WTHBALLS CUSTOM SET SPOTLIGHT: 1960S STARS OF THE GAME: TED WILLIAMS

Up on the blog today we showcase my 1960 custom "1960s Stars of the Game" card for the great Ted Williams, who was wrapping up a legendary career by the time this card would have seen the light of day:

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.

The man was just incredible!

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: TED WILLIAMS

Today on the blog, the "Splendid Splinter" Ted Williams gets his place in my custom "Classic Baseball" set, a WTHBALLS unique set that should see the light of day as a printed set this year:

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.

The man was just incredible!

 

1960s "IN-ACTION" SPECIAL: 1960 TED WILLIAMS

The next "1960s In-Action" special to be profiled on the blog, my 1960 edition for the greatest hitter of them all, Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox:

Part of my recent custom printed set, it imagined if Topps had started using true action photography many years before 1971, when in-game play began finding its way into packs.

Just a wonderful photo of the "Splendid Splinter" up at bat during his magnificent career, in horizontal format as the 1960 set originally was.

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.

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS: LEGENDS EDITION: TED WILLIAMS

As promised yesterday, completing the "Ted Williams Weekend" here on the blog, today I present to you my 1971 "Minor League Days Legends Edition", showing perhaps the greatest hitter the game has ever seen before his remarkable Big League career while still toiling in the Minors:

Williams put in two years with the San Diego Padres, playing as a 17 and 18 year old in 1936/1937.

He performed admirably considering his age, hitting .271 and .291 before making the jump to Minneapolis in 1938.

His season with Minneapolis was killer, as he hit .366 with 43 homers and 142 runs batted in over 148 games for the Millers, giving everyone a glimpse as to what to expect from the lanky hitting prodigy once he hit the Majors.

“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.

1960'S CAREER-CAPPERS INSERTS: TED WILLIAMS

We are going to make this a Ted Williams weekend these next couple of days, beginning with my 1960s "Career-Cappers" insert spotlight of the "Splendid Splinter", from my custom set released a few years ago:

Randomly inserted into each set, these thick stock square cards were the perfect compliment to my capper set giving these legends their rightful "last card".

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: 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.

CAREER-CAPPER: 1961 TED WILLIAMS

On the blog today, another 1960's "career-capper" from my card set released a couple of years ago celebrating the greats of the game that retired during that decade, this time a 1961 card celebrating perhaps the greatest hitter that ever lived, Ted Williams:

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.

 

TURN BACK THE CLOCK: 1947 TED WILLIAMS

Up on the blog today, we have a 1972 "Turn back the Clock" card celebrating the great Ted Williams and his SECOND Triple Crown season:

 

The man was a hitting machine!

All he did during that historic 1947 campaign was lead the American League with 125 runs scored, 32 homers, 114 runs batted in and a .343 average, along with a .499 on-base percentage and a .634 slugging percentage, YET finished second behind the New York Yankees Joe DiMaggio for the MVP Award. Total joke!

Just five years before that he also took home the Triple Crown when he led the league with 141 runs scored, 36 homers, 137 RBIs and a .356 average, this a year after he hit .406 in the legendary 1941 season.

Easily the greatest all-around hitter the game ever saw, Williams took home six batting titles, four home run titles and four RBI titles over his career, a career that saw him lose five seasons because of military service because of World War II and the Korean War.

Just incredible to think he could have reached 700 home runs, 2000+ RBIs, 2000+ runs scored and 3500 hits if not for time lost for reasons other than injury.

I will forever be in awe of this man and what he accomplished both on and off the playing field.

FOR FUN- A REDONE 1973 TEXAS RANGERS MANAGER CARD

Up on the blog today, I thought it’d be fun to re-do the 1973 Topps Texas Rangers manager card to reflect the skipper at the helm of the team in their first season down is Texas, the great Ted Williams. So here you go:

 

 

Originally, Topps had an airbrushed card showing manager Whitey Herzog, who was about to lead the team in 1973, but I thought a card showing the Hall of Famer would be fun to add to the “virtual” collection.

Williams had a rough year in 1972, leading the team to a record of 54-100, a last-place finish in the American League West, after the team was moved from Washington DC after the 1971 season.

Except for his first season of managing in 1969, when he led the team to a nice 86-76 record, good for a fourth-place finish, Williams didn’t fare much better, losing 92 games in 1970 and 96 games in 1971.

With a new manager in place, the team didn’t do much better, going on to lose 105 games in 1973, with Herzog dumped as skipper 138 games later after guiding them to a record of 47-91, before getting Billy Martin to step in and lead the team for the last 23 games of the year, going 9-14.

Nevertheless, I’ll never complain about another Ted Williams card in ANY collection, even a manager card well into the 1970s!

CUSTOM SPOTLIGHT- "MISSING" 1959 TED WILLIAMS

On the blog today, I spotlight my "missing" 1959 card for Ted Williams, which was part of my custom "Whole Nine" set released last Summer:

Of course we all know that Williams was left out of the Topps sets in 1959 and 1960 because of his deal with Fleer, but that just gives us an opportunity to create our magic all these years later!

“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 (‘cause I ain’t doing it now) 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.

1971 SPECIAL- "THE SPLENDID SPLINTER" AND "MR. OCTOBER"

When I came across this image a long while back, I always knew I wanted to create a 1971 “special” card showing two icons of the game, Ted Williams and Reggie Jackson:

While Williams was now a manager for the Washington Senators, some ten years removed from his Hall of Fame playing days, the young Reggie Jackson was just beginning to lay down HIS Cooperstown resume.
Perhaps the greatest hitter who ever lived talking to the greatest clutch performer the game has ever seen.
You can imagine that anything Williams would talk to you about, as a young budding superstar, you whole-heartedly soaked up, word for word.
Today, almost 50 years after this image was taken, both legends of the game are Hall of Famers and remembered as two of the greatest to put on a Major League uniform during their eras.
I just love images like this and hope to keep producing special cards for the blog along these lines. Hope you enjoy them!

TURN BACK THE CLOCK-1960: TED WILLIAMS GOES OUT IN STYLE!

Knowing what we know about all-time great Ted Williams, how could career end in any other way, correct?
So let’s celebrate arguably the greatest all-around hitter of all-time with a 10th anniversary card in the 1970 set of his home run in the final at-bat of his legendary career:

“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 (‘cause I ain’t doing it now) 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!
So yes, having his Hall of Fame career end with a home run, the 29th of his final season, makes total sense to me.
On a side note, David Ortiz is currently putting together what can be the greatest “final season” in baseball history, and it is just awesome to watch it all unfold.
The numbers he’s on pace to finish with are staggering for someone (who still) states that he is retiring at the end of the year.

TURN BACK THE CLOCK: TED WILLIAMS HITS .388 IN 1957

Today I want to celebrate the “Splendid Splinter” Ted Williams, and his incredible .388 batting average at the age of 38 in 1957 to win the fifth of his six career batting titles:

During the campaign Williams put in a “typical” on-for-him season when he collected 163 hits over 420 at-bats, with 119 base-on-balls, along with 38 home runs and 87 runs batted in and 96 runs scored.
He led the American league in batting, on-base with an incredible .526 mark and slugging with an equally impressive .731 mark, leading to his fourth second-place finish in MVP voting, getting beat out by the New York Yankees Mickey Mantle for the honor.
The man was truly a “hitting-machine”, perhaps the greatest pure hitter ever (or the Babe? Or Cobb? Musial?).
It’s funny that Topps went and created a 20th anniversary card in the “Turn Back the Clock” sub-set in 1957 for Bob Keegan and his no-hitter of all things, yet didn’t feel THIS accomplishment by one of the all-time greats deserved one.
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.

TOPPS 1976 "ALL-TIME ALL-STARS"- AN EXPANDED VIEW #8: OUTFIELDERS (3rd SET OF THREE)

Time to take a look at the final outfield slot in my "All-Time All-Stars" expanded sub-set from the 1976 Topps set.

And while we revisit the Sporting News pick for the third outfield position, Ted Williams, we also take a look at who I picked to fill out the National League team, Cardinal great Stan Musial.

I thought it would be appropriate to have Williams and Musial together on my "team" since they were contemporaries during the "Golden Age" of baseball.

Take a look at the cards: the Williams card as issued by Topps in 1976 and my design for the Musial card…

"The Splendid Splinter"

"Stan the Man"

What is really needed to say here regarding these two guys?!

Ted Williams and Stan Musial: two of the greatest all-around hitters in Major League history.

Power, average, getting on base. There was nothing they didn't excel at!

All Ted Williams did was win six batting titles, four home run titles and four R.B.I. titles, ending up with 521 homers, 1839 ribbies and a .344 career average while MISSING about five prime years of his career to military duty! Seriously, we could be talking of Williams having 700 homers, 4000 hits and about 2300 runs batted in if it wasn't for his missed playing time.

And for Musial, the numbers are almost as 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.

Combined we're looking at five Most Valuable Player Awards, eight second place finishes, and an astonishing 88 league titles in important offensive categories over their 41 combined Major League seasons.

What a tandem right here. Monsters of the game if there ever were any.

Funny thing is I always felt Stan Musial was often overlooked in the decades leading to his death last year.

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. 

Go figure.

Anyway, next up we leave the outfield positions and move on to pitchers, starting off with the All-Time right-handers for both the National and American Leagues.

Stay tuned…