I’ve
been meaning to create a “missing” 1972 In-Action card for former
fireball pitcher Sam McDowell for quite some time now, and since I have
not been able to locate a usable action shot of him as a San Francisco
Giant, I just went and created one of him while still with the Cleveland
Indians:
While Topps managed to have him (and the guy he was traded for: Gaylord
Perry) on the correct team, he didn’t yet suit up for the Giants when
the 1972 set came out, so I get a cut a little slack here right?
McDowell was just about to enter the decline of his once amazing career,
posting a 13-17 record for the Tribe with 192 strikeouts and a 3.40
earned run average in 1971.
That would be the final productive season of his 15-year career.
In that career he’d post 2 300+ strikeout seasons, while leading the American League in that category five times.
He’d also post a 20-win season, win and ERA crown and get named to six all-star teams while with the Indians.
But sadly for him by the time he turned 30 it was all downhill, and he
was out of baseball by the time he was a painfully young 32 years old
after stops in the Bronx and Pittsburgh.
Nevertheless he did go 141-134 with a nice 3.17 ERA and 2453 K’s during
his career, but the “what could have been’s” have always been part of
the conversation when it came around to “Sudden Sam”.
The next player in my celebration of Major League baseball’s 100th anniversary in 1976 is former pitcher Tommy Bond.
Check out the card first:
Bond, who was the last surviving player from the inaugural 1876 season,
put together an excellent career, going 234-163 between 1874 and 1884
(the first two seasons playing in the National Association), with a 2.14
earned run average and 42 shutouts over 417 appearances.
He was the first pitcher in league history to win the pitching triple
crown, leading the N.L. in wins, strikeouts and ERA in 1877 when he
posted a 40-17 record with a 2.11 ERA and 170 K’s.
He twice led the league in wins, in ERA and in strikeouts along with
shutouts three times, innings pitched once and complete games once.
Haven’t
done a “Then and Now” card in a while, and I came across this image of
former pitcher Ray Sadecki during his final season in the big leagues so
I figured I’d make one up for him:
Though Sadecki appears in the 1977 Topps set as a Milwaukee Brewer, I
figured I’d go ahead and show him as a Met since he pitched his last few
games with them.
Sadecki put together a nice 18-year career on a big league mound, both as a starter and a reliever between 1960 and 1977.
He was a 20-game winner in 1964 with the St Louis Cardinals, and
three-times posted an earned run average under 3.00, with a low of 2.78
in 1967 with the San Francisco Giants.
He retired with a 135-131 record, with a 3.78 ERA and 20 shutouts along
with 1614 strikeouts and seven saves over the course of 563 appearances,
328 of which were starts.
Here’s
a card I think came out really nice, my “missing” 1974 card for former
slugger Johnny Callison, who was wrapping up a nice career by the time
1973 rolled around:
Callison played in his final 45 games during the 1973 in the Bronx,
hitting .176 with 24 hits over 136 at-bats, including the last of his
226 career taters.
His career spanned 16-years between 1958 and 1973, where he collected
1757 hits with 926 runs scored, 840 runs batted in and the
aforementioned 226 homers with a .264 average.
A three-time all-star, he was also the National league runner-up in MVP
voting in 1964, certainly a victim to the colossal collapse of the
Philadelphia Phillies to the St. Louis Cardinals, which propelled third
baseman Ken Boyer to capture the award.
In both ‘64 and 1965 Callison topped 30+ homers, 25+ doubles and 10+ triples, while driving in over 100 both seasons as well.
After the Phillies he played with the Chicago Cubs for two years in 1970
and 1971 before moving on to the Yankees for the 1972 and 1973
campaigns, thus closing the books on a very respectable career in the
big leagues.
Next
up in the “Turn Back the Clock” thread, we move on to 1975 and
celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Brooklyn Dodgers 1955 team who
finally won it all and took home the World Championship, the only time
this would happen while in Brooklyn:
“Dem Bums”, as they were affectionately known to their fans, beat their
dreaded American League rival New York Yankees with the help of a
22-year-old Johnny Podres who came out of nowhere and shut out the
Bombers 2-0 in game seven.
It was the culmination of a long road for these Dodgers, who fell short of a championship after taking home four pennants in eight years but falling short each time to the Yanks.
The team went 98-55 during the season, led by the usual suspects in Roy
Campanella, Duke Snider and Gil Hodges on the offensive side, and Don
Newcombe, Carl Erskine and Clem Labine on the pitching side.
Newcombe posted his first 20-win season, while Campy, Gil and the Duke
all drove in 100+ runs, with Carl Furillo falling just short of that
number with 95 ribbies.
Of course this was only the beginning for the organization, as the
Dodgers would go on to move out West to Los Angeles, then win it all in
1959, 1963 and 1965, putting all thoughts of an “also-ran” behind them,
along with millions of broken hearts in Brooklyn.
Here’s a “dedicated rookie” for former all-star Ken Griffey Sr, who was on a multi-player rookie card in the 1974 set:
Griffey began what was to become a brilliant 19-year career that saw him
hit .296 with 2143 hits in 7229 at-bats, with 1129 runs scored, 152
homers and 859 runs batted in.
During the 1973 season he made the most of his short stay, hitting .384 in 25 games with 33 hits in 86 at-bats.
He was named to three all-star games during his career, and was a member
of the “Big Red Machine” Cincinnati Reds of the 1970’s, taking home two
consecutive World Championships in 1975 and 1976.
Of course, we HAVE to mention something else he did, which was father a
kid who would become one of the players of his generation, Ken Griffey
Jr, recent Hall of Fame inductee and super-star extraordinaire.
I still think one of the coolest moments in baseball history was when
Griffey Sr and Griffey Jr BOTH hit homers for the same team in the same
game! I just couldn’t believe it actually happened.
I still get a kick out of snafu’s when it came to Topps trying to keep up to date with a player’s new team.
And sometimes, it bit them in the ass because of last-minute
transactions, like the 1977 Willie Crawford card that has him on the
Giants:
Turns out that while he was indeed sent to the Giants after the 1976
season was over, he was then sent to the Houston Astros right before the
1977 season started, leaving us with a “phantom” team that he actually
never played for.
This is some of the stuff that actually had me think about doing a blog
of 1970’s baseball cards, because it really shows what Topps was up
against in that day and age.
Today with all the up-to-date split-second technology we have, it’s cool
to be reminded of what it was like not too long ago when (some of us)
were kids.
Crawford put together a nice 14-year career in the Majors, mainly with
the Los Angeles Dodgers, for whom he played 12 of those seasons for.
Between 1964 and 1977 he’d hit .268 as a pro, collecting 921 hits over 3435 at-bats in 1210 games.
Today I give you a “missing” 1970 card for Phillies pitcher Al Raffo, who played his only season in the Majors in 1969:
Raffo appeared in 45 games for Philadelphia, picking up a save to go along with a 1 and 3 record in 72.1 innings pitched.
He had 38 strikeouts against 25 walks, finishing 17 games with a 4.11 earned run average.
Sadly for him that would be it as far as a Major League career went, as
he’d toil in the Phillies’ minor league system for the next two years
before hanging them up after the 1971 season.
He played his entire 10-year pro career for the Phillies, starting in
1962 as a 20-year old and making his way through their system in every
level of ball.
Here’s
a card as part of the “1976 Project” for “Reader Jim” that is of of
another player who was actually on one of the multi-player rookie cards
in the 1976 set, Henry Cruz of the Los Angeles Dodgers:
Cruz actually saw a chunk of playing time during the 1975 season,
appearing in 53 games and collecting 25 hits over 94 at-bats, good for a
.266 average.
Jim needed him on a dedicated card so here you go.
Actually, as far as I’m concerned, Cruz has two other “missing” cards,
in the 1977 and 1979 sets, which will be tackled in the near future.
What’s funny about that is the fact that he DOES get a card in the 1978
set, after seeing the LEAST playing time of his short 4-year career the
year before!
Go figure...
Next up in my 100th anniversary 1976 sub-set in George Bradley, who had an interesting career.
Here’s the card:
Bradley was the first pitcher to throw a no-hitter in Major League
history, doing so on July 15th, 1876 against the Hartford Dark Blues,
winning 2-0.
In that inaugural season, he posted a 45-19 record with a 1.23 earned run average as he completed 63 of his 64 starts.
He also pitched what is STILL a record 16 shutouts (since tied by Grover
Cleveland Alexander), and threw 573 innings for the St. Louis Brown
Stockings.
Though he played eleven seasons of pro ball, spanning the days of the
National Association through to the Union Association and American
Association, he played for ten different teams.
He also played a variety of positions during his career, from pitcher to infield to the outfield.
As a pitcher he ended up with a 171-151 record with a .243 ERA and 33
shutouts over 347 appearances, 325 of which were starts, between 1875
and 1884.
As a fielder/batter, he finished with a .229 career average with 518
hits over 2258 at-bats, which lasted through the 1888 season.
Nevertheless he left his mark on the history of the game, leading to a virtual card some 140 years later on some guy’s blog...
Was sent this nice image of former infielder Mick Kelleher so I decided to make a “missing” 1975 card for him.
Check it out:
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.
Next
up in my “Turn Back The Clock” thread is a 20th anniversary card for
Milwaukee Braves slugger Joe Adcock, who slammed four home runs and a
double in a single game on July 31st, 1954:
Adcock had a monster of a game that day, going 5 for 5 with four homers
and a double to collect 18 total bases along with seven runs batted in
and five runs scored.
All of this was at the hands of the reigning National league champ Brooklyn Dodgers, who took the 15-7 loss that afternoon.
The four homers tied the record for a single game, while the total bases were a new record.
Adcock had a very nice 17-year career spanning 1950 and 1966 that saw
him hit 336 home runs with 1122 runs batted in and 823 runs scored.
His career average of .277 was also solid, as he collected 1832 hits
over 6606 at-bats in 1959 games with the Cincinnati Reds, Braves,
Cleveland Indians and Los Angeles Angels.
Here’s
a card that I’ve created as a special request, a “missing” In-Action
card in the 1972 Topps set for “Tony C”, Tony Conigliaro of the
California Angels:
About as tragic a baseball figure as you can come across, Conigliaro was
well on his way to a brilliant career before being hit in the face with
a pitch in 1967 at the age of only 22.
By the time 1971 came around he found himself as a member of the Angels, trying to come back.
He appeared in 74 games, hitting .222 with four homers over 266 at-bats
while playing the outfield, but the vision problems he suffered because
of the injury came back, cutting short what could have a great career in
the big leagues.
He did manage to make it back in 1975 with his original team, the Red
Sox, for 21 games, but it didn’t work out as he hit .123 in that time,
thus ending his career for good.
Sadly, even post-career his life was tragic, as he passed away at the
young age of 45 in 1990 after suffering a heart attack and stroke eight
years earlier.
RIP “Tony C”.
Today
we come to the last subject in my thread of elected players to the Hall
of Fame during the decade, former Chicago Cubs slugger Hack Wilson:
Selected by the Veterans Committee, Wilson was a true character of the
game during the 1920’s and 1930’s, slugging his way into the record
books.
While he did have a productive career, it’s arguably the 1930 season
alone that got him on the road to Cooperstown when he hit 56 home runs, a
National League record that stood until guys like McGwire and Sosa came
along, while driving in a STILL record 191 runs, along with 146 runs
scored, 208 hits and a .356 batting average.
Easily one of the greatest offensive seasons in baseball history, it
kept Wilson on the minds of baseball fans decades after his playing days
were over.
He hit a total of 244 homers during his 12-year career, with 1063 RBI’s
and 884 runs scored to go along with his .307 batting average.
A bit of a drinker in his lifetime, his career was derailed by the time
he was in his early 30’s, having his last productive season in 1932 at
the age of 32 with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
He was out of the game by 34 after a handful of games with the
Philadelphia Phillies, and sadly died at the age of 48 penniless in part
because of his drinking and hard life.
Here’s
a “missing” 1977 Topps card for former outfielder Gene Locklear, who
split the 1976 season between the San Diego Padres and New York
Yankees.:
Locklear played in a combined 56 games during the ‘76 season, batting .222 with 22 hits in 99 official at-bats.
He scraped together a five-year career in the Majors, though his final
season was a single game in the Bronx, which actually saw him go 3 for 5
with two runs batted in and a run scored.
Not a bad way to go out!
All told he batted a respectable .274 with 163 hits over 595 at-bats, with 76 runs scored and 66 RBI’s.
Those are pretty solid numbers over a 162-game schedule, though for Locklear this represented his 292 games in the Big Leagues.
Nevertheless seems he was a pretty good hitter during his time up playing with the Cincinnati Reds, Padres and Yanks.
Next
in my 1976 celebration of 100 years of the Major Leagues is Deacon
White, a man full of early baseball history as an early star of the
National Association as well as the Majors.
Check it out:
Credited as the first player in league history on the Baseball-Reference
web site, White was a member of the Chicago team in 1876, and hit a
robust .343, which was book-ended by two league batting titles, one in
the N.A. and one in the N.L. hen he hit .367 and .387 respectively.
He played 20 years as a pro ballplayer and one one of the first to
collect over 2000 hits with 2067 before he retired after the 1890
campaign.
He’d go on to finish with a .312 average with those 2000+ hits, along with 1140 runs scored and 988 runs batted in.
It took a while, but In 2013 he was finally elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veteran’s Committee.
His brother Will was a pitcher during the same era, and in 1879 started
75 games, of which he completed ALL of them! Insane. He pitched a total
of 680 innings that year, posting a 43 and 31 record.
Ahh those crazy early years of the league. Gotta love ‘em!
A classic!
Here’s another airbrushing gem from the people at Topps, the 1972 Alan Foster.
Check it out:
Man, that cap has so much going on doesn’t it?
That Angels logo is a thing of beauty!
I can’t be certain, but it also seems that Fosters face was touched up a
bit as well, blending the cap and player together a bit more, which if
in fact this is the case, was a heck of a great job.
Foster came over from the Cleveland Indians as part of the trade that
sent Vada Pinson to the Angels for disgruntled former batting champ Alex
Johnson.
He carved out a decent 10-year career in the Major Leagues, playing for
the Dodgers, Indians, Angels, Cardinals and Padres before leaving the
game after the 1976 season with a 48-63 record with a 3.74 earned run
average over 217 games, 148 of which were starts.
Here’s
a “missing” 1972 card for former catcher Dennis Paepke, who played
parts of four seasons, all with the Kansas City Royals:
Paepke actually appeared on a multi-player rookie card in the 1970 Topps
set after playing in a dozen games during the inaugural 1969 season.
After being stuck in the minors for 1970, he made it to the big leagues
again in 1971 and played in 60 games for the Royals, collecting 31 hits
over 152 at-bats, good for a .204 average while splitting time behind
the plate and out in the outfield.
Sadly for him that would be the bu
Time
to go and give former National league Most Valuable Player George
Foster a “Dedicated Rookie” card in the 1971 Topps set, a set that saw
him on a multi-player rookie card:
Foster had a few call-ups with the Giants before they traded him to the
Reds and help set a course of baseball history that we remember as the
“Big Red Machine” Cincinnati Reds.
It turned out to be one whopper of a trade for the Reds, as they gave up
Frank Duffy and Vern Geishert to get a guy who’d go on to slam 20+
homers in a season seven times, including his monster season of 1977
when he hit 52, becoming the first player since Willie Mays in 1965 to
do so.
As a matter of fact between 1966 and 1989 Foster’s 52 homers were the only time a player reached that number.
For his efforts in 1977 with those taters, his .320 batting average, and
league-leading 124 runs scored and 149 runs batted in, he took home the
MVP and was voted as a starter for the all-star team.
He would lead the league in homers again in 1978 with 40, along with
RBI’s with 120 (his third year in a row doing so), and go on to start in
three more all-star teams before becoming the first $2 million dollar
man in baseball when he signed with the New York Mets before the 1982
season.
By the time he retired at the end of the 1986 after 15 games with the
Chicago White Sox, he finished with 348 homers, 1239 runs batted in and
986 runs scored along with a .274 average and just under 2000 hits with
1925.
After
I created the 1973 coach card for Warren Spahn a few weeks ago, it got
me interested in producing more cards for great players who coached
during the decade.
Today I go with former Brooklyn Dodger all-time great Duke Snider, who
coached a bit in Montreal after his playing days were over.
Take a look:
After a Hall of Fame career between 1947 and 1964, mainly slugging his
way into the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers record books, Snider took on a
successful role as a play-by-play analyst for both the San Diego Padres
and Montreal Expos beginning in 1969 straight through to the late-80’s.
In between, during the 1974 and 1975 seasons, he was the Expos hitting coach, thus the 1974 card I produced for him here.
I remember that Bob Lemke did a 1975 version, so I figured the ‘74 would close out the Duke’s coaching tenure on cards.
If you like this idea check back in the future as I create cards for the likes of Vada Pinson, Willie Mays and Joe DiMaggio.
Here’s a “missing” card for former Baltimore Orioles pitcher Tom Dukes.
Check it out:
Dukes appeared in 28 games for the American League champion Orioles during their 1971 season.
He posted a 1-5 record with a 3.52 earned run average and four saves over 38.1 innings, all out of the bullpen.
In 1972 he’d find himself as a member of the California Angels where
he’d pitch in a scant seven games, closing out his six-year career that
began as a Houston Astro before moving on to the San Diego Padres for
their inaugural season.
For his career Dukes went 5-16 with a 4.35 ERA and 22 saves over 161 games and 217 innings pitched.
Next
up in my “100th Anniversary of the Major Leagues” 1976 sub-set is
former outfielder George Hall, who suited up for Philadelphia in the
inaugural 1876 season:
Hall not only put up nice numbers during the National Association days
between 1871 and 1875, with batting averages of .336 and .345 in ‘72 and
‘73 respectively, but he was also an important member of the National
Association of Base Ball Players between 1866 and 1870, playing for four
Brooklyn clubs: the Enterprise, the Excelsiors, the Stars and the
Atlantics.
In 1876, with the new league formed, Hall led his Philly team in almost
all batting categories, including average with a .366 showing, and home
runs with five, two of which he hit in the same day, becoming the first
player in league history to do so.
After another very good season the following year for Louisville in
1877, it was discovered that he and three others threw some games the
previous season, which Hall felt were innocent actions since the games
were “exhibitions”.
Nevertheless, for these acts he and the others were banned for life, ending his seven-year career on the spot.
He left the game with a .322 lifetime average, and his five homers would
stand as the league high for a season until 1879 when Charley Jones hit
nine.
It’s
been quite some time since I posted a card from my “1976 Project” for “Reader
Jim”, so here’s one I created a while ago, former pitcher Jose Sosa of the Houston Astros:
Sosa actually appeared on a multi-player rookie card in the 1976 Topps
set, but Jim wanted a dedicated card for the righty based on his 25
appearances and 47 innings pitched the year before, posting a 1-3 record
with a 4.60 earned run average and a single save.
It was Sosa’s first taste of the Majors, and as it turns out the bulk of it too.
In 1976 Sosa would only appear in nine games for Houston, not factoring
in a decision while posting a 6.94 ERA over 11.2 innings, and that would
be the sum total of his experience as a big league pitcher.
He did come from some strong baseball lineage, as he was the cousin of the Alou brothers, as well as second cousin to Moises.
Let’s
go and give Stan Musial a “Turn Back the Clock” 20th anniversary card
for his montrous day at the plate on May 2nd, 1954 against the New York
Giants:
Stan was definitely “The Man” that day, going 4 for 4 in the first game,
with three homers and six runs batted in, helping the Cardinals beat
the Giants 10-6 at Busch Stadium.
Then, as if that wasn’t enough, Musial proceeds to go 2 for 4 in the
second game, with two homers off of future Hall of Fame pitcher Hoyt
Wilhelm.
It wasn’t enough to help the Cards beat the Giants though, as the New
Yorkers win 9-7, but for Musial he went a combined 6 for 8 with five
home runs and nine runs batted in and six runs scored!
Just one of the many accomplishments for Musial that still makes him one of the greatest hitters in baseball history.
Time
to give that cool dude Lowell Palmer a “missing” 1975 Topps card that
wraps up his short but memorable career as far as cards go:
Palmer appeared in 22 games for the Padres, posting a 2 and 5 record with a 5.67 earned run average over 73 innings.
We all remember him for his sweet shades on his early cards from 1970
through 1972, they’ve become sort of the stuff of legend when it comes
to card-collecting.
His time as a big league pitcher lasted 5 seasons between 1969 and 1974,
going 5-18 with a 5.29 ERA with a single shutout and 239 strikeouts
over 106 games and 316.2 innings of work.
But oh those shades....
Let’s go and give former all-star shortstop Jim Fregosi a “missing” In-Action card in the 1972 Topps set:
It’s easy to forget that Fregosi was the top American League shortstop in the 1960’s.
However by the time the 1970’s rolled around the six-time all-star was
about to see a dramatic downturn in his career, beginning with THE trade
that will always be remembered: Fregosi for a guy named Nolan Ryan.
Nevertheless he put together a very nice 18-year career, finishing up
after the 1978 season with the Pittsburgh Pirates, collecting over 1700
hits, 150 homers and a .265 batting average with a Gold Glove and the
aforementioned all-star nods.
Here’s
a “missing” card for former second baseman Mike Andrews, who closed out
a nice career in 1973 suiting up for both the Chicago White Sox and
finally the Oakland A’s:
Andrews played in 70 games during the 1973 season, hitting an even .200 with 36 hits in 180 at-bats.
52 of those games were with the Sox before landing in Oakland, who’d go on to win the World Series for the second year in a row.
Andrews’ best years with with the Boston Red Sox, the team he played the first five years of his eight year career.
His sole all-star nod was in 1969, easily his best year when he hit .293 with 15 homers and 79 runs scored.
His final numbers were a .258 average with 803 hits over 3116 at-bats in
893 games, with 441 runs scored and 316 runs batted in and 66 homers.
Here’s
the next Hall of Fame inductee in my thread for those that entered the
Hall during the 1970’s, all-time great “Say Hey” Willie Mays, about as
easy a “no-brainer” as there could be:
What needs to be said about perhaps the greatest player in history?
660 home runs, 3000+ hits, over 2000 runs scored and over 1900 runs
batted in, with over 300 stolen bases and a .300+ batting average as
well!
He took home the Rookie of the Year Award in 1951, then proceeded to win
two Most Valuable Player Awards, the first in 1954 and the second eleven years later in 1965.
Let’s also not forget the 20 all-star nods and 12 Gold Gloves, leaving
him in that rarified company of Ruth, Cobb, Aaron and Gehrig as far as
accomplishments and legend.
Of course, Hall of Fame voting being what it is, he wasn’t a UNANIMOUS
selection because of this silly unspoken rule of “no one gets 100%
voting”, something I will NEVER understand.
Here’s
a “missing” card for a guy who pitched a total of 30 games in his Major
League career, 19 of which were in 1977, Bruce Taylor of the Detroit
Tigers:
Taylor appeared in all 19 games for the Tigers during the 1977 season
out of the bullpen, posting a 1-0 record with a 3.38 earned run average
and two saves in 29.1 innings of work.
It was his first taste of the big leagues, and the most active, as he
would only appear in a single game during the 1978 season, followed by
10 games in 1979, when he posted a 1-2 record with a 4.82 ERA in 18.2
innings.
That would be it for the righty, as he’d finish his Major League
experience with a 2-2 record, along with a 3.86 ERA and 27 strikeouts in
49 innings spread out over those 30 games.
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