NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1981 MANNY MOTA

Up on the blog today, we have a "not so missing" 1981 card for pinch-hitting legend Manny Mota, who was at the tail-end of a very nice Major league career:

Mota only appeared in seven games for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1980, going 3-for-7 at the plate as a 42-year-old pinch hitter.

The man was born to hit!

He would collect just one more at-bat in his career two years later in 1982, but he certainly already made his mark in the Big Leagues, hitting a career .304 over 1536 games dating back to his debut in 1962 with the San Francisco Giants.

He would top the .300 mark in eleven of his 20 seasons, hitting as high as .332 in 1966, then with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Once he landed in Los Angeles with the Dodgers in 1969, he became a fixture, both on and off the field, a beloved figure in Dodger-land.

Overall, he finished with 1149 hits over 3779 at-bats, making one All-Star team (1973), before moving on to coaching, which encompassed an amazing tenure that spanned 1980 through 2013.

A true baseball "lifer"!

 

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1972 BOBBY DARWIN

On the blog today, how about a "not so missing" 1972 card for former pitcher-turned-outfielder Bobby Darwin, who started his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers:

Darwin appeared in eleven games in 1971 for the Dodgers, now as an outfielder after two brief shots as a pitcher in 1962 and 1969.

Over those eleven games in 1971 he hit .250 with a homer and four RBIs, collecting five hits in 20 at-bats.

It’s easy to forget that the man who’d eventually go on to the Minnesota Twins and slug 65 homers over three seasons between 1972-1974 started out as a pitcher with the pitching rich Dodgers in the 1960’s.
In 1969, after a seven year hiatus from his MLB debut in 1962, Darwin made it back to a Big League mound and appeared in six games, not factoring in a decision while posting an ERA of 9.82 in 3.2 innings pitched.
Back in his MLB debut in 1962, he appeared in one game at the age of 19, giving up six runs, four of them earned, in 3.1 innings, getting tagged with the loss in the abbreviated start.
But he’d find his place as an outfielder, eventually going on to hit 83 homers in his nine-year career playing for the Dodgers, Twins, Milwaukee Brewers, Boston Red Sox and finally Chicago Cubs between 1962 and 1977.
A “hit-or-miss” type hitter, he led the American League in strikeouts (as a batter) three straight seasons between 1972 and 1974, his only three full seasons as a Big Leaguer.
He finished his career with a batting average of .251, with 559 hits over 2224 at-bats, with 250 runs scored and 328 RBI’s.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1976 CHARLIE MANUEL

On the blog today, we have a "not so missing" 1976 card for future Big League manager Charlie (Chuck) Manuel, who played what turned out to be the last Major League games of his career in 1975 as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers:

Manuel appeared in 15 games for the Dodgers in 1975, after only four the previous year, collecting three hits over 18 at-bats combined, with three RBIs and a walk.

Between 1969 and 1972 he saw part-time action with the Minnesota Twins, never hitting above .207, with his rookie year seeing the most game-time, as he appeared in 83 games for the American League West champs.

After his brief season with the Dodgers in 1975, Manuel would go and take his talents to Japan, where he would downright mash the ball between 1976 and 1981.
From 1977 to 1980, his home run totals were 42, 39, 37 and 48, while driving in no less than 94 runs for Yakult and Osaka Kintetsu.
Of course, we all know that after his playing days, he’d become a long time coach and manager in the Big Leagues, guiding the Cleveland Indians and Philadelphia Phillies to the Post-Season, winning it all with the Phillies in 2008 while taking home the NL Pennant the following year.

He would end up with exactly 1000 managerial wins in 12 seasons at the helm of a Major League club.

 

FIXING UP ALL-STAR CARDS: 1984 STEVE SAX

The next All-Star "fix" on the blog will be the one for Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Steve Sax in the 1984 set, since he was elected as starter for the 1983 game:

The guy who was given an All-Star card in that set turned out to be Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman Johnny Ray, who certainly was not a horrible choice.

However, why Topps moved away from just showing the Midsummer Classic starters beginning in 1981 is beyond me, and I always hated it.

Sax was a solid player throughout his somewhat brief career, coming up with the Dodgers for a handful of games in 1981 before putting in his first full year in 1982, leading to a National League Rookie of the Year Award based off his .282 hitting with 59 stolen bases, 88 runs scored and 180 hits.

I enjoyed his time at the end of the decade with the New York Yankees, where he played three years between 1989 and 1991, posting a 200-hit season while just missing out on a second in '91 when he totaled 198.

His 1986 was arguably his best when he collected career-highs in hits (210), doubles (43), OBP (.390) and SLG (.441).

By the time he retired after the 1994 season, he finished with 1949 hits over 1769 games, hitting .281 with 913 runs scored and 444 stolen bases. 

Not a bad career at all.

REVISIT: DEDICATED ROOKIE- 1976 HENRY CRUZ

Up on the blog today, we have a "Dedicated" rookie card for Henry Cruz, originally posted 10 years ago as part of my "1976 Project" for my buddy Jim:

Cruz actually saw a chunk of playing time during the 1975 season, appearing in 53 games and collecting 25 hits over 94 at-bats, good for a .266 average.
Jim needed him on a dedicated card for his special project so here you go.
Actually, as far as I’m concerned, Cruz has two other “missing” cards, in the 1977 and 1979 sets, which will be tackled in the near future.
What’s funny about that is the fact that he DOES get a card in the 1978 set, after seeing the LEAST playing time of his short 4-year career the year before!
Go figure...

WTHBALLS CUSTOM SET SPOTLIGHT: 1960S STARS OF THE GAME: DON SUTTON

Today on the blog, we spotlight my 1960 "Stars of the Game" card for "Double-D" Don Drysdale, Hall of Fame pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers:

Though retiring at such a young age, Drysdale still collected 209 wins along with a 2.95 earned run average and 2486 strikeouts.
Imagine if he were able to pitch another three or four years. Would we be looking at a 300-win guy? Most assuredly a 3000 strikeout pitcher for sure.
Nevertheless, his accomplishments in such a short time were good enough for the BBWAA to elect him into the Hall of Fame in 1984, joining old teammate Sandy Koufax and eventually joined by Don Sutton.
Drysdale took home the Cy Young in 1962 while pacing the Senior Circuit in wins, starts, innings and strikeouts, while also posting one of his NINE sub-3.00 ERA campaigns.
Tough as nails when on the mound, he was named to eight All-Star Games, and of course had that magical run in 1968 when he threw 58 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings, including six straight shutouts.

 

1980S CAREER-CAPPERS: 1989 DON SUTTON

Today on the blog, we take a look at my 1989 "Career-Capper" for Hall of Fame pitcher Don Sutton, from my recent custom set released a couple months back:

Everything Sutton did led him to Cooperstown, where he can proudly display his 324 wins, 58 shutouts and 3574 strikeouts over 774 games, 756 of which were starts.

Over his 23 years as a Major League pitcher, he was a part of six Pennant winners, and a minor part of a World Championship team during his final year in 1988 with the team he spent most of his career with, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

There are those that say Sutton, like a few other players who racked up big numbers, was a product of "tenure over domination", that is, that the numbers he garnered in the bigs was more about the amount of years he played over a bunch of dominating seasons.

I don't find that as a problem actually.

Being that there are just as few guys who played a long time while staying very productive as those legends who dominated for a somewhat brief time during their careers, I like to see the Don Suttons, Phil Niekros, Eddie Murrays and Tony Perez' get their due.

Almost a quarter-century of productivity on a Major League mound, leading to numbers like Sutton put up are definitely worth a plaque in Cooperstown, no?

Hope you all agree…

 

WTHBALLS CUSTOM SET SPOTLIGHT: 1960S STARS OF THE GAME: FRANK HOWARD

On the blog today, we spotlight my 1960 "Stars of the Game" card for Frank Howard from my custom gelatin set released back in 2018:

The man was already on his way to a wonderful Major League career, taking home top Rookie honors in the National League for 1960, and having a great 1962 season when he slammed 31 homers with 119 runs batted in, earning a ninth-place finish in the MVP race by season's end.

Later in the decade, after finding himself playing for the Washington Senators, he won two home run titles, and ironically hitting a career high 48 in 1968 in between (falling one homer short, behind Harmon Killebrew), driving in over 100 runs each year.

Those efforts got him top-10 finishes in the league MVP voting each year, finishing 8th, 4th and 5th respectively between 1968 and 1970.

An absolute beast at the plate, he would be the last Big League player until Jay Buhner (1995-97) to hit 40+ homers three years in a row from 1968-1970, with a high of 48 in 1969, though leading the league in 1968 and 1970 with 44.
He was also one of the early players to join the 30-home runs in each league club, hitting 31 with the Dodgers in 1962 before reaching the plateau again in 1967 when he slammed 36 taters.
All told, he finished his career with 382 homers over 16 seasons, before moving on to a coaching and managerial career, making him somewhat of a baseball lifer.
I loved him when he was with the New York Yankees later in his coaching career! I mean, how often do you get to appreciate a guy who was so nasty as a player that he had THREE great nicknames: “The Capital Punisher”, "The Washington Monument" and “Hondo"!

 

REVISIT: MISSING IN ACTION- 1972 JOE MOELLER

Today on the blog we'll revisit a post from 10 years ago.

Here’s a “missing” 1972 card for former pitcher Joe Moeller, who finished up an eight-year career in 1971, all with the Los Angeles Dodgers:

Moeller appeared in 28 games for L.A., posting a 2-4 record with a 3.80 earned run average out of the bullpen, with 32 strikeouts in 66.1 innings of work.
To this day he is the youngest starter in Dodger history at 19 years and two months when he did so in his rookie season of 1962.
He’d miss both the 1963 and 1965 season which must have SUCKED since they were BOTH World Championship years for the Dodgers, but between every year from 1962 and 1971 that he was a Major League pitcher, he’d put on the Dodger blue.
He would wrap up his career with a 26-36 record with a 4.01 ERA, with seven saves and a shutout with 307 K’s over 583.2 innings and 166 appearances, 74 of which were starts.

 

MISSING IN ACTION: IN-ACTION: HOYT WILHELM

Another special request here for my buddy Ryan, a "missing" 1972 In-Action card for the great Hoyt Wilhelm, who wrapped up an incredible MLB career that season:

I've always been fascinated by Wilhelm's career.
Who knows what he could have done if he remained a starter. Who knows what his career numbers would have been if he began his career in his early 20's instead of at the ripe "old" age of 29!
Think about this for a second: the man started his career at 29 and he STILL pitched in 21 seasons. He still ended up setting what was then the all-time record for appearances by a pitcher with 1070.
Throw in seven seasons of sub-2.00 E.R.A.'s, 227 saves, and on top of all of that, TWO E.R.A. crowns in the ONLY two years he even threw enough innings to qualify, and you definitely have a Hall of Fame career when it's all said and done.
Take a look at Wilhelm's rookie season. In 1952 he shows up in New York, pitching for the Giants, and all he does is go 15-3 in 159.1 innings, with a league-leading 2.43 E.R.A. and 11 saves. And this was ALL in relief! He appeared in 71 games without a single start. Just awesome.
He also managed to hit a home run in his first Major League at bat on April 23, 1952, never to hit another one in his career. Go figure.
It would then be another seven years before he would pitch more than 154 innings, this time topping out with a career high 226 with the Baltimore Orioles in 1959 mainly as a starter.
His other numbers that year were good enough to have him selected as an All-Star: 15-11, league-leading 2.19 E.R.A., and 13 complete games with three shut outs.
Whether you had him starting or coming in as a reliever, he was up for the challenge.
Wilhelm finally called it a career after the 1972 season where he appeared in only 16 games for the L.A. Dodgers.
Over the course of his last five seasons (all post-45 years of age), he bounced around a bit and pitched for five teams: White Sox, Angels, Braves, Dodgers and Cubs, going 17-18 with 43 saves.
Nevertheless, Wilhelm was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1985, generally considered the first relief pitcher to have this honor bestowed upon him.

 

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: ROY CAMPANELLA

Time to add all-time catching great Roy Campanella to my "Classic Baseball" set, celebrating the great game's rich history:

Once Campanella began his Major League career after a brilliant run in the Negro Leagues that started when he was a teenager, he would certainly NOT disappoint the Brooklyn Dodger faithful: three times he was M.V.P. (1951, 1953, 1955) and an important part of the strong Dodger teams of the decade along with Duke Snider, Jackie Robinson, and Gil Hodges.

Though unable to play Major League ball until the age of 26 because of segregation, he still managed to hit 242 lifetime homers, with a high of 41 in 1953, as well as drive in 856 runs in his short ten-year career.

During his second M.V.P. season, Campy led the Brooklyn offense by driving in a league-leading 142 runs while hitting .312 and scoring 103 runs. One of the top-offensive catcher seasons in baseball history.

Tragically, as he was getting prepared to move to Los Angeles with the rest of the Dodgers over the Winter of 1957-58, Campanella was driving home to Long Island and hit a patch of ice near his home, flipping his car over and breaking his neck in the process, rendering him paralyzed from the shoulders down.

The L.A. Fans would never get to see the future Hall of Famer play in Chavez Ravine.

In my opinion, considering his delayed MLB action, "Campy" would be my pick as the greatest catcher in MLB history, even in front of Johnny Bench, though Josh Gibson would top them all.

A REDO OF ONE OF MY OWN: 1970 DON DRYSDALE CAREER CAPPER

On the blog today, I never realized that I forgot to post here my redone 1970 Career Capper for "Double-D" Don Drysdale, for my Series 11 set released back in October of 2022:

This image made much more sense than the one I used when I first created such a card back in 2014, with this image a nice posed shot of the feared slinger at the end of his career.

Though retiring at such a young age, Drysdale still collected 209 wins along with a 2.95 earned run average and 2486 strikeouts.
Imagine if he were able to pitch another three or four years. Would we be looking at a 300-win guy? Most assuredly a 3000 strikeout pitcher for sure.
Nevertheless, his accomplishments in such a short time were good enough for the BBWAA to elect him into the Hall of Fame in 1984, joining old teammate Sandy Koufax and eventually joined by Don Sutton.
Drysdale took home the Cy Young in 1962 while pacing the Senior Circuit in wins, starts, innings and strikeouts, while also posting one of his NINE sub-3.00 ERA campaigns.
Tough as nails when on the mound, he was named to eight All-Star Games, and of course had that magical run in 1968 when he threw 58 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings, including six straight shutouts.

 

CAREER CAPPERS: 1987 CESAR CEDENO

Good day all!

On the blog today, from my upcoming custom "1980s Career-Cappers" set, a 1987 capper for Cesar Cedeno, who finished up a wonderful Major League career in 1986 with the Los Angeles Dodgers:

In that last season in the Big Leagues, Cedeno appeared in 37 games for L.A., hitting .231 over 78 at-bats, with 18 hits, five runs scored and six RBIs.

Cedeno had the speed, the power, and the talent to put together a five-year stretch where he brought home 5 straight Gold Gloves, get named to four all-star teams while topping the 20/50 mark three years in a row between 1972 and 1976.
In 1974 he had a monster season that saw him hit a career-high 26 homers AND steal a career-high 57 stolen bases along with, you guessed it, a career-high 102 runs batted in.
I would love to know the numbers he could have put up had he not played in the cavernous Astrodome for the first 12 years of his career!

By the time he was done after the 1986 season, he retired with 199 homers and 550 stolen bases, along with a very nice .285 batting average and 2087 hits.
An excellent player who was easily overshadowed by contemporaries of the era.

 

1963 FLEER EXTENSION SET: DUKE SNIDER

On the blog this fine day, we add Hall of Fame outfielder Duke Snider to my 1963 "Fleer Extension" set, adding to the custom set I produced a couple years back, with ideas of adding a second WTHBALLS series in the near future:

Came across this nice shot of the Duke at the end of his Dodger run, perfect for the set, so I figured "why not"?

Snider really was incredibly underrated over his career, which sadly (for him) coincided with the careers of men like Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron.

Nevertheless, all he would do in the Majors was hit, finishing his career in 1964, capping off a great 18-year Major League career that saw him make eight All-Star teams while posting six seasons where he finished in the top-10 for N.L. MVP.

Snider was an absolute beast of a hitter through the 1950's with the Dodgers, driving in over 100 runs six times, 30+ homers six times including five straight seasons of 40 or more, five years of scoring over 100 runs and seven seasons of .300 hitting or better.

A HUGE cog in the Brooklyn Dodger machine of the 1950s, he was also part of the "Holy Trinity of New York center-fielders of the era, along with Willie Mays of the New York Giants and Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees.

What a time it must have been to be a young baseball fan!

 

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: JACKIE ROBINSON

On the blog today, we return to my custom WTHBALLS "Classic Baseball" card set and add the great Jackie Robinson:

To much hoopla, both good and sadly bad, Robinson was set to make his Major League debut as the first African-American player since the late 19th Century.

And so on Opening Day, April 15th, 1947, Jackie was penciled in at first base against the Boston Braves at Ebbets Field, and history was made, though I wish there was NO history that needed to be made in the first place.

Jackie went 0-for-3 at the plate with a run scored, as the Brooklyn Dodgers would go on to win the game 5-3.

I cannot even begin to imagine the difficulty in that alone, yet still managed to put in 10 great years as a Major League all-star second baseman, winning Rookie of the Year in 1947, league MVP in 1949, six all-star nods, and a batting title in 1949 when he hit .342.

Before he made baseball history in 1947, he suited up with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues in 1945 while he was still in college.

He played in only 47 games, but excelled, hitting .387 with 5 home runs and 13 stolen bases, even appearing in the East-West All Star Game.

At this point talking about statistics seems trivial in relation to the sheer impact he had to the sport and American culture.

It still crushes me when I remember that the man was still only 53 years of age when he passed away, imagining if he would have lived another 20, 30 years and gracing us into the 21st Century.

An American Legend.

"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!

 

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.

 

VINTAGE SPECIAL! "MISSING" 1954 WILSON'S FRANKS DUKE SNIDER

On the blog today, my "missing" 1954 Wilson's Franks card for the "Duke of Flatbush", Duke Snider of the Brooklyn Dodgers:

From my wildly successful custom set released a few months ago, Snider would have been another great card had it been originally released way back when!

Snider really was incredibly underrated over his career, which sadly (for him) coincided with the careers of men like Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron.

Nevertheless, all he would do in the Majors was hit, finishing his career in 1964, capping off a great 18-year Major League career that saw him make eight All-Star teams while posting six seasons where he finished in the top-10 for N.L. MVP.

Snider was an absolute beast of a hitter through the 1950's with the Dodgers, driving in over 100 runs six times, 30+ homers six times including five straight seasons of 40 or more, five years of scoring over 100 runs and seven seasons of .300 hitting or better.

A HUGE cog in the Brooklyn Dodger machine of the 1950s, he was also part of the "Holy Trinity of New York center-fielders of the era, along with Willie Mays of the New York Giants and Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees.

What a time it must have been to be a young baseball fan!

OPC IMAGE VARIATION: 1977 RICK MONDAY

On the blog today, we look at the image variation for Rick Monday and his 1977 OPC & Topps cards, after his trade from the Northside of Chicago to the sunny West Coast and the Los Angeles Dodgers:

OPC version

Topps version

While Topps was stuck going with Monday still suited up and designated as a Cub, the fine folks at OPC did their airbrushing best to get him in as a Dodger, leading to the gem you see here.

A solid player who also gained some attention for his flag-saving maneuver in the outfield one day when some clowns were trying to burn an American flag, Monday was in his prime when these cards would have been pulled from packs in that glorious Summer of 1977.
After putting in some good seasons with the A’s between 1966 and 1971, Monday was traded for pitcher Ken Holtzman over the Winter of 1971/72, and he didn’t disappoint the Cubs’ faithful, averaging about 20 homers a season with about 60 runs batted in.
He had his best season in Chicago in 1976 when he slammed a career-high 32 homers with 77 RBIs, which got him traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers which netted the Cubs future batting champ Bill Buckner and infielder Ivan DeJesus.
He’d go on to play the last eight seasons of his career in L.A., retiring after the 1984 campaign with a career .264 average, with 1619 hits and 241 homers, along with 775 RBIs and 950 runs scored, while being a part of the World Champion 1981 Dodger team.
One of the better overall #1 picks from the draft for sure!

 

REVISITING: "MISSING IN ACTION" 1976 IVAN DeJESUS

From way back in 2015, today we revisit my "missing" 1976 card for Ivan DeJesus, originally for a project for my buddy Jim, who was creating a master 1976 set, including many players originally left out of the classic set:

Turns out DeJesus played in 63 games for the Dodgers in 1975, good for 99 plate appearances and 87 at-bats.

He hit .184 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!