CAREER-CAPPER: 1987 TONY PEREZ

Today on the blog, another card creation from outside the 1970s, this time a 1987 "career-capper" for the "Big Dog" Tony Perez, who finished up a stellar Major League career in 1986, one that would lead straight to Cooperstown:

Perez truly was an overlooked star on a team that would also have guys like Pete Rose, Johnny Bench and Joe Morgan, just to name a few, and it’s just plain criminal considering he logged 10 seasons in a row over 90+ runs batted in, with six of them over 100 as stated earlier.
With a batting average hovering around .280, he was a solid and steady force at the plate and out in the field for a team that would become legendary, on their way to two straight championships in 1975 and 1976.
He would play for 23 seasons in the Major Leagues, and end up with 379 homers, 1652 RBI’s, 2732 hits and a very nice .279 average before he left the game at the age of 44.
The “Big Dog”, Sparky Anderson always stated that what killed the “Big Red Machine” from dominating for a longer period of time was trading away their slugging first baseman in December of 1976 to the Montreal Expos for Woodie Fryman and Dale Murray, a trade that still baffles me.
Nevertheless, after nine tries, he finally made it into the Hall of Fame in 2000, and rightly so. Hopefully Pete Rose can also join his former teammates someday as well.

 

MISSING IN ACTION: 1977 DICK ALLEN (PHILLIES VERSION)

On the blog today, a "missing" 1977 card for new Hall of Famer Dick Allen, with this version being a Philadelphia Phillies version, as I created an Oakland A's version many years ago:

WTHBALLS Series 4 set

To be honest I don't know why I created an A's version originally way back when, and when it came time to use it in my "Series Four" custom set three years ago, I "fixed" it to show him with the Phillies, for whom he played in 1976.

I recently realized I never posted the "new" version on the blog, so here you go.

I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Dick Allen, even as a kid before I knew of all the controversy surrounding the lightning rod of a personality that the "Wampum Warrior" was throughout his career.

Sounds absurd, but it started way back in 1976 when my cousin (who was a few years older and got me into collecting cards) kept joking about the name "Dick Allen". Really makes no sense now, but it had us in stitches all day long, and ever since then I was hooked on this guy with the funny name and killer stats.

No one can take away from what he accomplished as a major leaguer: Rookie of the Year in 1964, Most Valuable Player in 1972, near Triple Crown that year, and leading his league in twelve statistical categories over his career.

It's easy to overlook the fact that in only 6332 career at-bats the man had 351 homers, 1119 runs batted in and 1848 hits.

To put that in perspective, Hank Aaron had almost DOUBLE the career at-bats as Allen. 

Now, I'm not trying to say that Allen could have been as consistent as Aaron was throughout his career, but it IS amazing to see what Allen accomplished at the plate in 6000+ at-bats.

The man was a force when he was healthy, but sadly, he just couldn't sustain it over the course of a nice, long, FULL career.

There are some guys I'll find ANY reason to design a card for, and Allen is definitely one of them!

Hope to have more here in the future…

REVISIT: HALL OF FAME #11: JOSH GIBSON: CLASS OF 1972

Going to do a bit of revisiting today, this time my 1972 "Hall of Fame Induction" card for perhaps the greatest catcher the game has ever seen, Josh Gibson, who rightfully got his place in Cooperstown, though sadly many years after his passing:

Really, what is left to be said about perhaps the greatest Negro League player of all-time?

The "Black Babe Ruth", sadly so many of his achievements are lost to lack of true record-keeping through his extensive barn-storming play.

He was reported to have hit about 800 lifetime home runs, hit a ball completely out of Yankee Stadium (something never done before or since), posted a .384 lifetime average, won nine home run titles and four batting titles.

What DOES remain fact was that throughout the years since his death in 1947 at the young age of 35 from a stroke, Gibson is considered one of the all-time great power hitters, hands-down.

In 2000, when the Sporting News posted their "100 Greatest Baseball Players of All-Time", Gibson was ranked 18th, the highest position of any Negro League player (ahead of Satchel Paige, Buck Leonard, Cool Papa Bell and Oscar Charleston).

The man was, and is, still mythic in baseball lore.

Sadly because of the "gentleman's agreement" instituted at the turn of the 20th century, we'd never see him perform against his contemporaries in the Major Leagues.

 

A SET THAT NEVER WAS: 1971 ALL-STAR TICKET SET: WILLIE MAYS

Today on the blog we come to my custom "card that never was", from my unreleased 1971 All-Star ticket set celebrating the classic All-Star game, my card for National League outfield starter Willie Mays:

What needs to be said about perhaps the greatest player in history?
660 home runs, 3000+ hits, over 2000 runs scored and over 1900 runs batted in, with over 300 stolen bases and a .300+ batting average as well!
He took home the Rookie of the Year Award in 1951, then proceeded to win two Most Valuable Player Awards, the first in 1954 and the second eleven years later in 1965.
Let’s also not forget the 20 all-star nods and 12 Gold Gloves, leaving him in that rarified company of Ruth, Cobb, Aaron and Gehrig as far as accomplishments and legend.
Of course, Hall of Fame voting being what it is, he wasn’t a UNANIMOUS selection because of this silly unspoken rule of “no one gets 100% voting”, something I will NEVER understand.

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: ROD CAREW

Time to go and give legend Rod Carew a card in my future custom mega-set, "Classic Baseball", which will be a deluxe multi-series WTHBALLS set in the near future:

The man was a player for the ages, as he would go on to play in 18 All-Star games, missing only his final season in the Majors in 1985. Just incredible.

The first nine seasons of his career were as an All-Star second baseman, while the last nine were as a first baseman.

The man topped .300 15 years in a row, with a high of .388 in 1977 on his way to a Most Valuable Player Award and capturing the public’s attention with his .400 chase late in the season.
A clear-cut Hall of Fame player, he was inducted on his first year of eligibility in 1991 when he garnered 90.5% of the vote, which leaves me with the question: who the hell are the 9.5% who DIDN’T vote for him!!!???

3053 hits, a .328 career average, 353 stolen bases and 15 straight seasons of .300+ batting.

The man was a hitting machine, and I'm so glad I got to see him play during his magnificent career!

 

CAREER-CAPPER: 1984 JOHNNY BENCH

Time to step out of the 1970's yet again and create another fun "Career-Capper" from the 1980s, this one of the greatest catcher of them all, Johnny Bench, 1984 style:

Leading the Cincinnati Reds to two World Championships, four World Series appearances, while taking home two MVP Awards, and absolutely rewriting the catching game in Big League history, the man was already a legend by the time he was in his early-20's!

Of course as we all know, he would go on to put together a career rarely seen by ANY player, let alone a catcher: TWO N.L. MVP Awards, 14 all-star games, 10 Gold Gloves, two home run titles and three RBI titles, all while donning the “tools of ignorance” for 17 seasons, all with the Reds.

As a kid growing up in the 1970’s, this man was a mythic figure, a “god”, and he and the rest of his "Big Red Machine" teammates were steamrolling through the league towards two straight championships in 1975 & 1976, while appearing in two other series in 1970 and 1972.

L-E-G-E-N-D.

By the time he retired after the 1983 season, he collected 2048 hits, hit 389 homers, drove in 1376 runs, and scored 1091 runs, all mainly done during the "dead ball" decade of the 1970s.

Just the best!

SPECIAL: 1970s N.L. PLAYER OF THE DECADE: PETE ROSE

Today on the blog, we have my special "1970s National League Player of the Decade" card for Pete Rose, which was a special insert in my custom set which was released a couple years back:

On top of my selection as "Charlie Hustle" as the player of the decade for the Senior League, he was honored by the Sporting News as the overall "Player of the Decade" by the time the wild-70s were done.

In a decade where we had future powerhouse Hall of Famers like Johnny Bench, Tom Seaver, and Joe Morgan, Rose was the guy who came out in front of them all when it came time for me to select someone who would represent the go-go '70's.
In the ten years spanning 1970-1979, he was on two world champion teams, four pennant winners, had six 200-hit seasons, and lead his league in no less than 13 offensive categories!
And that's not all: in NINE of those years he received Most Valuable Player consideration, taking home the award in 1973.

For me, the man was a machine in the 1970s, and truly a sparkplug and celebrity that was the whole package when it came to becoming an American Icon.

Rest in Peace Mr. Rose...