CUSTOM SPOTLIGHT: 1983 DENNIS ECKERSLEY ALL-STAR CARD

On the blog today, a card that really represents a BUNCH of cards that I'd love to redo in the future, "missing" All-Star cards for actual starters of the previous season's game instead of some random selections Topps began doing in 1981, this being a 1983 All-Star card for actual A.L. starter Dennis Eckersley in the 1982 game:

 

Getting into card collecting around 1976/1977, I grew accustomed and EXPECTED my All-Star cards to represent the game's starters from the previous year.

In 1981 I was hit with a ton of bricks when I saw that Topps was now straying from that path when the great J.R. Richard, for some reason, did NOT have the All-Star banner across the top of his card, as was the case for Willie Randolph, Ben Oglivie, Graig Nettles and Ken Reitz.

What the hell man!?

When the 1982 cards came out, yep, we had more of the same, and by 1983 it was expected that Topps truly abandoned the "starter" criteria in favor of their own choices.

To this day it bothers me, and yes, I'll be fixing this in the future.

For Eckersley, he was the starter for the American League in the 1982 game held in Montreal, and pitched the first three innings, giving up three runs and eventually taking the loss, the big blow being Dave Concepcion's two-run homer in the second inning.

The National league went on to win the game 4-1, continuing their winning streak that began back in 1972.

The other player not given the All-Star treatment even though he was a starter in the 1982 game?  Cecil Cooper.

NO-HITTERS SPECIAL SUB-SET: DENNIS ECKERSLEY. MAY 30TH, 1977

The next No-Hitter profiled in the long-running thread through the 1970’s is the gem tossed by future Hall of Famer Dennis Eckerlsey on May 30th, 1977:

“Eck” was still a young stud starting pitcher for the Cleveland Indians in 1977, and perhaps reached the pinnacle of his career when he faced the California Angels on a cool May evening at Cleveland Stadium.
Facing off against California’s Frank Tanana, who was having himself an excellent year, Eckersley was just a touch better when he held the Angels hitless, issuing only one base-on-balls to first baseman Tony Solaita while striking out 12 and facing the minimum 27 batters.
Sadly for Tanana, he gave up a run over eight innings, striking out six and lowering his season ERA to 2.08, dropping to 8-2 on the season, while Eckersley improved to 5-3, with his ERA getting down to 2.98.
Of course, after another seven seasons or so of being a starter, Eckersley transformed his career and became the Hall of Fame relief pitcher who would pitch well into his 40’s, winning not only a Cy Young Award in 1992 but the league’s MVP Award as well.
Incredible to think that at the moment of his no-hitter, Eckersley STILL had another 21 seasons of his MLB career to go!

TRADED: 1978 DENNIS ECKERSLEY

Today I wanted to create a 1978"traded" card for Hall of Fame reliever/starter Dennis Eckersley, since he was shown on the Cleveland Indians instead of the Boston Red Sox after his March trade.

Check it out:

In March of '78 Eckersley was traded to Boston along with Fred Kendall for Ted Cox, Bo Diaz, Mike Paxton and Rick Wise.

While he was already putting together a nice career as a starter, even having in his only 20-win season in '78 as a member of the Sox, it was his conversion to the relief role in 1987 with the Oakland A's that led him to the Hall of Fame.

When you look at his career, it was evenly split between the starting (12 years) AND relieving (12 years) role, and by the time he retired after the 1998 season, he managed to post a 20-win season, a 200-strikeout season, a couple of sub-3.00 E.R.A. years, four 40-save seasons (one of them a 51 save year), and three sub-2.00 E.R.A. seasons (with one of them a sub-1.00 E.R.A. season!).

Pretty amazing stuff.

All told "Eck" would finish with 197 wins, a 3.50 earned run average, 390 saves, 2401 strikeouts and 20 shutouts over 1071 appearances, 361 of which were starts.

Come 2004, Eckersley was inducted into the Hall of Fame, named to 421 of 506 ballots.

HALL OF FAME LEADERS XV: 1976 A.L. E.R.A. LEADERS

Today we move ahead to 1976 in our chronological look at 1970's League Leader cards that feature solely future Hall of Famers.

The only card in the 1976 Topps set to feature such a group is the American League E.R.A. card (#202), featuring to established veterans at the time, and one young stud who'd make a change in career path, and walking that path straight to Cooperstown: Jim Palmer, Jim "Catfish" Hunter, and Dennis Eckersley.

Take a look:

Palmer, who lead the league with a sterling 2.09 E.R.A., would win his second of three Cy Young awards in 1975, leading the league not only in earned run average but wins, with 23, and shutouts, with 10 (the only pitcher to reach double-digits in the decade).

It was also the fifth time Palmer would top 20-wins in his career, something he'd go on to do eight times!

Hunter, in his first season pitching for the Yankees after a highly publicized free agent courtship, did not disappoint the Bronx fans, as he tied Palmer for the league lead in wins with 23, as well as a second place finish in E.R.A. at 2.58, to go along with an amazing 30 complete games (out of 39 starts) and seven shutouts. 

That performance would get him a second place finish in Cy Young voting, a year after he won the award while in Oakland in 1974.

For Dennis Eckersley, 1975 was an excellent rookie campaign, as he posted a 13-7 record to along with his third-place 2.60 earned run average in 24 starts.

But sadly for him, this was the year a couple of Boston Red Sox rookies (Fred Lynn and Jim Rice) made a splash, leaving "Eck" out in the cold when it came time for "Rookie of the Year" consideration.

Nevertheless, Eckersley would stick around the Majors for another 23 years, switching over to a relief role after an effective 12 years as a starter, and redefining the relief pitcher role while pitching for the Oakland A's and Tony LaRussa, eventually getting him a Hall of Fame induction in 2004.

He narrowly missed being the only player ever to both win and save 200+ games in a career, finishing with 197 wins and 390 saves.

I do remember a moment back in 1987, when he was called in to relieve a starter against the Yankees, and I thought, "Huh, he's a reliever now?", thinking his career was pretty much done.

Little did I know…

Not a bad trio of future Hall members here.

Next up we move to the 1977 set and a couple of guys we've seen before: Nolan Ryan and Tom Seaver.