1981 DRAKE'S BIG PITCHERS: NOLAN RYAN

Good day all!

On the blog today, we spotlight my 1981 "Drake's Big Pitchers" card for the great Nolan Ryan, from my fun custom set released last year:

 

What really needs to be said about a guy who has become more myth than baseball legend?

300+ wins, 5700+ strikeouts, 60+ shutouts, and oh yeah SEVEN no-hitters, two of which came when he was well into his 40’s while with the Texas Rangers!

I love thinking about the fact that he did most of his damage in the American League with the designated hitter. Now imagine how many strikeouts he could have had in his prime pitching in the National League where the pitcher batted?!

Would it be safe to say you could add 20-30 strikeouts a season to his total? More?

Hey, you never know…

Nevertheless, the man became a baseball God, eventually finding his place in the Hall of Fame upon his first year of eligibility as an absolute no-brainer.

I just thank the skies above that I got to see him pitch in-person!

 

CAREER-CAPPER: 1989 JOSE CRUZ

Super fun card to add to the WTHBALLS roster today, that a 1989 "Career-Capper" for Jose Cruz, who closed out a brilliant Major League career in 1988:

Playing in his 19th Big League season, Cruz suited up for 38 games with the New York Yankees, and I was happy to have witnessed some of them in person!

The man hit an even .200 over 80 at-bats with the Yankees, hitting a homer and driving in seven with nine runs scored and eight walks.

Cruz, who would go on to find fame and fortune with his 13 seasons playing for the Houston Astros between 1975 and 1987, appeared in six games for St. Louis in his first taste of the Big Leagues in 1970, hitting a robust .353 with six hits over 17 at-bats.
He’d never find his true hitting stroke over the parts of five seasons he spent in St. Louis, but after being purchased by the Astros in December of 1974, he would go on to become an All-Star outfielder.
He would be named to two All-Star teams, win two Silver Slugger Awards, and three times finish in the top-10 for N.L. MVP, even leading the league in hits with 189 in 1983.
By the time he finished with one season as a New York Yankee in 1988 at the age of 40, he retired with 2251 hits, a .284 batting average, 165 homers and 317 stolen bases.

 

FIXING UP ALL-STAR CARDS: 1984 FRED LYNN

On the blog today, a real travesty for Topps regarding their All-Star cards of the 1980s.

Imagine being selected as a starter for your league, and THEN you go on to hit the FIRST grand slam in All-Star game history, helping your league win its first Midsummer Classic in 12 years, and you get OVERLOOKED for an All-Star card the following year!?

Well, welcome to California Angels star Fred Lynn, who had this very thing happen in 1984 when the new Topps baseball cards came out.

So here is his rightful All-Star card, 42 years later:

As for Mr. Lynn, after a wonderful college career at USC, Lynn became an instant star in 1975 when he led the Boston Red Sox to the World Series after copping both the Rookie of the Year AND Most Valuable Player Awards. The first player ever to do so, and still only one of two (Ichiro Suzuki joined him in 2001).
He’d go on to win four Gold Gloves, get named to nine all-star teams, and hit the only Grand Slam in All-Star game history, a memorable shot off of Atlee Hammaker in the 1983 classic that gave the American League it’s first win over the National League since 1971.
Hampered by injuries throughout his 17-year career, he still finished with a very solid MLB resume: 306 homers, 1111 RBI’s, 1063 runs scored and a .283 batting average, with 10 seasons of 20+ homers over 1969 games.

 

WTHBALLS CUSTOM SET SPOTLIGHT: 1960S STARS OF THE GAME: ORLANDO CEPEDA

On the blog today, the next card from my 2019 "1960 Stars of the Game" custom WTHBALLS gelatin set, this time HOFer Orlando Cepeda:

Cepeda was a much heralded prospect coming up in the Minors before making his Big League debut in 1958, and of course, he would not disappoint, as he would take home the Rookie of the Year that season, hitting .312 with 188 hits, 25 homers, 96 RBIs and a league-leading 38 doubles, in what was to become a "typical" season for the future Hall of Famer.

While Cepeda's career was productive enough to get into Cooperstown, it's well known that if not for his bad knees, his final statistics could have been mind blowing.
Nevertheless, by the time he retired, he posted final numbers of: 379 homers, 1365 runs batted in, 2351 hits and a .297 average, with a Rookie of the Year (1958) and M.V.P. award (1967) thrown in.
It took a little while, but he was finally inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999 after being selected by the Veteran's Committee.
What a power trio San Francisco had in Cepeda, Willie Mays and Willie McCovey! Power to the ultimate degree!”

 

REVISIT: MISSING IN ACTION 1975 GEORGE THEODORE

Time for another "revisit" for many of you that weren't following the blog 10 years ago.

This time it's my "missing" 1975 card for former New York Mets first baseman/outfielder Geprge Theodore:

Theodore did get a card in the 1974 set after his rookie year of ‘73, but after appearing in 60 games during the 1975 season, it didn’t warrant a card the following year in Topps’ eyes, and considering he never played another Major League game again, they made the right choice.
For the ‘74 season, Theodore hit .158 with 12 hits over 76 at-bats, giving him a combined .219 career batting average based on 42 hits in 192 at-bats over 105 games.

 

CAREER-CAPPER: 1973 JIM ROLAND

Up on the blog today we have a 1973 "career-capper" for pitcher Jim Roland, who put in ten seasons on a Big League mound:

Roland appeared in 23 games during the 1972 season, split between three teams: the New York Yankees, Oakland A's and Chicago White Sox.

Over those appearances he finished with a record of 0-1 with a 5.28 earned run average in 30.2 innings, striking out 17 while walking 18 (ouch!).

Originally up as a 19-year-old with the Minnesota Twins in 1962, he'd generally be used out of the bullpen as a middle reliever, moving on to the Oakland A's in 1969 until that final 1972 season.

Overall, he'd finish with a record of 19-17 over 216 games, with a nice 3.22 ERA in 450.1 innings, saving nine while tossing a complete game back in 1963.

 

1981 DRAKES BIG PITCHERS: PHIL NIEKRO

The next card from my wildly successful 1981 "Drake's Big Pitchers" custom set released last year to get the spotlight here on the blog is the one for Hall of Fame pitcher Phil Niekro:

Incredibly, though getting a bit of a "late-start" in his career, the man would end up putting in 24 years in the Majors, pitching his knuckler until the age of 48 in 1987.

It is astonishing to think Niekro didn’t have a full season on Big League duty until 1967 at the age of 28, yet still went on to pitch those 24 seasons, winning 318 games with a very nice 3.35 ERA along with 45 shutouts and 3342 strikeouts before he was done at the age of 48!
I always thought it amazing that at the age of 44 in 1983, he took home the last of his five Gold Gloves, ALL of which were garnered beginning his age 39 season in 1978.

Just an amazing talent!