Over
five years ago I created a “Missing” 1978 card for former infielder Ken
McMullen, who closed out a nice 16-year MLB career in 1977 after a
stint with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Since then I’ve found a much nice photo, this one a Topps photograph,
and am taking the opportunity to recreate the card to make it more
“authentic”:
I’ll always jump at the chance to use actual Topps photos to create
cards, and this was a nice improvement over my initial effort.
As I stated earlier, McMullen wrapped up a nice 16-year Major League
career in 1977, appearing in 63 games, good for 151 plate appearances
for the Milwaukee Brewers, hitting .228 with five homers and 19
R.B.I.'s.
It was the only year for him in Milwaukee after two stints of three
years with the Los Angeles Dodgers, five-plus years with the Washington
Senators, three years with the California Angels and a season with the
Oakland A's.
McMullen was a solid player who finished his career with a .248 lifetime
average, 156 home runs, 606 runs batted in and 568 runs scored over
1583 games with 5131 at-bats.
The most success he had were his years in Washington, which saw him as their full-time third baseman between 1965-1970.
The 1969 season was arguably his best year as he hit .272 with 19 homers
and 87 R.B.I.'s along with 83 runs scored and 25 doubles.
One last tidbit: he hit a pinch-hit home run in his last Major League at-bat.
Not a bad way to go out!