NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1973 DAVE LEONHARD

Here’s a 1973 “not so missing” card for former Orioles pitcher Dave Leonhard, who wrapped up a six-year Major League career in 1972 with 14 appearances:

Leonhard, who spent all of his Big League time with the Orioles, didn’t factor in a decision while pitching to a 4.50 earned run average over 20 innings of work.
Over his career, which began in 1967, he went 16-14 with a nice 3.15 ERA over 117 appearances, 29 of them starts, while throwing 337 innings.
He saw his most single-season action in 1968 when he posted a record of 7-7 over 28 games, with an ERA of 3.13 with two shutouts in 126.1 innings.
Not a bad time to come up with the Baltimore organizations, as he was a member of three World Series bound teams in his six seasons, appearing in two of them: 1969 and 1971.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1972 PAUL RATLIFF

Today I present one of my personal “white whales”, a 1972 “not really missing” card for former catcher Paul Ratliff of the Milwaukee Brewers:

Luckily, I’m doing a small project for the Brewers organization, and my buddy Jason over there was able to track an image of Ratliff in Brewers garb!
Ratliff was traded over to the Brewers from the Minnesota Twins for Phil Roof, and played 23 games for his new team to finish off the 1971 season.
He’d end up playing another 22 games for them in 1972, which would end up being the last MLB action he’d see in his Big League career.
Originally up in 1963 with the Twins as a 19-year-old, he was on a multi-player rookie card in the 1963 Topps set, then would have to wait all the way to 1970 for another card, sharing it with tragic figure Herman Hill.
I don’t know what happened after the 1972 season, but it seems that Ratliff never even played Minor League ball after that.
Anyone know what happened?
As it was, he finished his four-year MLB career with a .205 average over 145 games and 297 at-bats, with 61 hits and 12 home runs to go with 28 runs scored and 42 runs batted in.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1974 EDDIE SOLOMON

Time to go and give former pitcher Eddie Solomon a “not so missing” 1974 card after his first taste of the Big Leagues the previous season:

Solomon, who would go on to pitch 10 years in the Major Leagues, appeared in four games for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1973, not factoring in a decision with a 7.11 earned run average over 6.1 innings.
He’d appear in just four games the following season as well, but would see much better results, posting an ERA of 1.50 over 6 innings, allowing just one earned run.
He’d spend the rest of his career as an arm that could start or come out of the bullpen, mainly with the Atlanta Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates, for whom he pitched between 1977 and 1982.
He finished his career with a record of 36-42, along with an ERA of exactly 4.00 over 191 appearances and 718 innings, with 95 of those games as starts.
Sadly, in January of 1986 at the young age of only 34, he died in a car accident in Macon, Georgia.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1972 BOB CHLUPSA

Here’s a “not so missing” 1972 card for a pitcher who appeared in exactly one game for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1971, Bob Chlupsa:

After appearing in 14 games for the Cardinals in 1970 as a rookie, Chlupsa made it back to the Big Leagues the following season, but for one game, and two innings of work.
Facing nine batters, Chlupsa allowed three hits and two earned runs while striking out one, giving him an “even” 9.00 earned run average for his efforts.
After starting the season in 1972 in the Cardinals Minor League system, he was traded over to the San Diego Padres, where he pitched for the Hawaii Islanders for the final season and a half of his career, never making it back to a Major League mound.
For his brief 15 game MLB career, he finished 0-2 with a 8.84 ERA over 18.1 innings pitched, all out of the bullpen.

1975 IN-ACTION: RUSTY STAUB

Today I post up a card for a guy who is in our thoughts, “Le Grande Orange” Rusty Staub, who put together a magnificent 23-year Major League career:

Staub was putting in some solid years for the New York Mets when this card would have come out, though he’d find himself soon traded to the Detroit Tigers in part of the Mickey Lolich trade, a terrible move for the Mets.
A six-time All-Star, he would finish his great career as the premier pinch-hitter in the game, the last five of which were back at Shea Stadium with the Mets, beloved by so many, even Yankee fans like me.
By the time he retired he finished with 2716 hits, 292 homers, 1466 runs batted in and 1189 runs scored, becoming one of the few players to homer as both a teenager and a 40-year old. At the time he achieved the feat Ty Cobb was the only other player to do it as well.
“Le Grand Orange” Rusty Staub, fan-favorite.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1978 PUCHY DELGADO

You’d think a guy with as cool a name as Puchy Delgado would have gotten a card, or even a slot on a multi-player rookie card, in 1978 after a brief stint in the Big Leagues, but no dice, so I made one and present it today:

Delgado was a September call-up for the Seattle Mariners in their inaugural season of 1977, batting .182 with four hits in 22 at-bats, all singles.
Turns out it would be the only Major League experience he’d get, playing out the rest of his Pro career in the Minors through the 1979 season, the last of which was in the Kansas City Royals organization.
Between 1973 and 1976 he was actually a member of the Boston Red Sox organization, getting drafted by Seattle in the expansion draft.

NICKNAMES OF THE 1970'S: "TUGBOAT" THURMAN MUNSON

Time to go and give the Yankees captain, Thurman “Tugboat” Munson, a “Nicknames of the 1970’s” card, using the 1977 format since he was coming off of arguably his best Major League season:

Munson was just coming off of an MVP season in 1976, batting .302 while driving in over 100 runs for the second straight season while leading the Yankees to their first World Series appearance since 1964. He also burned on the base paths, stealing a career-high 14 bases!
What amazes me is that over 616 at-bats and 665 plate appearances the man struck out only 38 times. Just incredible.
His stretch between 1975 and 1978 is also incredible since he averaged about 185 hits over the four-year span, something I believe hasn’t been matched by any other MLB catcher before him, and only Ivan Rodriguez since.
Such a great career cut short by tragedy, though as I recall, Munson was seriously considering retirement by the end of the decade because of nagging injuries and missing his family because of the grind of a full-season.
Nevertheless, a Rookie of the Year in 1970, an MVP in 1976, and two straight championships in 1977 and 1978. A wonderful career for the New York Yankees legend.