick in the 1976 expansion draft, going from a division power-house to a cellar-dwelling Mariners club.
He would end up going 1-4 for Seattle during their inaugural season of 1977, with an ERA at 5.10 over 10 appearances, all starts, and 42.1 innings of work.
All told, he’d finish his MLB career with a record of 6-9, with an ERA at 4.02 over 37 appearances and 159 innings pitched.

1977 MARINERS REDO- STAN THOMAS

I haven’t done one of these in a while, but came across a nice photo of former Mariners pitcher Stan Thomas from Seattle’s inaugural 1977 season, so here’s a re-do of his 1977 Topps card, as well as the original as issued:

Re-done for the blog

Original Topps release

Thomas was drafted by Seattle away from the Cleveland Indians on November 5th of 1976 in the expansion draft after what was a pretty good year out of the bullpen when he went 4-4 with a 2.30 earned run average and six saves over 37 appearances and 105.2 innings pitched.
He would go on to make 13 appearances for the Mariners, going 2-6 with a 6.02 ERA before being sent to the New York Yankees, where he’d make only three appearances, going 1-0 with a 7.11 ERA in 6.1 innings.
Turns out that would be the last MLB action he’d see, closing out a four-year career with a record of 11-14 along with a 3.70 ERA and nine saves over 111 appearances and 265.1 innings.