MISSING IN ACTION- A "WHITE WHALE" WITH A 1978 DAVE PAGAN!

Huzzah!!
One more of my personal “white whales” scratched off the list! And I had the freaking image stashed away the whole time!
As I was looking for another image in my folders, I come across THIS beauty of a shot of Dave Pagan with the Pirates, his last stop in the Majors.
I have NO idea where I found this, nor when! But hey, I “ain’t” complainin’!
So here’s a 1978 “missing” Dave Pagan card:

Pagan would appear in one single game for the Pirates after starting the 1977 season with the Seattle Mariners, where he posted a 1-1 record with a bloated 6.14 earned run average in their inaugural season.
In that one game for Pittsburgh he threw three innings, giving up a hit while striking out four, which would turn out to be the last Major League action he’d see in his five-year career.
All told, he finished his big league action with a 4-9 record along with a 4.96 E.R.A. over 85 games, 18 of them starts, and 232.1 innings pitched.
Thanks to all who tried helping me find a suitable image of Pagan as a Pirate for this card! Appreciate the efforts!
Hope you enjoy getting this one out of the way as much as I do!

1975 "IN ACTION"- THURMAN MUNSON

The next player showcased in my 1975 “In Action” thread is none other than Yankee catching legend Thurman Munson, who was right in the middle of a brilliant career run in 1975:

The 1975 season would produce the first of three consecutive 100-RBI seasons for Munson while also batting above .300, while also bringing him his third straight Gold Glove Award.
The all-star catcher would go on to nab the American League Most Valuable Player Award the following year, while moving on to two straight World Series championships in 1977 and 1978.
Sadly, as we are all too aware, tragedy would strike in August of 1979 when Munson was killed while piloting his private plane on an off-day in Ohio, breaking the hearts of many a baseball fan in New York City, including yours truly.
Still only 32 years of age, we can only wonder where Munson’s career could have taken him had he lived to play well into the 1980’s.
Perhaps Cooperstown?
“The Captain”, R.I.P.

TURN BACK THE CLOCK-1968: BACK-TO-BACK NO-HITTERS!

Today’s “Turn Back the Clock” card celebrates those two straight magical days in September, 1968, when Gaylord Perry no-hit the St. Louis Cardinals, only to have Cardinals pitcher Ray Washburn return the favor the very next day:

Of course, being the “year of the pitcher”, anything regarding pitching feats was possible (can you imagine if Koufax was still playing that season?!), but two straight no-no’s? Just amazing!
On September 17th, Gaylord Perry faced none other than pitcher of the universe that season, Bob Gibson.
But it would be Perry to come out on top that day, (helping to explain just HOW Gibson could have lost nine games that year), allowing only two balls hit out of the infield that day, winning the game 1-0 on a home run by none other than Ron Hunt in the first inning!
Perry walked two, while striking out nine on his way into the baseball record books, collecting his 15th win of the season and lowering his earned run average to 2.46.
Not to be outdone, and with the National League pennant already in the bag for the Cardinals, Ray Washburn took to the mound the very next day and kept the Giants hitless himself, though walking five batters.
Curt Flood and Mike Shannon each drove in a run, giving Washburn all the offensive support he needed that historic day.
What is amazing is that he lowered his ERA to a sparkling 2.28 to go along with Gibson’s incredible 1.13, yet the Giants losing pitcher that day was none other than Bobby Bolin, who allowed two runs to the Cardinals, “ballooning” HIS ERA to 1.96!
Again, the “year of the pitcher” indeed!
Imagine getting to see that season unfold! Wish I could have...

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1977 WARREN CROMARTIE

Here’s a card that easily could have been Warren Cromartie’s rookie card, a 1977 edition after playing almost three-dozen games during the 1976 season:

Cromartie appeared in 33 games for the Montreal Expos in 1976, batting .210 with 17 hits over 81 at-bats, just beginning what would be a very nice 10-year career that saw him hit a career .281 playing all but one year in Montreal.
What a great young team those Expos had! Along with Cromartie, you had Andre Dawson and Ellis Valentine coming up around the same time as well, giving Montreal quite a stud outfield.
Cromartie would have some solid years in the latter half of the 1970’s, collecting no less that 1972 hits in each season between 1977 and 1980, along with 30+ doubles and averaging about a .285 batting mark for the period.
But, after finding himself out of the Major Leagues prematurely in 1984, he would sign with the Yomiuri Giants in Japan and put in some monster seasons through 1990, even winning the league’s MVP Award in 1989 after batting .378 with 15 homers and 72 runs batted in.
After another solid 1990 season, he was invited by Kansas City to come to Spring Training, at the age of 37, eventually batting .313 in limited play before retiring for good after 69 games.
Quite a baseball adventure for the fan favorite in Montreal.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR- 1971 SUB-SET

Next up in my “awards sub-set” thread is a 1971 card celebrating the previous season’s Rookies of the Year, in this case pitcher Carl Morton of the Montreal Expos and catcher Thurman Munson of the New York Yankees:

In the National League, after a brief cup-of-coffee in 1969 on the inaugural Expos team, Morton came back in 1970 and put together an excellent rookie year, posting a record of 18-11 with a 3.60 earned run average and four shutouts over 43 appearances, 37 of which were starts, with a whopping 284.2 innings pitched.
He would go on to put in eight years in the big leagues, never really matching the numbers he put up that first year, but a solid starter nevertheless, finishing up with a career 87-92 record with a 3.73 E.R.A., 13 shutouts and 650 strikeouts over 1648.2 innings of work.
Over in the American League, a young stud out of Kent Sate in Ohio named Thurman Munson was almost a unanimous R.O.Y. winner, being named on all but one ballot, the one other vote going to Cleveland Indians rookie Roy Foster.
The 23-year-old batted .302 with a very nice .386 on-base-percentage while catching 125 games for the surprising Yankee team that finished in second place with a 93-69 record, this after the “dark days” of ball in the Bronx between 1965-1969.
Of course, we all know that Thurman would go on to become a beloved figure in NYC sports, helping the team come back to top-form with two World Championships in 1977 & 1978, as well as being named Most Valuable Player in the American League in 1976 when he anchored the team to it’s first World Series appearance in 12 years.
Sadly, the Munson story does NOT have a happy ending, as we were all shocked numb on that August 2nd, 1979 day when he was killed while flying his private plane on an off-day in Ohio, absolutely crushing yours truly, having his favorite player gone in an instant.
Nevertheless, Munson left the game with an excellent .292 career batting average, driving in 100+ runs three straight years while topping .300 each time, and being named to seven all-star teams in his brief 11-year career.

ISSUE #13 "WTHBALLS" MAGAZINE: "THEN AND NOW" AVAILABLE FOR ORDERS

 

 

 

Hello everyone!

Hope all is well.

I’m happy to announce that the next issue of “WTHBALLS”, issue #13, is now available, and it features my “Then & Now / Super Veterans” series!

Featuring 24 color-pages of all the greats who received a custom “Then & Now” card creation on my blog: Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Al Kaline, Frank Robinson, and many many more Hall of Famers and all-stars, the magazine also comes with a bonus Ernie Banks “Then & Now” custom postcard-sized insert. 

Just cut the card along the die lines included and drop into a top-loader, and it looks like you pulled it right out of a wax pack!

Anyone who would like to order a copy can do the usual, paypal me $7 ($5 plus $2 shipping) at: john@slogun.com and I will get it out to you asap.

Anyone looking to order back issues please email me your want list and I will combine postage as well. I have stock on all previous issues at the moment.

Thanks! This one really came out nice!

***Please keep in mind my next Post Office trip is Saturday due to work schedules, so expect the issues to arrive early next week.

Take Care

Gio/wthballs

NEGATIVE SPOTLIGHT- 1974 NELSON BRILES "TRADED" CARD

I love coming across the original painted negatives Topps used on cards in the 1970’s, and this one is no different: Nelson Briles’ “traded” photo used in the 1974 sub-set:

After three very nice seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates between 1971 and 1973, Briles was traded over to the Kansas City Royals along with Fernando Gonzalez for Ed Kirkpatrick and Kurt Bevacqua in December.
He’d pitch there for a couple of years before moving on to the Texas Rangers in 1976 (which gave us an awesome airbrush job for him in that set!), before winding down his MLB career in 1978 with the Baltimore Orioles.
He pitched for 14-years in the big leagues, ending up at 129-112 with a nice 3.44 earned run average over 342 games and 2111.2 innings pitched, including two excellent seasons back-to-back in 1967 and 1968 when he posted win totals of 14 and 19 respectively with sub-3.00 E.R.A.’s, including a sparkling 2.43 in ‘67 as part of the World Champion squad that also had Bob Gibson anchoring the pitching staff.
I like how Topps used the GIANT “traded” banner to help in the airbrushing endeavors, only modifying what was needed to get the card done.