REVISITING AN OLD BLOG POST- November 4TH, 2014

For no particular reason, I thought it'd be fun to revisit an old blog post from 2014, where I created a nifty 1972 "Nickname" card for former pitcher John "Blue Moon" Odom:

 

It was the very first 1972 nickname card I created for the blog, and I was really happy with the result, with splashes of color shooting out at you from every angle!

Here's the original write-up I had to accompany the card:

"Odom spent all or parts of 12 of his 13 Major League seasons with the A's organization: the first four when they were still in Kansas City (1964-1967), and the next eight in Oakland.

I used a 1972 template for him since 1972 was his best season in the 1970's, as he posted a 15-6 record with a 2.50 E.R.A. And two shutouts over 30 starts.

After that season his career sort of went downhill from there, finding himself playing for Oakland, Cleveland, Atlanta and the Chicago White Sox all in 1975 and 1976.

However, as I profiled in one of my "Highlights of the 1970's" a little while back on this blog, one of his last Major League starts, in 1976 as a member of the White Sox, was a combined no-hitter against the Oakland A's (ironically enough), along with teammate Francisco Barrios.

By the time he wrapped up his career after 1976, he posted an 84-85 record, with a 3.70 earned run average, 15 shutouts and 857 strikeouts over 295 games, 229 of which were starts.

And he also left us with one of the best nicknames of the era, along with former teammates "Catfish" Hunter and "Mudcat" Grant."

NO-HITTERS SPECIAL SUB-SET: COMBINED TWO-PITCHER GEM. JULY 28TH, 1976

Following the combined four-pitcher No-Hitter the A’s threw in 1975 that I previously profiled here on the blog, I offer up a “No-Hitter”-thread version of the combined two-pitcher gem spun by John “Blue Moon” Odom and Francisco Barrios of the Chicago White Sox some 10 months later:

As with the A’s no-no, I originally profiled the White Sox no-hitter for my earlier “Highlights of the 1970’s” thread from years ago, but I wanted to include it in my recent “No-Hitter” thread that I started last year.
And as I did with the Oakland card, I pictured the man who closed it out, in this case Francisco Barrios, who relieved John Odom in the sixth inning, pitching the final four innings and closing out this bit of history.
What follows below is the original text from my first post on August 12th, 2014:

“White Sox pitchers John Odom (an Oakland A's pitcher up until the prior season), and Francisco Barrios teamed up to stifle the A's on July 28th, 1976, with Odom keeping Oakland hitless for the first five innings, and Barrios wrapping it up the final four.
While it was a no-hitter, it certainly was not perfect, as Odom managed to walk NINE A's batters in his five innings of work, and future Hall of Famers Billy Williams scoring the lone A's run in the bottom of the fourth inning when Claudell Washington stole second, allowing Williams to score on a bad throw from catcher Jim Essian.
All told, Odom and Barrios walked a combined eleven batters, while striking out five and allowing three stolen bases.
But in the end it was (and is) an official no-hitter, and would end up being the last combined no-hitter until the California Angels pulled the trick on April 11, 1990 when Mark Langston and Mike Witt combined to no-hit the Mariners.
Just a year later in 1991 there would be TWO more combined no-hitters, spun by the Baltimore Orioles and then the Atlanta Braves.
Since then there have been two more combined no-no's, the July 12th effort by the Pittsburgh Pirates against the Houston Astros in 1997, and the June 11, 2003 no-hitter thrown by SIX Houston Astros against the New York Yankees.
Ironically enough, the 1976 combined no-no would end up being one of Blue Moon Odom's last Major League games, as he was out of the Majors after only eight games in 1976, finishing off a 13-year career.”

NICKNAMES OF THE '70'S #12: "BLUE MOON" JOHN ODOM

Here's a card that took my WAY too long to create, but boy-oh-boy am I happy with the end-result: a "Nickname" card for former Oakland A's pitcher John "Blue Moon" Odom.

Take a look:

Wow, you have no idea how long it took to create that "Blue Moon" banner at the top of that card. But if anyone is wondering what font that is, it's "Broadway Engraved".

Odom spent all or parts of 12 of his 13 Major League seasons with the A's organization: the first four when they were still in Kansas City (1964-1967), and the next eight in Oakland.

I used a 1972 template for him since 1972 was his best season in the 1970's, as he posted a 15-6 record with a 2.50 E.R.A. And two shutouts over 30 starts.

After that season his career sort of went downhill from there, finding himself playing for Oakland, Cleveland, Atlanta and the Chicago White Sox all in 1975 and 1976.

However, as I profiled in one of my "Highlights of the 1970's" a little while back on this blog, one of his last Major League starts, in 1976 as a member of the White Sox, was a combined no-hitter against the Oakland A's (ironically enough), along with teammate Francisco Barrios.

By the time he wrapped up his career after 1976, he posted an 84-85 record, with a 3.70 earned run average, 15 shutouts and 857 strikeouts over 295 games, 229 of which were starts.

And he also left us with one of the best nicknames of the era, along with former teammates "Catfish" Hunter and "Mudcat" Grant.

"HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 1970'S" #32: ANOTHER COMBINED NO-HITTER, THIS TIME IN 1976 BY THE WHITE SOX

A little while ago I "celebrated" the Oakland A's combined no-hitter from the last game of the 1975 season.

With that in mind, I just had to go ahead and celebrate the other combined no-hitter of the decade, the Chicago White Sox combined gem spun against, who else?, the Oakland A's not even a year later!

Take a look at my card design:

White Sox pitchers John Odom (an Oakland A's pitcher up until the prior season), and Francisco Barrios teamed up to stifle the A's on July 28th, 1976, with Odom keeping Oakland hitless for the first five innings, and Barrios wrapping it up the final four.

While it was a no-hitter, it certainly was not perfect, as Odom managed to walk NINE A's batters in his five innings of work, and future Hall of Famers Billy Williams scoring the lone A's run in the bottom of the fourth inning when Claudell Washington stole second, allowing Williams to score on a bad throw from catcher Jim Essian.

All told, Odom and Barrios walked a combined eleven batters, while striking out five and allowing three stolen bases.

But in the end it was (and is) an official no-hitter, and would end up being the last combined no-hitter until the California Angels pulled the trick on April 11, 1990 when Mark Langston and Mike Witt combined to no-hit the Mariners.

Just a year later in 1991 there would be TWO more combined no-hitters, spun by the Baltimore Orioles and then the Atlanta Braves.

Since then there have been two more combined no-no's, the July 12th effort by the Pittsburgh Pirates against the Houston Astros in 1997, and the June 11, 2003 no-hitter thrown by SIX Houston Astros against the New York Yankees.

Ironically enough, the 1976 combined no-no would end up being one of Blue Moon Odom's last Major League games, as he was out of the Majors after only eight games in 1976, finishing off a 13-year career.