1975 IN-ACTION: TOMMY HARPER

Good day everyone.

Felt like adding Tommy Harper to my long-running 1975 "In-Action" sub-set today, giving the former two-way threat another card in the colorful 1975 set:

An All-Star in 1970 for the Milwaukee Brewers in their first season, Harper became an early member of the 30-homer/30-steals club when he hit 31 taters and swiped 38 bases, just one season removed from leading the American League with 73 steals for the one-year Seattle Pilots franchise in 1969.
He’d also lead the league with 54 steals while with the Boston Red Sox in 1973, while also hitting 17 homers and hitting .281 with 92 runs scored.

Harper was traded to the Angels for Bob Heise before the 1975 season, and ended up playing only 89 games with them before moving on to the Oakland A’s later in the year.

He then went on to play for the Baltimore Orioles in 1976 for what turned out to be the last 46 games of his 15-year career, beginning in 1962 with the Cincinnati Reds.

By the time he retired, Harper finished with 146 homers and 408 stolen bases, with a .257 batting average and 1609 hits in 6269 at-bats over 1810 games, with one All-Star nod, leading the league twice in stolen bases and runs scored with 126 in 1965 while with the Reds.

EXPANDED LEAGUE LEADERS: 1974 A.L. STOLEN BASES

On the blog today, we have the next "expanded league leader" card in my on-going thread, this one the 1974 card for the American League stolen base leaders of 1973:

 

We start off with Tommy Harper, who took home his second stolen base crown, now as a member of the Boston Red Sox, with his 54 steals.

Back in 1969 he also led the American League in steals while a member of the one-year Seattle Pilots, with 73.

Harper would finish his 15-year career in 1976 with 408 stolen bases overall, with a 30-30 season in 1970 as a Milwaukee Brewer when he hit 31 homers while stealing 38 bases.

Just one stolen base behind him with 53 is the Oakland A's speedster Billy North, who played his first full season in the Majors in 1973 and didn't disappoint, hitting .285 with those 53 steals, scoring 98 runs while collecting 158 hits.

He would go on to lead the league in steals two time over the next three years, with a high of 75 in 1976, finishing with 395 stolen bases for his career by the time he'd hang them up in 1981.

In third place with 43 steals is the Texas Rangers' Dave Nelson, who also finished in third the previous year.

After swiping 51 bases in 1972 he put in what was his best year as a Big Leaguer, hitting .286 with 165 hits and 71 runs scored, with 24 doubles, four triples and seven homers, all career bests aside from the triples.

So there you go!

The top three stolen base players for the Junior Circuit of 1973!

 

TRADED- 1975 TOMMY HARPER

I love creating “traded” card throughout the 1970’s. Especially my 1975 format, so today I present a 1975 traded card for former 30/30 man Tommy Harper, who found himself a California Angel after a few seasons as a Boston Red Sox player:

Harper was traded to the Angels for Bob Heise and ended up playing only 89 games with them before moving on to the Oakland A’s later in the year, then the Baltimore Orioles in 1976 for what turned out to be the last 46 games of his 15-year career.
An All-Star in 1970 for the Milwaukee Brewers in their first season, Harper became an early member of the 30-homer/30-steals club when he hit 31 taters and swiped 38 bases, just one season removed from leading the American League with 73 steals for the one-year Seattle Pilots franchise in 1969.
He’d also lead the league with 54 steals while with the Boston Red Sox in 1973, while also hitting 17 homers and hitting .281 with 92 runs scored.
By the time he retired in 1976, Harper finished with 146 homers and 408 stolen bases, with a .257 batting average and 1609 hits in 6269 at-bats over 1810 games, with one All-Star nod.

1960 SEASONAL LEADERS- STOLEN BASES

Next up in my “Seasonal Leaders of the 1960’s” thread are the two players who had the high-marks in stolen bases for the decade: Maury Wills of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Tommy Harper of the Seattle Pilots:

Of course, for the National League, the high mark of the 1960’s was the 104 stolen bases Wills swiped during his 1962 MVP season, setting a new Major League record in the process.
That mark would last until Lou Brock came along and topped it with 118 in 1974, before the “king of steal” Rickey Henderson donned the white cleats and set the world on fire in 1982 with 130, which still stands to this day.
As for the American League, it was cool having the decade’s top mark achieved by a player on the one-year Seattle Pilots organization, in this case Tommy Harper with his 73 swipes during their only season in existence.
The following year, now in Milwaukee as the Brewers after the team moved their location, Harper would become (at the time) one of the early members of the 30/30 club when he slammed 31 home runs to go along with his 38 stolen bases, finishing sixth in A.L. MVP voting for his troubles.

MISSING IN ACTION-"IN ACTION" #49: 1972 TOMMY HARPER

Time to go and give former double-threat Tommy Harper a "missing" In-Action card in that glorious 1972 Topps set.

Check it out:

Harper put together a very nice 15-year Major League career, coming up with the Cincinnati Reds and going on to play for the Indians, Pilots, Brewers, Red Sox, Angels, A's and Orioles before hanging them up after the 1976 season.

Along the way he led the American League in steals twice (1969 and 1973), the National League in runs scored once (in 1965 with the Reds), and managed to put a 30-30 season together with the Brewers in 1970 (their inaugural season) when he hit 31 homers to go along with his 38 steals.

By the time he retired he totaled 408 steals in his career to go along with his 1600+ hits, 972 runs and 146 homers.