AVAILABLE NOW! 1954 WILSON'S FRANKS EXTENSION SET

Hello everyone!

Excited to announce the release of my 1954 Wilson's Franks extension set:

 

I went and added 15 baseball stars of that era to the classic and highly sought after oddball set, finally finding a commercial printer who could guarantee the very tight white borders particular to the original set.

I promise you, this took some time to find, as most printers could not guarantee such tight cuts!

Anyway, as you can see in the attached photos, the 15-cards are chock full of greatness, all packaged in a new type of package for WTHBALLS, an acetate box, with the cards wrapped in a color printed 1954 Wilson's Franks package.

The backs are fully printed biographical/statistics backs, giving further authenticity to the original great set.

Though a bit more "limited" than most WTHBALLS sets, there should still be more than enough for the WTHBALLS family!

The set costs $15 each, with the usual $4.50 shipping, no matter how many you buy.

Paypal: slogun23@gmail.com

Thank you so much for the continued interest and support!

Take Care

Gio

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: AL KALINE

On the blog today, we add an incredibly underrated and under-appreciated Hall of Famer, Detroit Tigers great Al Kaline, to my custom "Classic Baseball" set, celebrating the great game and it's "Golden Era":

What a great all-around player the Tigers had for 20 years!

Buried under names like Aaron, Mays, Mantle, etc, he just went about his business year in and year out and paved the way for his eventual induction into Cooperstown's hallowed halls in 1980.

The 1960's saw Kaline make eight All-Star teams, win seven Gold Gloves, and receive solid M.V.P. support seven of ten years, finishing as high as second in 1963.

Though he only led the league in a primary offensive category only once (doubles in 1961) in the 1960s, Kaline's consistency was his strength, as he topped .300 four times, 20 homers five times, and a .500 slugging percentage five times.

The 15-time all-star topped 3000 hits, 1600 runs, 1500 runs batted in and came one home run short of 400 over his stellar career, which also included 10 Gold Gloves for his defensive prowess.
An easy Hall of Fame pick, he was inducted in his first year of eligibility in 1980 with 88.3% of the ballots cast.
“Mr. Tiger” indeed!

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1975 JOHN STROHMAYER

Up on the blog today, we have a "not so missing" 1975 card for former New York Mets pitcher John Strohmayer, who wrapped up a brief Big League career with a single game in 1974:

After about three and a half years with the Montreal Expos, Strohmayer was selected off waivers by the Mets in July of 1973 and appeared in seven games, good for 10 innings before the year was up.

For the year he appeared in 24 games and 44.2 innings between the two organizations, so I went and created a "missing" 1974 card for the blog a while back.

In 1974, he appeared in one game for the Mets, only pitching one inning, never to appear in another Major League game again.

Over those five years between 1970 and 1974, Strohmayer went 11-9 with a 4.47 earned run average in 143 games, 18 of which were starts.

As an aside, here's something I don't get to post everyday: seems Strohmayer was one of 15 employees of the Gateway Unified School District to share a $76 Million lottery jackpot in 2009!

Good for you John! We should all be so lucky!

REVISITING A "MISSING" CARD POST FROM 2014: 1973 JOHN CUMBERLAND

Here's a "missing" 1973 card for pitcher John Cumberland of the St. Louis Cardinals:

After a very nice 1971 season with the San Francisco Giants which saw him post a 9-6 record with a 2.92 E.R.A. and two shutouts in 45 games and 185 innings, Cumberland started the 1972 season 0-4 with a bloated 8.64 E.R.A., finding himself traded to the Cardinals for a minor league player on June 16th.

The change of scenery didn't exactly help, as he went on to a 1-1 record with a 6.65 earned run average over 14 games.

All told he went 1-5 with a 7.71 E.R.A. over 23 games and 46.2 innings of work.

He actually didn't appear in a Major League game in 1973, but came back for 17 appearances in 1974 with the California Angels, fairing a bit better with an 0-1 record and 3.74 E.R.A. over 21.2 innings, his last on the big league level.

For his career, Cumberland went 15-16 with a 3.82 earned run average over 110 appearances, 36 of which were starts.

WTHBALLS CUSTOM SET SPOTLIGHT: 1890 "BASEBALL CHAMPIONS" MICKEY WELCH

On the blog today, we spotlight my custom card for 300-game winner Mickey Welch, from an early WTHBALLS set released back in 2018 in deluxe packaging:

Once I got my hands on my first Macmillan Baseball Encyclopedia as a 10 year old I became obsessed with those early Gods of the mound, like Tim Keefe, Kid Nichols, Pud Galvin, and this guy, fellow Brooklyn native Welch.

All of these pitchers had incredible numbers on their Major League resume, and my eyes would strain to grasp the inning-counts, the complete games, win totals and the earned run averages.

It was mind-blowing to me, and to some extent (even after learning the differences of the game back then), it still is.

Welch put together an uber-solid 13-year career, a career that saw him post nine 20-win seasons, four 30-win seasons and a 40-win season.

All but three of his years as a pro were with the New York Giants, with his first three years playing for the Troy Trojans between 1880-1882, and he went on to become only the third pitcher to amass 300 or more career wins.

He'd finish his career after only one start in 1892, putting up a 307-210 lifetime record, with a 2.71 earned run average, a staggering 525 complete games out of 549 starts, 41 shutouts and 1850 strikeouts.

Sadly, he wouldn't gain entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame until 1973, long after he passed away in 1941, when he was voted in by the Veterans Committee.
But this time the Committee got it right as opposed to some of those other questionable picks in the early-1970's, as Welch found his place with all the other aforementioned 19th-century 300-game winners.

 

REVISIT: 1975 "NICKNAMES OF THE 1970s" SPARKY ANDERSON

Thought it'd be fun to revisit my 1975 "nickname" card for Hall of Fame manager Sparky Anderson, the skipper for the juggernaut "Big Red Machine" Reds of the 1970's:

I used a 1975 template and a fantastic photo of Anderson with his Hall of Fame catcher, Johnny Bench after (what else?), waiting for a relief pitcher!

It would have been too easy to use some portrait shot of him, but this photo just seemed "right", even WITH his back to the camera.

I used the 1975 template since he was at the height of his league domination with the Reds and his juggernaut lineup: Bench, Pete Rose, Tony Perez, Joe Morgan, Ken Griffey, George Foster et al. 

But the nickname, of course, comes from the fact that Sparky was really one of the first managers to rely heavily on his bullpen.

When you look at the "Big Red Machine" teams of the mid-70's you find solid Major League starters like Don Gullet, Gary Nolan, Jack Billingham, etc.

But there was never a true "ace", which was actually rather abundant in the Majors during the decade.

However, the Reds DID have solid guys out of the pen like Tom Hall, Rawly Eastwick, Pedro Borbon, Clay Carroll and Will McEnaney.

These were guys that could come in at any time during the game and pitch as long as Sparky needed them to.

So while so many other teams during the decade had guys completing 20 or more of their starts every season, the Reds didn't even have one of their starters complete 10 or more in either of their World Champion years.

But how can you argue with success, right?

And Anderson found a lot of success in his 26-year managing career!

Three world titles (the third coming in 1984 with the Tigers), seven first place finishes, two more pennants (1970 and 1972), and 2194 career victories.

He also won two Manager of the Year Awards, in 1984 and 1987 (the award was instituted in 1983, or he almost assuredly would have won a couple with Cincinnati), and guided five All-Star teams (four in the N.L., one in the A.L.).

Just a classic manager who managed some classic teams!

It's amazing to think that when he took over the Reds in 1970, he was only 36 years of age! It's easy to remember him like the grandfatherly figure he was the last part of his career.

Sparky Anderson, "Captain Hook", a Hall of Famer inducted into Cooperstown in 2000 by the Veterans Committee.

 

THE WHOLE NINE: SERIES 2- MISSING IN ACTION: 1968 SPARKY LYLE

Good day all.

On the blog today, from my recent custom "Whole Nine: Series Two" set, not so missing 1968 card for one of the all-time relievers of the game, Sparky Lyle, who made his big league debut on July 4th of 1967 with the eventual American League champion Boston Red Sox:

Lyle appeared in 27 games for the Red Sox that year, going 1-2 with a 2.28 ERA over 43.1 innings, striking out 42 while walking 14.

All he would do from then on is put in what I think is a Hall of Fame career, appearing in 899 games, all in relief, saving 238 games while posting a record of 99-76, with an ERA of 2.88.

He took home a Cy Young Award in 1977, helping the Yankees to their first title in 13 years, and finished in third for A.L. MVP in 1972 after getting traded from Boston in one of the most lopsided trades of all-time, as he saved a league-leading 35 games with a record of 9-5 and a 1.95 ERA.

One of the great characters of the game, his many quips, antics, etc are well documented, especially during his tenure with the "Bronx Zoo" Yankee dynasty through the 1978 season.

Just a great icon of 1970s baseball!