THEN AND NOW #30: RON FAIRLY 1979

As a kid collecting cards feverishly in the late-70's, I was always mesmerized by turning to the back and seeing a player's career begin in the 1950's.

Today's "Then and Now" subject is one of those players: Ron Fairly.

Check out my card celebrating his long career:

Fairly put in 21 years in the Major Leagues, most of them with the Los Angeles Dodgers (11+ seasons), and the Montreal Expos (5+ seasons).

But he also put in some time with the St. Louis Cardinals, Oakland A's, Toronto Blue Jays and California Angels.

By the time he retired after the 1978 season he collected just under 2000 hits, 215 home runs, 1044 runs batted in and a .266 batting average over 2442 games and 7184 at-bats.

Over those years he won three World Championships, all with the Dodgers: 1959, 1963 and 1965.

A nice career overall.

Guys like Fairly, Tim McCarver and Willie McCovey always had me glued to the backs of their cards, staring at "the 1950's" nestled into the small print because of their long careers.

It's really what got be hooked into hunting down cards from the "Golden Years" of baseball, when the Dodgers were still in Brooklyn and the Giants were up in Manhattan.

For a kid in New York it was awesome...

MISSING IN ACTION-"IN ACTION" #24: 1972 ORLANDO CEPEDA

Let's go and give another future Hall of Fame player a "missing" In Action card in the 1972 set: the "Baby Bull" Orlando Cepeda.

Check it out:

Cepeda wasn't quite finished with his excellent 17-year career by 1972, as he'd have a nice comeback year as a full-time designated hitter for the Red Sox in 1973, but his all-star days were behind him by this point.

Between 1972 and 1974 he'd play for four organizations (Braves, A's, Red Sox and Royals), but nevertheless he'd retire with over 2300 hits, 1100 runs scored, 375 home runs, 1300 runs batted in and a nice .297 batting average.

A seven time all-star, he was both a Rookie of the Year in 1958 and a Most valuable Player in 1967.

He had to wait a while for Cooperstown to let him into their hallowed doors, as he wasn't elected by the BBWA during his 15 years of eligibility.

It wasn't until the Veteran's Committee elected him in 1999 that he would join former Giants teammates Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Juan Marichal (among others) in upstate New York as a certified baseball "legend".

JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT- 1970'S BASEBALL TRIVIA PART #85: BASEBALL CARDS

Here's something I should have done a while ago with the weekly quiz: base it on baseball cards from the decade!

Take a stab and see how many you can get.

Answers will be posted tomorrow.

1. What American League shortstop was supposed to be shown as an "all-star" in the 1979 Topps set, but wasn't?
2. What American league outfielder was supposed to be shown as an "all-star" in the 1978 set, but for some reason wasn't?
3. In 1976, Topps had two players shown as "N.L. All-Star" for third base. Who were they?
4. In the 1975 set, there's an American League outfielder missing in the "all-star" line-up of cards. Who was it?
5. Can you name the FIVE Cincinnati Reds who were "all-stars" in the 1977 set?

***SPOILER ALERT! ANSWERS BELOW:

1. Freddie Patek, Royals.

2. Richie Zisk.

3. Pete Rose and Ron Cey.

4. Reggie Jackson, A's.

5. Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, George Foster and Dave Concepcion.

NICKNAMES OF THE '70'S #21: "EL TIANTE" LUIS TIANT

Here's a nickname card for one of those characters of the day, Luis Tiant, aka "El Tiante".

Take a look at my card design:

I decided on a 1975 template for him since he was in the middle of a resurgence at the time, and was on his way to a World Series with the Red Sox.

With his career seemingly done in 1970/71, Tiant found himself in Boston and immediately was back in form, leading the American League in earned run average with a sterling 1.91 in 1972 along with six shutouts in only 19 starts.

In three of the next four seasons he'd top 20 wins, and was on his way to a solid, if not arguably Hall-worthy 19-year career, retiring after the 1982 season after pitching in six games with the California Angels.

By that time he fashioned a 229-172 record, with a 3.30 E.R.A., 49 shutouts and 2416 strikeouts, with two seasons of sub-2.00 E.R.A., four 20-win campaigns as well as three 200+ strikeout years.

As a kid in Brooklyn, New York in the late 70's I remember him with the Yankees, and always thought he looked like some cool granpa who was always cracking jokes. In other words, I loved him!

After getting 30.9% support in his first year on the Hall of Fame ballot in 1988, he never got close again to those numbers, topping out at 18.0% in his final year of eligibility in 2002.

But it's easy to say that "El Tiante" definitely left his mark on the game during his time on the mound!

MISSING IN ACTION- 1976 WAYNE SIMPSON: "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.

MISSING IN ACTION- 1972 RICK REICHARDT

Here's a "missing" card for an interesting figure in baseball history: a 1972 Topps card for former "Bonus Baby" Rick Reichardt.

Check out my card design:

For those of you who don't know, Reichardt is the reason Major League baseball came up with the amateur draft in 1965 after a crazy bidding war ensued the year before for Reichardt's services, leading the Los Angeles Angels to eventually "win" out and signing him for $200,000 then (over $1.5 million today).

Reichardt was a two-sport star in college, playing both baseball and football for the University of Wisconsin, twice leading the Big-10 in batting and excelling as a fullback for the eventual #2 ranked football team in 1962.

However, as we've seen so many times before and since, injuries took their toll on his career, and although he had some decent years as a big leaguer, he could never become the star everyone thought they'd see when he came up.

After hitting 16 homers with a .288 average in only 89 games in 1966, he came back in 1967 with 17 homers, 69 runs batted in and a .265 average, followed by 21 homers, 73 R.B.I.'s and a .255 average in 1968.

In 1970 he was traded to the Washington Senators where he posted similar numbers both that year and the next, but further injuries kept him from full-time play, leading to his career coming to a close in 1974 after only one at-bat with Kansas City, where he played most of 1973.

I don't know why Topps left him out of his card sets in 1972, 1973 and 1974 since he did play enough for card appearances, especially since he does have a special place of sorts in baseball lore.

Perhaps (as with some other guys back then) he didn't want to be on a card or had contractual issues with Topps?

Who knows? But I will also be designing those "missing" cards as well in the near future.

RANDOM QUICKIE: BILL STEIN AND HIS REPEATING IMAGE: 1976 AND 1977

Here's a quick post regarding former infielder Bill Stein and his 1976 and 1977 Topps cards.

I always get a kick out of images Topps blatantly used more than once, especially in consecutive years, like they did here:

1976

1977

In this case the guys at Topps closed in on the photo while airbrushing Stein into a Seattle Mariners uni (notice the great logo on the cap!).

For some reason Topps decided that Stein was a second baseman in 1976 and a third baseman in 1977, even though he played equal amounts both years for both positions. 

Stein did manage to forge a decent 14-year Major League career for himself between 1972 and 1985, playing in 959 games with 2811 at-bats while playing the infield and outfield.

His finest season could arguably be the inaugural Mariners year of 1977 when he hit .259 with 13 home runs and 67 runs batted in, along with 53 runs scored and 26 doubles in 151 games as the Mariners very first full-time third baseman.

It would actually be the only season where he played full-time, generally relegated to platoon status throughout his big league career.

I'll be looking at a few more cards that fall into this practice by Topps, so if you're into this type of stuff keep an eye out for it.