NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1975 IVAN DeJESUS

Up on the blog today, we have a "not so missing" 1975 card for infielder Ivan DeJesus, who made his Big League debut in 1974 as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers:

DeJesus appeared in three games for the National League champs in 1974, going 1-for-3 at the plate with a run scored, then played in 63 games for the Dodgers in 1975, good for 99 plate appearances and 87 at-bats.

That translates to a .184 average with a couple of doubles and a triple, with 10 runs scored and two runs batted in.

It really wasn't until 1977, now as a Chicago Cub, that he would become a full-time Major League player. 

By the time he retired as a player after the 1988 season, he played for the Dodgers, Cubs, Phillies, Cardinals, Yankees, Giants and Tigers over the course of 15 seasons, and finished with a .254 average with 1167 hits and 194 stolen bases.

Between 1977 and 1980 he had some solid seasons for the Cubs, even leading the National League in runs scored in 1978 with 104, and twice topping 40 stolen bases (in 1978 and 1980).

I just always figured he came up with the Cubs. Goes to show you learn something new every day!

 

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1975 JIM LYTTLE

Today on the blog we have a "not so missing" 1975 card for Jim Lyttle, a subject of other missing cards here on the blog over the years:

Lyttle appeared in 25 games for the Montreal Expos during the 1974 season, hitting .333 based on three hits over 33 at-bats, with two RBIs and a run scored.

He carved out an eight-year career for himself, playing for the Yankees, White Sox, Expos and Dodgers between 1969 and 1976.

In that time he compiled a .248 batting average, 176 hits, 71 runs and 70 runs batted in with nine homers.

Looking further into his career I saw that he played seven seasons in Japan after his Major League career, putting up some solid numbers for Hiroshima.

In both 1978 and 1981 he hit 33 homers and drove in 100+ runs, and closed out his Japanese career with 166 taters with 529 R.B.I.'s. after retiring in 1983.

When you look at his playing career against his card appearances, it turns out he's also "missing" from a few other sets: 1973, 1975 and 1977.

Needless to say, I'll be tackling those in the future as well.

 

REVISIT: MISSING IN ACTION 1975 GEORGE THEODORE

Time for another "revisit" for many of you that weren't following the blog 10 years ago.

This time it's my "missing" 1975 card for former New York Mets first baseman/outfielder Geprge Theodore:

Theodore did get a card in the 1974 set after his rookie year of ‘73, but after appearing in 60 games during the 1975 season, it didn’t warrant a card the following year in Topps’ eyes, and considering he never played another Major League game again, they made the right choice.
For the ‘74 season, Theodore hit .158 with 12 hits over 76 at-bats, giving him a combined .219 career batting average based on 42 hits in 192 at-bats over 105 games.

 

GIMMIE A DO-OVER: 1975 JOSE CRUZ

Good day everyone.

On the blog today, a card I've been meaning to "do-over" for years, a 1975 redo for Jose Cruz, showing him with the team he suited up with in 1974, the St. Louis Cardinals:

Now if you don't remember the card originally out there in packs that Spring of 1975 for Cruz, please look at this airbrushed gem:

Absolutely hilarious!

That Houston Astros logo is about the largest logo I've ever seen on a cap!

In late October of 1974 Jose Cruz was purchased by Houston from St. Louis, where he played from 1970-1974.
He never really got to play full-time with the Cardinals, but that changed in a hurry when he suited up for the Astros.
He immediately became a popular player, going on to play 13 solid seasons for them in the outfield and finishing in the top-10 in M.V.P. voting three times in the process.
Actually, Cruz can be the quietest 2000+ hits guy from the 1970's and '80's. He finished with 2251 hits, 165 home runs and 317 stolen bases while collecting two Silver Slugger awards over a 19-year career. Not bad at all.

 

REVISIT: MISSING IN ACTION- 1975 MICK KELLEHER

On the blog today, we revisit another 10-year old post, this time my 1975 "Missing in Action" card for Mick Kelleher:

It’s a stretch being that Kelleher appeared in 19 games for the Astros during the 1974 season.
But it can be argued that he easily could have appeared on a card, at the very least a multi-player rookie card, in any given year between 1974 and 1975.
As it was he didn’t appear in a Topps set until 1977 after a relatively full season with the Chicago Cubs the previous year.
Nevertheless, Kelleher hit .158 during the 1974 season, collecting nine hits over 57 at-bats while playing shortstop.
He would go on to play 11-years in his career, mainly with the Cubs where he’d see the bulk of his 622 lifetime games.
In those, he collected 230 hits in 1081 at-bats, good for a .213 average.

CAREER-CAPPER: 1975 BOB VEALE

Today on the blog we have my 1975 "career-capper" for former flame-thrower Bob Veale, who wrapped up a nice Major League career as a member of the Boston Red Sox:

Veale appeared in 18 games for the Sox that season, posting a record of 0-1 with a bloated 5.54 ERA over thirteen innings, striking out 16 while walking four.

Veale was one of those power arms that the National League was blessed with in the 1960's, even topping the Senior League with 250 K's in 1964.

A year later he'd strike out 276 batters, and would have another two season with 200+ strikeouts while throwing for the Pittsburgh Pirates, the only other team he'd pitch for in his 13-year career.

He'd retire with a tidy 120-95 record, with a 3.07 earned run average and 1703 K's with 20 shutouts.

Between 1964 and 1970 Veale was a very solid Major League starter, averaging 15 wins and 213 strikeouts over those seven years, easily keeping pace with contemporaries like Don Drysdale, Jim Bunning and Jim Maloney.

 

REVISIT: MISSING IN ACTION 1975 KURT BEVACQUA

Good day everyone!

On the blog today, we revisit a ten-year-old post, that of a "missing" 1975 card for Kurt Bevacqua, who split the 1974 season between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Kansas City Royals:

Bevacqua played in 57 games in 1974, hitting .184 with 23 hits over 125 at-bats while DH-ing and playing both the infield and outfield.
He would end up playing 15 seasons as a Major League player, the highlight for him being his heroics in the 1984 World Series as a member of the San Diego Padres, giving them their only win against the eventual World Champion Detroit Tigers.
All told he’d hit .236 over his career, with 499 hits in 2117 official at-bats while playing every position but pitcher and catcher.
And let’s not forget he won that Bubble-Gum blowing contest, leading to one of the quirkier cards in the Topps stable in the 1970’s...

 

GIMMIE A DO-OVER OF ONE OF MY OWN: 1975 DAMASO BLANCO

Since I found a better image for Damaso Blanco of the San Francisco Giants over what I originally used, I went ahead a recreated the "missing" card originally on the blog back in 2019, so here it is:

Closing out what was a three-year Big League career that saw him hit .212 over 72 games and 33 at-bats, with seven hits and nine runs scored between 1972 and 1974, all for the Giants.
A career Minor Leaguer, he originally became a pro back in 1961 at the age of 19 before toiling through the Giants system until his big break in 1972 at the age of 30.
His career was played entirely for the San Francisco organization, with only those three partial years in the Majors mentioned above, totaling 14 years as a professional.

 

CAREER-CAPPER: 1975 CURT MOTTON

On the blog today, we post up a 1975 "Career-Capper" for Curt Motton of the Baltimore Orioles, who wrapped up an eight-year Major League career with seven scane games in 1974:

Motton went 0-8 at the plate over those seven games, this after going two-for-six at the plate the previous season when he appeared in five games for the O's.

Over his eight-year MLB tenure, he hit .213 with 121 hits in 567 at-bats, but most importantly was a member of the juggernaut Oriole teams between 1969 and 1971, with a World Championship in 1970.

Of his eight MLB seasons, seven were with the Orioles, while he split the 1972 season between the Milwaukee Brewers and California Angels.

REVISIT: MISSING IN ACTION-1975 CAREER-CAPPER FOR STEVE BARBER

Thought today would be a fun time to revisit a ten year old post, this time my 1975 career-capper for pitcher Steve Barber:

Barber wrapped up a nice 15-year career as a Major League pitcher after appearing in 13 games for the San Francisco Giants in 1974, posting a 0-1 record with a 5.27 earned run average over 13.2 innings of work.
His best years were as a Baltimore Oriole, with whom he came up with in 1960, and for whom he posted a 20-win season in 1963, three seasons of sub-3.00 ERA, and leading the American league with eight shutouts in 1962.
Once he left Baltimore he became somewhat of a journeyman pitcher both as a starter and an arm out of the bullpen, pitching for the New York, Yankees, Seattle Pilots, Chicago Cubs, Atlanta Braves, California Angels and Giants.
He finished his career with a 121-106 record, with a 3.36 ERA, 21 shutouts, 14 saves and 1309 K’s over 466 games and 1999 innings.

 

GIMMIE A DO-OVER: 1975 RUDY MAY

On the blog today, a long overdue redo for Rudy May and his 1975 card, since he put in about half a season with them in 1974 yet Topps had a hilarious airbrushed card for him the following year:

For those who don't remember the original, oh please, allow me:

 

Ha! Just LOOK at that "NY" on his cap!

Wow. Not even close! That "N" is actually hilarious to look at!

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.

 

SPECIAL REQUEST: "CORRECTED" 2024 HERITAGE SHOHEI OHTANI (ORIGINAL VERSION BY TOPPS)

As I did earlier with a "corrected" 2025 Topps Heritage card for Juan Soto, showing him with the Yankees and having an All-Star on his card, I went ahead and dug up the ORIGINAL 2024 Heritage card for all-world Shohei Ohtani, from the design Topps was originally going to put out there had he not signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the initial advertising for the set:

 

Topps simply took this image, airbrushed the correct uniform, and TOOK AWAY the All-Star designation to create their as-issued Dodgers version.

This of course pissed off those of us who want the FULL all-star teams designated on their base-cards to build out sets (just like the Soto dilemma a year later).

I do remember Topps' first advertising for the 2024 Heritage set showed this Ohtani Angels version, then quickly changed once he signed with the Dodgers.

Since he was the American League All-Star DH in the 2023 game, he should have had this card with the All-Star designation, them maybe an update Dodger version (harking back to the Hank Aaron treatment in 1975).

So I hope this helps clear up the "missing" A.L. All-Star in the Heritage set!

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.

 

REVISITING: "MISSING IN ACTION" 1975 JACK AKER

Thought it'd be fun to revisit a post from just about ten years ago featuring my "missing" 1975 card for former reliever Jack Aker, who wrapped up a very nice MLB career in 1974:

For the 1974 season, his last as a Major League player, Aker appeared in 41 games for both the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets.

He posted a record of 2-2 with a couple of saves and a 3.57 earned run average, all out of the pen.

As a matter of fact, in his entire 11 year career he never started a single game, appearing in a total of 495 games in relief, posting a (then) very respectable 124 saves, including 32 in 1966 alone when he had his best season in the big leagues for the Kansas City Athletics, going 8-4 with a 1.99 ERA to go along with those league-leading saves.

Between 1964 and 1974 he'd suit up for the Athletics, Pilots, Yankees, Cubs, Braves and Mets, finishing with a 47-45 record with a nice 3.28 ERA and 404 strikeouts over 746 innings of work in 495 appearances.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1975 JOHN STROHMAYER

Up on the blog today, we have a "not so missing" 1975 card for former New York Mets pitcher John Strohmayer, who wrapped up a brief Big League career with a single game in 1974:

After about three and a half years with the Montreal Expos, Strohmayer was selected off waivers by the Mets in July of 1973 and appeared in seven games, good for 10 innings before the year was up.

For the year he appeared in 24 games and 44.2 innings between the two organizations, so I went and created a "missing" 1974 card for the blog a while back.

In 1974, he appeared in one game for the Mets, only pitching one inning, never to appear in another Major League game again.

Over those five years between 1970 and 1974, Strohmayer went 11-9 with a 4.47 earned run average in 143 games, 18 of which were starts.

As an aside, here's something I don't get to post everyday: seems Strohmayer was one of 15 employees of the Gateway Unified School District to share a $76 Million lottery jackpot in 2009!

Good for you John! We should all be so lucky!

REVISIT: 1975 "NICKNAMES OF THE 1970s" SPARKY ANDERSON

Thought it'd be fun to revisit my 1975 "nickname" card for Hall of Fame manager Sparky Anderson, the skipper for the juggernaut "Big Red Machine" Reds of the 1970's:

I used a 1975 template and a fantastic photo of Anderson with his Hall of Fame catcher, Johnny Bench after (what else?), waiting for a relief pitcher!

It would have been too easy to use some portrait shot of him, but this photo just seemed "right", even WITH his back to the camera.

I used the 1975 template since he was at the height of his league domination with the Reds and his juggernaut lineup: Bench, Pete Rose, Tony Perez, Joe Morgan, Ken Griffey, George Foster et al. 

But the nickname, of course, comes from the fact that Sparky was really one of the first managers to rely heavily on his bullpen.

When you look at the "Big Red Machine" teams of the mid-70's you find solid Major League starters like Don Gullet, Gary Nolan, Jack Billingham, etc.

But there was never a true "ace", which was actually rather abundant in the Majors during the decade.

However, the Reds DID have solid guys out of the pen like Tom Hall, Rawly Eastwick, Pedro Borbon, Clay Carroll and Will McEnaney.

These were guys that could come in at any time during the game and pitch as long as Sparky needed them to.

So while so many other teams during the decade had guys completing 20 or more of their starts every season, the Reds didn't even have one of their starters complete 10 or more in either of their World Champion years.

But how can you argue with success, right?

And Anderson found a lot of success in his 26-year managing career!

Three world titles (the third coming in 1984 with the Tigers), seven first place finishes, two more pennants (1970 and 1972), and 2194 career victories.

He also won two Manager of the Year Awards, in 1984 and 1987 (the award was instituted in 1983, or he almost assuredly would have won a couple with Cincinnati), and guided five All-Star teams (four in the N.L., one in the A.L.).

Just a classic manager who managed some classic teams!

It's amazing to think that when he took over the Reds in 1970, he was only 36 years of age! It's easy to remember him like the grandfatherly figure he was the last part of his career.

Sparky Anderson, "Captain Hook", a Hall of Famer inducted into Cooperstown in 2000 by the Veterans Committee.

 

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1975 ART HOWE

On the blog today, we have a 1975 "not so missing" card for Art Howe, his third such card created for the blog over the years:

Howe made his Big League debut in 1974, with 29 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates that saw him hit .243 with 18 hits over 74 at-bats, with a homer and five runs batted in.

The future Major League manager actually played in 63 games for the Pirates in 1975, gathering 162 plate appearances, so really he should have had a card.

He hit .171 for the year, with nine doubles and a homer along with 10 runs batted in and 13 runs scored.

His 11-year career as a player would really hit it's stride after joining the Houston Astros, as he'd play pretty much full-time between 1977 and 1982 before a couple of part-time years in St. Louis in 1984 and 1985 (he didn't play Major League ball in 1983).

As you all know, he'd really find his niche on the Major League level as a manager, guiding the Astros, Oakland A's and New York Mets between 1989 and 2004.

His real success was leading the young studs in Oakland in the late-90's/early-00's, winning 100-games in two seasons (2001 and 2002), but never being able to get past the N.Y. Yankees (remember the now-famous "Jeter-Flip"?).

All told, Howe would win 1129 games as a manager in the Big Leagues, finishing 2nd in "Manager of the Year" voting four years in a row from 1999-2002.

 

REVISITING A POST FROM 2015: 1975 DEDICATED ROOKIE FOR KEITH HERNANDEZ

Good day all.

On the blog today, we revisit a post from just about 10 years ago, my 1975 "dedicated rookie" for Keith Hernandez, of the the greatest fielding first baseman in the game's long, rich history:

Hernandez was just about to launch his stellar Major League career in 1975 after playing in 14 games during the 1974 season.

Topps gave him a spot on one of the multi-player rookie cards in the 1975 set, but a dedicated card for him seems like a natural for this blog.

As far as his career, all he would do from then on is win a batting title in 1979, a co-MVP Award the very same year (sharing it with Pirate legend Willie Stargell), take home 11 Gold Glove Awards for his magic at first base, and get named to five all-star games.

He was part of a World Champion team with both the St. Louis Cardinals in 1982 and the New York Mets in 1986, and would finish his 17-year career with over 2000 hits, 1000 runs scored, 1000 runs batted in and a .296 average.

He became an instant darling here in New York to so many kids when he arrived during the 1983 season, and I have to admit even though I was a rabid Yankee fan and WORSHIPPED Don Mattingly, Hernandez was a guy I just had to like no matter what.

It just seemed that it was the Hernandez trade that got the mid-80's Mets team going in the right direction, soon to be joined by the likes of Cone, Gooden, Carter and crew.

 

REVISITING A 10-YEAR OLD POST: 1975 NICKNAME BILL LEE CARD

Thought it'd be fun today to look back to a 10-year old post from the blog, one of my first "nicknames of the 1970s" cards created by yours truly, that a 1975 "Spaceman" Bill Lee specimen:

Fun card and series to start on for the blog!

Lee was "something else". A perfect product of the times a'la Bill Walton from the NBA.

He brought a lot of that "hippie"/counterculture attitude to the game, which made him extremely popular with fans, but NOT with the people running the game.

As a pitcher, Lee was a solid starter for the BoSox during the mid-70's, winning 17 games a season three years in a row from 1973-75.

But his career would be someone derailed because of the very personality that made him popular.

His clashes with managers and management for both the Rex Sox and the other team he played for, the Montreal Expos, would make him expendable, eventually getting dumped by Montreal in 1982 because of a one-game walk-out he staged over the team releasing Rodney Scott.

He'd never play in another Major League game again.

His post-baseball days have been incredibly productive, as Lee has authored books, played semi-professionally, barnstormed, and even released his own wine, "Spaceman Red"!

He's even STILL active PLAYING ball at the ripe old age of 67!

The man is the definition of "character"!

If you're into professional athletes with a lot to say, do yourself a favor and read any of his books! Hilarious and insightful on pro-sports from a free-spirit perspective.

For his Major League career, Lee finished his 14-year run with a 119-90 record, with a 3.62 earned run average over 416 games, 225 of which were starts.

 

REVISIT: 1975 "TRADED" DICK ALLEN FROM 2014

For fun today, revisiting a card I created 10 years ago for the blog,a 1975 "traded" card for the "Wampum Walloper" Dick Allen, who found himself back where it all began, the Philadelphia Phillies:

Really fun to play around with the 1975 template and create a landscape-oriented design, with that ever-so-beautiful All-Star designation.

Here's the original write-up for that post, which seems like a lifetime ago:

"Allen had quite an adventurous off-season between the 1974 and 1975 seasons, getting traded by the Chicago White Sox to the Atlanta Braves on December 3, 1974, only to THEN get swapped on May 7, 1975 by the Braves to his original Major League team, the Phillies.

While his original 1975 Topps card is a classic in my eyes, it does still have him on the "wrong" team. That is, NOT on the team he played with in '75.

He was coming off of a solid 1974 season which saw him lead the American League in homers (32) and slugging (.563) while batting .301 with 88 runs batted in and 84 runs scored.

But Allen pretty much wore out his welcome on the South Side of Chicago, leading to his departure.

After a couple of "so-so" seasons in Philadelphia, Allen wrapped up his career in 1977 after appearing in 54 games for the Oakland A's.

There are some guys I'll find ANY reason to design a card for, and Allen is definitely one of them!

Hope to have more here in the future…"