ONE OF MY ALL-TIME FAVORITES: 1978 EDDIE MURRAY ROOKIE CARD

Today I'd like to profile another of my all-time favorite cards: 1978 Topps Eddie Murray (#36) rookie card.

God I love this card!

The colors, the great image of the young star, the rookie cup at the bottom. It was perfect!

What a cock-sure look on the young slugger's face, coming off a rookie of the year season in 1977 which saw him slug 27 homers with 88 runs batted in while hitting at a .283 pace.

Take a look:

 

An all-time classic rookie card!

 

That rookie season was ONLY the beginning for Murray, as he would go on to become one of the most consistent hitters in baseball history over the course of the next 21 years.

From 1977 through 1996, TWENTY YEARS, Murray would never drive in less than 76 runs in any season, including six 100+ and six 90+ seasons.

In those twenty years, he'd also hit 20+ homers 16 times, and would finish with eight top five finishes in M.V.P. voting!

A little known bit regarding Murray and his amazing career: In 1990 he would lead the Major Leagues in batting with a .330 average, yet never get credit for a title since Willie McGee hit .335 for the Cardinals before getting traded to the A's, where he would only hit .274, lowering his season average to .324 combined.

But as it is, his .335 average is what counts towards the N.L. title, with George Brett hitting .329 to lead the American league, leaving Murray with the odd fate of having the highest batting average for the 1990 season without winning the title.

Seems like the perfect example of Murray's career: a guy who basically stayed in the shadows, producing year after year without much fanfare, while guys like Cal Ripken, Robin Yount and Willie McGee took the spotlight and awards by season's end.

But when it was all said and done, Eddie Murray put together a monster of a Hall of Fame career, hitting 504 home runs, driving in 1917 runs, scoring 1627 of them himself, and totaling 3255 hits!

After hanging them up in 1997, he was an easy inductee to the Hall of Fame in 2003, getting named on 423 of 496 ballots.

It only leaves me wondering what sportswriters left him OFF the ballot!

The whole "unanimous" paranoia of Hall of Fame voting leaves me shaking my head every time…

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.

RANDOM QUICKIE: "YOU CAN TRY..."

"…BUT YOU CAN'T RUN FROM OSCAR GAMBLE'S AFRO!!!"

Ha!

I never noticed before, but behind George Hendrick on his 1976 Topps card (#570), we have the afro of ALL afro's, Oscar Gamble's fluffy dome cover, making yet another appearance!

Hilarious!

The 'fro was an entity unto itself huh?!

You just gotta love it! Take a look:

Oscar Gamble and the 'fro that ate Cleveland make an appearance.

By the way, I DO love the Cleveland Indians visor Hendrick is sporting, as well as the distant gaze he's exhibiting, as if contemplating life's true meaning or something.

Maybe he was wondering just how much longer he had to toil in Cleveland?

He had no need to worry though if that was the case.

After one more productive year with the Indians, he'd be off to San Diego for about a year and a half before moving on to St. Louis, where he'd be an important cog on some good teams, including their 1982 world championship squad.

DEDICATED "ROOKIE CARDS" #6: 1972 CARLTON FISK

While Carlton Fisk's 1972 rookie card (#79) is one of the nicer rookie cards of the decade in my book, both for design AND the fact that one of my favorite players from my childhood is also on it, Cecil Cooper, it still would have been nice to have a "dedicated" rookie card of "Pudge" instead of a three-player card as seen below.

Great rookie card featuring two stars of the game.

Today I post up what could be the last "dedicated rookie" subject in the thread, since Fisk is the last of future Hall of Fame players who had a shared rookie card during the 70's.

(Jack Morris may make the Hall, but he DID have a nice 1978 Burger King card that would qualify as a dedicated rookie.)

I may branch out to other stars of the game during the era, like Thurman Munson and Dale Murphy, but time will tell.

But for now, allow me to present my design of a 1972 Carlton Fisk "dedicated" rookie card, using a great 1972 photo from Sports Illustrated as the card image.

Enjoy…

Dedicated 1972 Carlton Fisk design.

On a side note, Cecil Cooper really was one of my favorite players growing up, and I feel he is often a forgotten star of the late 1970's-early 1980's with the Milwaukee Brewers.

I'll have to find something to profile him with later on…

JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT- 1970'S BASEBALL TRIVIA PART XXVI

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

Time for this week's trivia questions. Answers will be posted tomorrow down below:


1. Who posted the fewest at-bats on his way to a batting championship during the decade?

2. Who scored the fewest runs during a batting championship season?

3. What batting champ had the fewest amount of hits during his league-topping season?

4. What batting champ had the fewest extra-base hits during the 70's?

5. Who was the only batting champ during the 1970's to whiff over 100 times in the same season as his batting win?

***SPOILER ALERT! ANSWERS BELOW: 

1. Rico Carty, Atlanta Braves, 1970. 478 at-bats.

2. Rod Carew, Minnesota Twins. 1972. 61 runs.
 
3. Tony Oliva, Minnesota Twins. 1971. 164 hits.
 
4. Rod Carew, Minnesota Twins. 1972. Only 27 EBH: 21 doubles, 6 triples and 0 Home runs.

5. Dave Parker, Pittsburgh Pirates. 1977. 102 K's.

MISSING IN ACTION- 1971 TONY LARUSSA

As we all know, Tony LaRussa the "manager" is one of the all-time greats.

Between 1979 and 2011, a span of 33 years, he managed three teams (White Sox, A's and Cardinals) to 2728 victories, six pennants, three world championships, and 12 first place finishes.

You can easily make an argument for LaRussa as the best modern era manager in baseball.

Now, Tony LaRussa the "player". Well…

Let's just say that he never really fulfilled the promise on THAT end of his career.

He came up in 1963 for a brief cup of coffee with the Kansas City Athletics, but wouldn't make it back up to the big leagues again until 1968, when he appeared in only five games, good for three at-bats.

Actually, in his six year playing career, he never really got a chunk of playing time in any one season.

However, ironically enough, the MOST action he ever saw was during the 1970 season while still playing for the A's, when he got into 52 games at second base, good for 106 at-bats.

He didn't make much of the opportunity, batting .198 with 21 hits and six runs batted in.

However, if there was EVER a year where Topps should have given the guy a baseball card you think it would be the only year he scraped together more than 100+ plate appearances, no?

Yet Topps didn't have a LaRussa card in their 1971 set, even though he WAS included in their sets in 1964, 1968 and 1972.

Go figure…

Well, today I post up a "missing" design for a 1971 Tony LaRussa card.

Even though his playing days left a lot to be desired, he was well on his way to the Hall of Fame once he got the hold of managing a squad in 1979.

LaRussa already has the look of a leader!

"NO JIM BOUTON CARD...BUT THIS GUY???!!!"

So, can someone please explain Topps selection process when it came to their 1970 set?

Earlier on this blog I designed a Jim Bouton card that was "missing" from the set, since the guy pitched in 73 games, good for 122.2 innings for both the Seattle Pilots and Houston Astros. We're talking about a former 20-game winner for the New York Yankees, and a renowned character.

Yet for some reason, a player who sported the following line for the 1969 season was worthy of a card instead: 1-1, 18.00 E.R.A., 6 games, 5 innings, and TEN earned runs on TEN hits?!

Ha!

The player is Jose Pena, shown as a Los Angeles Dodger, but in actually played for the Cincinnati Reds in '69.

As a matter of fact you can see the Reds' uniform peeking out in the photo used for the card.

Pena looks as confused as I am about this card...

Not only did Pena give up ten hits and runs over those five innings, but he also managed to walk five guys as well!

Whew! That's a cool 3.000 WHIP!

Now, Pena DID go on to have a "better" 1970 season for the Dodgers, going 4-3 with a 4.42 earned run average over the course of 29 games and 57 innings.

But honestly, I guess it was easier to pick a guy like Pena for a slot in the 1970 set than the "trouble-maker" Bouton, who was about to have his book "Ball Four" published, angering the baseball "Gods" with somewhat of a tell-all tome, which then baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn called "detrimental to baseball".

(By the way: if any of you out there haven't read the book yet, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! Go and get a copy!)

Anyway, just one of those cards that leaves you scratching your head, wondering why there wasn't ANYONE else Topps could have given the slot to (a final Don Drysdale card anyone?!).