NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1969 TED SIMMONS

Good day all!

Today on the blog, from my WTHBALLS custom "1960s Special" set released earlier this year, a 1969 "not so missing" card for Hall of Fame catcher Ted Simmons:

Look at this guys career!

He made his MLB debut during the 1968 season when he appeared in two games for the St. Louis Cardinals, going 1-for-3 at the plate.

The following year he played in five games, hitting .214 with three hits over 14 official at-bats, including his first three runs batted in.

Simmons went on to post a Big League resume that included eight All-Star nods, six seasons of 20+ homers, eight 90+ RBI campaigns and seven years of a .300 or better average.
By the time he retired after the 1988 season, he finished with 2472 hits, 248 homers, 1389 RBIs and a .285 average.
At the same time, playing in the era of the free-swinging 70’s and 80’s, he struck out only 694 times in 9685 plate appearances while twice leading his league in Intentional Base on Balls.
I have always been stunned at the fact that “Simba” garnered a meager 3.7% vote in his first chance at the Hall of Fame, thus becoming a ridiculous “one and done” candidate.

SO happy that they finally made this right and voted him in for his rightful place in Cooperstown!

 

WTHBALLS 1950 CUSTOM SET: WALT DROPO

Good day al!

On the blog today, another card from my 2018 WTHBALLS "Stars of 1950" candy-bar custom card set, this one of Walt Dropo, who had himself one of the greatest rookie seasons the game has ever seen:

I remember thinking of Dropo back in 2012 when Mike Trout was having his amazing rookie season.
I always felt that Trout, while an incredible talent, was a bit over-hyped with his rookie season numbers, especially when people kept saying it was the greatest rookie season of all-time.
Right off the bat I kept thinking of a few that I felt were better, including Dropo’s unreal rookie year that saw him hit .322 with 34 homers, 144 runs batted in and 101 runs scored, with a .583 slugging percentage and 326 total bases.
Now I’m not saying it’s THE best rookie year, but it IS a season I felt was on par, if not better than Trout’s.
Anyone have another rookie season they feel was “the best”?
I think of two that “technically” weren’t rookie years, but should be: Joe Jackson’s 1911 season and Alex Rodriguez’ 1996 season.
Why ISN’T Jackson’s 1911 season considered a rookie season anyway?

As for Dropo's MLB career, he played through the 1961 season, finishing up with a .270 average with 152 homers and 704 RBIs over 1288 games and 4124 at-bats.

Though he never matched those rookie numbers again, he did have some very good seasons playing for not only the Red Sox, but the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox.

 

CAREER-CAPPER: 1967 BOBBY RICHARDSON

Today on the blog we have a 1967 "Career-Capper" for New York Yankees great Bobby Richardson, who closed out a wonderful Big League career in 1966:

An often overlooked important cog in the last great Yankee dynasty "hurrah" of the early '60's, Richardson won five Gold Gloves during the decade, as well as finishing second in M.V.P. voting in 1962 behind teammate Mickey Mantle while making eight All-Star teams.
As a matter of fact, between 1961 and 1965 he garnered M.V.P. consideration each year, and was named to the American League all-star team five times between 1962-1966.
Even though he retired at the young age of 30, Richardson ended up with 1432 hits, leading the A.L. with 209 in 1962.
Little bit of a side note: I remember as a young Don Mattingly fanatic in 1984 that Richardson was being mentioned repeatedly during the season as the last Yankee to attain 200 hits, since it was clear Mattingly was well on his way to that magic number himself while battling teammate Dave Winfield for the batting title.

For his career, which spanned 1955 through 1966, Richardson hit .266 with 1432 hits in 5386 at-bats in 1412 games, all for the Yankees, while being a part of four World Series winning squads.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1982 JIM NETTLES

Fun card to create for the blog today, a "not so missing" 1982 card for Jim Nettles, who appeared in one solitary game for the Oakland A's in 1981:

Jim, the younger brother of third base star Graig, bunted in his sole at-bat in 1981, which turned out to be the last at-bat of his MLB career.

Originally up with the Minnesota Twins in 1970, the most he ever played in one season was 1972 when he suited up for 102 games in Minnesota, hitting .204 with 48 hits in 235 at-bats with four homers and 15 runs batted in.

He played 1970-1972 with the Twins, 1974 with the Detroit Tigers, 1979 with the Kansas City Royals and 1981 with the A's.

In 1975 and 1976 he did play in Japan and Mexico respectively, but hit .234 and .196 in those two international performances.

By the time he called it a career, his MLB numbers added to a .220 average with 129 hits, 16 homers, 57 RBIs and 68 runs scored over 240 games and 587 at-bats.

WTHBALLS CUSTOM SET SPOTLIGHT: 1960S STARS OF THE GAME: HARMON KILLEBREW

On the blog today, correcting an erroneous post from a couple months back, my 1960 "Stars of the Game" card for HOF slugger Harmon Killebrew, from my custom set released in 2018:

I remember the first time I saw Harmon Killebrew's statistics when my cousin gave me a 1973 card of him when I was about 11 years old in 1980.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing. All the home runs, all the R.B.I.'s from a player I never knew about. To count out EIGHT 40+ home run seasons blew me away.
This was right before I got my first Macmillan Encyclopedia, so baseball cards really were the only place back then to see stats of players who were around before you were a fan. I just kept rereading those power stats again and again, amazed every time as if I was seeing them for the first time.
Throw in the fact that the 1973 card of Killebrew is pretty damn cool, I was hooked on "Killer" ever since.
Over the years I was able to meet him on more than one occasion and just listen to him tell some stories, not just about baseball but some golf thrown in for good measure. He was an amazing person who was friendly, patient and always seemed to have a smile on his face.
Playing for Washington, Minnesota and a final season in Kansas City between 1954 and 1975, Killebrew mashed 573 home runs to go along with 1584 R.B.I.'s, winning an M.V.P. award along the way in 1969 while finishing in the top five in voting five other seasons.
In 1984 he was inducted in the Hall of Fame, capping off a stellar career that sometimes gets lost among the Mantles, Mays, Clementes and Aarons that were garnering all the attention in the same era.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1964 JOHN PACIOREK

At long last, I have finally gotten around to creating a "missing" 1964 card for the ultimate "one-game wonder", John Paciorek of the Houston Colt .45s:

As we all know Paciorek, the older brother of both Tom and Jim Paciorek, appeared in one solitary game at the end of the 1963 season for Houston, putting in perhaps the greatest one-game career the sport has ever seen.

On September 29th against the New York Mets, John, making his Major League debut, started out in right field and proceeded to go 3-for-3 at the plate with four runs scored and three runs batted in along with two walks, helping the "Colts" win 13-4 on the last game of the season.

With that game in the books, Paciorek went home to wait until the next season, batting a cool 1.000 for his bright career.

As a Spring Training invitee in 1964, his performance was just not enough to make the team, so off to the Minors he went.

Sadly, during the year he injured his spine, leading to spinal fusion surgery, causing him to miss the latter part of the 1964 season and all of 1965.

Though he did manage to return to the Minors in 1966, he just couldn't get back into the groove of things, hitting .193 combined with the Batavia Trojans and Salisbury Astros.

In 1967 things didn't fare much better, as he hit a combined .104 over 32 games with Asheville and Cocoa, collecting only seven hits over 67 at-bats, leading to a release at the end of the year.

He did bounce back some in 1968, signing with the Cleveland Indians organizations and splitting the year between Reno and Rock Hill.

Over 95 games that year he hit .268 with 20 homers and 73 RBIs, giving his new club some hopes for the future.

However, after hitting only .213 over 29 games with Waterbury, he was released, never to play pro ball again.

Nevertheless, no one can take away the fact that in his one day as a Major League ballplayer at the tender young age of only 18, he was perfect!

 

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: AMOS OTIS

Good day all!

Time to add underrated All-Star outfielder Amos Otis to my long-running "Classic Baseball" custom set, celebrating the game's rich history:

Otis could very well be THE most overlooked player of the 1970's as he was nothing but steady through the entire decade, going on to be the American League's top run scorer with 861, while also driving in 90+ three times and stealing 30+ bases five times.

By the time he retired after the 1984 season after one year with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he ended up with 193 homers, 341 stolen bases, 1092 runs scored and 2020 hits along with a batting average of .277 and 1007 runs batted in.
Considering the “dead ball” era of the early-70’s in the American League, his numbers are up there with the best of them, and it’s sad he gets lost among his contemporaries when looking back at that time in Major League baseball.