OPC IMAGE VARIATION: 1977 STEVE ROGERS

Today on the blog, we take a look at another image variation between Topps and their North-of-the-border OPC cousin, this time the 1977 cards for Montreal Expos ace Steve Rogers:

OPC version

Topps version

 

Easily we can see that while Topps used an older image of the pitcher, showing him without a mustache, OPC had an up-to-date image with the man how we remember him.

Just nicer photography overall.

Rogers, who would go on to play all 13 years of his career with the Montreal Expos, had himself a wonderful rookie campaign in 1973, finishing second in the league’s rookie of the year voting with a 10-5 record along with a microscopic 1.54 earned run average with three shutouts over 17 starts and 134 innings pitched.
I always felt he should have won the award over Garry Mathews actually, completing seven of his starts and giving up only 23 earned runs while striking out 64.
Of course Rogers would go on to become an all-star pitcher, having five such nods over his career, while finishing second in the Cy Young vote in 1982, then coming in fourth the following season.
Arm trouble cut his career somewhat short at the age of 35 in 1985, as he retired with a record of 158-152, pitching on some tough losing teams early in his MLB tenure.
Nevertheless, the man put in some stellar performances on a Big League mound, leading the league in shutouts twice, ERA in 1982, and ending up with 37 shutouts over 399 appearances.

"MINOR LEAGUE DAYS": LEGENDS EDITION: DUKE SNIDER

Up on the blog today, the newest "Legend" we add to my 1971 "Minor League Days Legends Edition", Duke Snider of the Brooklyn Dodgers:

Before becoming one of the great power-hitting players in the National League in the 1950s, Snider put in some time with the Montreal Royals of AAA in 1947, hitting .327 with 17 homers and 77 runs batted in over 77 games, giving the Dodger fans a better idea of what to expect after a brief Big League call up the previous year when he played in 40 games, hitting .241 as a 20-year-old.

All he would do from then on was hit, finishing his career with the San Francisco Giants in 1964, capping off a great 18-year Major League career that saw him make eight All-Star teams while post six seasons where he finished in the top-10 for N.L. MVP.

Snider was an absolute beast of a hitter through the 1950's with the Dodgers, driving in over 100 runs six times, 30+ homers six times including five straight seasons of 40 or more, five years of scoring over 100 runs and seven seasons of .300 hitting or better.

A HUGE cog in the Brooklyn Dodger machine of the 1950s, he was also part of the "Holy Trinity of New York center-fielders of the era, along with Willie Mays of the New York Giants and Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees.

What a time it must have been to be a young baseball fan!

1972 25TH ANNIVERSARY JACKIE ROBINSON SPECIAL: "WORLD CHAMPION"

Good day everyone!

On the blog today, we move on to the next stage of the great Jackie Robinson's historic career, this time his World Championship of 1955, the year "Dem Bums" finally beat their dreaded crosstown rivals, the New York Yankees:

Of course the image I used is his famous steal of home that Hall of Famer Yogi Berra swore to his last days that Jackie was out.

The momentum was all Dodgers this time, even though it took the Dodgers seven games to finally win it all.

The Yankees won the first two games of the Fall Classic, but the Dodgers reeled off three straight, marking the home team winning the first five games of the series.

After the Yanks came back to force a game seven in the sixth game, winning 5-1 behind Whitey Ford and his second win of the series, the Dodgers handed the ball to young Johnny Podres, who would go on to shut out the powerful Yankee line-up 2-0, giving the fans of Brooklyn their long-awaited win.

For Jackie, he didn't have the best of series, hitting only .182 with four hits over 22 at-bats, but he did score five runs, while stealing that ever-important base at home during Game 1.

Nevertheless, the man took home a World Championship while giving the fans of Brooklyn more to cheer about before having their hearts ripped from their chests just three years later when the team would move to Los Angeles.

THE NEWEST WTHBALLS SET: 1969 "GIMMIE A DO-OVER" AVAILABLE NOW

Good day everyone! Hope all of you are well!

Time for the newest WTHBALLS offering, my 1969 "Gimmie a Do-Over" set, which features 12 cards that are long overdue for a reworking, using new images instead of the recycled job Topps put out there way back when:

 

As you all know, with Topps and the MLBPA having a bit of a dispute back then, Topps got snarky and used a bunch of images from years prior to complete their 1969 set.

Sadly for us collectors, this also meant that players like Willie Mays, Carl Yastrzemski and Hank Aaron were part of the recycled bunch.

Well in this set, I tried to "fix" that problem, including the famous Aurelio Rodriguez card that originally showed the Angels batboy, and the horrendous Ken Harrelson card, which clearly showed him in a Kansas City Athletics uni, though designated a Red Sox player.

In addition to the 12 cards fixed here, I also included a deckle black and white card for Reggie Jackson AND a mini 1969 decal-style sticker of one of the cards.

I tried finding a printer that could handle actual rub-off decals, but only found one, and their minimum was 1000! Ha! "Too rich for my blood"!

Anyway, this set is $14 plus the usual $4.50 shipping, no matter how many packs you buy.

Of course, the usual paypal address: slogun23@gmail.com

Really a fun set to create and add to the WTHBALLS binder!

Thank you all for the continued interest and support!

Take Care

Gio

1971 "BASEBALL'S GREATEST MOMENTS": LUIS TIANT

Time to add "El Tiante", Luis Tiant to my extended "Baseball's Greatest Moments" missing extension set, celebrating both he and perhaps the greatest Topps odd-ball set ever made:

I celebrated the man's incredible 1968 campaign, which would have earned him a Cy Young Award in any other season but the 1968 "Year of the Pitcher".

Of course, we know that with Denny McLain winning 31 games and leading the Detroit Tigers to a World Championship, he had that award wrapped up, as well as the MVP.

But for Tiant, it was a year to remember, as he gave the Cleveland Indians a 1-2 punch on the mound any team would envy, teaming up with flamethrower Sam McDowell.

All Tiant did that season for the Cleveland Indians was go 21-9 with nine shutouts over 32 starts, 19 of which he completed, and sport a sparkling 1.60 E.R.A. along with 264 strikeouts!

He also threw nine shutouts while tossing  while allowing only 5.3 hits per nine innings, with a stellar 0.871 WHIP.

Forget Cy Young Award, those are MVP numbers!

By the time he finished his career in 1982, 18 years later, he finished with 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.

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.

Do I think he's a Hall of Fame pitcher? Tough call based on statistics alone. However I do feel that when you add in his personality, his long-lasting mark on the game in that time and place, he should be in.

1971 TOPPS ROOKIE ALL-STARS: JOHN ELLIS

Up on the blog today, we look at the next unreleased 1971 Topps Rookie All-Star card from a very desirable rare prototype set, John Ellis of the New York Yankees:

Ellis had a decent 1970 season for the Yanks, appearing in 78 games while hitting .248, easily signifying a "down" year for rookie first baseman if you ask me.

He'd go on to play thirteen years in the Majors, generally at first or behind the plate as a catcher, never truly a full-timer except for the 1973 and 1974 seasons while with the Cleveland Indians.

By the time he hung them up after the 1981 season, Ellis finished with a .262 career average, with 699 hits in 2672 at-bats, with 69 homers and 391 runs batted in, playing for the Yankees, Indians and Texas Rangers.

1975 IN-ACTION: FELIX MILLAN

Today on the blog we go and add former All-Star Felix Millan to my 1975 "In-Action" thread, a sub-set I hope to release in two series in the near future:

 

Millan came to Shea from the Atlanta Braves, where he put up some excellent Major league seasons, getting names to three straight All-Star teams and winning two Gold Gloves.

While with the Mets he again was solid, collecting as many as 191 hits in a season (1975), which would stand for many years as the team record, hitting as high as .290 before a gruesome injury pretty much ended his career in 1977.

After Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Ed Ott tried to break up a double-play, Millan took exception to the slide and exchanged words, leading to Millan striking Ott with his fist.

Ott, who was a former wrestler, literally picked Millan up and slammed him down onto his knee, injuring Millan's shoulder so badly it ended his career. Just like that. Terrible.

All told, Millan played between 1966 and 1977, hitting .279 with 1617 hits in 5791 at-bats over 1480 games, scoring 699 runs and driving in 403 for the Braves and Mets.