NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1957 CURT FLOOD

Today on the blog we have a fun card to create, a "missing" 1957 card for Hall of Fame worthy outfielder and trailblazer Curt Flood, who started his Big League career with a handful of games with the Cincinnati Reds in 1956. 

The card was part of my recent "1960's Dedicated and Missing" set released early this year:

Flood appeared in five games for the Reds that year, going 0-1 at the plate while putting in some time as a pinch runner.

The next year he'd appear in three games for Cincinnati, going 1-for-3 at the plate with two runs scored, that one hit a home run.

During the ensuing off-season Flood found himself traded to the St. Louis Cardinals as part of a five person trade involving Willard Schmidt, Marty Kutyna and Ted Wiend to the Reds, and Flood and Joe Taylor to the Cardinals.

His first three seasons with his new team were stutter steps, as he played sporadically and hit about .250 combined.

But beginning in 1961 Flood strung together nine fantastic seasons starring for the St. Louis Cardinals, consistently batting over .300, two 200-hit seasons, and seven straight Gold Glove Awards, right up to the 1969 campaign.
Then it all began with a trade to the Philadelphia Phillies along with others including Tim McCarver for superstar slugger Dick (Richie) Allen and a couple of other players.
Flood refused to report to his new team, eventually forcing the Cardinals to send prospect Willie Montanez to complete the deal, essentially ending his career as a player while he fought to have control over his own career, fighting the “reserve clause”.
After sitting out the season in 1970, the Phillies eventually sent him to the Washington Senators, where Flood played the last 13 games of his career before leaving the team within the first month, abruptly closing out a great career that could have been Hall of Fame worthy had he played longer.
If you’re not familiar with Flood’s case, and his teaming up with Players’ Union head Marvin Miller, you MUST read up on this to understand the state of the game today.
I just touched upon some brief points here, but the case and Flood’s decision to pursue this cause is incredible.
Every single player today has much to thank Flood and his sacrifice, allowing the Free Agent boom of the mid-70’s to change the game forever, leading to the salaries and benefits even the average players have today.

MISSING IN ACTION: 1957 BILL WHITE

Really fun card to create for today's blog post: a "missing" 1957 card for All-Star first baseman and true baseball "lifer" Bill White:

Sorry for the watermark!

For the life of me I can't figure out why White was left out of the 1957 set considering he had a "Rookie of the Year"-worthy 1956 campaign with the New York Giants.

In 138 games that season, White hit .256 with 22 homers and 56 runs batted in, with 63 runs scored.

He would put in military time for the entire 1957 season and part of the 1958 campaign, but I'm still surprised Topps didn't include him in their 1957 set.

Growing up with watching the Yankees on T.V., I was very familiar with White, being that he was a longtime announcer on channel 11 here in the NYC area for games along with Phil Rizzuto.

As a matter of fact White would end up being a sort of fall-guy for all of Rizzuto's hilarious antics, which made for some really funny moments during the game.

White closed out a brilliant, if not shortened 13-year career in 1969, returning to the Cardinals, for whom he played between 1959 and 1965 and put together his best years as a big-league player.

In '69, he appeared in 49 games, hitting .211 with 12 hits over 57 official at-bats.

But when you take a good look at what he did over the eleven seasons that he played full-time, you see an excellent, consistent player who also played his position superbly.

At the plate White put together four 100-RBI seasons, reached 200 hits once (with two other 190+ hit years thrown in), clubbed 20+ homers seven times, topped .300 four times and scored 100+ runs once.

Defensively, all White did was take home seven consecutive Gold Glove Awards between 1960 to 1966, leading his league in fielding twice along the way as well.

Admittedly I didn't know any of this as a young kid watching Yankee games at first.

Wasn't until I was bestowed with my first MacMillan Encyclopedia around 1979 that I was able to soak it all in.

I just remember him as a somewhat reserved guy who'd crack a joke here and there while Rizzuto was running wild at the mouth with all of his anecdotes.

 

THE "WHOLE NINE": MISSING IN ACTION 1957 STAN MUSIAL

Fun card to spotlight today on the blog, my"missing in action" 1957 card for "Stan the Man", Stan Musial, from my "Whole Nine" Series 2 set released a few months ago, with full stat-backs:

Who wouldn't want to flip this card around and scan the insane stats that Musial Put up during his stellar career!?

His MLB numbers are just absurd: seven batting titles, two R.B.I. titles, five triples titles and eight doubles titles, with career numbers of 475 home runs, 1951 runs batted in and a .331 career average. Throw in his 725 doubles, 177 triples and 3630 hits along with 1949 runs scored and the numbers are staggering. 

And don't forget that Musial also lost a year to military duty, easily putting him over 500 homers, close to 3900 hits and around 2100 runs batted in if he played in 1945.

Along with the great Frank Robinson I always felt Stan Musial was often overlooked in the decades since his playing days ended.

When talk of "Greatest Living Player" came up it was always Williams, DiMaggio, Mays or even Aaron that would come up. But Stan Musial would always kind of be that after-thought.

Criminal.

Three Most Valuable Player Awards, FOUR second-place finishes, including three in a row between 1949-1951, and twenty consecutive all-star appearances, Musial definitely is a member of that rarified stratosphere of baseball royalty along with the likes of Ruth, Cobb, Mays and Wagner, among others.

CUSTOM SPOTLIGHT- "MISSING" 1957 HARMON KILLEBREW

The next card from my "Whole Nine" custom set released last year to get the spotlight treatment is my 1957 "missing" Harmon Killebrew:

 

One of my favorite players, I'll use ANY excuse to create a card for "Killer" Killebrew, and this one was a pleasure to create!

Still in the infancy of his Major League career, the 20-year-old appeared in only 44 games for the Washington Senators in 1956, hitting five homers while driving in 13 over 99 at-bats while playing third base.

Of course this was but a small glimpse into what he'd accomplish over his amazing career!

He was an absolute BEAST at the plate, crushing 573 lifetime homers, MOST of them during the pitching-era of the 1960's into the '70's.
Eight 40+ home run seasons, nine 100+ runs batted in seasons, seven 100+ base-on-balls seasons, an M.V.P. in 1969 (with five top-5 finishes in M.V.P. voting as well), and a Hall of Fame induction in 1984.

A favorite player of mine "before my time" since I first discovered him when I flipped over his 1973 card, not believing the numbers I was seeing as a 10-year-old in 1979 at my cousin's house.

What a player!

CUSTOM SPOTLIGHT- "CAREER CAPPER" 1957 BOB FELLER

Today on the blog I spotlight my 1957 "Career Capper" for Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller, from my custom "The Whole Nine" set released last year:

 

Feller finished up an incredible 18-year Major League career in 1956, one that saw him win 266 games, toss 44 shutouts including three no-hitters, and striking out 2581 batters between 1936 and 1956.

And don't forget, the man lost almost FOUR seasons in his prime serving in the military from 1942 through 1945, easily bringing him close to 400 wins, 3500 K's and 60 shutouts if it wasn't for the war.

What an unsung hero all-around!

He led the league in wins six times, strikeouts seven times, shutouts four times and earned run average once, completing 279 of his 484 career starts.

The eight-time All-Star finished in the top-3 for league MVP three straight seasons between 1939 and 1941, winning 24, 27 and 25 games before sailing off to fight in World War II at the age of 23.

Just an astounding man who incredibly gets left out of the conversation when we talk about all-time greats, especially post-war.

Legend!

TURN BACK THE CLOCK- LEW BURDETTE LEADS THE BRAVES TO A CHAMPIONSHIP

Now, you THINK if Topps was going to have a “highlight” of the 1957 season for their 1977 “Turn Back the Clock” sub-set, they’d at LEAST pick Lew Burdette and his awesome performance in the World Series that year, leading the Braves to a Championship over the New York Yankees.
Well, here’s one I created:

All Burdette did in the 1957 Fall Classic was go 3-0 over three starts, with a sparkling 0.67 earned run average with two shutouts and THREE complete games!
The man allowed only 21 hits over those 27 innings with only two runs scored, both of them earned, and only four bases on balls against 13 strikeouts.
Easily one of the best pitching performances in World Series history!
No offense to Bob Keegan and his no-hitter that year, but Burdette’s feat should have been front and center, which leaves me with a question: was it more than just Topps “picking” a moment for the sub-set?
What I mean is, were there issues trying to get former players to agree to appear on a card? Or something like that?
Anyone know?

1975 "CY YOUNG AWARD" SUB-SET: WHAT IF? 1957

Today we move along to 1957 on my imagined 1975 "Cy Young" sub-set to go along with the Topps "M.V.P." sub-set in the same set.

While the National league "winner" is a given being that Warren Spahn won the award outright that year, the folks at SABR picked Jim Bunning as the assumed winner for the A.L. since the award was not given to winners of both leagues at the time.

First off take a look at my card design:

Spahn easily won the award, garnering 15 of 16 votes for the award (White Sox pitcher Dick Donovan getting the only other vote). It would actually be the only time Spahn would win the award in his storied 21 year career, though he did finish second in the running three other times before he was through.

The 1957 season was a "typical" one for the southpaw pitching machine, as he finished with a league-leading 21 wins to go along with a 2.69 earned run average, 18 complete games, four shutouts ad even three saves in his 271 innings of work. 

Ho-hum right? After all, the man won 20 or more games an amazing THIRTEEN times in his career!

And don't forget, Spahn didn't pitch his first full season of work until he was 26 years of age!

We are easily looking at a 400+ game winner if it wasn't for World War II and his military obligation to his country.

But ending your career with 363 wins, 63 shutouts and a then record 2583 strikeouts for a left-hander isn't too shabby right!?

The man was a machine! And he's always been one of my favorite all-time players even if I never had the chance to see him pitch!

Over in the American League, the people at SABR chose a newcomer to the Majors, Detroit Tigers pitcher Jim Bunning, who just completed his first full year on the big league level, going 20-8 (leading the league in wins), along with a 2.69 E.R.A. in a league-leading 267.1 innings of work.

It was definitely a sign of things to come, as Bunning would go on to a Hall of Fame career with five 19+ game-winning seasons, as well as three strikeout crowns, ending his career with 2855, second all-time at the time of his retirement after the 1971 season, as well as 224 lifetime wins.

He pitched no-hitters in both leagues, his N.L. one being a perfect game against the Mets on June 21st, 1964, as well as becoming one of the first pitchers to win 100+ games in both the A.L. and N.L.

What's nice about this card design is that it features Bunning's "rookie card", which always commands a decent dollar for anyone trying to acquire it for their collection.

Nice virtual card featuring two future Hall of Famers!

Next, we take a look at 1958, featuring actual award winner Bob Turley of the Yankees, and the SABR pick for the N.L., well what do you know, our friend Warren Spahn again!