NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1980 DAVE RIGHETTI

Fun card to add to the WTHBALLS stable today, a "not so missing" 1980 card for Dave Righetti, a New York Yankee mainstay through the 1980s, but someone who actually made his Big League debut in 1979:

Righetti appeared in three games, all starts, for the Yankees, tossing 17.1 innings and going 0-1 with a 3.63 ERA at the age of 20.

He'd be back with a bang the next season, as he posted a record of 8-4 over 15 starts, just missing the ERA crown by falling short of innings required by 1.2 innings! Yep, someone on the Yankees dropped the ball on this and didn't get Righetti some mop-up role at the end of the year to bring home the ERA crown, as his 2.05 mark was far better than the guy who did win the ERA title, Oakland A's pitcher Steve McCatty, who finished with a 2.33 ERA over 185.2 innings.

Nevertheless, Righetti became a cog of the Yankees through the 1980's as a starter and reliever, posting a few solid seasons as a starter between 1981 and 1983 including the classic July 4th no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox in '83, before converting to a relief role the rest of his very nice 16 year career, including his 1986 campaign that saw him establish the (then) MLB record 46 saves, earning him a fourth-place finish in the Cy Young race.

By the time he retired after the 1995 season, he finished with a record of 82-79 over 718 games, with a 3.46 ERA in 1403 innings, with 252 saves.

MISSING IN ACTION: 1974 RICK REICHARDT

Time to finally create a "missing" 1974 card for uber-Bonus-Baby Rick Reichardt, who was coming to the end of an unfulfilled Major League career after only a decade or so:

Reichardt appeared in 87 games over the 1973 season, split between the Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals, hitting .250 with six homers and 33 runs batted in.

He'd appear in one single game in 1974 before finally retiring, ending what was once a very promising career that was derailed by kidney problems.

Of course, Reichardt is well remembered as a spectacular two-sport superstar at the University of Wisconsin, so much so that a bidding war began by Major League clubs for his services, eventually having him sign a then unheard of $200,000 signing bonus with the (then) Los Angeles Angels of the American League.
This necessitated the development of the Amateur Draft, which began the very next year in hopes of curtailing such a wild scenario as the Reichardt affair.
Sadly for Reichardt, a serious kidney ailment cut short an excellent 1966 season which saw him have a kidney removed, and though he put up some decent numbers from time to time through the rest of his career, he was never the same again.
His last Topps card was in the 1971 set, which is odd since he really should have had a card from 1972 to 1974.

 

REVISITING MY 1973 "NICKNAME" CARD FOR JIMMY WYNN

On the blog today, we go back 10 years or so and revisit my 1973 "Nicknames of the 1970s" card for the "Toy Cannon", Jimmy Wynn:

I used a 1973 template to play around with the cannon icon in the lower right-hand corner, while also giving him a card while he was still in a Houston uniform before he went on to play for the Dodgers and get named to two consecutive all-star starts in 1974 and 1975.

Wynn put up some solid years during his excellent 15-year career.

Eight times he'd top 20 homers, with three of them 30+, while also driving in 100+ runs twice, scoring 100+ runs four times and topping 100 walks six times, two seasons of which he'd lead the National League, with a high of 148 in 1969.

While slugging away, he was also a threat on the base paths, as he'd go on to swipe a total of 225 before retiring, with a high of 43 in 1965.

After a handful of games with the Milwaukee Brewers in the latter half of 1977, he called it a career, finishing with 1100+ runs scored, 1665 hits, 291 homers and 964 runs batted in, with a .250 average thrown in.

 

MISSING IN ACTION: 1967 ROY WHITE

Today on the blog we have a "missing" 1967 card for the quiet one, former New York Yankee lifer Roy White, about as solid and under the radar as they came:

Though White was part of a multi-player rookie card in the 1966 set, Topps left him out of the '67 set, even though he appeared in 115 game in 1966, hitting .225 over 356 plate appearances.

By now White was where he would play all the way through the 1979 campaign before making his way to Japan to finish up his pro career.

He became a dependable starting outfielder within three years, on his way to a career that spanned the “dark years” in the Bronx from 1965 through the end of the decade through to the successes of the “Bronx Zoo” teams that won two World Series and three pennants.
Even though the man was a New York Yankee "lifer", playing 15 years between 1965 and 1979 wearing only the Yankee pinstripes, White was often overshadowed by the likes of Mantle, Munson, Murcer, Nettles and Jackson.
Nevertheless he put in a very solid career, amassing over 1800 hits, with just under 1000 runs scored, 160 home runs and 233 stolen bases.
After his Major League playing days he even put in three good years in Japan, playing for the Yomiuri Giants between 1980-1982.
Just a quiet, solid player who more than did his job while between the foul lines, year in and year out.
I've mentioned this earlier here on this blog: years later I would end up befriending and DJ-ing in the same club scene here in NYC with his son Reade, even though he never DID tell me who his father was!
I'd only find out years later from a mutual friend after I was long gone from the club-circuit…
Would have been nice to try and schmooze a conversation or two with the senior White in the early-90's!

GIMMIE A DO-OVER: 1970 RUDY MAY

Thought it'd be fun to give former pitcher Rudy May a "do-over" on his 1970 card, so here you go, using a much better image of him during his time as a California Angel:

My re-done version

Original Topps release

May made his Major League debut in 1965 as a 20-year-old, appearing in 30 games and tossing 124 innings, certainly good enough for a card in the 1966 set.

He posted a record of 4-9 with a 3.92 earned run average, striking out 76 batters while throwing a shutout.

All told, he posted a 152-159 career record, with a 3.46 earned run average, 24 shutouts, 12 saves and 1760 strikeouts between 1965 and 1983.

His finest year was easily 1980, when he led the American League in E.R.A. with a nice 2.46 mark, WHIP at 1.044 and strikeouts-to-walks with a 3.41 number as a member of the New York Yankees.

 

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: MINNIE MINOSO

Let us go and add the great Minnie Minoso to my long-running custom "Classic Baseball" set, a WTHBALLS exclusive design that I hope to have printed up this Spring:

I'm so happy that Minoso is finally a Hall of Famer, and I always felt the stunts in 1976 and 1980 may have even hurt his chances of getting into Cooperstown.
From 1951 to 1961 he had a wonderful Major League career, leading the league in stolen bases three times, triples three times, and hits and doubles once each, while also driving in over 100 runs four times and topping 20 homers four times.
Eight times in that span he would top a .300 batting average, and in 1951 many consider him the true American League Rookie of the Year when he hit .326 split between the Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox, while topping the league in triples with 14 and stolen bases with 31.
Along the way he was named to seven All-Star games, winning three Gold Gloves as well, funny enough finishing fourth in the A.L. MVP race four times.
Of course, 12 years after his last playing days, in 1976, he ended up going 1-for-8 at the plate as a 50 year-old, then coming back in 1980 at the age of 54 and going hitless in two at-bats.
Nevertheless, Minoso finished his career with a .298 average, with 1963 hits over 6579 at-bats, along with 186 homers and 205 stolen bases while also topping 1000 runs scored and RBIs, 1136 & 1023 respectively.

If only he didn't have to wait until his age 27 season to show the ENTIRE country what he could do on a ball field.

 

CAREER-CAPPER: 1985 JIM PALMER

Let's venture into the 1980s again and have me post up my 1985 "career-capper" for the great Jim Palmer, who finished up his incredible Hall of Fame career in 1984:

Palmer’s road to Cooperstown was a bit rocky at first, with a couple of jumps and starts because of injuries between 1964 and 1968.
As a matter of fact we’d probably be looking at a 300-game winner if not for over a season of missed time between 1967 and 1968.
Though he had a great first professional season in 1964 as an 18-year-old, going a combined 15-5 in the O’s system, he found himself on a Major League mound in 1966, still a teen, going 5-4.
In 1966 he’d improve to a record of 15-10 for the surprising eventual World Champs, shocking everyone with a sweep of the reigning champion Los Angeles Dodgers, with Palmer contributing a complete game shutout.
But injuries derailed him until 1969 when he hit his stride, going 16-4 with a 2.34 ERA and six shutouts, completing 11 of 23 starts.
From there, all the man did was top 20-wins in eight of the next nine seasons, winning three Cy Young Awards, the first American League pitcher to do so, helping the Orioles to another championship in 1970, eventually finishing with a career 268-152 record along with a brilliant 2.86 ERA and 53 shutouts before he was done in 1984.

 

DEDICATED ROOKIE: 1969 AL OLIVER

Super psyched to post today's card creation, a 1969 "Dedicated Rookie" of "Scoop" Al Oliver, which I definitely hope to have printed up sometime soon:

Now, what do you call a guy who was a seven-time all-star, Silver Slugger winner at three different positions, collector of over 2700 hits, 200 home runs, .300 career average, 1300 runs batted in, and 500 doubles?

I call that a Hall of Famer, especially when you consider that the first nine years or so of his career were the "dead" 1970's.

Yes I know an argument can be made here for Oliver's Hall-worthiness.

But I have always felt that he fell into that Vada Pinson, Dave Parker, Steve Garvey crowd that should have gotten, at the very LEAST, more of a shot at Cooperstown.

I mean, when he was finally eligible for Hall voting, he only got 4.3% and was dropped just like that! THAT is just insane.

He won three consecutive Silver Slugger Awards in 1980-1982, as an outfielder, a designated hitter and a first baseman and he batted .300 or better eleven times in his 18-year career!

He finished in the top-10 in batting eight times during his career, in the top-10 in hits eight times in his career, top-10 in doubles nine times in his career, top-10 in total bases five times, runs scored four times, runs batted in four times, triples three times, extra base hits five times and slugging percentage twice.

Is THAT enough of a statement? His consistency was amazing.

And to top it off, he should have been the National League Rookie of the Year in 1969 but got ripped off, with the award going to Los Angeles Dodger Ted Sizemore.

Al Oliver is grossly overlooked as far as players of that era in my book.

REVISITING MY 1974 "MISSING IN ACTION" FOR LARRY BIITNER

Time to revisit a ten-year-old post featuring my "missing" 1974 card for Larry Biitner, from October 23rd, 2015:

For some reason he was left out of the ‘74 set even though he played in 83 games during the 1973 season.
In that campaign he he collected 65 hits over 258 official at-bats. Good for a .252 average with a homer and 12 runs batted in.
He’d go on to play straight through to the 1983 season before retiring, a nice 14-year career that saw him hit a very respectable .273 with 861 hits in 3151 at-bats in 1217 games
I’ll always remember him as a Chicago Cubs player, for whom he suited up between 1976 and 1980, even though he also played for the Washington Senators/Texas Rangers, Montreal Expos and Cincinnati Reds.
And of course for his unique surname with the consecutive "I"...

OPC IMAGE VARIATIONS: 1977 BOB BAILOR

The next OPC to Topps image variation to get the spotlight here on the blog is the one for "original" Blue Jay Bob Bailor:

OPC version

Topps version

While Topps gave him a spot in their multi-player rookie card, OPC of course gave him a dedicated card celebrating the new Canadian franchise.

Bailor originally made his Big League debut as a Baltimore Oriole in 1975 when he appeared in only five games, before returning for another nine games in 1976, collecting three hits over those 14 appearances with two runs scored and a triple among the scant highlights.

1977 would see him suited up for the new Toronto Blue jays franchise, being their second overall pick in the expansion draft held on November 5th, 1976.

With a chance to play everyday, Bailor did not disappoint, hitting a very nice .310 over a full rookie year, with 154 hits in 496 at-bats, stealing 15 bases and scoring 62 runs.

Surprisingly, he didn't get a single vote for Rookie of the Year, though he had tough competition with Eddie Murray leading the way followed by the Oakland A's Mitchell Page.

Nevertheless, he was one of the bright spots of the Blue Jays inaugural season for sure.

While he would never come close to that performance over the next eight seasons of his career, he did provide his team with a player who could fill in both all over the outfield and infield, putting in time "around the horn" as a solid utility man for the Jays, New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers before calling it a career after the 1985 campaign.

All told, he finished with a career .264 average, with 775 hits in 2937 at-bats in 954 games, with 90 stolen bases and 339 runs scored along the way.

 

1980 CAREER-CAPPER: LOU BROCK

Fun card on the blog today, and one that will get printed in the future for sure, my 1980 "Career-Capper" for Lou Brock:

Man! Here's a guy who is often overlooked in baseball history!

By the end of the 1979 season Brock was closing out his Hall of Fame career, nailing down his 3000th hit to go along with his 938 stolen bases, 1610 runs scored and .293 lifetime average.

Even at the age of 40 he was doing well, batting over .300 (.304) with 21 stolen bases!

An eight-time stolen base champ, he also collected 200 hits in a season four times, with another four seasons of over 190, and he also scored 100+ runs in a season seven times.

Incredibly enough, in Brock's 19-year career, he made the All-Star team only six times! 

The price you pay for coming up during the years of Mays, Aaron, and Clemente! 

Tough luck indeed!

 

VINTAGE SPECIAL! "MISSING" 1954 WILSON'S FRANKS WHITEY FORD

Today on the blog, we spotlight my "missing" 1954 Wilson's Franks card for the great Whitey Ford, part of my recent custom set released a few months ago:

What needs to be said about quite possibly the greatest Yankee pitcher of them all?

Cy Young winner in 1961, winner of 236 games against only 106 losses (a nifty .690 winning percentage), a 2.75 career earned run average, and a member of six world championship clubs.

He led the league in wins three times, winning percentage three times, ERA twice, shutouts twice, and was named to eight all-star teams during his 16-year career.

His 10 World Series wins (along with his eight losses) are Major League high marks to this day, and who knows how much more he could have padded all of his numbers had he not lost two seasons to the military in 1951 and 1952!

When the Hall of Fame came calling he was inducted on his first try, getting named to 284 of 365 ballots in 1974.

Obviously there's so much more to get into with Whitey, but I could end up writing a book here if I did, so I'll leave it up to the Wikipedia's out there to fill anyone in who wants to learn more.

I only wish Ford didn't try to hang on those last couple of years in 1966 and 1967, when he went a combined 4-9, thus eliminating the chance of him being only the second pitcher to this day to retire with 200+ wins and LESS than 100 losses (the other being 19th-century pitcher Bob Caruthers, who finished at 218-99 between 1884-1893).

Oh well, I know I'm nitpicking here…It's the nerd in me I guess.

 

REVISITING MY MISSING IN ACTION- 1974 JOE GILBERT

On the blog today, we revisit a post from 10 years ago, my "missing in action" card for former Montreal Expos pitcher Joe Gilbert:

Gilbert's career was already over by the time this card would have come out, as he pitched what would be his final big league game on July 15th of 1973.

For the year he appeared in 21 games, good for 29 innings of work, with a 1-2 record, 4.97 earned run average and 17 strikeouts.

The previous year, his rookie year, he appeared in 22 games, good for 33 innings of work with a 0-1 record, 25 strikeouts and a bloated 8.45 E.R.A.

Yet he didn't get a card in the 1973 set either, so watch for THAT "missing" card here in the near future.

 

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: GREG LUZINSKI

Time to add "The Bull", Greg Luzinski to my custom WTHBALLS "Classic Baseball" set, celebrating the great game and the Philadelphia Phillie slugger who terrorized pitchers through the decade of the 1970s:

Any time I can have a guy who slugs the heck out of the ball while also hovering near .300, I'll take him!

Between 1975 and 1978 Luzinski was a top-10 MVP candidate, with two second-place finishes in 1975 and 1977 when he drove in 120 and 130 runs respectively along with 34 and 39 home runs.
And like I stated earlier, he was a .300 hitter! He topped .300 three straight seasons, from 1975 to 1977 while making the All-Star team each year.
Thing about this: Luzinski retired after the 1984 season with 307 homers, 1128 runs batted in, and 1795 hits, and he was only 33 years of age.

He topped 100 RBIs four times, 20 homers seven times, and got MVP attention seven times.

It’s easy to forget that he really put up great numbers while retiring at a relatively young age, even if he played for parts of 15 seasons between 1970 and 1984.

CAREER-CAPPER: 1971 BO BELINSKY

Up on the blog today, we feature a 1971 "Career-Capper" for one-time phenom Bo Belinsky, who wrapped up a Big League career as a member of the Cincinnati Reds in 1970:

Belinsky made a huge splash back in 1962 as a member of the Los Angeles Angels, tossing a no-hitter in his fourth start, allowing him to start his career 4-0.

He was an instant "player" of another sort in L.A., known for his night-life action and dating of a handful of Hollywood starlets like Ann Margaret, Mamie Van Doren, Connie Stevens and Tina Louise.

He didn't exactly finish his rookie year as a star himself however, going 10-11 with a 3.56 ERA over 33 games and 187.1 innings, while leading the league in walks.

The following year, his star fell even further as injuries limited his season to just 13 games, going 2-9 with a 5.75 ERA over 76.2 innings, completing two games.

1964 saw him bounce back a bit, arguably posting his best season as a Big Leaguer when he went 9-8 over 23 games, 22 of them starts, with a nice 2.86 ERA over 135.1 innings, striking out 91 while tossing a shutout.

It would give the Angels a promising two-man punch along with their Cy Young winner Dean Chance, who had a monster year that season.

Sadly, that was all short-lived as Belinsky would come back in 1965, now a member of the Philadelphia Phillies, and go 4-9 over 30 games, only 14 of them starts, finishing with an ERA of 4.84 in 110 innings.

Turns out the Angels would trade Belinky to Philly for Rudy May and Minor Leaguer Costen Shockley.

He would never again find that "spark" in the remaining parts of four seasons left in his career, as he would go on to pitch for the Houston Astros in 1967, Pittsburgh Pirates in 1969 and Reds in 1970, never winning more than three games in any season, reaching 100 innings once.

By the time he was done, he finished with a record 28-51 over 146 games, with an ERA at 4.10 in 665.1 innings pitched.

The white-hot start way back in 1962 now a long-ago memory.

 

REVISITING MY MISSING IN ACTION- 1978 ART GARDNER

Let's go and revisit my post from July of 2015 featuring my "missing in action" card for Art Gardner of the Houston Astros shall we:

Gardner appeared in 66 games for the Astros in 1977, hitting .154 with 10 hits over 65 at-bats.

He debuted in the Majors in 1975, playing in 13 games for Houston with equal luck at the plate, before playing the entire 1976 season in the Minor leagues.

In 1978 he'd play in only seven games with the Giants, before playing out his professional career in the Minor Leagues and the Japanese league in the early 1980's before retiring for good.

His total in the Big leagues: a .162 average with 16 hits (all singles) in 99 official at-bats, with 12 runs scored and five runs batted in. 

And though he was a speedster in the Minors (196 steals in his Minor League career), he tallied one single stolen base while up in the Majors, coming in his rookie year of '75.

 

A SET THAT NEVER WAS: 1971 ALL-STAR TICKET SET: DOCK ELLIS

On the blog today, we come to my "card that never was" for 1971 N.L. All-Star Game starter Dock Ellis, from my custom ticket set that was never released, but know looks like will see the light of day some time in 2025:

Ellis was on his way to his best year as a Big League pitcher in 1971, and with that was given the honor of starting what turned out to be one of the historic All-Star game in baseball history, featuring somewhat of a transition of the "old" classic baseball of the 1950's and 1960's with stars like Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Roberto Clemente, while also showcasing young up and coming superstars of the new age like Johnny Bench, Reggie Jackson and Rod Carew.

By the time 1971 ended Ellis finished with a very nice 19-9 record for the eventual World Champions, sporting an earned run average of 3.06 over 31 starts, with 11 complete games and two shutouts, tossing a career-best 226.2 innings.

Those numbers would get him a fourth place finish in the Cy Young Award race in November, with Chicago Cubs great Fergie Jenkins winning it based on his league-leading 24 wins.

Of course, we would be terribly negligent here without also mentioning that Ellis was the pitcher who served up the classic bomb hit by Reggie Jackson in the All-Star game that almost cleared the ballpark, a moment that marked somewhat of the arrival of the man who would go on to be nicknamed "Mr. October" and become a household name across the country by decade's end.

Nevertheless, Ellis would go on to pitch 12 years in the Majors, finishing up after the 1979 season, posting a final record of 138-119 over 345 games, 317 of them as a starter, tossing 14 shutouts and striking out 1136.

 

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: MIKE SCHMIDT

On the blog today, we go and add perhaps the greatest third baseman of them all, Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt, to my "Classic Baseball" WTHBALLS custom set:

What a career Schmidt had: 12 All-Star nods, 10 Gold Gloves, three Most Valuable Player Awards, all while anchoring a Philadelphia Phillies team that would reach their apex in 1980, taking home the World Series with a victory over the Kansas City Royals.
By the time he hung them up in 1989, he’d hit 548 home runs, drive in 1595 runs while scoring 1506, while also stealing 174 bases! Easy to forget he could steal a base or two. As a matter of fact, it’s really easy to forget that he came one stolen base short of joining the (then) exclusive 30-30 club back in 1975, slamming 38 homers to lead the league while swiping 29.
Nevertheless, “Schmitty” rode that success straight to a Hall of Fame induction come 1995, a lock if there ever was one.

 

VINTAGE SPECIAL! "MISSING" 1954 WILSON'S FRANKS RICHIE ASHBURN

Today on the blog we have another of my "missing" 1954 Wilson's Franks cards, this one of Philadelphia Phillies legend Richie Ashburn, which was part of my recent custom set released late last year:

The former anchor of the Philadelphia Phillies, he won two batting titles over his career (1955 & 1958), while leading the league in hits three times, triples twice, stolen bases once, walks four times and on-base-percentage four times between 1948 and 1962.

By the time he hung up the cleats, he finished with 2574 hits, a .308 batting average, 1322 runs scored, 109 triples and 234 stolen bases in 2189 games.

Often overshadowed by contemporaries, the man was about as solid as they came, rarely missing a game during his prime and giving the Phillies a defensive whiz out in centerfield, leading the league in putouts every season between 1949 and 1958 except for 1955, while pacing the league in assists three times and "range factor" (for you new-stat guys) 10 times.

It's amazing to me that he was never selected for the Hall of Fame by the BWAA, and had to wait until 1995 to be selected by the Veteran's Committee for his rightful place in Cooperstown.