NICKNAMES OF THE 1970s- "BIG DADDY" STAN WILLIAMS

Nice card to add to the “Nicknames of the 1970s” thread, a 1971 edition for Stan Williams, aka “Big Daddy”, who had himself a big time return to top-notch form in 1970 while with the Minnesota Twins:

Originally a starter for the Los Angeles Dodgers between 1958 and 1962, Williams even made the All-Star team in 1960 and gave the team a solid arm paired up with the likes of Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax.
By the time the 1970 season was opening up, his career was in flux, but he found his groove as a reliever that season, going 10-1 with a brilliant 1.99 earned run average over 68 appearances and 113.1 innings of work.
At the age of 33, you’d think he was starting a second phase of his career, but sadly he’d only be in the Majors another two seasons, pitching for the Twins, St. Louis Cardinals and finally the Boston Red Sox in 1972, making only three appearances and getting lit up to a 6.23 ERA.
After taking 1973 off, he did pitch in the Minors for Boston in 1974, and performed very well, going 2-0 with a minuscule 0.47 ERA over five appearances and 19 innings pitched, but that would be it for his Pro career, finishing up with a 109-94 record over 14 seasons, with a nice 3.48 ERA and 1305 strikeouts in 482 appearances and 1764.1 innings, throwing 11 shutouts while collecting 42 saves along the way.

A SPECIAL LOOK AT A SUB-SET THAT NEVER WAS: 1970 ROOKIE ALL-STARS

I’ve been meaning to post up a blog entry about this test-set that never happened a long time ago, and came across the folder of scans recently, so here goes.
Apparently Topps was considering a “Rookie All-Stars” sub-set at some point after the 1970 season, featuring guys like Thurman Munson and Larry Bowa, but whatever reason it never happened.
Here are what the cards were going to look like:

Now, for some reason the design reeks of 1970 to me, not 1971, but all documentation I can find about it stated 1971, so 1971 it is I suppose.
I found a nice blog write-up on the Topps Archive from 2011:

http://toppsarchives.blogspot.com/2011/08/rooked-no-more.html

Go check that out for more info.
I don’t know exactly what the idea was to move forward with such a set. Was it going to be a yearly thing? Some sort of “Update”?
Or maybe just a sub-set within the following year’s set?
Either way this would have been awesome to have, pulling them out of packs through the decade, certainly leading to some doozy’s later on like 1978 Eddie Murray and Andre Dawson, 1979 Ozzie Smith, 1976 Fred Lynn, etc.
I saw a couple go up at auction over the years and they go for ridiculous amounts of money, over $10k each!
I can’t even imagine what a Thurman Munson specimen would go for out on the open market!

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1978 BOBBY CUELLAR

Up on the blog today we have a “not so missing” 1978 card for four-game Major League pitcher Bobby Cuellar of the Texas Rangers, who saw Big League action as a September call-up during the 1977 season:

Cuellar threw 6.2 innings over those four relief appearances, allowing only one run for a nifty 1.35 earned run average, with three strikeouts and two walks.
You’d think that the performance, as well as the fact that he was only 24 years old, would get him so more playing time the following year, but it wasn’t to be.
Cuellar would go on to spend the next eight seasons in the Minors, including the 1982 season in the Mexican League, before turning to Minor League managerial work.
Incredibly he has worked in some capacity (manager, coach, etc) in Minor League ball to this very day, a good 36 years!
Add his player experience, which started in Rookie Ball in 1974, we are now talking 45 years of the baseball life.
Incredible.

1970 COACH CARD- FRANK CROSETTI

Been a long time since I created a coach card, and today I am happy to add a 1970 card for long-time baseball lifer Frank Crosetti, “The Crow”, who had himself quite a career with the New York Yankees before lending his wisdom with the Seattle Pilots for their sole season of 1969:

Crosetti spent 37 years with the Yankees as a player and then coach, but wanted to be closer to his family in Northern California, so he took the coaching gig for Seattle before working with the Minnesota Twins in 1970 & 1971.
Crosetti was a part of 17 World Champion Yankee teams between 1932 and 1962, and 23 American League Champion squads up to 1964.
As a player he was a two-time All-Star who scored 100+ runs  four times, with a high of 137 for the juggernaut 1936 team when he had his finest year, hitting .288 with 182 hits, 35 doubles, 15 homers and 78 RBIs.
It wasn’t until a  young new shortstop named Phil Rizzuto came along that he’d lose his starting position, though he did fill in as regular shortstop when Rizzuto was in the military during World War II.
He hung up the cleats after the 1948 season and went right to coaching, never having an interest in managing as he turned down numerous offers over his coaching career.
Crosetti lived a wonderful long life, until the age of 91 before passing away from complications from a fall in 2002.
A true baseball institution.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1979 ED PLANK

Here was a fun card to add to the 1979 “not so missing” stable, a card for former San Francisco Giants pitcher Ed Plank, who made his MLB debut during the 1978 season, and another player I never heard of before:

Plank appeared in five games for the Giants, not factoring in a decision while posting an earned run average of 4.05 over 6.2 innings.
He’d be back in 1979, albeit for only four appearances, again not picking up a win or a loss over 3.2 innings while posting a bloated 7.36 ERA.
In 1980 he’s spend the year in the Minors, and get hit hard, finishing up with a record of 3-8 with an ERA of 6.90 over 38 appearances and 103 innings of work.
Turns out that would be the last of his professional career, finishing up with nine Major League appearances and 10.1 innings pitched, with no decisions and an ERA of 5.23.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1976 TOM ROBSON

Here’s a “not so missing” 1976 card for a player I honestly never heard of before, former Texas Rangers first baseman Tom Robson, he of a brief two-year Big League career:

Robson appeared in 17 games for Texas in 1975, hitting an even .200 with seven hits over 35 at-bats, in what was his second stint in the Majors.
He made his MLB debut during the 1974 season when he hit .231 over six games with three hits in 13 at-bats, driving in two while scoring two.
Originally in the New York Mets organization between 1967 and 1970, he put up a couple monster seasons in the Minors, including 1973 and 1974 when he hit 38 and 41 homers with 258 RBIs combined in the Rangers system.
Sadly for him, after those 17 games in 1975 he never played American pro ball again, still only 29 years of age, he took his talents to Japan where he played the 1976 season for Nankai, appearing in only 37 games before retiring for good, hitting only .209 with three homers and nine RBIs.
All told, he finished his MLB career with a .208 batting average, never hitting a homer while driving in four over 23 games and 48 official at-bats.

1975 IN-ACTION: WILLIE DAVIS

Time to go and add “3-Dog” Willie Davis to my long-running 1975 “In-Action” set, showing him in his sole season as a member of the Montreal Expos:

Davis had a successful year North of the border, hitting .295 with 180 hits with 86 runs scored and 89 runs batted in with 25 stolen bases at the age of 34.
Somewhat forgotten among his more legendary contemporaries, the man finished his career with 2561 hits and 398 stolen bases along with 182 homers, with 1217 runs scored and 1053 RBIs between 1960 and 1979.
Along the way he was named to two All-Star games and won three Gold Gloves, though that was all later on in his career after the age of 30 generally because he was up against some crazy competition, namely guys like Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson, with others like Curt Flood and Vada Pinson right behind them.
The National League was absolutely STACKED with legendary talent in the outfield during the 1960s!