REVISITING A POST FROM 2015: "THEN AND NOW" 1974 FELIPE ALOU

Thought I'd revisit a 10-year old post celebrating the playing career of Felipe Alou, elite hitter who went on to a very nice managerial career in the Big Leagues:

By 1974 Alou was wrapping up a very nice 17-year career that saw him top 2000 hits, 200 home runs and 100 stolen bases.

He'd only play three games in '74, with the Milwaukee Brewers, but I have him shown here as an Expos player, the team he was suited up for on his regular Topps card in the set. (Ignoring the awful Traded card as a Brewer he was airbrushed into).

During his career he'd top the National League in hits twice, runs once and total bases once.

His finest year would have to be 1966, when he led the N.L. in runs with 122, hits with 218, at-bats with 666, total bases with 355, while hitting 31 home runs, driving in 74 and batting a cool .327.

He'd end up fifth in MVP voting, and was named to his third all-star team.

After his playing days were over he'd coach and eventually manage in the Major Leagues, leading both the Expos and Giants to first place finishes (1994 and 2003 respectively) during his 14 years as a skipper.

Of course it's also worth mentioning that Alou comes from an incredible baseball family, as brothers Jesus and Matty, son Moises, cousin Jose Sosa and nephew Mel Rojas all got to play in the Big Leagues as well.

As a matter of fact, Felipe got to play with both his brothers, AND even go on to manage his son and nephew later on.

Pretty cool…

 

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: SANDY KOUFAX

On the blog today, we add "The Left Arm of God" Sandy Koufax to my ongoing "Classic Baseball" custom set, to be released in the near future in multiple series celebrating the game I love so much:

The years between 1961 and 1966 were amazing, but it was the 1963-1966 period in particular that was just unconscious, and what got him into Cooperstown.

Just look at the numbers, all in FOUR seasons of play:

A 97-27 record, with four E.R.A. crowns, three years of a sub-2.00 mark, 31 shutouts, 89 complete games and 1228 strikeouts, with three of those years topping 300+ K's!

He took home three Cy Young Awards, finished third in 1964, and won the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 1963, with two other second-place finishes in 1965 and 1966, his final two years of Major League ball.

In the postseason he was equally as brilliant, being voted MVP of the World Series in both 1963 and 1965, leading the Dodgers to championships.

He posted a 4-3 lifetime record with a 0.95 earned run average, two shutouts and 61 strikeouts in 57 innings of work.

In his three losses in postseason play, he gave up THREE earned runs! So it's not like he choked in those games either.

Sadly we all know how his career ended because of arm troubles, causing him to retire at the age of only 30.

Man how I wish we could have seen him pitch into the 1970's!

Would have been awesome to see him on those card-issues into the mid-decade, no?

That five year stretch was so awesome that he was elected in the Hall on his first try, being named to 86.9% of the ballot.

There are some out there that feel he didn't "perform" long enough to warrant a Hall selection, let alone a first-year induction.

And most of the time I'd agree.

However we are talking some rarified stuff here, so with Koufax it was indeed a no-brainer.

What do you all think? Anybody out there think Koufax didn't perform long enough for a Hall of Fame induction?

 

OPC IMAGE VARIATION: 1977 MARTY PEREZ

Today on the blog we take a look at the image variation for Marty Perez and his 1977 OPC and Topps cards:

OPC version

Topps version

I always liked that 1977 Topps Perez card with him suited up with the San Francisco Giants, out in the field on a nice sunny day.

As for OPC, they quickly airbrushed him into a New York Yankees uniform , or should I say, cap, to reflect his trade in March of 1977 for Terry Whitfield.

Sadly all that airbrushing work was for nothing, as Perez made one single appearance for the Yankees that Spring before getting traded to the Oakland A's along with Dock Ellis and Larry Murray for pitcher Mike Torrez.

In that one game for the Yanks Perez went 2-for-4 with time out at third base, before going on to play 115 games for the A's the rest of the way.

Turns out the following season, he'd only appear in 16 games for Oakland before getting released, ending his playing career after 10 seasons.

Between 1971 and 1976 he was a regular player for the Atlanta Braves, putting in extensive time in the infield, averaging around .250 at the plate.

Overall, he hit .246 in 931 games between 1969 and 1978, with 771 hits in 3131 at-bats, with 313 runs scored and 241 runs batted in.

 

REVISITING A POST FROM 2015: 1975 DEDICATED ROOKIE FOR KEITH HERNANDEZ

Good day all.

On the blog today, we revisit a post from just about 10 years ago, my 1975 "dedicated rookie" for Keith Hernandez, of the the greatest fielding first baseman in the game's long, rich history:

Hernandez was just about to launch his stellar Major League career in 1975 after playing in 14 games during the 1974 season.

Topps gave him a spot on one of the multi-player rookie cards in the 1975 set, but a dedicated card for him seems like a natural for this blog.

As far as his career, all he would do from then on is win a batting title in 1979, a co-MVP Award the very same year (sharing it with Pirate legend Willie Stargell), take home 11 Gold Glove Awards for his magic at first base, and get named to five all-star games.

He was part of a World Champion team with both the St. Louis Cardinals in 1982 and the New York Mets in 1986, and would finish his 17-year career with over 2000 hits, 1000 runs scored, 1000 runs batted in and a .296 average.

He became an instant darling here in New York to so many kids when he arrived during the 1983 season, and I have to admit even though I was a rabid Yankee fan and WORSHIPPED Don Mattingly, Hernandez was a guy I just had to like no matter what.

It just seemed that it was the Hernandez trade that got the mid-80's Mets team going in the right direction, soon to be joined by the likes of Cone, Gooden, Carter and crew.

 

THE WHOLE NINE: SERIES 2- CAREER-CAPPER: 1961 DON NEWCOMBE

Time today to spotlight my 1961 "career-capper" for Don Newcombe, baseball's first Cy Young Award winner, from my recent custom set "The Whole Nine: Series 2":

Newcombe finished up and excellent 12-year career with 36 games split during the 1960 season with the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Indians, posting a record of 6-9 with a 4.48 ERA over 136.2 innings at the age of 34.

He'd put in a year in the Minors in 1961 with Spokane before playing one game overseas in Japan with Chunichi in 1962, thus ending his playing career.

The N.L. Rookie of the Year in 1949 when he posted 17 wins for the Dodgers, he followed that up with 19 wins in 1950 before the first of his three 20-win seasons the following year.

Sadly for him, he would spend the next two years in the military, losing two peak seasons to serving his country before coming back in 1954 when he would go 9-8 over 29 games.

In 1955 he'd be in the 20-win circle once again, helping the Dodgers win the World Series as he would go 20-5 and finishing seventh in the MVP race, the last year without an Award dedicated to pitchers.

And then came 1956...

For Don Newcombe, 1956 was a magical year. He was a monster on the mound, going 27-7 with a 3.06 earned run average and five shutouts and leading the Dodgers to another face-off with the New York Yankees in the World Series.

Not only did that get him the very first Cy Young Award, but it also bagged him a Most Valuable Player Award, thus making him the answer to a clever trivia question: who was the only pitcher to win a Rookie of the Year, Cy Young and M.V.P.? (He would be joined in this by Detroit Tiger pitcher Justin Verlander in 2011).

However, it would be the peak, followed by a quick decline at only 31 years of age, winning 11 games in 1957 before managing just 26 wins over the last three years of his career, which came to a close in 1960 after that split year with the Reds and Indians.

All told, the man won the aforementioned awards while posting 153 wins against just 96 losses, good for a very nice .614 winning percentage, with a 3.57 earned run average and 24 shutouts over 360 games.

WTHBALLS CUSTOM SET SPOTLIGHT: 1890 "BASEBALL CHAMPIONS" JOHN CLARKSON

Today on the blog we take a look at my custom card for Hall of Fame pitcher John Clarkson, from my 2018 "1890 Base Ball Champions" set:

Really fun custom set to create and release in special cigarette box packaging with extra goodies thrown in!

Of course, for those familiar with 19th Century cards, you'll recognize that I used the 1894 Mayo Plug set as inspiration for this set design, as the Mayo Plugs are one of my very favorite card sets of all-time.

As for Clarkson, the right hander from Massachusetts put in twelve years in the Big Leagues, posting 328 victories by the time he hung them up, winning as many as 53 games in 1885, with eight seasons of 20+ wins.

In 1889 he took home the pitching Triple Crown when he led the league with 49 wins, 2.73 earned run average and 284 strikeouts, over 73 appearances, 72 of which were starts, completing an incredible 68 of them for 620 innings of work.

In 1885, when he posted his career-best 53 wins, he completed 68 of his 70 starts, tossing 10 shutouts and striking out 308 batters while finishing with another career-best of a 1.85 E.R.A. over 623 innings.

Just amazing.

On June 4th of 1889 he is credited as throwing the first record "immaculate inning", doing so against the Philadelphia Quakers in the third inning of their match-up.

His final numbers: a 328-178 record, good for a .648 winning percentage, with a 2.81 ERA over 531 appearances, 518 of those starts, with 485 complete games and 37 shutouts.

In 1963, Clarkson was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee, joining fellow 19th Century 300-game winners like Cy Young, Pud Galvin and Mickey Welch.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1972 RICK STELMASZEK

On the blog today, we have a "not so missing" 1972 card for former catcher Rick Stelmaszek, who made his MLB debut in 1971 with a handful of games with the Washington Senators in their last season of play before relocating to Texas as the Rangers:

Stelmaszek went 0-for-9 at the plate over six games while putting in time behind the plate for the Senators before spending all of 1972 in the Minors.

He'd make it back to the Big Leagues in 1973, going on to appear in seven games for the now relocated franchise before a trade in May sent him to the Angels.
He’d appear in 22 games for California, one of the MANY catchers the Angels seemed to have at that time, batting .154 for them and a combined .143 between the two organizations.
It was a short-lived tenure with his new team, and he would find himself playing for his hometown Chicago Cubs by the time the 1974 season opened up, playing in 25 games and batting .227 with 10 hits over 56 at-bats while filling in behind the plate.
Those would actually be the last Big League games for Stelmaszek, though he would toil in the Minors for another four years, each year for a different organization, retiring as a player after the 1978 season.
All told, he finished with a .170 batting average, with 15 hits over 88 at-bats in 60 lifetime games, driving in 10 runs while scoring four himself.