NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1977 ART KUSNYER

Up on the blog today is my third card creation for former catcher Art Kusnyer here on the blog, this one a 1977 “not so missing” edition:

Kusnyer appeared in 15 games for the Milwaukee Brewers in 1976 after spending all of 1974 and 1975 in the Minor Leagues.
Over that limited playing time he hit .118 with four hits over 34 at-bats, with two runs scored and three runs batted in.
Kusnyer was yet another of those players I read about in a SABR article that spoke of guys who posted the most career at-bats or innings pitched who were not represented on a Topps card (in this case, a card of their own).
Kusnyer came up for a cup-of-coffee in 1970 with the White Sox after getting picked in the 37th round of the 1966 amateur draft.
After four games and ten at-bats with Chicago in 1970, he was traded to California in March of 1971 for a couple of minor players, appearing in only six games for the season.
However 1972 would fare much better for the young catcher, as he would go on to play in a career high 64 games, good for 198 plate appearances.
For the year he batted .207, getting 37 hits in 179 at-bats with two doubles, a triple and two homers.
However this wasn't enough to get him more playing time the following season, as the Angels already had Jeff Torborg and John Stephenson ahead of him in the depth chart for the position, so all Kusnyer would see as far as playing time in 1973 would be 41 games, good for 67 plate appearances and an anemic .125 batting average.
However, not all was a lost-cause for the youngster, as on July 15th of that year Kusnyer would have perhaps the biggest thrill of his Big League career, catching Nolan Ryan's second career no-hitter against the Detroit Tigers at Tiger Stadium.
But when 1974 rolled around, Kusnyer found himself struggling to find a spot for himself in the Milwaukee Brewers organization after being traded by California in October of 1973 in a nine-player swap between the two clubs.
He'd end up toiling in the Minors for the next two seasons before finding his way back into a Major League game in 1976, getting into those 15 games for the Brewers.
His last hurrah on the Major League level would be in 1978 with the Kansas City Royals, playing in nine games and getting three hits in 13 at-bats, good for a .231 average.
He'd scratch out another season of Minor League ball for the White Sox in 1979 before calling it a career and eventually moving into coaching work for the Sox and the Oakland A's over the next 28 years.

 

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1979 LUIS SILVERIO

The blog today offers up a “not so missing” 1979 card for eight-game Major League outfielder Luis Silverio of the Kansas City Royals, who was a September call up in 1978 in what turned out to be the only Big League action he’d see:

Silverio hit a blistering .545 in his short time up, collecting six hits in 11 at-bats, with two doubles and a triple along with seven runs scored and three RBI’s!
His slugging was an eye-opening .909 with an OPS of 1.524! Hilarious, and an incredible showing for the young 21-year-old!
Funny enough, when you check out his Minor League career spanning 1974 through 1982, he never hit .300 in a season, generally stuck around .250 year after year.
He would end up playing another four years in the Kansas City organization, but never get that chance to play in the Majors again, retiring after the 1982 season.

 

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1971 RAY PETERS

Up on the blog today we have a “not so missing” 1971 card for two-game Major League pitcher Ray Peters, who played the entirety of his Big League career in June of 1970:

Peters’ two games were not that successful, as he was pounded for seven earned runs over two innings of work, but nevertheless he made it to the “Big Show”, even if it was for only two days.
That performance left him with a career 0-2 record, with an earned run average of 31.50, with five walks and seven hits allowed.
He would spend the 1971 season in the Minors playing for both the Milwaukee and Philadelphia Phillies organizations, but he would retire after that, still only 24 years of age.

 

 

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 1970's- FRANK ROBINSON NAMED MANAGER OF THE CLEVELAND INDIANS

It’s been a long while since I added a card to my long-running “Highlights of the 1970’s” thread, one of my oldest here on the blog, but today we honor one of the greats of the game, Frank Robinson, and his landmark managerial position in 1975, making him the first African-American to hold the position in Major League ball:

Robinson was actually a player-manager his first two years at the helm in 1975 and 1976, going a combined 160-158, good for consecutive fourth-place finished in the American League East.
He would go on to manage for parts of 16 years between 1975 and 2006, when he managed the Washington Nationals at the age of 70.
Robinson is perhaps the “greatest underrated player” in Major League history.
A two-time Most Valuable Player, and the first to do it in both leagues, Robinson also took home a Triple Crown in 1966, was a twelve time All-Star, finished in the Top-4 in MVP voting outside his two wins, and oh yeah, as mentioned earlier was also the first African-American Manager in league history.
When he retired as an active player in 1976, Robinson was in the top-5 in so many offensive categories he was in the company of Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays.
Yet oddly enough, perhaps because of the era he played in, he would get buried in the “all-time greats” conversation in lieu of the aforementioned players along with guys like Ty Cobb, Roberto Clemente and Ted Williams.
I would say he and Stan Musial are the TWO greatest “underrated” players of all-time, and you could arguably throw in others like Bob Feller for good measure.
Just an all-out legend in so many ways.

 

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS- HANK AARON

Today on the blog we go and add all-time great Hank Aaron to my “Minor League Day’s” 1971 sub-set, as we celebrate the legend before he went on to have one of the greatest careers the game has ever seen:

All the 19-year-old Aaron did in 1953 with the Jacksonville Braves was hit a torrid .362 with 208 hits, 36 doubles and 22 home runs over 137 games, along with 14 triples and 338 total bases in his last season of Minor League ball.
Just a glimpse of what was to come as he’d go on to do just about everything over the next quarter of a century in the Big Leagues.
Let his numbers do all the talking: 2174 runs scored, 3771 hits, 624 doubles, 98 triples, 755 home runs, 2297 runs batted in, a .305 batting average no less than 21 all-star selections!
Just tremendous!
He also had eight top-5 finishes for MVP, including taking home the award in 1957, as well as three Gold Gloves won consecutively between 1958-1960.
It's incredible to look at his 15 years of topping 100 or more runs scored, 11 seasons of 100 or more runs batted in, five more seasons of 90+ RBI's, and TWENTY STRAIGHT years of 20 or more home runs.
Almost hilarious to look at! Just incredible…

 

GIMMIE A DO-OVER: 1973 JOE RUDI (NOT GENE TENACE)

OK, so today on the blog we have a long overdue “do-over”, a redone and CORRECTED 1973 card for former All-Star Oakland A’s outfielder Joe Rudi, who was given the disservice of having fellow All-Star teammate Gene Tenace pictured on his card.
So here’s a redone card with a nice shot from the 1972 World Series featured:

Rudi had two second-place MVP finished during his great run during the middle part of the decade, in 1972 and 1974, while also taking home three straight Gold Gloves between 1974 and 1976.
He led the league with 181 hits and nine triples in 1972 along with doubles (39) and total bases (287) in 1974 while also giving the A’s a flexible fielder that could play all three outfield positions as well as first base.
Such a solid player teamed up with others like Sal Bando and Gene Tenace that made the A’s much more than just superstars like Reggie Jackson and Jim “Catfish” Hunter.
By the time Rudi retired, he finished up with a career .264 average, with 179 homers and 810 RBIs over 1547 games and 5556 at-bats playing for the A’s, California Angels and Boston Red Sox between 1967 and 1982.
By the way, for those not familiar, here’s the original as-released card mentioned earlier:

Hilarious...

 

 

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1974 CHRIS CANNIZZARO

How ‘bout we go and give former catcher and fellow Italian-American Chris Cannizzaro a “not so missing” 1974 card shall we?
Well here you go:

Cannizzaro appeared in 17 games for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1973, hitting .190 while serving as a back-up catcher defensively.
He would have one more season of Major League ball left, playing for the San Diego padres in 1974 before calling it a career at the age of 36, playing 13 years between 1960 and 1974.
Over that time he finished with a .235 batting average, with 458 hits in 1950 at-bats, appearing in a total of 740 games, and was even an “original Met” when he appeared in 59 games during their inaugural 1962 season.
He then was an original San Diego padre, even making the All-Star team in THEIR inaugural 1969 season, the only season he was a full-time player.