FIXING UP ALL-STAR CARDS: 1984 ROD CAREW

Up on the blog today, we go ahead and "fix up" another 1980s Topps All-Star card, this time giving Rod Carew his rightful 1984 All-Star card as the American League's starting first baseman for the 1983 game:

Topps inexplicably went and gave Baltimore Orioles legend Eddie Murray the All-Star card, but why!?

Carew was still an automatic at that slot for years at the time, and was the starter yet again in 1983 when the A.L. FINALLY won after a 12-year losing streak.

The man was a player for the ages, as he would go on to play in 18 All-Star games, missing only his final season in the Majors in 1985. Just incredible.

The first nine seasons of his career were as an All-Star second baseman, while the last nine were as a first baseman.

The legend topped .300 15 years in a row, with a high of .388 in 1977 on his way to a Most Valuable Player Award and capturing the public’s attention with his .400 chase late in the season.
A clear-cut Hall of Fame player, he was inducted on his first year of eligibility in 1991 when he garnered 90.5% of the vote, which leaves me with the question: who the hell are the 9.5% who DIDN’T vote for him!!!???

3053 hits, a .328 career average, 353 stolen bases and 15 straight seasons of .300+ batting.

The man was a hitting machine, and I'm so glad I got to see him play during his magnificent career!

A SET THAT NEVER WAS: 1971 ALL-STAR TICKET SET: ROD CAREW

Next up on the blog, my 1971 All-Star Game ticket card for the great Rod Carew, who was the starting second baseman for the American league in that historic 1971 Midsummer Classic:

The man was a player for the ages, as he would go on to play in 18 All-Star games, missing only his final season in the Majors in 1985. Just incredible.

The first nine seasons of his career were as an All-Star second baseman, while the last nine were as a first baseman.

The man topped .300 15 years in a row, with a high of .388 in 1977 on his way to a Most Valuable Player Award and capturing the public’s attention with his .400 chase late in the season.
A clear-cut Hall of Fame player, he was inducted on his first year of eligibility in 1991 when he garnered 90.5% of the vote, which leaves me with the question: who the hell are the 9.5% who DIDN’T vote for him!!!???

3053 hits, a .328 career average, 353 stolen bases and 15 straight seasons of .300+ batting.

The man was a hitting machine, and I'm so glad I got to see him play during his magnificent career!

 

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: ROD CAREW

Time to go and give legend Rod Carew a card in my future custom mega-set, "Classic Baseball", which will be a deluxe multi-series WTHBALLS set in the near future:

The man was a player for the ages, as he would go on to play in 18 All-Star games, missing only his final season in the Majors in 1985. Just incredible.

The first nine seasons of his career were as an All-Star second baseman, while the last nine were as a first baseman.

The man topped .300 15 years in a row, with a high of .388 in 1977 on his way to a Most Valuable Player Award and capturing the public’s attention with his .400 chase late in the season.
A clear-cut Hall of Fame player, he was inducted on his first year of eligibility in 1991 when he garnered 90.5% of the vote, which leaves me with the question: who the hell are the 9.5% who DIDN’T vote for him!!!???

3053 hits, a .328 career average, 353 stolen bases and 15 straight seasons of .300+ batting.

The man was a hitting machine, and I'm so glad I got to see him play during his magnificent career!

 

WTHBALLS GUM PACK CUSTOM SET: ROD CAREW

Good day all.

On the blog today, for fun, my mini "Gum Pack" custom of Rod Carew, from my recent custom set released a few months back:

 

Just a fun little set to create and get out there in the collecting world!

I just took the uber-stars of the game in that era and put together a specially packaged set to add to the WTHBALLS roster, akin to the original sets I created back in 2018-2019.

As for Carew, the man was a player for the ages, as he would go on to play in 18 All-Star games, missing only his final season in the Majors in 1985. Just incredible.

The first nine seasons of his career were as an All-Star second baseman, while the last nine were as a first baseman.

The man topped .300 15 years in a row, with a high of .388 in 1977 on his way to a Most Valuable Player Award and capturing the public’s attention with his .400 chase late in the season.
A clear-cut Hall of Fame player, he was inducted on his first year of eligibility in 1991 when he garnered 90.5% of the vote, which leaves me with the question: who the hell are the 9.5% who DIDN’T vote for him!!!???

3053 hits, a .328 career average, 353 stolen bases and 15 straight seasons of .300+ batting.

The man was a hitting machine, and I'm so glad I got to see him play during his magnificent career!

 

1969 "DO-OVER" SET: ROD CAREW

The next card from my recent "1969 Gimmie A Do-Over" custom set to get the spotlight, my Rod Carew card, giving his 1969 slab a refresh with an image other than the one already used in 1968:

For Carew, having his first TWO dedicated cards of his career have the same image sucks (like Tom Seaver), and it always irked me, so giving his 1969 card a new photo was long overdue in my eyes.

The man was a player for the ages, as he would go on to play in 18 All-Star games, missing only his final season in the Majors in 1985. Just incredible.

The first nine seasons of his career were as an All-Star second baseman, while the last nine were as a first baseman.

The man topped .300 15 years in a row, with a high of .388 in 1977 on his way to a Most Valuable Player Award and capturing the public’s attention with his .400 chase late in the season.
A clear-cut Hall of Fame player, he was inducted on his first year of eligibility in 1991 when he garnered 90.5% of the vote, which leaves me with the question: who the hell are the 9.5% who DIDN’T vote for him!!!???

3053 hits, a .328 career average, 353 stolen bases and 15 straight seasons of .300+ batting.

The man was a hitting machine, and I'm so glad I got to see him play during his magnificent career!

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS: ROD CAREW

Happy to add another Hall of Famer to my long-running 1971 "Minor League Days" set, this time the hitting machine Rod Carew, who put in one season as a 20-year-old in 1966 with the Wilson Tobs:

The kid did not disappoint, as he would hit .292 with 28 stolen bases and 64 runs scored over 112 games.

He was ready for his moment, and the Minnesota Twins would call him up the following season, where he would march straight to an American League Rookie of the Year Award.

The man was a player for the ages, as he would go on to play in 18 All-Star games, missing only his final season in the Majors in 1985. Just incredible.

The first nine seasons of his career were as an All-Star second baseman, while the last nine were as a first baseman.

The man topped .300 15 years in a row, with a high of .388 in 1977 on his way to a Most Valuable Player Award and capturing the public’s attention with his .400 chase late in the season.
A clear-cut Hall of Fame player, he was inducted on his first year of eligibility in 1991 when he garnered 90.5% of the vote, which leaves me with the question: who the hell are the 9.5% who DIDN’T vote for him!!!???

3053 hits, a .328 career average, 353 stolen bases and 15 straight seasons of .300+ batting.

The man was a hitting machine, and I'm so glad I got to see him play during his magnificent career!

1971 "BASEBALL'S GREATEST MOMENTS": ROD CAREW STEALS HOME FOR 7TH TIME

Hello everyone!

Today on the blog we have a "missing" 1971 "Baseball's Greatest Moments" card for Rod Carew, who was missing from one of my all-time favorite card sets, the uber-expensive Topps set of the same name:

On July 16th of 1969, the young Minnesota Twins second baseman tied Brooklyn Dodger Pete Reiser's MLB record with his seventh steal of home.

With the bases loaded against the Chicago White Sox Jerry Nyman, Carew took off from third base and successfully stole home, helping the Twins sweep a double-header and march to a first-ever "American League West" title in the first year of the new divisional format.

Now, while this WAS marked as a record, since then new research has uncovered that the great Ty Cobb actually stole home EIGHT times back in 1912.

But I thought it'd be fun to highlight stealing home for Carew instead of the "usual" hitting machine that he became over his incredible career.

He would go on to play in 18 All-Star games, missing only his final season in the Majors in 1985. Just incredible.

The first nine seasons of his career were as an All-Star second baseman, while the last nine were as an All-Star first baseman.

The man topped .300 15 years in a row, with a high of .388 in 1977 on his way to a Most Valuable Player Award and capturing the public’s attention with his .400 chase late in the season.
A clear-cut Hall of Fame player, he was inducted on his first year of eligibility in 1991 when he garnered 90.5% of the vote, which leaves me with the question: who the hell are the 9.5% who DIDN’T vote for him!!!???

3053 hits, a .328 career average, 353 stolen bases and 15 straight seasons of .300+ batting.

The man was a hitting machine, and I'm so glad I got to see him play during his magnificent career!

SPECIAL 1969 "TEAM" CEREAL EXTENSION SET: ROD CAREW

Hello everyone!

 Super fun entry today!

I introduce you all to an upcoming WTHBALLS release in 2023, my 1969 "Team" cereal box extension set, beginning with the great Rod Carew:

This will be a full printed cereal box true to the original Nabisco "Team" cereal box released way back when, adding eight more greats of the game to the oddball set.

I took the liberty of recreating the front of the box, replacing a generic action baseball scene with the great Bob Gibson, but the rest of the package is true to the original.

I also went as far as erasing any team logos as the original did, giving it the authenticity to the 1969 edition, even IF I find it annoying.

Look for this to be released later in the year, though it could be sooner since it is print-ready and I found a special commercial printer who prints food boxes of this sort.

As for the first player presented here, what really needs to be said about the greatest hitter of his generation?

Rod Carew would go on to play in 18 All-Star games, missing only his final season in the Majors in 1985. Just incredible.

The first nine seasons of his career were as an All-Star second baseman, while the last nine were as an All-Star first baseman.

The man topped .300 15 years in a row, with a high of .388 in 1977 on his way to a Most Valuable Player Award and capturing the public’s attention with his .400 chase late in the season.
A clear-cut Hall of Fame player, he was inducted on his first year of eligibility in 1991 when he garnered 90.5% of the vote, which leaves me with the question: who the hell are the 9.5% who DIDN’T vote for him!!!???

3053 hits, a .328 career average, 353 stolen bases and 15 straight seasons of .300+ batting.

The man was a hitting machine, and I'm so glad I got to see him play during his magnificent career!

1970'S ALL-DECADE TEAM: A.L. SECOND BASEMAN ROD CAREW

OK now.

On the blog today, my pick for the A.L. second baseman of the 1970's, an easy one in my option, the great Rod Carew of the Minnesota Twins:

Now, indeed we all know that Crew shifted to first base in 1976, but his time at second between 1970 and 1975 was enough to give him the honor in my book.

Of his six years at second, he won four batting titles, while also leading the league in hits twice and triples once.

He made the All-Star team every year and was in the top-3 in the MVP race three times, with a high of a fourth place finish in 1973 when he hit .350 with 208 hits and eleven triples, all league high marks.

He would go on to play in 18 All-Star games, missing only his final season in the Majors in 1985. Just incredible.

The first nine seasons of his career were as an All-Star second baseman, while the last nine were as a first baseman.

The man topped .300 15 years in a row, with a high of .388 in 1977 on his way to a Most Valuable Player Award and capturing the public’s attention with his .400 chase late in the season.
A clear-cut Hall of Fame player, he was inducted on his first year of eligibility in 1991 when he garnered 90.5% of the vote, which leaves me with the question: who the hell are the 9.5% who DIDN’T vote for him!!!???

3053 hits, a .328 career average, 353 stolen bases and 15 straight seasons of .300+ batting.

The man was a hitting machine, and I'm so glad I got to see him play during his magnificent career!

 

1960'S DEDICATED ROOKIE: 1967 ROD CAREW

Up on the blog today, we have my 1967 "Dedicated Rookie" for the incomparable Rod Carew, from my 1960's Dedicated Rookie set released a few years ago:

What really needs to be said about the greatest hitter of his generation?

He would go on to play in 18 All-Star games, missing only his final season in the Majors in 1985. Just incredible.

The first nine seasons of his career were as an All-Star second baseman, while the last nine were as a first baseman.

The man topped .300 15 years in a row, with a high of .388 in 1977 on his way to a Most Valuable Player Award and capturing the public’s attention with his .400 chase late in the season.
A clear-cut Hall of Fame player, he was inducted on his first year of eligibility in 1991 when he garnered 90.5% of the vote, which leaves me with the question: who the hell are the 9.5% who DIDN’T vote for him!!!???

3053 hits, a .328 career average, 353 stolen bases and 15 straight seasons of .300+ batting.

The man was a hitting machine, and I'm so glad I got to see him play during his magnificent career!

EXPENDED LEAGUE LEADERS: 1979 A.L. BATTING

On the blog today, we move on to the American League with my “expanded league leaders” thread, and celebrate the top three hitters for the 1978 season:

 

Of course, we begin with Hall of Famer Rod Carew, who took home his seventh and final batting title that year, hitting .333 in his final season with the Minnesota Twins before heading for sunnier pastures in California.

Carew was a machine, plain and simple, winning six of seven titles in his incredible run between 1972 and 1978, with a high of .388 during his MVP season of 1977, including his only 100 RBI season of his storied career.

By the time he retired after the 1985 season, he topped 3000 hits and finished with a .328 average for his 19-year Big League tenure, putting him in rare company, especially for the Post-War era.

In second place with a .324 batting average, the quiet man who just kept on hitting, “Scoop” Al Oliver, who had a very nice first season with the Texas Rangers after coming over from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Oliver would collect 170 hits and drive in 89 runs for Texas in 1978, with 35 doubles and 14 homers, numbers he’d pretty much duplicate the next season before topping them in 1980 when he’d collect 209 hits and 117 RBIs along with a .319 average.

The man was such an under-the-radar All-Star player throughout his great 18-year career, a Hall of Fame career in my personal opinion, finishing with over 2700 hits, 200 homers and 1300 RBIs, while hitting .303 before hanging them up in 1985.

In third place, hitting at a .315 clip, the A.L. MVP for 1978, the great Jim Rice, who was an absolute beast that year, leading the league in hits, triples, homers, RBIs, slugging and total bases, demolishing Major League pitching while putting together an unbelievable three year run of 200 hits, 100 runs scored, 39+ homers, 100+RBIs and .315+ batting.

Just insane!

Of course his career path would eventually lead him to the Hall of Fame like Carew, finishing up with a .298 average with 382 homers and 1451 RBIs over 16 seasons, easily forgetting that the man also had four 200-hits seasons in addition to his power numbers.

There you go, the A.L.’s top hitters of the 1978 season, on display here on an “expanded league leader” card.

EXPANDED LEAGUE LEADERS: 1978 A.L. BATTING

Moving on here on the blog with my “expanded league leaders” thread, we have the top three hitters of the American League for 1977, represented on an expanded 1978 leader card:

 

 

Of course, we begin with the man of the year that season, the great Rod Carew, who had a season of the ages that year, flirting with the magic .400 number all Summer before finishing with a .388 average, also leading the league with 128 runs scored, 238 hits, 16 triples and a .449 on-base-percentage, making him the clear choice for MVP.

It was the sixth of seven career batting titles for the elite batsman, while it was also the first and only time he’d reach 100 runs batted in, with 100 on the nose for the Minnesota Twins.

Just elite for the era!

Behind him with a .336 average, teammate and up-and-comer Lyman Bostock, who had a wonderful year that saw him collect 199 hits while scoring 104 runs, with 36 doubles, 12 triples and 14 homers while driving in 90 runs.

He would take that production and sign via Free Agency with the California Angels at season’s end, putting in another solid campaign in 1978 when he hit .296 with 168 hits, scoring 74 runs and driving in 71 before being tragically murdered in his hometown of Gary, Indiana as an innocent bystander, being shot sitting in a car, just short of his 28^th birthday.

In only four Major League seasons Bostock hit .311, sadly having that talent taken from us and left to wonder what could have been.

In third place with a .328 batting average in 1977, underappreciated hitter Ken Singleton, one of my favorite baseball “people”, who continually put in solid season after season over his stellar career.

In 1977 he collected 176 hits with 90 runs scored, 24 homers and 99 RBIs, with 107 walks to finish with a very nice .438 on-base-percentage, making his first All-Star team while finishing third in the MVP race.

He would do one better two years later when he finished runner-up to the MVP Award to Don Baylor in 1979 when he set career highs with 35 homers and 111 RBIs, helping the Baltimore Orioles make it all the way to the World Series before they fell to the “We Are Family” Pittsburgh Pirates.

Well, there you go, as we move on to the top three home run hitters of 1977 for the N.L. next week. See you then!

EXPANDED LEAGUE-LEADERS: 1977 A.L. BATTING

On the blog today, we move on to the American League and their top three hitters for the 1976 season, displayed on a 1977 “expanded league leader” card:

 

 

It was a historic batting race that season, as three players were fighting for the crown down to the last weekend: George Brett, Hal McRae and of course Rod Carew.

By the time the (controversial) dust was settled, the young Kansas City Royals third baseman, Brett came out the victor, taking home the first of what would be three batting titles over his illustrious career, hitting .333 to McRae’s .332, and reigning champ Carew’s .331.

Now, I mentioned “controversy” earlier, because on the very last day of the season, with the Royals playing the Twins, all three players were in the same ballpark vying for the crown, and Brett dropped a hit in front of Twins’ outfielder Steven Brye, whom some folks claim let up too early, allowing Brett to win the title.

There were calls of racism coming in to play here, with Brett beating out teammate McRae on the inside-the-park homer when the pop-up bounced over Frye’s head and rolled to the wall while Brett circled the bases in his last at-bat in the ninth-inning.

Incredibly, the fourth-place finisher in the A.L. batting race was Minnesota twin Lyman Bostock, who finished the year at .323. So heading into that last series of the season, the top FOUR hitters in the league were head-to-head for that crown the final three days of the year.

Just amazing. Wish I could have seen that.

EXPANDED LEAGUE LEADERS: 1975 A.L. STOLEN BASES

On the blog today, we have the 1975 "expanded league leader" card for the American League's top base stealers of the previous season, with a fun surprise at third place:

 

Starting off with the top stolen base player for the Junior Circuit in 1974, the Oakland A's Bill North,  who paced the league with his 54 steals, the first of two crowns for him in the next three years.

North just missed what would have been his first stolen base crown the year prior, in 1973, when he fell one short of sharing the lead with Tommy Harper of the Boston Red Sox.

Two seasons later in 1976 he'd have his best year in the Majors, leading the league with 75 steals while scoring 91 runs with a .276 batting average, collecting a career-best 163 hits.

In second place, and far back with 38 steals, Hall of Famer Rod Carew, who hit a blistering .364 while also leading the league with 218 hits and a .433 on-base-percentage for the Minnesota twins.

It's easy to forget that Carew would go on to steal 353 bases over his stellar career, with a high of 49 in 1976, as well as 41 in 1973.

In third place, and this is exactly the reason I wanted to do expanded league leaders in the first place, is a player many would be shocked to see here, the Cleveland Indians' John Lowenstein, who stole 36 bases while quietly putting together a nice season, collecting what turned out to be a career-best 123 hits over 140 games.

Of course we'll all remember him years later as a great bat off the bench for the Baltimore Orioles, with 1982 a fantastic season for him when he hit .320 with 24 homers and 66 runs batted in over just 310 at-bats, platooning with Gary Roenicke to give the O's a potent tandem no matter who was on the opposing mound.

And there you have it, the A.L.'s top base=stealers of 1974. On to pitching leaders!

EXPANDED LEAGUE LEADERS: 1975 A.L. BATTING

Moving on to the American League this week in my on-going "expanded league leaders" thread, which has us expanding on the 1975 card celebrating the top-3 batters in the Junior Circuit for 1974:

 

Of course we lead off with Hall of Famer Rod Carew, who hit a blistering .364 during the 1974 season, also leading the league in hits with 218 and on-base-percentage with a .433 mark.

It was the fourth batting title for the Minnesota twin, outhitting the second place finisher by 48 points!

Those numbers would get him a seventh-place finish in the MVP voting at season's end, but as we all know, he wasn't nearly done tearing up A.L. pitching, going on to win three more batting titles, including a career-best .388 mark in 1977 when he'd also bring home the MVP Award at last.

Speaking of the second place finisher in the A.L. batting race for 1974, we come to Chicago White Sox second baseman Jorge Orta, a fine batter who put in a very nice season, hitting .316 with 166 hits, 31 doubles, 73 runs scored and 67 RBI's in his first true full season in the Majors.

Orta put in a solid 16 year Big League career between 1972 and 1987, switching to the outfield before becoming a full time DH the last five years of his career.

By the time he was done, he finished with a very respectable .278 batting average, with 1619 hits over 5829 at-bats in 1755 games.

Coming in third hitting at a .310 clip is Kansas City Royals DH-extraordinaire Hal McRae, who reached the .300 mark for the first time in his excellent 19-year career.

He'd reach the .300 mark six more times before he was through, hitting a career-best .332 in 1976, but falling just short of the batting title, losing to teammate George Brett on the last game of the year, under a somewhat controversial situation.

McRae was a workhorse of a hitter, finishing his career with over 2000 hits, 191 home runs, 1097 RBIs and a very nice .290 batting average in 2084 games between 1968 and 1987.

Next week, we move on to the N.L.'s top Home Run hitters for 1974! See you then!

1970 IN-GAME ACTION: ROD CAREW

On the blog today, continuing with my "1970 In-Game Action" sub-set and adding the great Rod Carew, who was at the beginning of his eventual Hall of Fame career, going down as one of the great hitters of the modern game:

 

Carew was coming off his first batting title in 1969 when this card would have seen the light of day, hitting .332 while making his third straight All-Star team and even finishing 10th in the league's MVP voting.

What else really needs to be said about the greatest hitter of his generation?

The man topped .300 15 years in a row, with a high of .388 in 1977 on his way to a Most Valuable Player Award and capturing the public’s attention with his .400 chase late in the season.
A clear-cut Hall of Fame player, he was inducted on his first year of eligibility in 1991 when he garnered 90.5% of the vote, which leaves me with the question: who the hell are the 9.5% who DIDN’T vote for him!!!???

3053 hits, a .328 career average, 353 stolen bases and 15 straight seasons of .300+ batting.Just incredible.

1972 ALL-STAR SUB-SET: ROD CAREW

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! 

I hope you are all safe and well on this festive morning.

The next 1971 starting All-Star to celebrate in my on-going 1972 thread is the American League's second baseman, Rod Carew, who made his fifth straight such game in five Major League seasons to start his Hall of Fame career:

 

In addition to the five straight All-Star game nods to start his magnificent career, Carew took home the A.L. Rookie of the Year in 1967 while also winning the 1969 batting title, the first of what would end up being seven titles, including four in a row between 1972 and 1975.

What else really needs to be said about the greatest hitter of his generation?

The man topped .300 15 years in a row, with a high of .388 in 1977 on his way to a Most Valuable Player Award and capturing the public’s attention with his .400 chase late in the season.
A clear-cut Hall of Fame player, he was inducted on his first year of eligibility in 1991 when he garnered 90.5% of the vote, which leaves me with the question: who the hell are the 9.5% who DIDN’T vote for him!!!???

3053 hits, a .328 career average, 353 stolen bases and 15 straight seasons of .300+ batting.Just incredible.

EXPANDED YEARLY LEADER CARDS: 1974 A.L. BATTING

Ok now!

Today we move on to the American League in my on-going "expanded league leaders" thread, celebrating the top-3 hitters of the Junior Circuit for 1973:

 

Of course we begin with the great Rod Carew, who obliterated the league with his .350 batting average, 44 points ahead of the second place batter!!!

Carew took home his third batting title that year, aloso leading the league with his 203 hits and 11 triples, while making his seventh straight All-Star team and finishing fourth in the MVP race at season's end.

Seriously, the man was just eons ahead of anyone else at this point as far as hitting, heading straight for the Hall of Fame and cementing his place as one of the game's greatest natural hitters.

Surprisingly, the second and third place finishers in the A.L. batting race, both tied at .306, were a slugger who posted his career-best average, George Scott, and a man who made a big comeback, resurrecting his MLB career as a Designated Hitter, former two-time batting champ Tommy Davis.

For Scott, his .306 average was accompanied by his 24 home runs and 107 runs batted in, while leading the league with 295 total bases.

He also took home his fifth Gold Glove Award, and would end up with eight such awards before his career was over.

For Davis, who was the Baltimore Orioles full-time DH in its first year in existence, he came back to have his best year in the Big Leagues since 1967 when he was a New York Met, giving the "O's" 89 RBIs in addition to his second place finish in the batting race, garnering a tenth-place finish in the MVP race.

The 35-year-old found new life as a DH, and would give Baltimore another solid season the following year when he'd hit .289 with 84 RBIs with 181 hits, his last truly full season in the Majors before retiring after 1976.

Next up, we move on to the National League's top home run hitters of 1973. See you next week!

EXPANDED YEARLY LEADER CARDS: 1973 A.L. BATTING LEADERS

Ok now.

Today we move on in my new "Expanded League Leaders" thread to the American League and it's leading batters for the 1972 season on a 1973 card:

 

 

Of course, we start off with Hall of Famer Rod Carew, who won his second of what was to be seven batting titles, hitting .318, the lowest average of any of his titles, but still enough to get the job done.

Following him is a bit of a surprise, which really only goes to show you the impact of having expanded league leaders back then, as the second best hitter in 1972 for the Junior Circuit is "Sweet Lou" Piniella of the Kansas City Royals, who hit .312 while leading the league with 33 doubles, leading to his only All-Star birth.

Coming in third, just ten points of a Triple Crown, was the Wampum Walloper" himself, Dick Allen, who of course wound up with an MVP Award for his monster 1972 campaign when he led the league in homers, RBIs, walks, on-base percentage and slugging in his first season in the South Side.

I believe that if he collected about eight more hits over the course of the season he would have taken the Triple Crown!

Nevertheless, his 1972 season was brilliant, adding the MVP hardware to a Rookie of the Year Award of 1964.

Well, there you have it! Onto the next expanded leage-leader card, what will it be?

Stay tuned...

ON-CARD ALL-STAR: 1974 ROD CAREW

Continuing with my new "on-card" All-Star project, the 1974 set, we move on to the starting second baseman for the American League in the 1973 Midsummer classic, Hall of Famer Rod Carew:

  

Again, trying to mimic what Topps did with their All-Star designation in other sports, "bold and beautiful"!

Carew of course would go on to play in 18 All-Star games, missing only his final season in the Majors in 1985. Just incredible.

The first nine seasons of his career were as an All-Star second baseman, while the last nine were as a first baseman.

Of course 1969 would be significant in that Carew would take home the first of what would be seven batting titles, hitting .332 for the Minnesota Twins, a 29-point increase from the year before.

It also helped the Twins take first place in the newly formed West division races, with the Baltimore Orioles taking first in the East.

What really needs to be said about the greatest hitter of his generation?

The man topped .300 15 years in a row, with a high of .388 in 1977 on his way to a Most Valuable Player Award and capturing the public’s attention with his .400 chase late in the season.
A clear-cut Hall of Fame player, he was inducted on his first year of eligibility in 1991 when he garnered 90.5% of the vote, which leaves me with the question: who the hell are the 9.5% who DIDN’T vote for him!!!???

3053 hits, a .328 career average, 353 stolen bases and 15 straight seasons of .300+ batting.