MISSING IN ACTION- 1970 KEN JOHNSON CAREER CAPPER

Here’s a “missing” 1970 career-capper for pitcher Ken Johnson, the very same guy who I profiled in my “Turn Back the Clock” thread for being the first to LOSE an official 9-inning no-hitter while a member of the Houston Colt .45’s:

Johnson was wrapping up a nice 13-year Major League career in 1970, and appeared in 30 games during the 1969 season, split between three teams: Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees, and finally the Chicago Cubs.
 He finished with a 2-5 record along with a 3.89 earned run average over 74 innings, including a couple of saves.
He was a solid starter during the 1960’s, lost no-hitter aside, posting six 10+ game-winning seasons with a high of 16 in 1965, all for lower-tiered teams, with a couple of sub-3.00 ERA years thrown in.
He would finish with a 91-106 career record with a 3.46 ERA over 334 games with 1042 strikeouts in 1737.1 innings.

NOT REALLY MISSING- 1979 BUTCH ALBERTS

Here’s a “barely” missing card for former Toronto Blue Jays Designated Hitter Butch Alberts:

Funny enough he DID actually appear on a Topps card, though NOT as himself.
In the 1980 set, he is incorrectly shown as Butch Edge, a pitcher in the Blue Jays’ system, one the multi-player card for the team at the end of the set.
The sum total of Alberts’ Major League career was six games during the 1978 season, going 5-for-18 for a decent .278 batting average with a double and run scored at the age of 28.
He started his pro career in 1972 playing in the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league chain before moving on to the California Angels organization through the 1977 season.
After his brief taste of MLB action he’d stick around until 1980 playing for Triple-A teams in Cincinnati reds and Atlanta Braves systems before leaving the game for good at the age of 30, finishing with a nice .296 batting average in nine MiLB seasons.

FUTURE STARS- PETE ROSE

The next 1978 “Future Stars” card in the thread is of Pete Rose, the Player of the Decade as named by the Sporting News at the end of the wild-70’s:

Nice shot of the young Rose in-action before he became the all-time hit king along with a photo of him playing third at the back-end of his prime years.
“Charlie Hustle” was still kicking-it, with a 44-game hitting streak and no-less than a decade left on his (should-be) Hall of Fame career.
The man was a baseball-machine, only to have his career derailed by gambling problems.
I hope that can all be worked out so he can finally get his rightful spot in Cooperstown, next his former teammates Morgan, Bench and Perez.

ISSUE #8 OF "WTHBALLS" NOW AVAILABLE! 1976 "PART I", THE AMERICAN LEAGUE

Hello everyone!
The new issue of the "wthballs" magazine is now available to order!
This one is a "Part I" of the American League missing cards of 1976 since I created so many from my all-time favorite set, with "Part II" coming next of the National League cards.
This issue is the usual 24-page full-color 'zine with HOFers, veterans and brief big league players, and comes with a full color Frank Robinson player postcard as a bonus.
Anyone who'd wish to order can do so by sending $7 to: john@slogun.com and I'll get one right out to you asap.
I also have back issues of every edition of "wthballs" available as well if anyone wants to pick one up. But ask me first about combining the shipping costs to save some $$.
Thanks! Not too long before pitchers and catchers!!! Cannot come quick enough for me...

THE RED SOX YOUTH BRIGADE!- A SPECIAL CARD FOR THE 1976 SET

I was always in awe of the fact that the Boston Red Sox had THREE future star outfielders in Dwight Evans, Jim Rice and Fred Lynn come up around the same time and put in All-Star careers, and wanted to create a special card for the 1976 set celebrating them:

What can you say about these three?
Fred Lynn came to the Major League scene like a bomb and went on to win BOTH the Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player Awards in 1975, Jim Rice goes on to put in a Hall of Fame career along with an MVP Award in 1978, and Dwight Evans can easily be argued as a Hall-worthy player putting in his best seasons in the 1980’s, though he was always a solid player.
Any team should be so lucky to have this!

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1970 LEON EVERITT

Here’s a 1970 card for a player who played the sum of his 5-game career in 1969 as a member of the inaugural San Diego padres team, pitcher Leon Everitt:

Everitt finished his brief cup-of-coffee in the big leagues with an 0-1 record along with an 8.04 earned run average over 15.2 innings pitched, though he did strike out 11 batters, though he also walked 12.
That would be it for the right-hander hurler, at least getting a chance to savor the Major Leagues, and apparently even the Minors since I have no info on him staying active in any capacity as a player after his MLB stint.

MISSING IN ACTION- 1972 MIKE THOMPSON

Here’s a fun card to create, a “missing” 1972 card for a guy with somewhat of a unique card history, as well as career, though NOT for all the right reasons, Mike Thompson of the Washington Senators/Texas Rangers:

I played around a bit and took a photo of Thompson while still donning the Senators uni, and photoshopped him into a Texas uni.
As you know the Rangers players that year were airbrushed into a blank red cap, or had images of them that conveniently had any noticeable team insignia not visible (think Jeff Burroughs).
If you look at Thompson’s 1973 card you’ll see almost an exact same pose between the two, making it easy for me to use some of the ’73 pic on this ’72 card.
As for Thompson, the fact that he HAD a 1973 card was odd since he didn’t even play in 1972.
So then why not a 1972 card since he appeared in 16 games for Washington in 1971, where he posted a 1-6 record along with a 4.86 earned run average over 66.2 innings?
Sadly for him, that one win in 1971 would be the only win of his brief four-year career, as he would end up at 1-15 with a 4.86 ERA playing for the Senators/Rangers, St. Louis Cardinals and Atlanta Braves.
I profiled the fact that he did get a card in the 1976 set after appearing in 16 games for Atlanta, with a woeful 0-6 record and 4.70 ERA, making for one of the rougher set of statistics on the back of ANY card.