DON MASON: "WHY NOT?" AND THEN AGAIN "WHY?": 1970 & 1971

Here's another one of those players that got a card one year for NO apparent reason, yet was omitted from another set after substantial playing time the year before: infielder Don Mason of the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres.

First up, he was brought to my attention when I spotted his (badly airbrushed) 1971 Topps card, which when considering he only appeared in 46 games and 41 plate appearances in 1970 with the Giants, leaves you wondering why he even got a card in the first place.

His numbers from 1970 are both sparse and dreadful: 36 at-bats, five hits, a .139 average and one run batted in with zero extra base hits.

Take a look at the original 1971 Topps card (more on this at the end of the post):

So while I was looking at his career stats in regards to the 1971 card I noticed that the guy had decent playing time in 1969 yet was left out of the 1970 Topps set.

In 1969 Mason played in 104 games with 292 plate appearances, hitting .228 with 57 hits, 13 runs batted in and 43 runs scored. He even managed to knock four doubles and two triples. So why no card for him the following year?

That lead me to design the "missing" card for him, and got me searching for a decent picture of him as a San Francisco Giant.

Take a look:

Luckily, not only did I find this shot, but I also came across a nice photo of him as a San Diego Padre, and with that bad airbrushing job of him for the 1971 card, I decided to re-do it with the better picture.

I never redesign a card of a non-star, but I couldn't resist since it all kind of fell into my lap.

Here's my redesign of the 1971 card, with the photo of him in a Padre uniform:

Mason's career lasted eight years, from 1966 to 1973 playing for the two teams shown above.

But it was really only in the 1969 and 1971 seasons that he saw any substantial playing time.

His last season of big league action, 1973, saw him tally eight at-bats in eight games for San Diego before he was out of the Majors for good.

"HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 1970'S" #14: 3000 HITS FOR ROBERTO CLEMENTE

Today's customized "highlight card that should have been" depicts Roberto Clemente's 3000th Major League hit, which he collected on the last game of the season against the Mets on September 30th, 1972.

As we all know the hit would be his last, as he sadly perished in a plane crash while delivering supplies to victims of an earthquake in Nicaragua on December 31st of the same year.

Take a look at my design:

It really would have been nice to have a card like this in the 1973 Topps set, especially considering everything that it could have represented for fans and admirers of the Hall of Famer.

I often forget that Clemente was pinch-hit for in this game, and wonder how different this story could have been had he not doubled in that last at-bat, becoming the eleventh player at the time to reach the historic mark.

Clemente finished with those 3000 hits on 9454 at-bats, good for a career .317 batting average to go along with an M.V.P. award in 1966, eleven Gold Gloves, 12 all-star games and four batting titles in 18 seasons.

In a rare lucid moment, Major League Baseball decided to hold a special election in 1973 and induct Clemente into the Hall of Fame without the standard five year waiting period.

Next up on this thread, another milestone that would have been nice to see represented on a card: Steve Carlton and his 19 strikeouts from 1969 celebrated in the 1970 Topps set.

JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT- 1970'S BASEBALL TRIVIA PART #52

Thursday trivia time again!

And today we'll take a look at pitchers who just missed out on leading their league in one of the "big three" categories: wins, E.R.A.or strikeouts, something these guys never ended up doing in their careers.

The names may be familiar to you, but as league-leaders they could have had their names in spot-lights had their luck fared  just a little better.

Take a shot and see what you can get:

 1. This guy could have had a killer season in 1979 had he gotten his E.R.A just 0.05 lower to lead the National League, a year which saw him gain both 10+ wins and saves. Who was he?

2. This shaggy dude missed leading the National League in wins by one when he had a successful debut season North of the border in 1978. Who was he?

3. This guy toiled throughout the '70's for the Los Angeles Dodgers, but came within 0.05 of leading the league in E.R.A., finishing second behind John Denny of the Cardinals in 1976. Who is it?

4. This pitcher anchored the "Big Red Machine" teams of the mid-70's, yet never lead the league in any of the "big three" stats, but came within one win of doing so in 1974, settling for second place behind Andy Messersmith of the Dodgers and Phil Niekro of the Braves. Who was it?

5. Here's another Cincinnati Reds pitcher, and he came ever so close to denying Steve Carlton a pitching Triple Crown in 1972, posting an E.R.A. just 0.02 off the mark at 1.99. Who was it?

***SPOILER ALERT! ANSWERS BELOW: 


1.  Tom Hume, Reds. He finished behind J.R. Richard of the Astros.

2. Ross Grimsley, Expos. Gaylord Perry lead the league with 21 that year.

3. Doug Rau.

4. Jack Billingham, who posted 19 wins that year.

5. Gary Nolan.

1975 "CY YOUNG AWARD" SUB-SET: WHAT IF? 1969

Today we take a look at 1969, the first season after MLB lowered the pitching mound after the "Year of the Pitcher" in 1968 in hopes of stimulating offense, as baseball was losing ground to the N.F.L. in popularity as "America's Game".

Yet while offense did indeed increase a bit over the previous year, there were still some stellar pitching performances to be had.

And the guys that ended up taking home the Cy Young hardware as top pitchers of their respective leagues were Tom Seaver in the N.L. and Denny McLain and Mike Cuellar in the A.L.

As you all know, for the first (and only) time in Cy Young voting, there was a tie, and it has made for somewhat of a unique card in my thread of an imagined "Cy Young" 1975 sub-set.

Take a look at the end result:

I struggled a bit with this one, trying to come up with a nice, clean design that showed all three pitchers, without altering the continuity of my sub-set too much.

And while I wanted to be a bit more "creative" with this card, the best design really was the ho-hum split panel you see here.

Let's start with the National League's top pitcher, Tom Seaver.

While he burst onto the Major League scene as N.L. Rookie of the Year in 1967, and followed up with a solid sophomore season in 1968, this was the year "Tom Terrific" was born, leading the New York Mets to the most improbable World Championship in ages, defeating the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles juggernaut and posting eye-popping numbers that not only would get him the first of THREE Cy Young Awards, but a second place finish in Most Valuable Player voting as well.

Let the numbers speak for themselves: a 25-7 record, 2.21 earned run average and 208 strikeouts, along with five shutouts and a .781 winning percentage.

Fantastic! And only a single vote for Atlanta Braves pitcher Phil Niekro prevented Seaver from unanimously winning the award.

Of course, we all know that Seaver would wind his career with Hall of Fame numbers, totaling 311 wins, a 2.86 E.R.A., 61 shutouts and 3640 strikeouts, easily entering the hallowed halls of Cooperstown in 1992 after seeing his name on 425 of 430 ballots.

I hate to say it since it was at the expense of the Yankees, but I was in attendance the day Seaver logged his 300th win (on Phil Rizzuto day of all days), in 1985 at Yankee Stadium, and man was it a scene! And I have to admit I went home elated at what I just witnessed.

Over in the American League things got a bit more sticky, as voters ended up with a tie, picking the 1968 A.L. Cy Young winner (and Most Valuable Player), Denny McLain of the Detroit Tigers, AND Mike Cuellar, who excelled in his first year as a Baltimore Oriole after some decent years in the National League, mainly as a Houston Astro.

Both pitchers received 10 first place votes, and it's understandable why, with their final numbers being so close.

Denny McLain followed up his 30-win season of '68 with a nice 24-9 record, along with a 2.80 earned run average, nine shutouts and 181 strikeouts over 41 starts, while Mike Cuellar was equally as impressive, posting a 23-11 record with a 2.38 E.R.A., five shutouts and 182 strikeouts over 39 starts for the powerful Baltimore pitching staff that also featured Dave McNally and Jim Palmer.

And while both pitchers didn't end up in the Hall of Fame like their National League counterpart, they did fashion nice Major League careers, Cuellar ending up with a 185-130 record, and McLain with a 131-91 mark.

OK, next up we move into the 1970's, and take a look at the 1970 Cy Young Award winners: Jim Perry of the Minnesota Twins and Bob Gibson of the St. Louis Cardinals.

MISSING IN ACTION-1976 DAVE McNALLY

Here's a guy who get's overlooked quite a bit when we think of pitchers from the 1970's: Dave McNally.

And it's really a shame since not only was he an all-star performer for a bunch of years, but he was also instrumental in eradicating baseball's reserve clause in the mid-70's along with more notable names like Curt Flood and Andy Messersmith.

But before we get to all of that, let's take a look at the 1976 Topps card I designed for him, showing him as a Montreal Expos player:

This would have been his final card, as he never played beyond the 1975 season and appeared in that Topps set as a Baltimore Oriole, the only team he played for before that last "hurrah" North of the border.

For the 1975 season, McNally started 12 games for the Expos, and posted a 3-6 record with a 5.24 E.R.A and 33 strikeouts in 77.1 innings pitched.

However it was how he ended up playing in 1975 that made history.

Never intending to play beyond 1974, McNally actually retired before being convinced by Player's Union Executive Director Marvin Miller to add his name to the grievance the Player's Union filed contesting the age-old "Reserve Clause" along with star pitcher Messersmith.

As explained online under the "Seitz Decision" (named for the ruling arbitrator Peter Seitz):

"In 1975, Messersmith of the Los Angeles Dodgers and McNally of the Montreal Expos had had their 1974 contracts renewed by their teams on the basis of this reserve clause. Since neither signed a contract during that option year, both insisted that they were free to sign with other teams the following season. The owners disagreed, arguing that under the reserve clause the one-year contracts were perpetually renewed.

The two players submitted the grievance to arbitration, and Seitz later issued his ruling that Messersmith and McNally were free to bargain with other teams because organized baseball could only maintain a player's services for one year after expiration of the previous contract."

This was HUGE, as it lead the the free for all we all know today as Free Agency.

For McNally, he ended up retiring at the young age of 32, leaving behind quite a resume: four 20-game winning seasons, two World Championships, a 184-119 career record, and a title-winning shutout in the 1966 World Series where the Orioles upset the favored Dodgers, sweeping them 4 games to none.

McNally threw a four-hit shutout against losing pitcher Don Drysdale to go along with shutouts thrown by teammates Wally Bunker and Jim Palmer.

He's also the only pitcher to hit a grand slam in the World Series, doing so in Game 3 of the '70 series against the Reds, and only one of two pitchers (Roger Clemens the other) of winning 12 straight decisions three times in his career, including 17 straight over the 1968 and 1969 seasons.

On top of all of that, he also came into the big leagues with a bang, tossing a 2-hit shutout against the Kansas City Athletics on September 26th, 1962 at the ripe old age of 19! Nice…

So call this a "career capper", or a "missing in action" card, but let's close the books on McNally and his solid career with one last card.

"HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 1970'S" #13: 500 HOME RUNS FOR ERNIE BANKS

Not only are these "highlight" cards a blast to design, but the 1971 cards are especially fun to work with, as the bold black border allows colors to fly off of them!

Today is one such card, celebrating Ernie Banks' 500th Major League home run, which he blasted on May 12th of 1970 at Wrigley Field against the Atlanta Braves.

Take a look at my card design:

Once again,  it would have been nice to have such a card inserted in Topps' set that year.

The photo I used was tagged as a shot from 1970. However I don't think that's correct since he's not wearing a batting helmet.
But it does work with the card so I let it fly, but not before I added a yellow tone over it.

Man, that 1970 baseball season was chock full of highlights! 500 homers by Banks, 3000 hits by BOTH Aaron and Mays, 1000 games by Wilhelm: you think Topps could have really filled out that set nicely with a substantial sub-set!

Then again, they DID issue that beautiful "Greatest Moments" set (that was already too expensive for me to chase even back in the early '80's as a kid!).

Anyway, Banks finally reached the inevitable on that May day, becoming the ninth player in history at the time to reach the milestone.

He'd eventually end his career shortly thereafter with 512 homers, complimenting his awesome Hall of Fame career which saw him retire as the all-time Cubs leader in games, at-bats, extra-base hits, homers and total bases.

Getting inducted into Cooperstown was merely a formality for one of the game's most popular player to this very day.

Hope you enjoy this design as much as I do.

"Let's play two"!!!

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…