WTHBALLS 1950 CUSTOM SET: WARREN SPAHN

Good day all! On the blog today, another card from my 2018 "1950 Stars of the Game" custom set, Warren Spahn, all-time great lefty and a favorite subject of mine:

Anyone who has followed this blog long enough knows by now that any time I can create a card for the mighty lefty, I will take it!

The man was amazing, flat out, and by the time he retired in 1965 he posted a 363-245 record, with a 3.09 ERA, 63 shutouts, 28 saves and 2583 strikeouts over 750 appearances, 665 of which were starts.

Oh yeah, he also hit 35 career home runs along with 189 runs batted in with (coincidentally) 363 hits!

And remember he didn’t win his first game until he was 25 years of age, as he served in the military from 1943 to 1945.

His first 20-game season was 1947 (at the age of 26), and he kept right on rolling until his final 20-game season in 1963!

In between, he ended up posting 13 such campaigns, leading the league eight times (with five of those coming consecutively from 1957 to 1961).

Just an amazing career!

REVISIT: MISSING IN ACTION- 1976 MIKE SQUIRES

Revisiting a 10+ year-old post showing my "missing" 1976 card for former first baseman Mike Squires.

Here’s what would be a “missing” rookie card for Gold Glove winning first baseman Mike Squires, who would spend his entire 10-year career with the Chicago White Sox:

Squires came up to the Major Leagues in 1975, appearing in 20 games for the Pale Hose, batting .231 over 65 at-bats.
After a season in the Minors in ‘76, he was in the Big Leagues to say in 1977, generally a guy off the bench, specifically as a defensive replacement, leading to a Gold Glove Award in the strike-shortened 1981 season.
By the time he was out of the Majors after a couple of games in 1985, he left behind a .260 batting average with 411 hits over 1580 at-bats in 779 games, with a career .995 fielding percentage.
Nevertheless, as it stands Squires first card would be in that horrible black-and-white multi-player rookie sub-set in the 1979 set.
On a side-note, never realized that in the 1976 Topps set, there isn’t a first baseman among all the White Sox players.  I had to get creative to whip up a first baseman template for this card.

 

WTHBALLS CUSTOM SET SPOTLIGHT: 1960S STARS OF THE GAME: BILL MAZEROSKI

Good day all! On the blog today, we spotlight my card for HOFer Bill Mazeroski, from my 1960 "Stars of the Game" custom gelatin set released back in 2018:

Just realized I messed up about a month ago with this post, accidentally showing a Killebrew card instead of Mazeroski, so here it is today!

A nice era-perfect photo of the Pittsburgh Pirates great, from right about the time he catapulted himself into baseball history with a Game 7 home run in the bottom of the ninth to send the Pirates to a World Championship over the heavily favored New York Yankees.

But it's easy to forget that Mazeroski's homer was in only his fifth full season in the Majors. He went on to star for the Pirates for the next 12 seasons before hanging them up at the end of the 1972 season.
By the time he retired, Mazeroski won two world championships (1960 & 1971), eight Gold Gloves, made seven All-Star teams, topped 2000 hits and made a name for himself as one of the premier fielding second baseman in baseball.
He still holds the all-time record for turning double-plays for second basemen at 1706, and lead the National League in assists nine times between 1958-1968.
While the BBWA failed to vote him into the Hall of Fame withing the 15 years of eligibility, the Veteran's Committee got him in 2001, almost 30 years after retiring, joining such former teammates like Willie Stargell and Roberto Clemente.

 

CAREER-CAPPER: 1984 BOBBY MURCER

Up on the blog today, from my next WTHBALLS custom set, we finally get around to creating a 1984 "Career-Capper" for one of the nicest men to ever take the field, Bobby Murcer:

Murcer appeared in only nine games for the New York Yankees in 1983, the final games of his very nice 17-year career.

He made his MLB debut in 1965, appearing in 11 games for the New York Yankees and hitting .243 with a homer and four runs batted in while putting in time at shortstop.

After 21 more games in 1966, he lost two years to military service before coming back as a full-time Big League outfielder in 1969, slugging 26 homers with 82 RBIs and a .259 batting average over 152 games.

Murcer really did have a very nice career, especially those seasons between 1969 and 1977 when he drove in over 80 runs eight times, while topping 90 five of those seasons.
He hit as high as .331 (1971) while hitting as many as 33 homers (1972), while also leading the league in runs scored with 102 in 1972, OBP with a .427 mark in 1971 and total bases with 314 again in 1972.
He made five straight All-Star teams from 1971 through 1975, and was in the top-10 in MVP voting three straight years: 1971-1973.
Much more importantly, the man was one of the nicest human beings on the planet, as I can attest to, meeting him on more than a few occasions.
He was just as “real” as it got.
Rest in Peace Bobby. You are truly missed.

 

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: JIM RICE

The next player to get a card in my long-running "Classic Baseball" custom set, slugger and Hall of Famer Jim Rice of the Boston Red Sox:

I'm STILL amazed with Rice's run from 1977 through 1979! Even though he only pulled in one M.V.P., he was an absolute terror at the plate.

Over 200 hits each year, along with 39, 46 and 39 homers, as well as averaging 124 runs batted in and a .320 average.

Then you notice that the dude hit 15, 15 and 6 TRIPLES those years, leading the league in homers AND triples in 1978.

I mean, that is just plain RAKING at the plate!

Man, Rice used to terrify me as a young Yankee fan. He was just plain brutal to opposing pitchers, and it was a shame that he had to wait so long to get elected into Cooperstown. 

By the time Rice was done in the Big Leagues, he'd finish with 2400+ hits, 382 homers, 1451 runs batted in and a .298 lifetime average.

Five times would he finish in the running for Most Valuable Player besides the year he took it home.

Absolute STUD!

 

OPC IMAGE VARIATIONS: 1977 BOMBO RIVERA

Time for another look at some OPC to Topps image variations, this time the 1977 difference for Montreal Expos outfielder Bombo Rivera:

OPC version

Topps version

Another one of those strange "zoom-in" differences that OPC decided on as opposed to the cropping Topps used.

As for Rivera, he would play in 68 games in 1976 for the Expos, hitting a very respectable .276 with 51 hits over 185 at-bats, with 22 runs scored and 19 RBIs.
After a full 1977 season in the Minors, he was back in the Majors for 1978, now with the Minnesota Twins, where he would play over the next three seasons, hitting .271, .281 and .221 before spending all of 1981 in the Minors again.
In 1982, still only 29 years of age, he was back in the Big Leagues, though now with the Kansas City Royals, where he’d appear in only five games, the last five of his career it turned out, as he’d hit .100 with one hit over 10 at-bats.
Far from retiring, he took his talents to both Japan and Mexico, where he ended up playing another six seasons, through 1988, finally retiring as an active player.
Overall, for his MLB career, he finished with a .265 average over 335 games, with 220 hits in 831 at-bats, with 109 runs scored and 83 RBIs between 1975 and 1982.

 

1981 DRAKE'S BIG PITCHERS: GAYLORD PERRY

The next card from my "Drake's Big Pitchers" custom set to get the spotlight is my card for 300-game winner Gaylord Perry:

For me growing up in the late-70’s/early-80s, Perry was the stuff of legend since he was the first player I remember reaching 3000 strikeouts, which at the time made him only the THIRD player to do so behind Walter Johnson and Bob Gibson.
He was also (and I remember this vividly) the first pitcher to reach 300 wins since Early Wynn, which was a 20 year gap, the first pitcher to win a Cy Young Award in both leagues, which he did with the Indians in 1972 and the Padres in 1978.
That 1978 season saw him take home the award after a fantastic year that saw him go 21-6 with a 2.73 earned run average at the age of 39 after coming over from the Texas Rangers.
People may also forget that for a relatively brief moment he was the all-time strikeout king before a couple of guys by the name of Nolan Ryan and Steve Carlton caught up soon after.
He posted five 20-win seasons, finishing with 314 for his career, along with 53 shutouts and 3534 strikeouts over a 22-year Big League career, tossing 300+ innings six times.
Is it safe to say that he’s almost a forgotten all-time great?

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1962 WILBUR WOOD

Fun card to spotlight from my "1960s Special" set released earlier this year, a "not so missing" 1962 card for Wilbur Wood:

Wood made his major League debut in 1961 with six appearances for the Boston Red Sox, not factoring in a decision while pitching to a 5.54 ERA over 13 innings at the age of 19.

The reliever-turned-starter strung four straight 20-win seasons for the Chicago White Sox after some pretty amazing years coming out of the bullpen in the late-60’s, with three top-5 Cy Young finishes between 1971-1973.
His 1972 season is the stuff of legends, as he started 49 games, knuckling his way through an astounding 376.2 innings!!!
The following season he worked another 359.1 innings on 48 starts, equaling his 24 wins from the year prior and leading the American League once again.
I’ve also always been fascinated with his 1968 season when, appearing in 88 games, all but two as a reliever, he went 13-12 with a microscopic 1.87 earned run average, with 16 saves over 159 innings pitched.
The man was incredible no matter where his team used him!
Sadly for him however, when you’re pitching during the same era as Jim Palmer, Jim Hunter, etc, you’ll tend to get lost in the shuffle, thus the Cy Young snubs each year.
By the time he retired after the 1978 season, Wood finished with a 164-156 record, appearing in 651 games, with 297 of them starts.
He’d have a final ERA of 3.24, with 24 career shutouts, 1411 strikeouts and 57 saves over 2684 innings pitched.
He led his league in pitching appearances three times, all consecutive, then went on to lead the league in starts four years in a row soon after.

 

REVISIT: MISSING IN ACTION: 1977 CHAMP SUMMERS

Thought it'd be a good time to revisit another 10+ year old post from the blog!

This time we'll go with my "missing" 1977 card for former outfielder Champ Summers:

Summers played in 83 games with the North-Siders in 1976, batting .206 with 26 hits in 126 at-bats, with 11 runs scored and 13 runs batted in.

However as the 1977 season started he would actually be suiting up for the World Champion Cincinnati Reds as he was traded for former New York Mets player Dave Schneck.

He’d put in about two-and-a-half years there before moving on to the Detroit Tigers midway through the 1979 season, seeing pretty much the only full-time action of his eleven-year career before closing it all out with two years for the San Francisco Giants and a final stop for the San Diego Padres in 1984.

All told he wound up with a .255 career average based on his 350 hits in 1371 at-bats spread out over 698 games, with 199 runs and 218 RBI’s, with 54 homers, 21 of which were hit in 1979 for his personal best.

FIXING UP ALL-STAR CARDS: 1985 DAVE STIEB

Seriously! Has there been a player from this era that was more "shafted" than Dave Stieb?

Topps did him wrong yet again by leaving him out of the "All-Star" mix, even though he was the starting pitcher for the American League for the second straight year.

So today we go and give him his rightful All-Star card in the 1985 set:

 

He was such a work-horse in the 1980s!

Stieb would lead the A.L. in WAR three seasons in a row from 1982-1984, and would make seven All-Star teams, while getting Cy Young attention four times.

He would post 15+ wins six times, with a high of 18 in 1990, when he finally spun a no-hitter after a few near-misses in the ninth-inning.

By the time he retired he finished with a record of 176-137 over 443 games, with 30 shutouts and 1669 strikeouts, completing 103 of this starts.

I dreaded any time Stieb was starting against the Yankees, as he seemed to have their number every single time.

Such a great pitcher any team would have been lucky to have on their roster!

 

CAREER-CAPPER: 1981 PAUL BLAIR

As requested a while back, here is the long overdue 1981 "Career-Capper" for defensive outfielder extraordinaire, Paul Blar, who wrapped up a wonderful Major League career in 1980 as a member of the New York Yankees:

Blair appeared in only 12 games for the Yankees in his final Big League season, going 0-for-2 at the plate while putting in time as a defensive replacement in the outfield.

Though a decent hitter in his own right, Blair was a superstar fielding outfielder for the O's, taking home eight Gold Gloves for his excellence in the field, seven consecutively between 1969-1975.

He was known to taunt hitters by playing shallow, then sprinting deep to track down fly balls.

A member of four world champion teams (Orioles in 1966/70; Yankees 1977/78), Blair put together an excellent 17-year career playing between 1964 and 1980 for the Orioles, Yanks and Reds.

He'd finish with a .250 batting average with 1513 hits, 134 homers and 171 stolen bases over 1947 games and 6673 plate appearances.

 

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: GAYLORD PERRY

The next baseball great to get a card in my long-running "Classic Baseball" WTHBALLS custom set is HOF pitcher Gaylord Perry:

For me growing up in the late-70’s/early-80s, Perry was the stuff of legend since he was the first player I remember reaching 3000 strikeouts, which at the time made him only the THIRD player to do so behind Walter Johnson and Bob Gibson.
He was also (and I remember this vividly) the first pitcher to reach 300 wins since Early Wynn, which was a 20 year gap, the first pitcher to win a Cy Young Award in both leagues, which he did with the Indians in 1972 and the Padres in 1978.
That 1978 season saw him take home the award after a fantastic year that saw him go 21-6 with a 2.73 earned run average at the age of 39 after coming over from the Texas Rangers.
People may also forget that for a relatively brief moment he was the all-time strikeout king before a couple of guys by the name of Nolan Ryan and Steve Carlton caught up soon after.
He posted five 20-win seasons, finishing with 314 for his career, along with 53 shutouts and 3534 strikeouts over a 22-year Big League career, tossing 300+ innings six times.
Is it safe to say that he’s almost a forgotten all-time great?

WTHBALLS 1950 CUSTOM SET: YOGI BERRA

Today we'll finally put a spotlight on my 1950 WTHBALLS custom set, released back in 2018, celebrating the stars of the game at that time, beginning with Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra:

The set of bookmark sized cards were packaged with a bonus "all-time leaders" six card set, packaged inside a candy bar themes wrap as seen in the image included here.

It was a popular release and sold out quickly, and I thank you all who purchased one!

As for Mr. Berra, let's see, the man was a three-time American League Most Valuable Player, a FIFTEEN-TIME all-star, and received Most Valuable Player votes every single year between 1947 and 1961. As a matter of fact, between 1950 and 1956 he never finished lower than fourth for the MVP, with three wins, and two second place finishes!

That's seven top-4 finishes in seven years! Just awesome.

Oh yeah, let's not forget the fact that he was a member of TEN world championship teams! Amazing!

Except for four scant games in 1965 with the New York Mets, Berra played the rest of his 19-year career with the Bronx Bombers, amassing 358 homers, 1430 runs batted in and a .285 average.

One other note about his amazing career: the man only struck out 414 times over 8359 at-bats!

YOGI!!! I loved that man!

A true baseball treasure…

 

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1969 HAL McRAE

Up on the blog today, we have a "not so missing" 1969 card for DHing master Hal McRae, who started out his career with the Cincinnati Reds:

McRae appeared in 17 games for the Reds in 1968, hitting .196 with the first ten hits of his very nice Big League career, driving in two while scoring one himself.

McRae didn’t actually play in any Major League games during the 1969 season, but he did make his Big League debut in 1968 with 17 games, hitting .196 with 10 hits over 51 at-bats as a 22-year-old second baseman.
He’d be back in the Majors in 1970, where he would stay for the next 18 seasons putting together an excellent career, becoming one of the first true full-time designated hitters once he was traded to the Kansas City Royals before the 1973 campaign.
All McRae would end up doing once in a Royals uniform is put in a 15-year run where he became one of the best hitters in the league, with three All-Star nods, six .300+ batting average seasons, and MVP consideration four times.
By the time he was done, he retired with a career .290 batting average, with 2091 hits, 484 doubles and 1097 runs batted in over 2084 games and 7218 at-bats, making three All-Star teams and finishing top-5 in MVP voting twice (1976 and 1982).