"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: GIL HODGES

Let us go and give Brooklyn Dodgers great Gil Hodges a card in my long running "Classic Baseball" custom set, celebrating the great game I've held dear for 50+ years:

I still cannot figure out why it took so long for him to get into the Hall, as he was a MAJOR part of those "Bum" Dodger teams, slamming 370 career homers, driving in 100+ runs seven years in a row between 1949-1955, and topping 30+ homers six times.

Later on he went on to a managerial career that includes one of the all-time great surprises in Major League ball, leading the "Miracle Mets" over the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles in 1969, an incredible turnaround that saw the Mets as World Champs just a few short years after perennial last place finishes, including their all-time futile 1962 season which saw them lose 120 games.

One of baseball's Hall of Fame snubs that thankfully finally got "fixed" with his election in 2022, 50 years after his sudden and shocking death from a heart attack at the young age of 47.

One of the era's best players finally getting his place in Cooperstown, and rightly so!

 

OPC VARIATIONS: 1977 DOUG AULT

Next up in the "OPC to Topps Image Variations" theme are the two cards for former Toronto Blue Jay Doug Ault, who had his rookie cards in the 1977 sets:

OPC version

Topps version

As we've seen with other Blue Jay cards in the OPC 1977 set, he was given a nice dedicated card as opposed to the multi-player rookie card Topps offered up.

An "original Blue Jay" from their inaugural 1977 season, Ault made his Major League debut in 1976 with nine games for the Texas Rangers, hitting an even .300 with six hits over 20 at-bats.

Once selected by the Blue Jays via the expansion draft, Ault got to see substantial playing time in 1977, appearing in 129 games, manning first base and putting in a respectable rookie year, hitting .245 with eleven home runs and 64 runs batted in.

In his first game with the team, opening day, Ault was the Jay's first "Hero", hitting two home runs and leading the team to a win over the Chicago White Sox.

He followed that up with an injury riddled 1978 season that saw him appear in only 54 games, hitting .240 with three homers and seven RBIs, also putting in some time in the outfield.

He would spend all of 1979 in the Minors before making it back in 1980, playing in 64 games, hitting only .194 in what turned out to be the last Big League action of his career.

He would play a year in Japan followed by two more years in the Mexican League before becoming a Minor League coach and Manager into the 1980's.

Sadly, after some tragedies and business failures, on December 22nd of 2004 he took his own life at the age of 54.

FANTASY CARD: 1980 TIM RAINES ROOKIE CARD

Finally getting around to a fantasy card I've wanted to create for a while now, a 1980 multi-player Montreal Expos rookie card for Hall of Famer Tim Raines:

The "four-decade" player made his Big League debut with six games for the Montreal Expos in 1979, all as a pinch-runner, giving him three runs scored and two stolen bases without an official at-bat at the age of only 19.

From there the man was nothing short of elite, leading the league in steals four straight seasons from 1981 through 1984, winning a batting title in 1986 when he led the N.L. with a .334 mark, twice pacing the league in runs scored, and making seven straight All-Star teams from 1981 to 1987.

The National League's counterpart to Rickey Henderson, Raines went on to play 23 seasons in the Majors, including a very nice three year run with the New York Yankees during their Dynasty from 1996 to 1998, giving him two Championships, the only two he'd have.

I loved watching him play, and was especially happy to see him play "live" when he suited up for the Yanks those three seasons, when I was pretty much at almost all Yankee home games.

By the time he retired after the 2002 season, Raines finished with 2605 hits over 8872 at-bats, hitting .294 with 1571 runs scored and 808 stolen bases, collecting 113 triples while striking out only 966 times!

That is an average of only 42 strikeouts a season!

In 2017 he was elected to the Hall of Fame, his place in baseball history cemented for all to appreciate in years to come.

Cheers "Rock" Raines!

REVISITING MY MISSING 1976 CARD FOR GENE PENTZ

On the blog this fine day, revisiting my card posted just about ten years ago today, a "missing" 1976 card for former pitcher Gene Pentz of the Detroit Tigers:

Though his actual rookie card would be in the 1977 set as a Houston Astro, Pentz did in fact pitch in 13 games during the 1975 season for the Detroit Tigers, good for 25.1 innings of work, so we went ahead and created a card for him in the awesome 1976 set.

For the season he posted a 0-4 record with a 3.20 earned run average and 21 strikeouts.

He'd go on to pitch the next three years with Houston, but would be out of the Majors after 10 games in 1978.

His career numbers: 8-9 record, with a 3.63 E.R.A., seven saves and 116 strikeouts in 104 games and 191 innings.

 

WTHBALLS CUSTOM SET SPOTLIGHT: 1960S STARS OF THE GAME: TED WILLIAMS

Up on the blog today we showcase my 1960 custom "1960s Stars of the Game" card for the great Ted Williams, who was wrapping up a legendary career by the time this card would have seen the light of day:

The last .400 hitter, 521 home runs, a .344 lifetime average with SIX batting titles, and the man missed MULTIPLE years in his prime due to war and his service in the military.
I remember as a kid (nerd alert) I used to love averaging out the three seasons before and after his missed seasons and then factoring them into his final career numbers, and they were insane!
If I remember correctly he would have had somewhere in the neighborhood of 700 home runs, 3500 hits, 2000+ runs scored and runs batted in along with the slugging and on-base percentages that would have made his already monster career just other-worldly!

The man was truly a “hitting-machine”, perhaps the greatest pure hitter ever (or the Babe? Or Cobb? Musial?).

By the way, by today’s rules, Williams should have won SEVEN batting titles, but in 1954 he lost out to the Cleveland Indians Bobby Avila, who hit .341 with the THEN required official at-bats instead of 501 plate appearances.
Williams hit .345 with 526 plate appearances based on his 386 at-bats and 136 walks, but under the rules of the day was denied that seventh title.

The man was just incredible!

A SET THAT NEVER WAS: 1971 ALL-STAR TICKET SET: ROD CAREW

Next up on the blog, my 1971 All-Star Game ticket card for the great Rod Carew, who was the starting second baseman for the American league in that historic 1971 Midsummer Classic:

The man was a player for the ages, as he would go on to play in 18 All-Star games, missing only his final season in the Majors in 1985. Just incredible.

The first nine seasons of his career were as an All-Star second baseman, while the last nine were as a first baseman.

The man topped .300 15 years in a row, with a high of .388 in 1977 on his way to a Most Valuable Player Award and capturing the public’s attention with his .400 chase late in the season.
A clear-cut Hall of Fame player, he was inducted on his first year of eligibility in 1991 when he garnered 90.5% of the vote, which leaves me with the question: who the hell are the 9.5% who DIDN’T vote for him!!!???

3053 hits, a .328 career average, 353 stolen bases and 15 straight seasons of .300+ batting.

The man was a hitting machine, and I'm so glad I got to see him play during his magnificent career!

 

1963 FLEER EXTENSION SET: MINNIE MINOSO

The next "missing" player to get an extension card in my long-running 1963 Fleer set is Minnie Minoso, finally a member of the Hall of Fame, as he should have been a while ago:

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.

 

REVISITING MY POST FROM 10 YEARS AGO TODAY: 1975 "MISSING" RON DUNN

Thought it'd be fun to go back ten years to the day here on the blog and see what I posted up, with that being a "missing in action" 1975 card for 23-game Major Leaguer Ron Dunn of the Chicago Cubs:

Here's a "missing" card for a guy that got into 23 games for the Cubs in 1974, good for 80 plate appearances, second baseman Ron Dunn.

Those 23 games marked the extent of his rookie year, as he batter .294 with 20 hits, seven of which were doubles and two of which were homers.

He also drove in 15 runs while scoring six, with 12 walks thrown in.

The following year he played in 32 games for the Cubbies, batting .159 with seven hits in 44 at-bats, and as it turned out those would be the final games of his Major League career.

Though he played a relatively full season in the minor leagues that season, he never appeared in a professional game again.

Anyone know why the guy went from Triple-A ball to nothing just like that?

His entire two-year career had him bat to the tune of a .241 average, with three homers and 21 ribbies, along with eight runs scored and 13 extra-base-hits.

 

WTHBALLS CUSTOM SET SPOTLIGHT: 1960S STARS OF THE GAME: HANK AARON

Today on the blog, we post up my custom "1960 Stars of the Game" card of the great Hank Aaron, from my set produced back in 2019 and long sold-out:

The set featured 40 postcard-sized cards with cut-out player cards to mimic the Jello sets of that era.

Fun set to produce, as it even contained a packet of gelatin to complete the set!

As for Aaron the player?

Let his numbers do all the talking: 2174 runs scored, 3771 hits, 624 doubles, 98 triples, 755 home runs, 2297 runs batted in, a .305 batting average no less than 21 all-star selections!
Just tremendous!
He also had eight top-5 finishes for MVP, including taking home the award in 1957, as well as three Gold Gloves won consecutively between 1958-1960.
It's incredible to look at his 15 years of topping 100 or more runs scored, 11 seasons of 100 or more runs batted in, five more seasons of 90+ RBI's, and TWENTY STRAIGHT years of 20 or more home runs.

Rest in Peace to one of the absolute greats of the game, Mr. Henry Aaron...aka "Hammerin' Hank"!

 

OPC IMAGE VARIATION- 1977 LEON HOOTEN

Interesting OPC to Topps image variation to spotlight today, that of former pitcher Leon Hooten in the 1977 sets, showing him as an "original" Toronto Blue Jay:

OPC version

Topps version

As we all know, there was a scramble of sorts back then to have the two new Major League franchises Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners represented in the upcoming card set, which led to many quirks.

In this example, Hooten never ended up playing in the Majors for the Jays, with only his scant 1975 action as an Oakland Athletic his MLB tenure.

Hooten appeared in six games for the A’s during their 1974 season, the third straight World Championship season for the franchise.
He didn’t factor in a decision, but put up a nice 3.24 earned run average, allowing three runs over 8.1 innings, with a strikeout and four walks.
He’d spend the next two years in the Oakland Minor League system before getting selected by the upstart Blue Jays in the Expansion Draft as the 59th pick, but he would never play for them, not even in their Minors system.
But he did walk away with an appearance on a Topps card, getting a spot in their “Rookie Pitchers” card #478 along with Jim Gideon, Mark Lemongello and Dave Johnson.

 

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: TED WILLIAMS

Today on the blog, the "Splendid Splinter" Ted Williams gets his place in my custom "Classic Baseball" set, a WTHBALLS unique set that should see the light of day as a printed set this year:

The last .400 hitter, 521 home runs, a .344 lifetime average with SIX batting titles, and the man missed MULTIPLE years in his prime due to war and his service in the military.
I remember as a kid (nerd alert) I used to love averaging out the three seasons before and after his missed seasons and then factoring them into his final career numbers, and they were insane!
If I remember correctly he would have had somewhere in the neighborhood of 700 home runs, 3500 hits, 2000+ runs scored and runs batted in along with the slugging and on-base percentages that would have made his already monster career just other-worldly!

The man was truly a “hitting-machine”, perhaps the greatest pure hitter ever (or the Babe? Or Cobb? Musial?).

By the way, by today’s rules, Williams should have won SEVEN batting titles, but in 1954 he lost out to the Cleveland Indians Bobby Avila, who hit .341 with the THEN required official at-bats instead of 501 plate appearances.
Williams hit .345 with 526 plate appearances based on his 386 at-bats and 136 walks, but under the rules of the day was denied that seventh title.

The man was just incredible!

 

1963 FLEER EXTENSION SET: ROGER MARIS

A super fun card to add to my 1963 Fleer extension set, this one of two-time A.L. MVP Roger Maris, at the time owner of the all-time single-season home run record of 61, hit in 1961:

Of course his Yankee tenure resulted in that historic 1961 season that saw him hit "61 in '61", setting a new Major League record with 61 home runs, leading to what was his second straight MVP Award after a wonderful 1960 season that saw him 39 homers and a league-leading 112 RBIs.

By the time he hung them up in 1968, he hit 275 homers with 850 RBIs and 826 runs scored, hitting .260 over 1463 games between 1957 and 1968.

He spent the last two years of his career with the Cardinals after his historic tenure with the New York Yankees.

Talk about "right place at the right time", Maris came to the Cardinals just as they put together a World Championship in 1967, and a return to the World Series in 1968, though that resulted in a loss to the Detroit Tigers.

It's easy to forget that he retired very young, at only 33 years of age.

Would have been cool if he got to play into the mid-70's, just as I was getting into baseball...

 

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS: LEGENDS EDITION- PEE WEE REESE

Time to go and add Hall of Famer Pee Wee Reese to my long-running "Minor League Days-Legends Edition" set, which I hope to actually have printed up in the near future:

Found a nice image of him suited up with the Louisville Colonels, his first professional organization, for whom he played in 1938 and 1939.

Over those two seasons he hit .278 with 58 stolen bases and 36 triples, giving everyone a small glimpse into what they'd see over his almost 20 years as a Big Leaguer.

Between 1940 and 1958, playing for only the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers, Reese was a mainstay of a team that would continuously fight for the National League crown, reaching the World Series seven times, winning it all in 1955.

Though he'd miss three years to military service between 1943 and 1945, he would still finish his career with 2170 hits, 1338 runs scored and a .269 batting average, with 232 stolen bases and ten All-Star game nods.

Importantly, he was also a calming figure in the integration of baseball when teammate and fellow Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson made his debut in 1947, showing his unwavering support as a Southern man, helping quench the racist attitudes thrown and Robinson his first few seasons.

Sadly it took quite some time for Cooperstown to come knocking, as he would wait until 1984 to finally get voted in by the Veteran's Committee.

 

WTHBALLS CUSTOM SET SPOTLIGHT: 1960S STARS OF THE GAME: WILLIE MAYS

The next custom card from my "1960s Stars of the Game" set released in 2018 and long sold-out, the great Willie Mays:

The set featured 40 postcard-sized cards with cut-out player cards to mimic the Jello sets of that era.

Fun set to produce, as it even contained a packet of gelatin to complete the set!

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.

 

A SET THAT NEVER WAS: 1971 ALL-STAR TICKET SET: BILL FREEHAN

On the blog today, the next American League starter in that classic 1971 All-Star game for my 1971 "Ticket" custom design, Detroit Tigers star and in my opinion, Hall of Fame catcher Bill Freehan:

 

It's safe to say that between Berra and Fisk, Freehan was easily the best catcher in the American League.
With all the superstars on the filed during the decade, it's easy to forget that Freehan was an eleven-time all-star, five-time Gold Glover, and finished in the top-ten in M.V.P. voting three times, with a second place finish in 1968 behind teammate Denny McLain.
1964, his first full year in the Majors, was arguably his finest season, as he hit .300 for the only time in his career along with 18 homers and 80 R.B.I.'s.
But for the rest of the decade Freehan put up comparable numbers year after year, while taking are of a Detroit pitching staff that featured guys like McLain, Mickey Lolich and Earl Wilson.
He really was ahead of the rest of the pack as far as A.L. catchers during the decade.

A solid player through and through, he'd retire after the 1976 season with a .262 lifetime average, 200 homers and 758 runs batted in over 1774 games and 6073 at-bats.