"HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 1970'S" #23: McCOVEY SLAMS 500TH HOMER

Here's a card that would have been nice to pull fresh from a Topps pack in 1979: a "highlight" card celebrating Willie McCovey hitting his 500th home run.

Take a look:

McCovey reached the lofty mark on June 30th of 1978 against the Atlanta Braves, and became the twelfth slugger to reach that mark at the time.

Before McCovey, the last player to reach 500 home runs was Frank Robinson towards the end of the 1971 season.

"Stretch" would end up with 521 homers in his career, tying the great Ted Williams on the all-time list.

It's amazing to think, but McCovey missed a chunk of time throughout his career because of injuries, and it's hard not to wonder if 600 was possible for him had he stayed healthy.

Nevertheless, his 22 year career was worthy of Hall of Fame induction in 1986, capping a brilliant run that saw him suit up for the Giants, Padres, and A's between 1959 and 1980, making him one of those rare "four decade" players as well.

I followed the design for this card after my Gaylord Perry 3000th strikeout "highlight" card which I posted a couple months ago, and it seems to make for a decent "virtual" sub-set for the otherwise bland set Topps put out there, 35 years ago.

Hope you all agree…

MISSING IN ACTION...WELL SORT OF: 1973 BOB RAUCH

Ok, so this guy really didn't put in a lot of tome to warrant a card the following year, but I did find a great high-resolution image of him so I went ahead and designed a card anyway.

Check out my 1973 Bob Rauch Topps card:

Rauch's entire Major League career encompassed 19 games for the Mets in 1972, saving one and posting a record of 0-1.

Drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1967, Rauch would end up playing for the Dodgers, Mets, Indians and A's minor league systems, finally calling it a career in 1975.

I think it's fun working on cards of guys that barely registered a "blip" on the Major League scene, and I think I'll try coming up with more and more of them as time goes on.

Hope you enjoy them as well…

1975 "CY YOUNG AWARD" SUB-SET: WHAT IF? 1973

Here's a great year for the Cy Young Award: 1973, and the two future Hall of Famers who took it home during the off-season, Jim Palmer and Tom Seaver.

Take a look at my card:

For Palmer, it would be the first of three Cy Young Awards he'd receive in the 1970's, making him one of THE mounds men during his era pitching for the Baltimore Orioles.

Already a three-time 20 game winner before the 1973 season came around, Palmer would go on to post his best Major League season yet, going 22-9 with a league-leading 2.40 earned run average. 

Throw in his six shutouts among 19 complete games, and you also get a second place finish (behind Reggie Jackson) for league Most Valuable Player as well.

Over in the National League we have Tom Seaver, who would win his second such award in 1973 while pitching for the New York Mets.

Although he didn't post 20 or more wins that year, Seaver dominated National League batters, going 19-10 with a league-leading 2.08 earned run average.

He also chipped in 18 complete games, three shutouts and 251 strikeouts, which also paced the Senior Circuit.

Seaver would also go on to win a total of three such awards, and would go on to top 300 wins in 1985 before retiring with 311 total.

Sadly for Palmer, an injury which caused him to miss almost two years in 1967-68, as well as the baseball strike of 1981 would cost him any shot of hitting 300 wins.

But his EIGHT 20 win seasons in the decade were by far the most for any pitcher, and he still managed to finish with 268 wins for his before hanging them up.

This was Seaver and Palmer in the prime of their careers, and each would both have quite a few more stand out campaigns before they were through in the early to mid-1980's.

Next up on this thread is the final post for the "1975 Cy Young Sub-Set", as we take a look at the 1974 winners, thus wrapping up the year-by-year winners up to that awesome 1975 Topps set release.

"HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 1970'S" #22: SEAVER STRIKES OUT 19 TO TIE MARK IN 1970

I think I've mentioned this before, but even as a die-hard Yankee fan growing upon the 1970's and 1980's, I LOVED Tom Seaver, I was in AWE of Seaver, and I used to wish more than anything that he was a New York Yankee.

He just seemed other-worldy, and his baseball cards took on mythic stature in my young mind every year.

So I'm psyched, even some 35 years later, to design anything with Tom Seaver on it.

Today is one of those days, as I present a card that would have been awesome, had Topps cared to highlight historical events consistently through the decade of the 1970's: a 1971 card celebrating his 19-strikeout game, tying the all-time mark set just a year earlier by Steve Carlton, ironically enough against Seaver's own team, the Mets.

But first take a look at my card design:

Just a year after Carlton whiffed 19 Mets (even though the Mets won that game), Seaver matched the all-time mark on April 22nd, and in stunning fashion, striking out the final TEN San Diego Padres to finish with his 19 K's.

On top of all that, those ten strikeouts in a row are STILL the Major League high for consecutive K's in a game.

It was pure vintage Seaver, and those 19 strikeouts contributed to the 283 he totaled for the year, the National League leader in that department.

He'd also pace the N.L. in E.R.A., posting a league-low 2.82, while going 18-12 over 36 starts with a couple of shutouts.

If you're like me, there can never be enough cards of Tom Seaver in his prime, and hopefully I can come up with other reasons to create more "Tom Terrific" cardboard…

JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT- 1970'S BASEBALL TRIVIA PART #56- THE CINCINNATI REDS

Hello all.

Trivia time once again, and today the questions will revolve around Cincinnati Reds' pitching through the 1970's.

See how many you can get, and as usual, answers will be posted tomorrow.

1. Who was the only Reds pitcher to win 20 or more games in a season during the 1970's?

2. Who was the only Reds pitcher to post 200 or more strikeouts in the 1970's?

3. Who was the only Reds pitcher to post an E.R.A. under 2.00 during the decade?

4. What Reds hurler posted the most shutouts in a season during the 1970's?

5. What two Reds relievers combined for 51 saves in 1970?

***SPOILER ALERT! ANSWERS BELOW: 


1.  Jim Merritt, 1970. He went 20-11.

2. Tom Seaver, 1978. He whiffed 226 batters that year.

3. Gary Nolan, 1972. He came in at 1.99 that season.

4. Jack Billingham, 1973. He had seven shutouts that year.

5. Wayne Granger (35) and Clay Carroll (16).   

THEN AND NOW #2: HANK AARON 1976

Here's the second post regarding my "Then and Now" series of cards celebrating baseball stars at the twilight of their careers, this one of all-time great Hank Aaron.

Take a look:

Following my design concept seen in my first post (Bob Gibson), I've gone ahead and designed a 1976 card showing Aaron in his final season in the Majors, along with his 1954 Topps rookie card on the left.

No need to go into Aaron's career here, just want to enjoy this card and the series idea.

I always loved that 1983 "super veteran" sub-set Topps created (then again, I love everything about that 1983 set, period!), so I wanted to put a spin on that idea and create a card like that for various stars (and other guys who put together lengthy careers) throughout the 1970's.

So while you'll see cards of the obvious super-stars, I'll also throw in cards of guys like Don McMahon, Ted Abernathy, etc, who put together some solid "time" in a Major League uniform, and should be celebrated for their accomplishments.

Keep an eye out for them…

MISSING IN ACTION- 1977 LEON BROWN

Here's one for all you Mets fans out there!

Although he only appeared in 64 games in his Major League career (all in 1976), I came across a nice photo of former New York Mets outfielder Leon Brown recently and decided to design a 1977 card for him.

Take a look:

While I normally never designed cards for "missing" players with so little Major League action, I've decided to branch out a bit and start designing cards of players that fit the bill if I come across a decent enough photo, like Brown here.

As I stated earlier, Brown only appeared in 64 games in 1976, batting .214 with 15 hits in 70 at-bats while playing all three outfield positions.

While his Major League action was sparse, he did manage to pull together a 13-year Minor League career, playing for six organizations along the way: the Orioles, Giants, White Sox, Mets, Cardinals and Royals.

Ironically enough, he fared much better than his brother Curtis, who got into one Major League game, for the Montreal Expos, in 1973, going 0 for 4.