"MISSING IN ACTION"- 1971 MILK DUDS MICKEY MANTLE: SPECIAL RELEASE

Up on the blog today, a special release from about a year or so ago, my"missing in action" Milk Duds Mickey Mantle box, super-fun item to create and release for you all:

I was so happy to find a commercial printer that was able to produce these in the quantity I needed, at the right price!

Identical in size and card stock quality as the originals released way back when, I wanted to get a Mantle version out there just for the fun of it, imagining if the fine folks at Milk Duds celebrated his "recent" retirement with inclusion in their set which is STILL wildly popular with collectors to this day.

As I have stated before here on the blog many times, Mantle is one of those guys I really don't think we need to get into as far as his tenure on the baseball diamond. It'd be kind of a joke to start writing about his career since it would take up a book's worth.

But alas, 500+ homers, a bushel of World Championships, three Most Valuable Player Awards, and the hearts of more fans than we can even imagine to this day.

"The Mick" in all his glory, enshrined in his rightful place in Cooperstown, along with his longtime buddy Whitey Ford in the same HOF class.

One of the great icons of the sport over its 150+ year history.

Not too bad a Hollywood script...

I just wished I would have gotten to see him play!

 

THE "WHOLE NINE": MISSING IN ACTION 1957 STAN MUSIAL

Fun card to spotlight today on the blog, my"missing in action" 1957 card for "Stan the Man", Stan Musial, from my "Whole Nine" Series 2 set released a few months ago, with full stat-backs:

Who wouldn't want to flip this card around and scan the insane stats that Musial Put up during his stellar career!?

His MLB numbers are just absurd: seven batting titles, two R.B.I. titles, five triples titles and eight doubles titles, with career numbers of 475 home runs, 1951 runs batted in and a .331 career average. Throw in his 725 doubles, 177 triples and 3630 hits along with 1949 runs scored and the numbers are staggering. 

And don't forget that Musial also lost a year to military duty, easily putting him over 500 homers, close to 3900 hits and around 2100 runs batted in if he played in 1945.

Along with the great Frank Robinson I always felt Stan Musial was often overlooked in the decades since his playing days ended.

When talk of "Greatest Living Player" came up it was always Williams, DiMaggio, Mays or even Aaron that would come up. But Stan Musial would always kind of be that after-thought.

Criminal.

Three Most Valuable Player Awards, FOUR second-place finishes, including three in a row between 1949-1951, and twenty consecutive all-star appearances, Musial definitely is a member of that rarified stratosphere of baseball royalty along with the likes of Ruth, Cobb, Mays and Wagner, among others.

1960s "IN-ACTION": 1963 VADA PINSON

Good day everyone.

On the blog today we have the next 1960s star getting the "In-Action" treatment, this time one of my favorite overlooked players, Vada Pinson, a Hall of Famer in my eyes:

Just a beauty of a card showing the All-Star outfielder at the plate during his days as a Cincinnati Reds player.

This will be part of my third series of printed "1960s In-Action" cards due for a release in a couple of months, packed with star power along the lines I established with the first two sets.

I’ve always loved his career, and wonder had he not played the bulk of his Big League time in the shadows of Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente and Frank Robinson, would he have made it all the way to the Hall of Fame.
Four-times he’d collect over 200 hits, seven times over 20-home runs, nine times over 20-stolen bases, and the man only made two All-Star teams!
Just an awesome career that saw him finish with over 2700 hits, 250 homers and 300 stolen bases, while also collecting over 480 doubles and 120 triples.

This man was solid, and produced no matter where he played over his stellar career!

 

REVISIT: 1975 "TRADED" DICK ALLEN FROM 2014

For fun today, revisiting a card I created 10 years ago for the blog,a 1975 "traded" card for the "Wampum Walloper" Dick Allen, who found himself back where it all began, the Philadelphia Phillies:

Really fun to play around with the 1975 template and create a landscape-oriented design, with that ever-so-beautiful All-Star designation.

Here's the original write-up for that post, which seems like a lifetime ago:

"Allen had quite an adventurous off-season between the 1974 and 1975 seasons, getting traded by the Chicago White Sox to the Atlanta Braves on December 3, 1974, only to THEN get swapped on May 7, 1975 by the Braves to his original Major League team, the Phillies.

While his original 1975 Topps card is a classic in my eyes, it does still have him on the "wrong" team. That is, NOT on the team he played with in '75.

He was coming off of a solid 1974 season which saw him lead the American League in homers (32) and slugging (.563) while batting .301 with 88 runs batted in and 84 runs scored.

But Allen pretty much wore out his welcome on the South Side of Chicago, leading to his departure.

After a couple of "so-so" seasons in Philadelphia, Allen wrapped up his career in 1977 after appearing in 54 games for the Oakland A's.

There are some guys I'll find ANY reason to design a card for, and Allen is definitely one of them!

Hope to have more here in the future…"

 

CAREER-CAPPER: 1969 BILL VIRDON

On the blog today, we step away from the 1970s and give Major League "lifer" Bill Virdon a career-capping 1969 card to celebrate his very nice Big League tenure:

Virdon appeared in six games for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1968 after last seeing action in 1965, collecting one hit over three at-bats, the hit being a home run while picking up two RBIs.

That would be it for Bill Virdon the "player", before beginning a great managerial career in the Majors beginning in 1972, when he guided the Pirates to a 96-win season and a first place finish before losing to the upstart Cincinnati Reds in the N.L. Playoffs.

As a player, Virdon was an excellent center fielder for 12 years, winning the N.L. Rookie of the Year in 1955 with the St. Louis Cardinals, hitting .281 with 150 hits, 17 homers and 68 RBIs before getting traded to the Pirates the following season, where he would spend the rest of his playing days.

By the time he retired as a player, he hit .267 with 1596 hits over 5980 at-bats, scoring 735 runs, driving in 502, and even picking up a Gold Glove in 1962.

All told as a Major League manager, Virdon finished with a record of 995 and 921, with two first place finishes as well as a first place finish in the second half of the 1981 strike season debacle, managing the Pirates, New York Yankees,Houston Astros and Montreal Expos between 1972 and 1984.

WTHBALLS CUSTOM SET SPOTLIGHT: 1890 "BASEBALL CHAMPIONS" GEORGE DAVIS

Up on the blog today, we spotlight my early custom card for Hall of Famer George Davis, from my "19th Century Base Ball Stars" set released back in 2018, in a fun faux 1890's cigarette pack with all sorts of goodies:

Sure wish I could get in my time machine and jet back to that era to buy up all the cigarette packs I could find so I could pull out cards like this!

I'm especially fond of the 1894 Mayo Plug set, which this set right here was modeled after of course!

As for George Davis, his inclusion in this set was based on his stellar 20-year Big League career that saw him as one of the best shortstops of the era, playing for the New York Giants, Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Spiders between 1890 and 1909.

Over his 2372 games, he'd hit .295 while picking up 2665 hits, with 453 doubles, 163 triples and 73 homers, with 1545 runs scored and 1440 runs batted in, as well as 619 stolen bases.

He would topp 100 runs scored five times, while also topping 100 RBIs three times, including a league-leading 135 in 1897 with the Giants.

He'd hit .300 or better nine times, all in a row between 1893 and 1901, with a high of .355 in 1893, his first year with the Giants, when he also established his career-best in hits with 195 and incredible 27 triples and 11 home runs.

Some 100 years later, the Veteran's Committee voted him into the Hall of Fame, finally getting him some recognition that slowly evaporated over the decades since his playing days ended, and rightly so!

SPECIAL INSERT: 1951 BLUE-BACK JOE DiMAGGIO

Up on the blog today, my special insert for my "Whole Nine: Series 2" set released a few months ago, this being a fun 1951 Topps Blue-Back Joe DiMaggio card:

Really fun to get this in that set as a special little bonus, hand-cutting each one by hand but well worth the effort!

As we all know the "Yankee Clipper" never did get on a Topps card as his career was wrapping up just as Topps was getting into the card market in the early-50s.

DiMaggio spent his late-teens putting up softball type numbers with the San Francisco Seals between 1932 and 1935 before taking the Majors by storm.

Over that time in the Minors he hit as high as .398 (1935), collecting 270 hits, with a staggering 456 total bases!

The kid was giving everyone a glimpse of what to expect when he reached the Major Leagues in 1936, instantly becoming one of the greatest to put on a Big League uniform.

"Joltin' Joe" put together a legendary career that eventually made him an American Icon, taking home three league MVP Awards, hitting safely in a record 56 straight games in 1941 and being a part of a staggering NINE World Champion teams between 1936 and 1951.

If not for his military service, losing three years during his prime between 1943 and 1945, his already lofty numbers would have been even better.

One of my favorite career stats for the guy? Let's admire his incredible feat of hitting 361 home runs while striking out only 369 times over his Big League tenure.

Now, while I certainly don't think he was the game's "greatest living ballplayer" as they voted him later on, the man was definitely up there, especially capturing the nation's attention the way he did.

A true legend.