MISSING IN ACTION- 1970 TONY HORTON

I just came across an interesting bit thanks to the guys at SABR (once again), that listed the Major Leaguers with the most career at-bats or innings pitched who never had a Topps card.

Sure most of the guys were journeymen without a substantial big league resume, but there were a couple of names that stood out to me, most notably former Indian slugger Tony Horton.

I was really surprised by this since I was convinced there was a card for him at some point, and that it was something I had in my collection.

But low-and-behold, except for a Kelloggs card in 1971, there wasn't a regular-issue card of the tragic figure who left the game at a young age amid inner-turmoil.

Well, since my blog deals with the 1970's, I went ahead and designed a card for him in the 1970 and 1971 set since he retired during the 1970 season.

Today I post up my 1970 design. Take a look:

Horton originally came up with the Boston Red Sox in 1964 as a 19-year old, appearing in 36 games, hitting .222 with a homer and eight runs batted in.

After a couple of more sporadic seasons bouncing between the Majors and Minors with Boston, Horton was traded to the Cleveland Indians in 1967 for pitcher Gary Bell, and finally got some full-time work with the parent club.

After a couple of decent years he really came into his own in 1969, hitting .278 with 27 homers and 93 runs batted in on 174 hits in 625 at-bats.

1970 started out well for the young slugger, as he had a three-homer game against the Yankees as well as hitting for the cycle on July 2nd against the Orioles, but after a prolonged slump and constant booing from the fans, the emotional toll finally came to a head for Horton as he took himself out of a game on August 28th against the Angels.

It was the second game of a double-header, and he voluntarily left the game after the fifth inning.

Sadly, later that evening he attempted suicide, but luckily survived and eventually got treatment for his problems.

But as for his baseball career, he'd never appear in another Major League game again.

His former manager, Alvin Dark, stated that in his long baseball career, the Horton situation was the "most sorrowful incident I was ever involved in, in my baseball career."

Tony Horton was only 25 years old when he left the game, after only 636 games and seven years, and has always been a stark reminder of the pressures professional athletes have day to day that fans can easily overlook as they're entertained on an almost nightly basis for six-motnhs out of every year.

Tomorrow we'll take a look at my design for his "missing" 1971 Topps card.

HALL OF FAME LEADERS XVII: 1978 STRIKEOUT LEADERS

Next up on my "Hall of Fame" league-leader card thread we move onto 1978, and the only leader card that would feature solely future Hall of Famers: #206 Strikeout Leaders, with (once again) Nolan Ryan and knuckle-baller Phil Niekro.

For Ryan, this was beginning to be "old hat", as he whiffed 300+ batters for the fifth time in his career (already a Major League record), and won his fifth strikeout title.

This was the height of the "Ryan Express", and he'd go on to win another SIX titles before he was done, including another 300+ K season in 1989 at the incredible age of 42!

All told Ryan would win 11 strikeout crowns and post six 300+ strikeout seasons.

Just sick…

For Niekro, this would be the only time he'd lead the league in strikeouts, whiffing a nice 262 in 330.1 innings. The total would be a career high, and actually was the first time he struck out over 200 batters in a season in his 14-year career at that point.

On top of that, he was 38 years old when he did it, and he'd follow that up with his second best strikeout season the very next year with 248.

1977 was actually a bit of a down year for "Knucksie", as he also lead the National League in losses (20), earned runs (148), wild pitches (17) and walks (164).

It would also mark four straight seasons of leading the league in losses, with totals of 20, 18, 20 and 18 between 1977 and 1980.

But that didn't hurt his path straight to the Hall of Fame, as he eventually topped 300 career wins and 3000 career strikeouts, benchmarks for induction (at the time), getting voted in in 1997.

Next up on this thread, the last "Hall of Famer" leader card of the decade: 1979 #8 Leading Firemen featuring "Goose" Gossage and Rollie Fingers.

OK, SO THIS IS WHEN SEVEN GAMES SHOULD EQUAL A CARD: 1972 BOBBY GRICH

Today we will take a quick look at an instance where Topps did indeed use their noggin and produce a card for someone even though they barely played in the Major Leagues the previous season.

Card #338 in the gaudy (yet sexy) 1972 set features future star Bobby Grich in only his second baseball card (his rookie was in the 1971 set), and normally would be a bit of a surprise since he only appeared in seven games, good for 30 at-bats in 1971. Take a look:

However, when you look at his monster year in the Minors in '71, and note that he was named "Minor League Player of the Year", you realize Topps actually used their brains and figured it'd be worth it to throw in a card for was thought to be an up-and-coming star.

Check out his year at Baltimore's Triple-A franchise, Rochester of the International League:

A .336 batting average with 124 runs scored, 26 doubles, nine triples, 32 homers and 83 runs batted in, all with just 473 at-bats.

He also sported a .439 on base percentage and .632 slugging, with 81 walks and 299 total bases.

As we all know, Grich did not disappoint, going on to have a very nice 17-year career with the Orioles and Angels.

By the time he retired after the 1986 season, he finished with 1033 runs, 1833 hits, 224 homers and 864 runs batted in, while being considered one of the finest fielding second basemen in the game, winning four Gold Gloves while appearing in six All-Star games.

I'll always remember the Godly status he had in my eyes because of his 1977 all-star card.

That was the first year I was collecting like crazy, and anyone with "all-star" on their card was almost "super-human" to me!

"IF VERHOEVEN, ZAMORA AND HUGHES GET CARDS, WHY NOT WILLIE WILSON!?"

Yeah I know that Willie Wilson only had 34 at-bats in 13 games in 1977, but if some of the guys in the subject title for this post got cards, I'd like to think Topps could have squeezed the future star speedster from New Jersey in there somewhere.

Wilson was already showing his future base-stealing prowess in Triple-A Omaha in 1977, swiping 74 bases while hitting .281 in 132 games.

On top of the cup-of-coffee in the Majors in 1977, he also managed to get into 12 games in 1976, though only having six plate appearances and a single hit.

But you'd think by the time the 1978 set came around they would at least throw him on one of those God-awful multi-player rookie cards, no?

So since I can pretty much do what I want here, I designed a decent looking "rookie" card for Willie Wilson, showing him running the bases against the Yankees in what seems to be a night game.

Take a look:

From my (now) home state of New Jersey...

Anything to spice up an already awesome set!

Wilson went on to have a very nice 19-year career, with a batting title, five triples titles and a great 1980 season where he lead the league in hits (230), runs (133) triples (15), while winning a Silver Slugger Award and Gold Glove.

He also set the (then) Major League record for at-bats in a season, stepping up to the plate 705 "official" times.

By the time he was done, he recorded 2207 hits, 1169 runs, 147 triples and a .285 lifetime average while stealing 668 bases.

As a kid growing up in the 1980's, I remember hating those Royals teams, with guys like Wilson, George Brett, Dan Quisenberry, Larry Gura, et al.

They just seemed to always beat the Yanks in the most frustrating ways.

JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT- 1970'S BASEBALL TRIVIA PART XXXXIII

Time for another round of 1970's baseball trivia.

This week I take a look at pitchers who lead their league in WHIP during the decade.

See how many you can get.

Answers tomorrow, as usual…

1. Among WHIP leaders during the 1970's, who posted the fewest wins during their league-leading season?

2. Of all WHIP leaders in the '70's, who suffered the most losses that year?

3. Who posted the fewest strikeouts among WHIP leaders in the decade?

4. Who threw the fewest shutouts in a year they lead their league in WHIP?

5. Finally. Who posted the lowest WHIP in any season during the 1970's?

***SPOILER ALERT! ANSWERS BELOW: 

1.  Ed Halicki, Giants. 9 wins in 1978.

2. Fergie Jenkins, Cubs. 16 losses in 1970.
 
3. Ken Forsch, Astros. 58 K's in 1979.
 
4. Luis Tiant, Red Sox. He failed to throw a single shutout in 1973!

5. Roger Nelson, Royals. A sterling 0.87 WHIP in 1972.

1975 "CY YOUNG AWARD" SUB-SET: WHAT IF? 1961

Next up on my 1975 Cy Young Award sub-set thread is 1961, and the year Whitey Ford finally took home the award.

Seems everything went right for the Yankees that year, and Ford was either the beneficiary of all that stuff going right, or a heavy reason WHY it all went that way.

For the National League, the fine folks over at SABR felt that none other than Warren Spahn would have won what would have been his third award had there been a winner for each league back then.

Take a look at my card design for 1961 first:

Even though Ford had many fine seasons leading up to 1961, it really did all come together that year, as he posted a 25-4 record with a 3.21 earned run average and three shutouts over 39 starts and 283 innings.

It would also be the only year he'd top 200+ strikeouts in a season, with 209, and oddly enough, the only year in his career where he'd give up 100+ runs and earned runs in 16 years in the big leagues.

With his 25-4 record in 1961, Ford's career winning percentage at the time stood at an incredible .714, with 150 wins against 63 losses.

As a matter of fact, if it wasn't for his final two years in the Majors, 1966 and 1967, Ford would have been only the second pitcher in Major League history with more than 200 wins and less than 100 losses (Bob Caruthers STILL being the only one with a record of 218-99), as well as finishing with a career winning percentage over .700 (at .705), something no one with over 200 career wins has ever done before or since.

Over in the National League, Braves pitcher Warren Spahn once again takes center stage, this time at the ripe old age of 40, as he finished the aseason with a record of 21 and 13, with league leading numbers of: 3.02 earned run average, 21 complete games and four shutouts.

Like I've stated earlier, the man was a machine.

You think he was done yet? How about a record of 23-7 two years later at the age of 42?!

Just incredible to think he also missed three years in his early 20's to military service, and he still ended up 363 career wins.

1961 was the sixth year in a row that Spahn posted 20+ wins, as well as the twelfth time he topped that number.

Awesome couple of future Hall of Famers here.

Next up, 1962 and the winner, Dodger great Don Drysdale, and who the SABR guys thought would win, Yankee pitcher Ralph Terry.

Stay tuned…

"1960'S ALL-DECADE TEAM" SUB-SET FOR THE 1970 TOPPS SET: OUTFIELDERS (2 of 3)

OK, now who is going to argue with these two taking up residence in the outfield on a "Team of the Decade" for the 1960's?

Granted, Mickey Mantle didn't play to his Hall of Fame standards throughout the 1960's, but based solely on his performance from 1960 through 1964, he earns a spot on the American League team easily.

For Willie Mays, it's a 100% no-brainer, as easy a pick as it gets!

Take a look at my card:

For Mantle, the decade did bring three second place finished for M.V.P. in 1960, 1961 and 1964, as well as a win in 1962, so "the Mick" did have some glory days left in him before he hung them up by 1968.

Throw in nine primary offensive stat titles, two world championships and eight all-star game appearances, and you see why his inclusion here is easy to live with.

One of the all-time most popular baseball players to ever suit up, his legend has not diminished one bit even with some controversy thrown in.

A first ballot Hall of Fame induction was a cinch, and he was indeed voted in on his first try in 1974.

For Mays, we're not just talking about one of the most popular players like Mantle, but arguably one of the top-3 players of all-time between the foul lines.

The "Say Hey Kid" was elected "Player of the Decade" for the 1960's, and looking at his numbers you can see why: An M.V.P. in 1965, six top-10 finishes in voting in other years, an all-star appearance every single year of the decade, nine Gold Gloves, and ten primary offensive league titles.

By the time HE was done roaming Major League outfields after the 1973 season, he was also as much of a "lock" for a first-ballot inductions as well, and that's exactly what happened in 1979, getting named to 409 or 432 ballots.

(Who could POSSIBLY leave his name off is not only inconceivable, but astounding!)

Just an incredible duo manning centerfield during the same era. 

Two legends on one card.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do…

Next up, the last outfield spot, with another two future Hall of Famers: Al Kaline and Roberto Clemente. 

Not bad huh?

Stay tuned…