"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: VADA PINSON

On the blog today, a beautiful card I hope to have released as part of a multi-series custom set, "Beautiful Baseball", by the end of the year, featuring one of my favorite players, All-Star outfielder Vada Pinson:

Just a beauty of a photo I found to celebrate both the sport I love and the man himself, who put in season after season as a top-notch player who got lost amid the Mays, Aarons and Clementes reigning the National League when he came up.

Heck, he even got lost on his own team, the Cincinnati Reds, trying to share the spotlight with guys like Frank Robinson and Pete Rose!

When you look at Pinson’s career, you should be impressed with what he accomplished between 1958 and 1975.
The man could slug the ball, hitting 256 home runs, while also swipe the base, as his 305 steals show. He collected 200+ hits in a season four times while topping .300 four times with a high of .343 in 1961 for the pennant winning Reds.
He led the N.L. in hits, doubles and triples two times each, while also topping the Senior Circuit in runs in his first full season, 1959, with 131.
By the time he completed his career, he topped 2700 hits, 1300 runs, 1100 runs batted in, 250 homers and 300 stolen bases.
To this day it amazes me that guys like Pinson, Al Oliver, Ted Simmons, Steve Garvey, Dave Parker and Jack Morris get snubbed by both the BBWA at first, then the Veterans Committee, yet Cooperstown has players like Stonewall Jackson, Chick Hafey, Jesse Haines and “High Pockets” Kelly in there.

GIMMIE A DO-OVER: 1969 VADA PINSON

I've wanted to give one of my favorite players, Vada Pinson, a do-over for his 1969 card for quite some time, so today is the day, with this little beauty:

After playing for the Cincinnati reds for the first eleven seasons of his great (Hall worthy?) career, Pinson was shipped off to the St. Louis Cardinals for Wayne Granger and Bobby Tolan, and Topps scrambled to get him shown as a Cardinal on their card with a hatless image of him clearly in a Reds uni.

Not the worst card out there, but still a bit irksome.

Anyway, I went with another classic image of him as a Reds player, just to cap off his great run with the organization.

When you look at Pinson’s career, you should be impressed with what he accomplished between 1958 and 1975.
The man could slug the ball, hitting 256 home runs, while also swipe the base, as his 305 steals show. He collected 200+ hits in a season four times while topping .300 four times with a high of .343 in 1961 for the pennant winning Reds.
He led the N.L. in hits, doubles and triples two times each, while also topping the Senior Circuit in runs in his first full season, 1959, with 131.
By the time he completed his career, he topped 2700 hits, 1300 runs, 1100 runs batted in, 250 homers and 300 stolen bases.
To this day it amazes me that guys like Pinson, Al Oliver, Steve Garvey, Dave Parker get snubbed by both the BBWA at first, then the Veteran’s Committee, yet Cooperstown has players like Stonewall Jackson, Chick Hafey, Jesse Haines and “High Pockets” Kelly in there.

1960s "IN-ACTION": 1963 VADA PINSON

Good day everyone.

On the blog today we have the next 1960s star getting the "In-Action" treatment, this time one of my favorite overlooked players, Vada Pinson, a Hall of Famer in my eyes:

Just a beauty of a card showing the All-Star outfielder at the plate during his days as a Cincinnati Reds player.

This will be part of my third series of printed "1960s In-Action" cards due for a release in a couple of months, packed with star power along the lines I established with the first two sets.

I’ve always loved his career, and wonder had he not played the bulk of his Big League time in the shadows of Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente and Frank Robinson, would he have made it all the way to the Hall of Fame.
Four-times he’d collect over 200 hits, seven times over 20-home runs, nine times over 20-stolen bases, and the man only made two All-Star teams!
Just an awesome career that saw him finish with over 2700 hits, 250 homers and 300 stolen bases, while also collecting over 480 doubles and 120 triples.

This man was solid, and produced no matter where he played over his stellar career!

 

COACH CARD- 1977 VADA PINSON

Up on the blog today, you know I'll take any excuse to create a card for one of the great under-appreciated players of his era, Vada Pinson, who was one of the coaches on the inaugural Seattle Mariners team of 1977:

 

Pinson signed with the Brewers as a Free Agent in January of 1976 after a year with the Kansas City Royals.

Sadly, the Brewers released Pinson right as the season started on April 4th, deying us an extra season of the man trying to chase 3000 hits.

Well, what would a man of his stature do with all that free time?

Take his knowledge of the game and put it to good use as a coach!

I’ve always loved his career, and wonder had he not played the bulk of his Big League time in the shadows of Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente and Frank Robinson, would he have made it all the way to the Hall of Fame.
Four-times he’d collect over 200 hits, seven times over 20-home runs, nine times over 20-stolen bases, and the man only made two All-Star teams!
Just an awesome career that saw him finish with over 2700 hits, 250 homers and 300 stolen bases, while also collecting over 480 doubles and 120 triples.

Sadly, he passed away far too soon after suffering a stroke at the age of 57 in 1995.

FANTASY CARD- 1977 VADA PINSON AS A MILWAUKEE BREWER

For any of you that have been following the blog for some time, you know that I love Vada Pinson and think he is criminally overlooked.

So anytime I can go ahead and create a card for him I will, and today I am happy to add a fantasy 1977 card showing him as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers, for whom he almost played for during the 1976 season:

Pinson signed with the Brewers as a Free Agent in January of 1976 after a year with the Kansas City Royals.

Sadly, the Brewers released Pinson right as the season started on April 4th, deying us an extra season of the man trying to chase 3000 hits.

Nevertheless, I just came across this awesome photo of him suited up as a Brewer, so let's just imagine he played that last season with Milwaukee, leading to this beauty shall we?

I’ve always loved his career, and wonder had he not played the bulk of his Big League time in the shadows of Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente and Frank Robinson, would he have made it all the way to the Hall of Fame.
Four-times he’d collect over 200 hits, seven times over 20-home runs, nine times over 20-stolen bases, and the man only made two All-Star teams!
Just an awesome career that saw him finish with over 2700 hits, 250 homers and 300 stolen bases, while also collecting over 480 doubles and 120 triples.

 

THE 1970 VADA PINSON CARD- AIRBRUSHED OR NOT?

I’ll use any reason to post up about one of the great underrated players of the era, Vada Pinson, so today I’m taking a look at his 1970 card and wondering: was this card airbrushed?

I keep going back and forth, never really deciding for sure either way.
Pinson was traded by the St. Louis Cardinals on November 21st of 1969 for Jose Cardenal, so I don’t believe even with a later-series card in the 1970 set Topps would have had a chance to shoot him in an Indians uni, especially with the photography problems they had at that time.
So what this looks like is an older shot of him with the Cincinnati Reds, and they very cleverly took the “C” logo and gently outlined it in “Indians-blue”.
Genius. Very simple, but very effective.
As for Pinson, I’ve always loved his career, and wonder had he not played the bulk of his Big League time in the shadows of Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente and Frank Robinson, would he have made it all the way to the Hall of Fame.
Four-times he’d collect over 200 hits, seven times over 20-home runs, nine times over 20-stolen bases, and the man only made two All-Star teams!
Just an awesome career that saw him finish with over 2700 hits, 250 homers and 300 stolen bases, while also collecting over 480 doubles and 120 triples.

TRADED- 1974 VADA PINSON

Although I usually create a new lay-out for a “Traded What-if?” card in this series, today I post my 1974 traded card for grossly underrated (and in my opinion a Hall of Fame caliber) player Vada Pinson in the format Topps released as part of their set:

Pinson was traded over to Royals for Barry Raziano and some cash from the California Angels, and he’d finish off his awesome career with two seasons in KC, marking 18-years as a Major League star who just had the bad luck of playing the National League outfield when guys like Mays, Aaron, Clemente and Robinson were there as well, getting all the attention.
But when you look at Pinson’s career, you should be impressed with what he accomplished between 1958 and 1975.
The man could slug the ball, hitting 256 home runs, while also swipe the base, as his 305 steals show. He collected 200+ hits in a season four times while topping .300 four times with a high of .343 in 1961 for the pennant winning Reds.
He led the N.L. in hits, doubles and triples two times each, while also topping the Senior Circuit in runs in his first full season, 1959, with 131.
By the time he completed his career, he topped 2700 hits, 1300 runs, 1100 runs batted in, 250 homers and 300 stolen bases.
To this day it amazes me that guys like Pinson, Al Oliver, Ted Simmons, Steve Garvey, Dave Parker and Jack Morris get snubbed by both the BBWA at first, then the Veteran’s Committee, yet Cooperstown has players like Stonewall Jackson, Chick Hafey, Jesse Haines and “High Pockets” Kelly in there.

FANTASY COACH CARD: 1978 VADA PINSON

Here’s a 1978 Topps coach card I created for a player who I feel put together a Hall of Fame worthy career, Vada Pinson:

After his awesome career ended a couple of years earlier, Pinson was one of the first coaches for the expansion Seattle Mariners beginning in 1977.
If you look at the Mariners 1977 team card you see him listed as such on the front with other coaches and the first manager in organization history Darrell Johnson.
He would remain a coach in the Majors until the 1994 season before sadly suffering a stroke and passing away at the young age of 57.
For those that are not too familiar with Pinson’s career, take a gander at what he did on the field, INCREDIBLY underrated!
The man had both speed and power, consistently produced over a long career, and was highly respected by so many of his peers.
Put him in the Hall already!

MISSING IN ACTION-"IN ACTION" #22: 1972 VADA PINSON

Let's give a terribly underrated player an "In Action" card in the 1972 set: Vada Pinson.

Take a look at the nice photo I came across:

I'm really digging the way this card came out!

And I am always a sucker for a famous "photobomb", in this case future Hall of Famer and former teammate of Pinson while on the Reds, Frank Robinson.

Pinson was playing in his first season with the California Angels in 1972 after two seasons in Cleveland.

After playing for the Angels for two years he'd move on to the Kansas City Royals until the end of the 1975 season, retiring with over 2700 hits, 1350 runs scored, 485 doubles, 127 triples, 250 homers 1150 runs batted in and 300 stolen bases.

Think of those numbers folks. Awesome.

He posted four 200+ hit seasons, seven 20+ homer seasons, two 100-R.B.I. seasons, four 100-runs seasons, five 10+ triples seasons, seven 30+ doubles seasons and nine 20+ stolen base seasons!

He could do it all, and yet seems to have been terribly ignored through the years after his retirement, especially for Hall of Fame induction. 

The best tally he ever got in that regard was 15.7% in 1988, and ran out of eligibility in 1996.

I don't know how many of you feel out there, but Vada Pinson was an amazing player and should have gotten a bit more respect for induction, don't you think?

THEN AND NOW #22: VADA PINSON 1976

Here is a card I had a heck of a time designing, a 1976 "Then and Now" Vada Pinson edition.

Check it out.

I have to apologize for the "sub-standard" quality of the main image…

Anyone familiar with the SSPC set would recognize the photo of Pinson as a Royal, and while I stay away from using images from that set for anything I do, you'd be amazed how impossible it was for me to find a good picture of Pinson from 1974/75!

Then again, I shouldn't be surprised, since (in my opinion) Pinson is about as underrated a player from that era as there was!

If you've followed this blog since I started it about a year and a half ago, you'd know how much I feel Vada Pinson was never given the credit he was due, especially since he retired from the game after the 1975 season.

Here's a guy who finished his career with 2757 hits, 1365 runs scored, 256 home runs and 305 stolen bases, all during the pitching-era of the 1960's/early-70's.

He posted 200-hits four times, 100-R.B.I.'s twice, 100 runs scored four times, 20+ stolen bases nine times, 20+ homers seven times, and hit 10 or more triples in a season five times!

Yet with everything I just mentioned, he was an All-Star twice. TWICE!

Then again, when you're manning the outfield in the National League during the 1960's, you're playing in the shadows of guys named Mays, Aaron and Clemente.

Heck, for the first part of his career he was even overshadowed by teammate Frank Robinson!

When Hall of Fame voting came around, Pinson never received more than 15.7% support (1988), and was in single digits 10 of the 15 years eligible for election by the BBWA.

Take a look at his career. Some really eye-popping stuff if you ask me…

ANOTHER CLASSIC CARD: 1971 TOPPS VADA PINSON (#275)

Another one of my favorite cards from the classic 1971 Topps set is card #275, Vada Pinson, one of the most underrated players of his day.

 

Is he safe, or out?!

 

What a nice action shot of Pinson at the plate right after a slide, looking at the ump to see what the call is.

On top of that, who's the catcher with his back to the camera, ball in hand? None other than the king of photo-bombing other players' cards, former Yankee captain Thurman Munson!

Vada Pinson is SO underrated it's a sin!

I mean, here's a guy who had a brilliant 18-year career, garnering 2757 hits, 485 doubles, 127 triples, 256 homers, 305 stolen bases and over 1300+ runs and 1100+ runs batted in!

Four times he had over 200 hits in a season, and lead his league in a major statistic seven times (runs, hits, doubles and triples).

I'm sure playing the outfield in the National League during the era of Clemente, Aaron and Mays doesn't help!

But this guy put up some pretty hefty years for Cincinnati! 

For example check out his line in 1959, his first full season in the big leagues: 131 runs scored, 205 hits, 47 doubles, nine triples, 20 homers and 84 runs batted in, with 21 stolen bases thrown in and a .316 batting average!

In 1961, when teammate Frank Robinson won his N.L. M.V.P. award after leading the Reds to the World Series against the Yanks, Pinson quietly put together his own amazing year, hitting .343 with 101 runs scored, 208 hits, 34 doubles, eight triples and 16 homers along with 87 runs batted in and 23 stolen bases.

I put Pinson in that class of players like Dave Parker, Al Oliver, Ted Simmons and Steve Garvey. Players that inexplicably got little or no "love" when it came time for Hall of Fame consideration.