ROOKIE CARDS FIVE YEARS APART: DICK BANEY'S TOPPS RESUME

Even after all these years of obsessing over baseball cards, specifically those of the 1970’s, you’re never too old to realize something new, as in the case of former pitcher Dick Baney, who had two cards for his MLB tenure, yet they were five years apart:

Baney spent parts of three seasons in the Big Leagues, 1969 with those one-year wonders the Seattle Pilots, and then two consecutive seasons with the Cincinnati reds in 1973 and 1974.
He appeared in nine games for his first taste of the Majors in 1969, going 1-0 over 18.2 innings of work for Seattle with a 3.86 ERA.
Back on a Big League mound in 1973, he went 2-1 over 11 appearances with a nice 2.93 ERA in 30.2 innings, following it up a year later with a 1-0 record, though sporting a bloated 5.49 ERA in 22 appearances and 41 innings pitched.
After a couple of Minor League seasons in 1975 and 1979, he called it a career, finishing up with a 4-1 record and a 4.28 ERA in 42 appearances and 90.1 innings pitched.
Always fun to see quirky stuff like this, even decades later!

LONG TIME NO SEE: 1970 SKIP LOCKWOOD (#499)

Sorry for the late post! Had to trek out to upstate NY for the newest member of the family, a beautiful Australian Cattle dog/Collie mix pup, no name as of yet! A nice pal for our Anatolian Shepherd, "Bossy".

Anyway, onto today's topic...

When I recently designed my "Super Veterans" card for Jim "Catfish" Hunter, I took a closer look at his 1965 rookie card and realized that Skip Lockwood, who I grew up knowing as a pitcher for the N.Y. Mets, actually came up as an infielder with the Kansas City A's.

Take a look:

On top of that, after his initial 1965 rookie card appearance, the next time he was on a baseball card was in the 1970 Topps set (#499), now as a pitcher for the Seattle Pilots: a five year gap.

Take a look at his follow-up card from the 1970 set:

I never realized Lockwood's road to the big league mound, and that he was first a shortstop for the A's in 1965, without much success in 42 games: four hits (all singles) in 33 at-bats, a .121 batting average.

Stranger still, aside for those 42 games with the parent club, Lockwood didn't play any Minor League ball that year (?). Weird.

Over the next three years, he was mired in the Minors, now converted to a pitcher, and eventually found himself as a member of the new Seattle Pilots come 1969. Getting into six games, good for 23 innings of work and a 0-1 record.

(It also raises the obvious question as to why Topps gave him a card in the 1970 set with such scant playing time!)

In 1970, Lockwood would become a full-time Major League pitcher, and go on to have 11 decent years pitching for the Brewers, Angels, Mets and Red Sox.

He'd really find his niche as a reliever for the New York Mets between 1975 and 1979, having his best year in 1976, going 10-7 with 19 saves and a nifty 2.67 earned run average over 56 games and 94.1 innings.

The following year he posted a career high 20 saves for the Mets, with a 7-13 record and 3.57 E.R.A., in 57 games and 104 innings.

After a year pitching for Boston in 1980, Lockwood's big league days were over, retiring with a 57-97 career record, with a 3.55 E.R.A., five shutouts, 68 saves and 829 K's in 420 games.

Not bad for a guy who came up as a weak-hitting midfielder.

LONG TIME NO SEE: 1971 FLOYD WEAVER (#227)

Here's another guy who went at least five years between Topps baseball cards: pitcher Floyd Weaver.

Check out his 1971 card:

This was his first card since appearing in the 1966 set as a member of the Cleveland Indians, seen here:

After appearing in 32 games for the Indians during the 1965 season, where he went 2-2 with a 5.43 E.R.A., Weaver would not appear in a Major League game again until 1970, when he was now pitching for the Chicago White Sox.

In his return season, he got into 31 games, posting a 1-2 record with a 4.38 earned run average, with three of his appearances being starts.

The following year would find him wearing a Milwaukee Brewers uniform, where he would play the final 21 games of his career, going 0-1 with a 7.24 E.R.A. over 27.1 innings of work.

But that would be it for Weaver as far as big league action went, as he'd play another two years in the Chicago Cubs minor league system before calling it a career at the end of 1973.

All told, Weavers final MLB numbers were: 4-5 with a 5.21 E.R.A., with five starts among his 85 game career.

One final note on Weavers baseball days: while I cannot confirm this, according to his Wiki page, he still holds the record for most strikeouts in a collegiate baseball game, with 21 in a nine-inning game, when he K'd that amount on May 10th of 1961 while pitching for Paris Junior College.

LONG TIME NO SEE: 1970 BOB MEYER (#667)

Here's one that almost slipped by me: Bob Meyer and his five years between baseball cards.

He appeared in the 1965 Topps set, shown here:

Then would find himself in baseball "limbo" until the 1970 set came out, when he appeared as a Seattle Pilot, shown here:

Well it was all for good reason, as Meyer first came up as a 24 year old in 1964, playing for three different Major League franchises that season, the Yankees, Angels and Athletics, for whom he was pictured on his 1965 card (Though I suspect that's a Yankee pinstripe jersey he has on in the photo).

But it turned out he wouldn't appear in another Major League game until the 1969 season, the inaugural such season for the one-year franchise, thus culminating in the card you see above (funny enough sporting a Kansas City Athletics uniform in THIS photo!).

In 1964 Meyer posted a 2-8 record and 4.37 earned run average spread out among the three teams and 22 games, 13 of which were as a starter.

After toiling in the Minors between 1965 and 1968, Meyer managed to make it back onto a Major League mound in '69, going 0-3 with a 3.31 E.R.A. in just six games, five of which were starts.

He hung on with the team for the next season, though now they were the Milwaukee Brewers, and went 0-1 over ten games, all in relief, with a 6.38 E.R.A.

That would be the last big league action he'd taste, ending his career with a 2-12 record along with a 4.38 E.R.A. over 129.1 innings pitched.

Three years, five "different" franchises, two Topps cards, relived 44 years later…

LONG TIME NO SEE (YET I FAIL TO UNDERSTAND WHY WE SAW YOU IN THE FIRST PLACE): DANNY WALTON

So here's an interesting one for all of you.

Seems that former player Danny Walton went five years between cards from 1973 to 1978, so he makes for a subject for my "Long Time No See" thread.

However, when you take a look at his stats and see his playing time the years immediately before each card, you have to wonder why Topps even bothered in the first place!

Making Walton more of a "What Were They Thinking" subject over anything else.

Even though Topps gave him a slot in their 1973 set (card # 516), turns out Walton never even played in the Majors the previous year, 1972.

And on top of that he only saw action in 35 games in 1971, good for only 91 plate appearances split between the Milwaukee Brewers and New York Yankees.

So why would he get a card in 1973, shown here?:

We then have to wait until 1978 to see another slab of cardboard depicting Walton, this time as a Houston Astros player, after appearing in only 13 games totaling 21 plate appearances in 1977. 

Huh?!

Here's the '78 card (#263):

Let's not even delve into the airbrushing job here…

What's most interesting is the fact that if we were to go by his playing time in both 1971 and 1977, then Walton was "missing" in the 1972, 1974 and 1976 sets since he saw more playing time the previous years, warranting a card.

Strange how it really was a crap shoot with some of these guys (Hector Torres comes to mind), where they'd get a card that was questionable, yet go "missing" when you think they would have had one.

As for Walton, he managed to carve out a sporadic nine-year career spanning 1968 to 1980, usually as a player off the bench who could play some infield and outfield.

In those nine years he totaled 297 games and 880 plate appearances, eeking out a .223 average with 28 homers and 107 ribbies.

I don't want to rag on they guy, but his batting averages between 1971 and 1977 were as follows: .193, (no MLB in '72), .177, (no MLB in '74), .175, .133 and .190.

Whew…

LONG TIME NO SEE...AND WHY NOW!?- 1970 TOPPS FRED NORMAN (#427)

Here's a card that leaves you wondering why Topps even bothered, yet falls into my "Long Time No See" thread for players who had years between card appearances: #427 Fred Norman from the 1970 set.

Take a look:

This was Norman's first card since Topps' 1965 set, when he appeared on a Cubs "rookie stars" card (#386), shown here:

What makes the 1970 card so odd is that Norman hadn't even appeared in a Major League game since the 1967 season, and even THEN he only got into a single game for the Cubs, for a single inning!

As a matter of fact, between 1965 and 1969, Norman's total Major League output as far as games he appeared in is THREE.

So when planning for the 1970 set came around, I can't really see why Topps went back and came up with Norman.

Notice the cheap-o cap he's wearing on the 1970 card? The "L.A." logo appears to be some iron-on patch. Hilarious…

Fred Norman is one of those guys (like Jamie Moyer), who really hit his Major League stride in his 30's.

He had his first 10+ win season at 30 in 1973, then reeled off seven straight such seasons until he hit 36 years of age.

He was a starter throughout the "Big Red Machine" days of the Cincinnati Reds, and pitched in both World Series in 1975 & 1976.

By the time he retired after the 1980 season, he put together a very decent 16-year career, posting a 104-103 record with a 3.64 E.R.A.

Those two World Championship seasons with the Reds would arguably be his two best as a Major Leaguer, going a combined 24-11 with an E.R.A. in the mid-3.00's.

Not bad for a guy who had only 5 career wins by the time he was 29 years of age.

Still leaves me scratching my head as to why he was included in the 1970 set though.

LONG TIME NO SEE: 1971 BROCK DAVIS "CUBS ROOKIE PROSPECTS" (#573)

Well thanks to an "assist" from someone who goes by the name "ecloy", I was directed to another player who had a long gap between baseball card appearances, Brock Davis. (Thanks for the heads-up!)

Davis first appeared on a rather famous card, the 1963 "Rookie Stars" card which also happened to be Willie Stargell's rookie card!

On that card Davis was a 19-year-old member of the Houston Colt-.45's, who would go on to appear in 34 games for the Colt's, posting 11 hits in 55 at-bats while fielding all three outfield spots. Take a look:

However the rest of the 1960's would generally be spent toiling in the Minors for both Houston and then the Chicago Cubs affiliates beginning in 1969.

Davis did put up some decent numbers in the Minors, but couldn't seem to break through on the Major League level.

He had one Major League at-bat in 1964, 27 in 1966, and only three in 1970.

However, even with those three at-bats in '70, Topps gave him a spot on high-number card #573, 1971 Chicago Cubs "Rookie Stars", based on his killer Minor League year with Tacoma of the Pacific Coast League.

For Tacoma that year, he hit a robust .332, scoring 77 runs on 166 hits over the course of 500 at-bats. Not bad at all.

But sadly for Davis (and Chicago I'd guess), it didn't translate to any Major League success, as he hit .256 for the Cubs in 1971 with no punch whatsoever.

In December of 1971 he was dealt to the Brewers with pitcher Jim Colborn  and Earl Stephenson for Jose Cardenal (remember the late series Topps "Traded" card of Cardenal in 1972?), but even though he managed to hit a nice .318 over 85 games for Milwaukee, that would be the last taste of Major League action he'd see.

Davis would spend another three years in the Minors for the Padres, Cubs, Brewers and Indians before calling it a career after the 1975 season.

Thanks again to "ecloy" for the tip!

LONG TIME NO SEE: 1970 DANNY MURPHY (#146)

How's this for a guy who went a chunk of years between baseball cards?

When Topps issued a Danny Murphy baseball card in their 1970 set (#146), it was the first time Murphy appeared on a card since 1963.

Funny enough, in '63 Murphy was an outfielder for the North-side Chicago Cubs, yet when he resurfaced in 1970 he was now a pitcher for the South-side Chicago White Sox.

Take a look:

As a Cub outfielder in 1963...

...resurfacing as a White Sox pitcher in 1970.

Murphy made his big league debut back in 1960 as a seventeen-year-old, appearing in 31 games for the Cubs in the outfield.

Over the course of 75 at-bats he hit .120 with a homer and six runs batted in, which gave him a ticket back to the minors for the bulk of 1961 and 1962, though he did see a bit of time at the Major League level (18 games and 48 at-bats).

But for the next six years Murphy was stuck in Minor League ball playing for four organizations: Cubs, Indians, Astros and White Sox.

Though he did appear as a pitcher in two games while with the Cubs' B-Level Minor League team of Wenatchee in 1962, it wasn't until the White Sox got him that they converted him into a pitcher, hoping to turn his luck around.

Beginning in 1966 he was a full-on pitcher, starting 30 games for the Sox Double and Triple-A teams Evansville and Indianapolis, going a combined 11-12 with a 3.88 E.R.A.

After a few more decent years pitching in the Minors, Murphy finally made it back up to the Majors in 1969, appearing in 17 games for the South Siders and going 2-1 with a nice 2.01 earned run average.

The Sox thought enough of his performance that they had him back up in 1970 in a full-time middle relief role, appearing in 51 games for 80.2 innings, going 2-3 with a bloated 5.69 E.R.A.

Sadly for Murphy, that was the extent of his Major League action, as he found himself pitching for Boston's Triple-A affiliate Louisville team in 1971, posting a 1-2 record with a brutal 7.85 E.R.A., which would be the last pro-pitching he would do.

Oddly enough, Topps gave him a card in their 1970 set based on his 17 appearances in '69, but decided to exclude him from their 1971 set even though he posted those 51 appearances in 1970.

Go figure…

LONG TIME NO SEE: 1970 PAUL RATLIFF (#267)

Talk about perseverance! 

I recently took a closer look (for no reason whatsoever) at card #267 of Topps 1970 set, which is a multi-player Twins rookie card, and looked up the stats for each guy.

I normally don't bother with these cards since they very frequently depict guys that never even made it up to the Majors, so it'd be like shooting fish in a barrel if I decided to pick those player choices apart here.

But the name Paul Ratliff sounded familiar, and when I "Googled" his name I saw that he actually appeared on a baseball card way back in 1963 on one of those God-awful looking multi-player rookie cards. 

You know the cards, Pete Rose's rookie is one of them.

Ugly doesn't even begin to explain how these cards look!

Anyway, getting back to the 1970 card, I realized this guy went seven years between cards, and was STILL on a rookie-card all those years later.

Take a look at both cards:

Ratliff as a 19-year-old prospect in 1963..

 

His next card appearance seven years later, in 1970.

 

Seems Ratliff came up as a 19-year old for the Minnesota Twins in 1963 and got into 10 games, good for 24 plate appearances and four hits while playing behind the plate.

But sadly for him, that would be it, as he was sent back down to the Minors where he toiled for the next six years, flip-flopping between the Twins and Senators four times in the late-60's.

If you look at his Minor League numbers, nothing really stands out. But in 1969 he did hit an admirable .302 over the course of about half a season with Double-A Charlotte.

I guess that was enough for Topps to give him a slot on card #267 along with another Twins prospect, Herman Hill.

For Ratliff, the next three years saw him get into a handful of Major League action for both the Twins and the Milwaukee Brewers, totaling 135 games between 1970-1972, before walking away from the game at the age of 28.

Seven years between cards. That's one of the lengthier gaps I've come across between cards.

Let's see if I can dig up some others.

LONG TIME NO SEE: 1976 HECTOR TORRES (#241)

Hector Torres was one of those players that came and went throughout the 1970's.

I originally had him measured up to be a "missing in action" subject in the future for this blog, but also realized that he went four years before making an appearance in a Topps set again, from 1972 to 1976.

In the 1972 set he was depicted as a Chicago Cub (on "devlish" card #666) since he appeared in 31 games for them in 1971, good for 58 at-bats.

 

Card #666 in 1972's psychedelic set.

 

Yet oddly enough Topps didn't go and give him a card in their 1973 set even though he saw a lot more playing time with the Montreal Expos, getting into 83 games and 181 at-bats. Go figure?!

After bouncing around the Minors for a couple of years he finally found decent playing time in 1975 with the San Diego Padres playing various infield positions, getting into 112 games with 352 at-bats, both the highest totals since his rookie year in 1968, and totals he'd never surpass again in his career.

For this, in 1976 Topps "rewarded" Torres with his first card since 1972, #241 in the equally as colorful set. See below…

 

A baseball card reappearance for Torres after four years.

I've always been a sucker for "missing" cards of players, or cards of a player that hadn't appeared in sets for years.

So because of this, I will also be profiling Torres for his missing cards.

Yes, that's "cards" plural, as he should have had a card in the 1973, 1977 and 1978 sets. Especially the latter two since he posted over 200 at-bats in each of 1976 and 1977.

As a matter of fact Torres was one of the "original" Blue Jays in 1977, so it's a shame he wasn't shown as such from a historical standpoint.

Keep an eye out for them in the future.

LONG TIME NO SEE: 1976 RICK AUSTIN

Today I'd like to profile a guy who went five years between baseball cards: pitcher Rick Austin.
I've always been interested in players that had long gaps between cards, and I'd always pay special attention to those with five years or more between cardboard appearances.
Austin had just that gap, as he appeared in Topps 1971 set on card #41 as a Cleveland Indian, then in the 1976 set on card #269 as a Milwaukee Brewer.
The two cards represent pretty much the total of Austin's career. In 1970 he broke into the big leagues, appearing in 31 games for Cleveland in 67.2 innings as a reliever and spot starter.
He finished his rookie year with a record of 2-5 with a 4.79 E.R.A., which included a complete game shutout and three saves.
After a sub-par 1971 season which saw him post an E.R.A. of 5.09 in 23 games, Austin was out of the Majors until 1975. He bounced around the Minors for the Indians, White Sox and Brewers before finally getting called back up in 1975, getting into 32 games for Milwaukee strictly as a reliever.
Those 32 games were enough for Topps to give him the 1976 card you see below, as he posted a line of 2-3 with a 4.05 E.R.A. in 40 innings.
However that was pretty much it for his career as he only appeared in three games for Milwaukee in 1976 totaling 5.1 innings before heading back to the Minors before hanging them up at the end of the season.
One last interesting note on Austin: he was selected by the Indians as the sixth pick in the secondary phase of the 1968 June draft, seven picks ahead of a first baseman named Steve Garvey, who as we all know was selected by the Dodgers.

As a 24-year-old hopeful with the Tribe.

 

Five years later, ragged in Milwaukee.

ONE INNING IN FOUR YEARS GETS YOU A CARD...1971 TOM KELLEY

I don't know what Topps was expecting when they issued a card for pitcher Tom Kelley in their 1971 set (#463).
He only pitched one inning in the Majors in 1967, and was toiling in the minors ever since before the start of the 1971 season.
After playing for the Cleveland Indians organization from 1964 to 1969, he signed with the Atlanta Braves in May of 1970 and pitched in Shreveport (AA) and Richmond (AAA), putting together a 9-7 record with a 3.93 E.R.A.
I guess when it came time to putting together the fourth series for the 1971 set Topps figured Kelley was worthy of a card since he secured a roster spot with the Braves and was on his way to a decent season where he finished at 9-5 with a 2.96 E.R.A.
It's also worth noting that the 1971 card was his first since the beautiful 1967 set (#214), so here we have another one of those guys that went a few years between card appearances. 
Kelley's success was a bit short-lived. By May of 1973 Kelley pitched his last game in the Majors, and finally hung them up after appearing in seven games for the Tidewater Tides in the Met's system in 1976.
As for the card, you can clearly see the red piping that was part of Cleveland's uniform back in the late 60's/early 70's, and I suspect the image used was about four or even five years old. It also seems that the photo was taken in the old Yankee Stadium, though I could be mistaken.
Just another one of those cool little quirks you find when scouring the baseball card sets of the 1970's.

One big league inning in four years at the time this card was issued.

LONG TIME NO SEE- 1977 TOPPS CHUCK HARTENSTEIN

One day while trolling through cards to spark ideas for this blog I came across this seemingly "common" common: Topps 1977 Chuck Hartenstein #416.
Luckily for some reason I flipped the card around and looked at the stats posted, and saw that this guy hadn't appeared in a Major League game since 1970. So of course, I look up when he last appeared on a baseball card and saw that it was also in 1970.
Amazing actually, that a guy has a span of seven years between baseball cards as an active player. The only other time I can recall this happening is with pitcher Vicente Romo, who went between 1975-1983 without a card.
Thanks to baseball's expansion with the Mariners and Blue Jays, there was a sudden need for some "extra" players in 1977, especially some cheap, unprotected veterans and cast-offs who could fill some roles on the bench and in the bullpen.
Apparently the Toronto brass felt Hartenstein was one of these guys, even if his earlier career wasn't necessarily stellar.
Pitching from 1966-1970, Chuck sported an even 17-17 record as an arm out of the pen over 174 games for the Cubs, Cardinals, Pirates and Red Sox with a 4.52 E.R.A.
As for his return to the big leagues, it wasn't much to look at, posting an 0-2 record with a 6.59 E.R.A. in 13 games.
But hey, at least it was good for a nifty, groovy-looking card that only the '70's could offer.
I'm still trying to see if I uncover any other cards of guys who had a long span between issues but can't seem to find any. Anyone know of any others?

From 1970: clean-cut and unassuming...

To this: dig the shades and sideburns!

"LONG TIME NO SEE"- MINNIE MINOSO IN 1977

After being away from Major League baseball since 1964, Minnie Minoso, who by now was 50 years old and coming off of a few years playing down in Mexico, was brought back as a publicity stunt by one of baseball's great showmen, White Sox owner Bill Veeck and his son Mike.
He ended up appearing in three games, going 1 for 8 and becoming the fourth-oldest player to record a hit, while also becoming the only player to appear in the 1940's through the 1970's.
If THAT wasn't enough, four years later in 1980, "Mr. White Sox" entrenched himself in baseball history by becoming only the second player (Nick Altrock being the other) to appear in five different decades: '40's, 50's, '60's, '70's and '80's. Veeck, in another publicity stunt, had Minoso appear in two games, going 0-2 at the age of 54.
For his 1976 appearances, Topps commemorated the event by issuing a "Record Breaker" card in their 1977 set (#232) seen here (even though he WASN'T the oldest player to "hit safely"):

Now, what if Topps wanted to have a little fun and actually issue a regular player-card for Minoso? That would have been an interesting card to have, especially with stats dating back to the 1940's.
I went ahead and designed a "regular" card for Minoso, imagining what it could have looked like. Take a gander:

Could've been his first player card since 1964.

Something that would have been cool was the fact that Minoso could've had a 13 year gap between baseball card appearances as a player (1964-1977) if Topps created a regular card for him.
I can only really remember two players off the top of my head Vicente Romo (1975-1983) and Chuck Hartenstein (1970-1977) with similar long gaps between cards. (I'll be writing about the Hartenstein card in the near future).
Oh well, sadly it wasn't to be...
PS- It's easy to forget just how great a player Minoso was throughout the 1950's. A consistent .300 hitter with both power and speed, driving in over 100 runs four times while leading the A.L. in stolen bases and triples three times.
In addition to this, he finished in the top five in M.V.P. voting four times as well: 1951, 1953, 1954 and 1960.
It's a shame he didn't play his first full season in the big leagues until he was 25. He could have put up some great "power and speed" career stats by the time he was done. As it is, he finished his career with 186 homers and 205 steals. Not bad for only 11 full seasons under his belt!