1981 DRAKES BIG PITCHERS: SPARKY LYLE

Good day all!

On the blog today, we post my 1981 "Drake's Big Pitchers" card for Sparky Lyle, from my custom set released a few months ago:

Fun card showing the relief specialist with the Philadelphia Phillies, for whom he finished the 1`980 season with after starting the year as a Texas Ranger.

Originally up with the Boston Red Sox in 1967, all he would do from then on is put in what I think is a Hall of Fame career, appearing in 899 games, all in relief, saving 238 games while posting a record of 99-76, with an ERA of 2.88.

He took home a Cy Young Award in 1977, helping the Yankees to their first title in 13 years, and finished in third for A.L. MVP in 1972 after getting traded from Boston in one of the most lopsided trades of all-time, as he saved a league-leading 35 games with a record of 9-5 and a 1.95 ERA.

One of the great characters of the game, his many quips, antics, etc are well documented, especially during his tenure with the "Bronx Zoo" Yankee dynasty through the 1978 season.

Just a great icon of 1970s baseball!

 

1981 DRAKES BIG PITCHERS: STEVE CARLTON

Up on the blog today we have my 1981 Drake's "Big Pitchers" card of Steve Carlton, from my recent custom set released a few months ago:

"Lefty" was in his absolute prime when this card would have seen the light of day in 1981, coming off his third Cy Young Award while helping the Philadelphia Phillies win their first World Championship.

He made his major League debut during the 1965 season, appearing in 15 games, with two of those starts, not factoring in a decision while pitching to a 2.52 earned run average as a 20-year-old.

In 1966 it would be more of the same, as he'd appear in only nine games, going 3-3 with a 3.12 ERA in 52 innings of work, striking out 25 while walking 18, also tossing the first shutout of his young Big League tenure.

1967 would see him begin his next level of play, as he'd go 14-9 with a 2.98 ERA over 30 appearances and 193 innings, with two shutouts and 168 strikeouts, helping the St. Louis Cardinals win it all, their second championship in three years.

For Carlton, all he did the rest of the way was take his game to an elite, astronomical level, as we see him top 300 wins, 4000 strikeouts, 50 shutouts and 700 starts in his 24 year career!

The first guy to take home four Cy Young Awards, he led his league in wins four times, strikeouts five times, E.R.A. once and was named to ten all-star teams.

Needless to say, by the time he was eligible for the Hall of Fame, he was in on his first try, getting named to 436 of 456 ballots.

Sure we already had "Lefty" Grove, and "Lefty" Gomez, but Carlton was more than worthy of the same nickname for all of his accomplishments.

One of the all-time greats, I'm so happy I got to see him pitch live during the 1980s!

 

CAREER-CAPPER: 1987 GARRY MADDOX

Good day all.

On the blog today, by special request, a 1987 "career-capper" for one of the greatest fielding outfielders of all-time, Garry Maddox, the "Secretary of Defense":

Maddox appeared in only six games for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1986, closing out a wonderful 15-year career that started with the San Francisco Giants in 1972.

Maddox, eventually to be known as the “Secretary of Defense” for his defensive prowess, came up with the San Francisco Giants in 1972 and had a nice rookie campaign when he hit .266 with 122 hits, 12 homers and 58 runs batted in.
The man went on to have an excellent Major League career over the next 15-years, primarily with the Philadelphia Phillies, where he was traded in 1975 for Willie Montanez.
He’d go on to win eight Gold Gloves, all with the Phillies, while hitting .285 for his career, throwing in about 25 stolen bases a year.
In 1976 he’d even hit as high as .330, earning him a fifth place finish in the National League’s MVP race, batting in a line-up with other stars like Mike Schmidt and Greg Luzinski.
He’d retire just a couple of weeks into the 1986 season, finishing up with that .285 batting average, 1802 hits, 248 stolen bases, and a reputation as being one of the greatest defensive outfielders to play the game.

 

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: FERGIE JENKINS

On the blog today, we add another future Hall of Famer to my custom "Classic Baseball" set, that of Fergie Jenkins, who I got a bit "cheeky" with and depicted him with the Philadelphia Phillies, his first Major League team:

For Jenkins, the 22-year-old appeared in seven games for the Phillies in 1965, going 2-1 over 12.1 innings with a very nice 2.19 EAR and 10 strikeouts.

After one game with Philadelphia in 1966 he was shipped to Chicago in a multi-player trade that the Phillies would LOVE to take back, as Jenkins would go on to reel off six straight 20-win seasons beginning in 1967, taking home the Cy Young Award in 1971.

As we all know, by the time he hung them up he put together a Hall of Fame career, topping 280 wins, 3000 strikeouts, with 49 shutouts, a Cy Young Award in 1971 and four other top-3 finishes in the award voting.
In 1991 he capped off his career with an induction into Cooperstown on his third try, just getting the 75% of the vote with 75.4% support.
On a geeky side-note, “Fly” was also the first pitcher to ever register 3000+ strikeouts while issuing less than 1000 base on balls.

The man was truly "Fly"!

 

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: GREG LUZINSKI

Time to add "The Bull", Greg Luzinski to my custom WTHBALLS "Classic Baseball" set, celebrating the great game and the Philadelphia Phillie slugger who terrorized pitchers through the decade of the 1970s:

Any time I can have a guy who slugs the heck out of the ball while also hovering near .300, I'll take him!

Between 1975 and 1978 Luzinski was a top-10 MVP candidate, with two second-place finishes in 1975 and 1977 when he drove in 120 and 130 runs respectively along with 34 and 39 home runs.
And like I stated earlier, he was a .300 hitter! He topped .300 three straight seasons, from 1975 to 1977 while making the All-Star team each year.
Thing about this: Luzinski retired after the 1984 season with 307 homers, 1128 runs batted in, and 1795 hits, and he was only 33 years of age.

He topped 100 RBIs four times, 20 homers seven times, and got MVP attention seven times.

It’s easy to forget that he really put up great numbers while retiring at a relatively young age, even if he played for parts of 15 seasons between 1970 and 1984.

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: MIKE SCHMIDT

On the blog today, we go and add perhaps the greatest third baseman of them all, Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt, to my "Classic Baseball" WTHBALLS custom set:

What a career Schmidt had: 12 All-Star nods, 10 Gold Gloves, three Most Valuable Player Awards, all while anchoring a Philadelphia Phillies team that would reach their apex in 1980, taking home the World Series with a victory over the Kansas City Royals.
By the time he hung them up in 1989, he’d hit 548 home runs, drive in 1595 runs while scoring 1506, while also stealing 174 bases! Easy to forget he could steal a base or two. As a matter of fact, it’s really easy to forget that he came one stolen base short of joining the (then) exclusive 30-30 club back in 1975, slamming 38 homers to lead the league while swiping 29.
Nevertheless, “Schmitty” rode that success straight to a Hall of Fame induction come 1995, a lock if there ever was one.

 

VINTAGE SPECIAL! "MISSING" 1954 WILSON'S FRANKS RICHIE ASHBURN

Today on the blog we have another of my "missing" 1954 Wilson's Franks cards, this one of Philadelphia Phillies legend Richie Ashburn, which was part of my recent custom set released late last year:

The former anchor of the Philadelphia Phillies, he won two batting titles over his career (1955 & 1958), while leading the league in hits three times, triples twice, stolen bases once, walks four times and on-base-percentage four times between 1948 and 1962.

By the time he hung up the cleats, he finished with 2574 hits, a .308 batting average, 1322 runs scored, 109 triples and 234 stolen bases in 2189 games.

Often overshadowed by contemporaries, the man was about as solid as they came, rarely missing a game during his prime and giving the Phillies a defensive whiz out in centerfield, leading the league in putouts every season between 1949 and 1958 except for 1955, while pacing the league in assists three times and "range factor" (for you new-stat guys) 10 times.

It's amazing to me that he was never selected for the Hall of Fame by the BWAA, and had to wait until 1995 to be selected by the Veteran's Committee for his rightful place in Cooperstown.

MISSING IN ACTION: 1977 DICK ALLEN (PHILLIES VERSION)

On the blog today, a "missing" 1977 card for new Hall of Famer Dick Allen, with this version being a Philadelphia Phillies version, as I created an Oakland A's version many years ago:

WTHBALLS Series 4 set

To be honest I don't know why I created an A's version originally way back when, and when it came time to use it in my "Series Four" custom set three years ago, I "fixed" it to show him with the Phillies, for whom he played in 1976.

I recently realized I never posted the "new" version on the blog, so here you go.

I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Dick Allen, even as a kid before I knew of all the controversy surrounding the lightning rod of a personality that the "Wampum Warrior" was throughout his career.

Sounds absurd, but it started way back in 1976 when my cousin (who was a few years older and got me into collecting cards) kept joking about the name "Dick Allen". Really makes no sense now, but it had us in stitches all day long, and ever since then I was hooked on this guy with the funny name and killer stats.

No one can take away from what he accomplished as a major leaguer: Rookie of the Year in 1964, Most Valuable Player in 1972, near Triple Crown that year, and leading his league in twelve statistical categories over his career.

It's easy to overlook the fact that in only 6332 career at-bats the man had 351 homers, 1119 runs batted in and 1848 hits.

To put that in perspective, Hank Aaron had almost DOUBLE the career at-bats as Allen. 

Now, I'm not trying to say that Allen could have been as consistent as Aaron was throughout his career, but it IS amazing to see what Allen accomplished at the plate in 6000+ at-bats.

The man was a force when he was healthy, but sadly, he just couldn't sustain it over the course of a nice, long, FULL career.

There are some guys I'll find ANY reason to design a card for, and Allen is definitely one of them!

Hope to have more here in the future…

SPECIAL: 1970s N.L. PLAYER OF THE DECADE: PETE ROSE

Today on the blog, we have my special "1970s National League Player of the Decade" card for Pete Rose, which was a special insert in my custom set which was released a couple years back:

On top of my selection as "Charlie Hustle" as the player of the decade for the Senior League, he was honored by the Sporting News as the overall "Player of the Decade" by the time the wild-70s were done.

In a decade where we had future powerhouse Hall of Famers like Johnny Bench, Tom Seaver, and Joe Morgan, Rose was the guy who came out in front of them all when it came time for me to select someone who would represent the go-go '70's.
In the ten years spanning 1970-1979, he was on two world champion teams, four pennant winners, had six 200-hit seasons, and lead his league in no less than 13 offensive categories!
And that's not all: in NINE of those years he received Most Valuable Player consideration, taking home the award in 1973.

For me, the man was a machine in the 1970s, and truly a sparkplug and celebrity that was the whole package when it came to becoming an American Icon.

Rest in Peace Mr. Rose...

 

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: STEVE CARLTON

Time to go and add "Lefty", Steve Carlton to my future custom printed "Classic Baseball" set, celebrating the game I have loved so much for close to five decades at this point:

Carlton made his major League debut during the 1965 season, appearing in 15 games, with two of those starts, not factoring in a decision while pitching to a 2.52 earned run average as a 20-year-old.

In 1966 it would be more of the same, as he'd appear in only nine games, going 3-3 with a 3.12 ERA in 52 innings of work, striking out 25 while walking 18, also tossing the first shutout of his young Big League tenure.

1967 would see him begin his next level of play, as he'd go 14-9 with a 2.98 ERA over 30 appearances and 193 innings, with two shutouts and 168 strikeouts, helping the St. Louis Cardinals win it all, their second championship in three years.

For Carlton, all he did the rest of the way was take his game to an elite, astronomical level, as we see him top 300 wins, 4000 strikeouts, 50 shutouts and 700 starts in his 24 year career!

The first guy to take home four Cy Young Awards, he led his league in wins four times, strikeouts five times, E.R.A. once and was named to ten all-star teams.

Needless to say, by the time he was eligible for the Hall of Fame, he was in on his first try, getting named to 436 of 456 ballots.

Sure we already had "Lefty" Grove, and "Lefty" Gomez, but Carlton was more than worthy of the same nickname for all of his accomplishments.

One of the all-time greats, I'm so happy I got to see him pitch live during the 1980s!

 

REVISITING A "MISSING" 1976 CARD: WAYNE SIMPSON

On the blog today, we revisit my "missing" 1976 card for pitcher Wayne Simpson, which was originally created for my buddy Jim for his "1976 Project".

The newest edition to the "1976 Project", as I like to refer to the series I am producing for "Reader Jim", is former pitcher Wayne Simpson, who I will admit played sparingly in 1975 for the Philadelphia Phillies, so Topps' omission of him in their set the following year is understood, but I felt was still a valid card to design.

Check out the card:

Simpson pitched in only seven games for the Phillies, five of them starts, totaling 30.2 innings of work. He posted a 1-0 record with a respectable 3.23 earned run average.

He missed the previous year after playing for the Kansas City Royals in 1973, and would actually miss all of 1976 before making a bit of a "comeback" with the California Angels in 1977 (see my 1978 "Missing in Action" card for him by clicking on his name on the right under "Labels").

Simpson came up with an absolute "BANG" in 1970, going 14-3 with a 3.02 E.R.A., two shutouts and 10 complete games in 24 starts with the Cincinnati Reds, finishing fourth in Rookie of the Year voting.

But arm injuries derailed his career, and he never reached those heights again before leaving the game after posting a 6-12 record for the Angels in 1977.

Normally I would not be designing a card for a guy who only appeared in seven games the previous year, but with "Reader Jim's" completist mission for the 1976 set, which happens to be my all-time favorite, I am always down to design more cards in the 1976 template. It's just a matter of finding the suitable images of the players themselves.

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: ROBIN ROBERTS

Let's go and add one of my favorite pitchers, Robin Roberts, to my on-going "Classic Baseball" custom set, due for a release somewhat soon as a multi-series set:

Roberts was a freaking 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!

 

REVISITING A POST FROM 10 YEARS AGO: "MISSING" 1976 JERRY MARTIN

Thought I'd revisit a post from exactly 10 years ago today, my "missing" 1976 card for Jerry Martin, which was part of a fun collection of creations for my buddy Jim's project:

Martin played in 57 games during the 1975 season for the Philadelphia Phillies, hitting .212 with 24 hits in 114 at-bats.
It was his second taste of the big leagues, and he’d go on to play for another nine years before hanging them up after the 1984 season after 51 games with the New York Mets.
In between he suited up for the Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants and Kansas City Royals, putting in his best seasons with the Cubs in 1979 and 1980 when he hit a combined 42 home runs with 146 runs batted in.

 

OPC IMAGE VARIATIONS: 1977 RICHIE HEBNER

Good day all!

On the blog today, we take another closer look at an image variation between OPC and Topps, this time the 1977 cards for the "Gravedigger", Richie Hebner:

OPC version

Topps version

I'm particularly fond of the cards where OPC just airbrushed the image Topps used on their card into the new uni for their card, in this case going from the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Hebner played the bulk of his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, with whom he came up to the Big Leagues, and had some solid seasons lost amid the years of the Roses, Stargells et al.

After putting in the first nine years of his career with the Pirates, Hebner signed as a Free Agent with the N.L. East rival Phillies in December of 1976, just in time for OPC to work their magic and airbrush the beauty you see here.

A solid player who'd go on to play 18 seasons under the Major League Sun, the third baseman hit as many as 25 homers, which happened in 1973, while also driving in as many as 82 runs, which he did for the Detroit Tigers in 1980.
By the time he retired in 1985 after a couple of seasons with the Chicago Cubs, he finished with a .276 batting average, with 1694 hits over 6144 at-bats in 1908 games, while also hitting 203 homers and driving in 890 runs.
Those numbers are actually pretty good considering the era he played in!
After his playing career, Hebner went on to coach, as well as do some managing in the Minors, all the way through the 2010 season at last check, a baseball lifer with an admirable Big League career.

REVISIT: 1975 "TRADED" DICK ALLEN FROM 2014

For fun today, revisiting a card I created 10 years ago for the blog,a 1975 "traded" card for the "Wampum Walloper" Dick Allen, who found himself back where it all began, the Philadelphia Phillies:

Really fun to play around with the 1975 template and create a landscape-oriented design, with that ever-so-beautiful All-Star designation.

Here's the original write-up for that post, which seems like a lifetime ago:

"Allen had quite an adventurous off-season between the 1974 and 1975 seasons, getting traded by the Chicago White Sox to the Atlanta Braves on December 3, 1974, only to THEN get swapped on May 7, 1975 by the Braves to his original Major League team, the Phillies.

While his original 1975 Topps card is a classic in my eyes, it does still have him on the "wrong" team. That is, NOT on the team he played with in '75.

He was coming off of a solid 1974 season which saw him lead the American League in homers (32) and slugging (.563) while batting .301 with 88 runs batted in and 84 runs scored.

But Allen pretty much wore out his welcome on the South Side of Chicago, leading to his departure.

After a couple of "so-so" seasons in Philadelphia, Allen wrapped up his career in 1977 after appearing in 54 games for the Oakland A's.

There are some guys I'll find ANY reason to design a card for, and Allen is definitely one of them!

Hope to have more here in the future…"

 

WTHBALLS CUSTOM SET SPOTLIGHT: 1890 "BASEBALL CHAMPIONS" ED DELAHANTY

Up on the blog today, we come to my custom card for the great Ed Delahanty, from my early custom "19th Century Base Ball Stars" set released many moons ago:

Beautiful portrait of the Hall of Famer, who put in 16 years in the Majors and tragically had his career cut short after passing away in a freak accident that saw him fall to his death after wandering on to the Niagara Falls bridge in a drunken state on July 2nd, 1903.

One of FIVE professional baseball brothers, Ed hit a tremendous .346 over his career, with 2597 hits in 7510 at-bats between 1888 and 1903, winning two batting titles and hitting .400+ three times, with four 200+ hit seasons, seven 100+ RBIs and 10 100+ run campaigns.

Incredibly, in 1894 with the Philadelphia Phillies, he was part of a starting outfield that saw each man hit over .400, with Delahanty at .405, Sam Thompson at .415, and Billy Hamilton at .403, while Tuck Turner, the reserve fourth outfielder, hit .418 over 382 plate appearances! Just amazing.

That starting outfield all would eventually make it to the Hall of Fame years later, and rightly so!

For his career, Delahanty also finished with 1600 runs scored, 522 doubles, 186 triples, 101 homers and 1466 RBIs, with a .411 on-base-percentage and .505 slugging, stealing 456 bases.

In 1945 he'd be selected for the Hall of Fame by the "Old Timers Committee", now knows as the Veterans Committee.

Incredible baseball player who sadly met a tragic end to his career, but most importantly his life on that day in 1903 at the age of 35.

 

WTHBALLS GUM PACK CUSTOM SET: MIKE SCHMIDT

Time to spotlight my mini card from my "Gum Pack" custom set released a few months back of perhaps the greatest third baseman the game has ever seen, that of Mike Schmidt of the Philadelphia Phillies:

What a career Schmidt had: 12 All-Star nods, 10 Gold Gloves, three Most Valuable Player Awards, all while anchoring a Philadelphia Phillies team that would reach their apex in 1980, taking home the World Series with a victory over the Kansas City Royals.
By the time he hung them up in 1989, he’d hit 548 home runs, drive in 1595 runs while scoring 1506, while also stealing 174 bases! Easy to forget he could steal a base or two. As a matter of fact, it’s really easy to forget that he came one stolen base short of joining the (then) exclusive 30-30 club back in 1975, slamming 38 homers to lead the league while swiping 29.
Nevertheless, “Schmitty” rode that success straight to a Hall of Fame induction come 1995, a lock if there ever was one.

REVISITING A POST FROM 2013: 1973 MIKE SCHMIDT DEDICATED ROOKIE

Thought it'd be fun today to revisit a post from October of 2013, a favorite creation of mine, my 1973 "dedicated rookie" for the great Mike Schmidt. One of the earliest dedicated rookies created for the blog.

Here's the post as it appeared way back when:

"Today I want to post up a card design for a rookie card I WISH existed instead of his multiple player version that Topps issued: Mike Schmidt and his 1973 introduction to the world of sports cards.
First off, let's look at his rookie card as we all know it:

Now, I'll admit it's not the worst rookie card out there, especially with Ron Cey carrying some weight as well.
But really, what could be better than a dedicated rookie of the greatest third baseman the game has ever seen?
I found a nice image of Schmidt during his rookie year and used it for my imaginary "rookie" shown below. Hope you all like it...

Not much to be said about Mike Schmidt that hasn't been said a million times before!
Growing up in the late-70's/early-80's, quite simply, he was THE third baseman in Major League baseball.
Three M.V.P.'s, 10 Gold Gloves, 12 All-Star games, and oh yeah...he hit 548 career homers and lead the National League EIGHT TIMES during his awesome eighteen-year career.
A no-brainer Hall of Famer whom was inducted on his first try in 1995. A "duh" if there ever was one.
"Schmitty" was the man"

 

WTHBALLS GUM PACK CUSTOM SET: STEVE CARLTON

The next mini-card from my custom "Gum Pack" set released a few months back to get profiled here is that of the great lefty Steve Carlton, four-time Cy Young winner and Hall of Famer:

Carlton made his major League debut during the 1965 season, appearing in 15 games, with two of those starts, not factoring in a decision while pitching to a 2.52 earned run average as a 20-year-old.

In 1966 it would be more of the same, as he'd appear in only nine games, going 3-3 with a 3.12 ERA in 52 innings of work, striking out 25 while walking 18, also tossing the first shutout of his young Big League tenure.

1967 would see him begin his next level of play, as he'd go 14-9 with a 2.98 ERA over 30 appearances and 193 innings, with two shutouts and 168 strikeouts, helping the St. Louis Cardinals win it all, their second championship in three years.

For Carlton, all he did the rest of the way was take his game to an elite, astronomical level, as we see him top 300 wins, 4000 strikeouts, 50 shutouts and 700 starts in his 24 year career!

The first guy to take home four Cy Young Awards, he led his league in wins four times, strikeouts five times, E.R.A. once and was named to ten all-star teams.

Needless to say, by the time he was eligible for the Hall of Fame, he was in on his first try, getting named to 436 of 456 ballots.

Sure we already had "Lefty" Grove, and "Lefty" Gomez, but Carlton was more than worthy of the same nickname for all of his accomplishments.

One of the all-time greats, I'm so happy I got to see him pitch live during the 1980s!

WTHBALLS CUSTOM SET SPOTLIGHT: 19TH CENTURY "BASEBALL CHAMPIONS" BILLY HAMILTON

Up on the blog today, the next custom card from my early set, "19th Century Base Ball Champions", featuring the game's best players from the 1800's, this time giving the spotlight to Billy Hamilton, Hall of Fame outfielder:

If you're not familiar with this incredible player, do yourself a favor and check out his career and get ready to have your mind blown!

Over his 14-year Major League career, Hamilton hit a blistering .344 while scoring 1697 runs in 1594 games. You read that correctly! The man averaged more than a run per game over 14 years!

In 1894 he set what is STILL the Major League record for runs scored in a season when he made it home 198 times in only 132 games!

This was a season when he hit .403 for Philadelphia with an on-base-percentage of .521, with 100 stolen bases, 225 hits and 90 runs batted in.

A career that is heavily marked up in the "black ink", he stole over 100 bases four times, hit over .350 five times, won two batting titles, and scored 100+ runs in a season eleven times.

His numbers upon retirement in addition to those mentioned earlier: 2164 hits, 914 stolen bases and a .455 on-base-percentage.

Incredibly, in 1894 with the Phillies, he formed a .400-hitting outfield alongside Hall of Famers Ed Delahanty (.405) and Sam Thompson (.415), while even the UTILITY outfielder Tuck Turner hit .418 over 382 plate appearances!

Get this: as a TEAM, that Phillies team hit .350 that year. Absolutely insane.

In 1961 Hamilton was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans committee, and he also got renewed fame later in the 1970's when Lou Brock was chasing the all-time stolen base title.

A somewhat forgotten all-time great that helped set the game on its path as the sport we have today.