"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: RALPH KINER

The next player to get a card in my long-running "Classic Baseball" custom WTHBALLS set is slugger and Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner:

Imagine averaging 97 runs, 37 homers and 101 runs batted in over your ENTIRE career?! Just awesome.

Kiner broke in with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1946 and promptly led the National League in homers with 23, then proceeded to lead his league in that same department for the next six years, with FIVE of those seasons with 40 or more, all consecutively.

In 1947 he smashed 51 homers, then topped himself two years later when he outright demolished the ball, hitting 54 home runs while setting his personal best in slugging with a .658 mark

In his 10 short years as a Major League player he led the league 17 times in a positive offensive category.

All told, he finished with 369 homers, 1015 RBIs, 971 runs scored and a .279 average over 10 seasons, playing in only 1472 games with 5205 at-bats.

Injuries curtailed what could have been a monster career, but he produced plenty enough for the BBWA to induct him in 1975, cementing his place in baseball history, and he was already entrenched as the long-time New York Mets TV announcer, where he even copped an Emmy Award and kept us all in stitches with malapropisms for over 50 years.

 

REVISIT: MISSING IN ACTION- 1975 MICK KELLEHER

On the blog today, we revisit another 10-year old post, this time my 1975 "Missing in Action" card for Mick Kelleher:

It’s a stretch being that Kelleher appeared in 19 games for the Astros during the 1974 season.
But it can be argued that he easily could have appeared on a card, at the very least a multi-player rookie card, in any given year between 1974 and 1975.
As it was he didn’t appear in a Topps set until 1977 after a relatively full season with the Chicago Cubs the previous year.
Nevertheless, Kelleher hit .158 during the 1974 season, collecting nine hits over 57 at-bats while playing shortstop.
He would go on to play 11-years in his career, mainly with the Cubs where he’d see the bulk of his 622 lifetime games.
In those, he collected 230 hits in 1081 at-bats, good for a .213 average.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1972 BOBBY DARWIN

On the blog today, how about a "not so missing" 1972 card for former pitcher-turned-outfielder Bobby Darwin, who started his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers:

Darwin appeared in eleven games in 1971 for the Dodgers, now as an outfielder after two brief shots as a pitcher in 1962 and 1969.

Over those eleven games in 1971 he hit .250 with a homer and four RBIs, collecting five hits in 20 at-bats.

It’s easy to forget that the man who’d eventually go on to the Minnesota Twins and slug 65 homers over three seasons between 1972-1974 started out as a pitcher with the pitching rich Dodgers in the 1960’s.
In 1969, after a seven year hiatus from his MLB debut in 1962, Darwin made it back to a Big League mound and appeared in six games, not factoring in a decision while posting an ERA of 9.82 in 3.2 innings pitched.
Back in his MLB debut in 1962, he appeared in one game at the age of 19, giving up six runs, four of them earned, in 3.1 innings, getting tagged with the loss in the abbreviated start.
But he’d find his place as an outfielder, eventually going on to hit 83 homers in his nine-year career playing for the Dodgers, Twins, Milwaukee Brewers, Boston Red Sox and finally Chicago Cubs between 1962 and 1977.
A “hit-or-miss” type hitter, he led the American League in strikeouts (as a batter) three straight seasons between 1972 and 1974, his only three full seasons as a Big Leaguer.
He finished his career with a batting average of .251, with 559 hits over 2224 at-bats, with 250 runs scored and 328 RBI’s.

CAREER-CAPPER: 1975 BOB VEALE

Today on the blog we have my 1975 "career-capper" for former flame-thrower Bob Veale, who wrapped up a nice Major League career as a member of the Boston Red Sox:

Veale appeared in 18 games for the Sox that season, posting a record of 0-1 with a bloated 5.54 ERA over thirteen innings, striking out 16 while walking four.

Veale was one of those power arms that the National League was blessed with in the 1960's, even topping the Senior League with 250 K's in 1964.

A year later he'd strike out 276 batters, and would have another two season with 200+ strikeouts while throwing for the Pittsburgh Pirates, the only other team he'd pitch for in his 13-year career.

He'd retire with a tidy 120-95 record, with a 3.07 earned run average and 1703 K's with 20 shutouts.

Between 1964 and 1970 Veale was a very solid Major League starter, averaging 15 wins and 213 strikeouts over those seven years, easily keeping pace with contemporaries like Don Drysdale, Jim Bunning and Jim Maloney.

 

MISSING IN ACTION- 1981 DAVE HEAVERLO

Good day all!

On the blog today, a player new to the WTHBALLS blog, pitcher Dave Heaverlo and a "missing" 1981 card for the young man:

I don't know why Topps would have skipped him in their 1981 set since he had a rather productive 1980 season for the Seattle Mariners.

Donruss and Fleer included him in their 1981 sets, but Topps saw different for some reason.

In 1980, pitching his only season for the Seattle Mariners, Heaverlo went 6-3 over 60 games, with a 3.89 earned run average spread across 78.2 innings of work.

Definitely a decent season for a middle-reliever, while also picking up four saves and striking out 42 batters along the way.

Heaverlo would pitch one more year in the Big Leagues, closing out a seven-year run with a return to the Oakland A's in 1981 when he appeared in only six games, going 1-0 with a 1.59 ERA in 5.2 innings.

Originally up with the San Francisco Giants in 1975, he ended up with a record of 26-26 over 356 games between 1975 and 1981, pitching to a respectable 3.41 ERA over 537.2 innings, saving 26 games while striking out 288 batters, with every single appearance out of the bullpen.

 

GIMMIE A DO-OVER: 1977 OTTO VELEZ

Good day all!

On the blog today, just for the fun of it, a re-do for Otto Velez and his 1977 card, which originally had him airbrushed into a Toronto Blue Jays uni by Topps way back when:

Here I have him suited up and shown as a New York Yankee, for whom he played in 1976.

After playing for the New York Yankees in parts of four seasons between 1973 and 1976, he was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in their inaugural expansion draft before the 1977 campaign.

He was the 53rd pick in the 1976 expansion draft, and would have a decent year for the Jays in 1977 when he batted .256 with 16 homers and 62 runs batted in.
He would stay with the team for the next five seasons, hitting as many as 20 homers (1980) as well as matching his 1977 RBI total that very same year.

In 1983 he would find himself with the Cleveland Indians, where he would play what turned out to be the final 10 games of his career, hitting only .080 with two hits over 25 at-bats, with a run scored and an RBI.

Velez would put 11 years in the Major Leagues, batting .251 with 78 homers and 272 runs batted in, while collecting 452 hits in 1802 at-bats over 637 games.

 

1981 DRAKES BIG PITCHERS: SPARKY LYLE

Good day all!

On the blog today, we post my 1981 "Drake's Big Pitchers" card for Sparky Lyle, from my custom set released a few months ago:

Fun card showing the relief specialist with the Philadelphia Phillies, for whom he finished the 1`980 season with after starting the year as a Texas Ranger.

Originally up with the Boston Red Sox in 1967, 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!