FIXING UP ALL-STAR CARDS: 1985 LOU WHITAKER

Good day all!

On the blog today, we go ahead and "fix" another Topps All-Star card, this time the American League second baseman in the 1985 set, who Topps originally showed as Damaso Garcia, but SHOULD have been the actual starter, Lou Whitaker:

Whitaker, who should be in the Hall of Fame already, put together another brilliant year in 1984, helping Detroit to their first championship since 1968, hitting .289 with 90 runs scored and 56 RBIs while also taking home a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Award.

The man was as consistent as any franchise could ever hope for in a player, and I just cannot understand why he isn't in the Hall of Fame already.

By the time he retired he finished with 2369 hits, a .276 average, 1386 runs scored and 1084 RBIs, with 244 home runs and 143 stolen bases.

The Rookie of the Year for the A.L. in 1978, he made five straight All-Star teams while picking up three Gold Gloves and four Silver Slugger Awards.

 

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: PHIL RIZZUTO

Up on the blog today, we're going to add "The Scooter", Phil Rizzuto to my long-running WTHBALLS "Classic Baseball set, celebrating the great game's rich history:

Simply put, the man was a voice of my youth, with a legendary New York Yankee broadcasting career for decades, including the 1970s and 1980s when I became a baseball nut.

And that broadcasting career is on TOP of a Hall of Fame playing career that saw him suit up for the Yankees 13 year, with three years lost to the military during World War II.

Originally up in 1941 at the age of 23, Rizzuto quickly became a cog in the World Championship teams of the 1940s and 1950s, putting in a Rookie of the Year-worthy campaign, hitting .307 while getting some MVP votes by season's end.

“Scooter” had a career-year in 1950, taking home the American League MVP Award with his .324 batting average and 200 hits, both career-highs.
He also scored 125 runs for the World Champion Yankees, while leading all A.L. shortstops in fielding percentage and putouts.

By the time he hung up the cleats in 1956, he finished his career with 1588 hits and a .273 average, with 877 runs scored and 149 steals to go along with seven world championships!

Throw in his lost military years and he could have had over 2000 hits easy.

Loved by so many in New York City through the decades, the native-born legend became an icon of the city, forever a part of NYC sports lore.

 

AVAILABLE NOW! WTHBALLS "1980's SPECIAL SET"

Good day all!

Happy to announce the latest WTHBALLS custom set, my "1980's Special" is now available!

 

 

 

Straight out of the 1980s, this set has some "missing", some "cappers", even a "fantasy" card or two celebrating the Topps sets of the decade.

They are $14 each with postage at $6.00 1st Class w/tracking. As usual, the postage stays the same no matter how many sets you buy. 

Same paypal email: slogun23@gmail.com or if you prefer Venmo my ID is: @Giovanni-Balistreri-1

Another fun set of cards to add to the WTHBALLS checklist!

If anyone has any questions please feel free to reach out!

Take care and thank you for the continued interest and support!

Gio/wthballs

1981 DRAKE'S BIG PITCHERS: DON SUTTON

Up on the blog today we spotlight another card from my custom 1981 "Drake's Big Pitchers" set, which was a wild hit among you all, with my Don Sutton edition getting the attention:

Everything Sutton did led him to Cooperstown, where he can proudly display his 324 wins, 58 shutouts and 3574 strikeouts over 774 games, 756 of which were starts.

Over his 23 years as a Major League pitcher, he was a part of six Pennant winners, and a minor part of a World Championship team during his final year in 1988 with the team he spent most of his career with, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

There are those that say Sutton, like a few other players who racked up big numbers, was a product of "tenure over domination", that is, that the numbers he garnered in the bigs was more about the amount of years he played over a bunch of dominating seasons.

I don't find that as a problem actually.

Being that there are just as few guys who played a long time while staying very productive as those legends who dominated for a somewhat brief time during their careers, I like to see the Don Suttons, Phil Niekros, Eddie Murrays and Tony Perez' get their due.

Almost a quarter-century of productivity on a Major League mound, leading to numbers like Sutton put up are definitely worth a plaque in Cooperstown, no?

Hope you all agree…

 

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1984 OREL HERSHISER

Good day everyone!

On the blog today, a fun 1980s card to add to the roster, a "not so missing" 1984 card for Los Angeles Dodgers great Orel Hershiser, who made his MLB debut in September of 1983 but did not get a card the following year:

Hershiser appeared in only eight games for the Dodgers in 1983 as a late-season call-up, not factoring in a decision while pitching to a 3.38 earned run average over eight innings.

The following year he had an excellent rookie campaign, finishing third in the Rookie of the Year balloting behind Dwight Gooden and Juan Samuel when he finished 11-8 over 45 appearances, 20 of those starts, with a league-leading four shutouts and a brilliant 2.66 ERA in 189.2 innings.

He would follow that up with arguably his second best season as a Major Leaguer, going 19-3 with a 2.03 ERA and five shutouts, completing nine of 34 starts with 157 strikeouts, good for third in the Cy Young voting with some MVP votes thrown in.

After two effective, though .500 years in 1986 and 1987, he would have his best year in the Big Leagues in 1988, guiding the Dodgers to a World Championship and becoming "All-World" when he went 23-8 with a 2.26 ERA, 15 complete games and eight shutouts over 34 starts and 267 innings pitched.

He also established a new record for consecutive scoreless innings when he topped the previous record held by another Dodger legend, Don Drysdale, reaching 59 straight innings without giving up a run.

By the times awards were being handed out that year, he finished with the N.L. Cy Young Award, as well as an All-Star nod and a Gold Glove, while finishing sixth in the MVP race.

After a couple of injury-plagued years in 1989 and 1990, he made it back and remained a solid starter for another ten seasons, moving on to the Cleveland Indians, San Francisco Giants and New York Mets before one final year with the Dodgers in 2000.

By the time he retired, he finished with a record of 205-150, with a 3.48 ERA over 510 appearances, with 25 shutouts and 2014 strikeouts.

He made three All-Star teams and also took home a Silver Slugger in 1993, while finishing top-4 in Cy Young voting four times.

Not bad for a guy the Dodgers considered only a reliever when he came up!

CAREER-CAPPER: 1962 WALT DROPO

Good day everyone!

Up on the blog today, a card I just learned needed to be done, a 1962 "career-capper" for Walt Dropo:

Dropo finished up a nice 13-year Major League career in 1961 as a member of the Baltimore Orioles.

He appeared in only 14 games, hitting .259 with seven hits in 27 at-bats with a homer and two runs batted in.

I remember thinking of Dropo a lot 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.

 

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1976 ORLANDO ALVAREZ

Up on the blog today, a guy who has had two other "missing" cards created here over the years, former outfielder Orlando Alvarez, with a 1976 edition this time:

Alvarez appeared in only four games for the Los Angeles Dodgers during the 1975 season, going 0-4 at the plate while putting in some time out in left field.

He made his MLB debut in 1973 with four games, going 1-for-4 at the plate, that first Big League hit a double.

He would find himself as a California Angel in 1976, where he'd get into 15 games, collecting seven hits over 42 at-bats, including the only two home runs of his career, as well as runs batted in, eight.

He would spend 1977 and 1978 bouncing around the Minors for four different organizations before calling it a career, finishing up with a Big League resume that included 25 games, with eight hits over 51 at-bats, good for a .157 batting average, with four runs scored and eight RBI's.