NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1974 PETE LaCOCK

Let’s go an add Pete LaCock  to the “not so missing” card stable today, with a 1974 edition for the former first baseman/outfielder:

LaCock, son of former TV personality Peter Marshall, appeared in eleven games for the Chicago Cubs during the 1973, his second year in the Big Leagues after making his debut in 1972 with five games.
Over those eleven games LaCock hit .250 with four hits over 16 at-bats, driving in three runs, before coming back in 1974 with 35 games, hitting .182 with twenty hits in 110 at-bats.
In 1975 he’d finally get some real action in the Majors when he played in 106 games, hitting .229 with 57 hits in 249 at-bats, hitting six homers and driving in 30.
He would end up putting in nine years in the Big Leagues, splitting his career between the Cubs and Kansas City Royals, collecting 444 hits and batting .257 over 715 games.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1973 DAN NEUMEIER

Time we go and give three-game Major League pitcher Dan Neumeier a “not so missing” 1973 card commemorating his Big League tenure from the previous season:

Neumeier made his Big League debut on September 8th of 1972, walking the only batter he faced who came around to score later on.
He’d appear in two more games before the season was done, pitching to a 9.00 earned run average while not factoring in a decision.
He’d play two more seasons in the Minor Leagues, never again facing Major League batters, retiring after the 1974 season with only those three games at the end of 1972 as his Major League experience.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1978 RANDY BASS

Time to go and throw up a 1978 “not so missing” card for former Minnesota Twins DH Randy Bass, who’d find fame and fortune years later as a slugging star in Japan:

Bass made his MLB debut with nine games for the Twins in 1977, going 2-for-19 at the plate as a 23-year-old with a September call-up.
He’d spend the next three seasons making brief MLB appearances, with 2, 2, and 19 games respectively between 1978 and 1980 for three different teams: Kansas City Royals, Montreal Expos and San Diego Padres.
In 1981 he’d have what turned out to be his most active season over his six-year career when he played in 69 games for San Diego, hitting .210 over 176 at-bats, hitting four homers while driving in 20.
He’d split the 1982 season with San Diego and the Texas Rangers, hitting a combined .205 over 29 games and 78 at-bats, hitting two homers while driving in 14 before spending the rest of the year in the Minors.
In 1983 he’d make the move to Japan, where he ended becoming a star slugger, even challenging the Japanese single-season home run record in 1985 when he slammed 54 homers with 134 runs batted in.
He followed that season up with a 47 homer year in 1986, driving in 109 runs while hitting an astounding .389 for the Hanshin Tigers.
In his six seasons in Japan, he hit 202 homers, topping 30+ four times, before retiring for good after the 1988 season, hitting 449 homers over his professional career.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1974 KEITH MARSHALL

Fun card to add to the “collection”, a 1974 edition for former Kansas City Royals eight-game outfielder Keith Marshall, who played all his Big League games in April of 1973:

Marshall played his entire career between April 7th of 1973 through the end of the month, hitting .222 with two hist over nine at-bats with a double and three runs batted in.
He’d be back in the Minors where he finished up the season before playing another three years trying to make it back to the Majors.
But he’d never get that shot and would retire after the 1976 campaign at only 24 years of age after playing in the Cincinnati Reds organization.

TRADED- 1975 TOMMY HARPER

I love creating “traded” card throughout the 1970’s. Especially my 1975 format, so today I present a 1975 traded card for former 30/30 man Tommy Harper, who found himself a California Angel after a few seasons as a Boston Red Sox player:

Harper was traded to the Angels for Bob Heise and ended up playing only 89 games with them before moving on to the Oakland A’s later in the year, then the Baltimore Orioles in 1976 for what turned out to be the last 46 games of his 15-year career.
An All-Star in 1970 for the Milwaukee Brewers in their first season, Harper became an early member of the 30-homer/30-steals club when he hit 31 taters and swiped 38 bases, just one season removed from leading the American League with 73 steals for the one-year Seattle Pilots franchise in 1969.
He’d also lead the league with 54 steals while with the Boston Red Sox in 1973, while also hitting 17 homers and hitting .281 with 92 runs scored.
By the time he retired in 1976, Harper finished with 146 homers and 408 stolen bases, with a .257 batting average and 1609 hits in 6269 at-bats over 1810 games, with one All-Star nod.

1975 IN-ACTION: RICHIE ZISK

Adding to my long-running 1975 “In-Action” sub-set, today I include Brooklyn-born Richie Zisk into the mix, as he was just coming into his own by the time this card would seen the light of day:

Zisk had just completed his first full season in the Majors in 1974 and did not disappoint, driving in 100 runs for the Pittsburgh Pirates while hitting a robust .313 with 17 homers.
Not to say his previous season, technically his rookie year of 1973 was bad, as he hit .324 with 108 hits over 333 at-bats with 10 homers and 54 Rbis in 103 games.
He would end up playing 13 seasons under the Big League sun, for the Pirates, Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers and Seattle mariners between 1971 and 1983, hitting 207 homers, with 792 RBIs and 681 runs scored, hitting .287 over 1453 games and 5144 at-bats.
I will ALWAYS be bothered by the fact that Topps screwed up his 1978 card, forgetting to place the All-Star emblem on his card, which would have given him two straight All-Star cards in 1978/1979.
For a kid back then, those All-Star designations made you a god, and Zisk had to settle for one instead of two.
Thanks Topps!

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1976 JIM MERRITT

Time to go ahead and give former 20-win pitcher Jim Merritt a career-capping “not so missing” 1976 card, as he closed out an 11-year Major league career with a handful of games with the Texas Rangers the year before:

Merritt appeared in five games with Texas in 1975, throwing 3.2 scoreless innings while not factoring in a decision, all out of the bullpen.
That would be the last action for him on a big league mound, closing out an eleven-year career that saw him come up with the Minnesota Twins in 1965 as a 21-year-old before moving on to the Cincinnati Reds in 1969 for four years before the last three with the Rangers.
In 1970 he had arguably his best season in the Majors when he went 20-12 with the Reds, finishing fourth in Cy Young voting while making his only All-Star team.
I say “arguably” because that year his earned run average was a high 4.08, while in 1967 with the Twins he went 13-7 with a wonderful 2.53 ERA over 37 appearances, 25 of those starts, tossing a career-high four shutouts with 161 strikeouts.
Overall, he’d finish his career with a record of 81-86, posting an ERA of 3.65 over 297 appearances and 1483 innings of work, throwing nine shutouts while collecting seven saves along the way.