1984 CAREER-CAPPER: CARL YASTRZEMSKI

Time to "break out of the 1970's" once again and create a 1984 "career-capper" for Boston Red Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski, who closed out a stellar Big League career in 1983:

As someone who grew up in New York City during the second half of his career, it's really easy to forget that Yastrzemski was a Long Island, New York boy before he went on to become a New England legend.

And how could he NOT become a legend, what with 23 years of Major League ball, all with the Red Sox, turning in three batting titles, a Triple Crown in 1967 along with an MVP Award, seven Gold Gloves, 18 all-star nods, and 25 league-leads in primary offensive categories.

By the time he did the retirement tour in 1983, he scored 1816 runs, collected 3419 hits, 646 doubles, 452 homers, 1844 runs batted in along with a .285 batting average.

He was just plain awesome…

 

SPECIAL REQUEST: 1986 "NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION" JOE SAMBITO

Well, here's a special request that came out of nowhere!

For my buddy Rich, I post up my "not so missing" 1986 card for former pitcher NJoe Sambito, who funny enough would actually have a card in the year-end 1986 Topps Traded set, but NOT the base set:

After appearing in only eight games for the Mets in 1985, Topps didn't feel the need to include him in the base set that year, especially when you consider his 12.66 earned run average over 10.2 innings over those eight games.

But after finding himself with the Boston Red Sox for the 1986 campaign, and rediscovering his form somewhat, to where he became an important part of the American League champions' bullpen to the tune of a 2-0 record with a 4.84 ERA over 44.2 innings, with 12 saves, Topps did go ahead and include him in the traded set.

Between 1976 and 1984 Sambito was an excellent relief pitcher with the Houston Astros, especially his 1979 season that saw him make his only All-Star team when he went 8-7 with a brilliant 1.77 ERA over 63 games, with 22 saves and 83 strikeouts in 91.1 innings of work.

Two years later he'd post a 1.84 ERA over 49 games, followed by a 1982 season that saw him post a 0.71 ERA, albeit over only nine games due to injury.

All told, Sambito would play 11 years, going 37-38 over 461 games, with a very nice 3.03 ERA and 84 saves in 629 innings pitched.

 

A SET THAT NEVER WAS: 1971 ALL-STAR TICKET SET: BUD HARRELSON

Next up in my "set that never was" WTHBALLS custom archive is my 1972 All-Star ticket card for the starting shortstop in the 1971 Midsummer Classic, New York Met Bud Harrelson:

Harrelson made his second straight All-Star team in 1971, arguably his two best seasons in the Big Leagues, in which he got MVP consideration at the end of the year, as well as winning his only Gold Glove.

The typical "light-hitting/good fielding" middle infielder of the time, he gave the Mets a solid glove man up the middle between 1965 and 1977 before taking his leather to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1978.

By the time he retired after the 1980 season after one year with the Texas Rangers, he finished with a career .236 average, with 1120 hits in 4744 at-bats, with 539 runs scored, 127 stolen bases and 267 RBIs over 1533 games.

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: JIM PALMER

Let's go an add the great Jim Palmer to my future custom WTHBALLS "Classic Baseball" set, shall we?

Palmer’s road to Cooperstown was a bit rocky at first, with a couple of jumps and starts because of injuries between 1964 and 1968.
As a matter of fact we’d probably be looking at a 300-game winner if not for over a season of missed time between 1967 and 1968.
Though he had a great first professional season in 1964 as an 18-year-old, going a combined 15-5 in the O’s system, he found himself on a Major League mound in 1966, still a teen, going 5-4.
In 1966 he’d improve to a record of 15-10 for the surprising eventual World Champs, shocking everyone with a sweep of the reigning champion Los Angeles Dodgers, with Palmer contributing a complete game shutout.
But injuries derailed him until 1969 when he hit his stride, going 16-4 with a 2.34 ERA and six shutouts, completing 11 of 23 starts.
From there, all the man did was top 20-wins in eight of the next nine seasons, winning three Cy Young Awards, the first American League pitcher to do so, helping the Orioles to another championship in 1970, eventually finishing with a career 268-152 record along with a brilliant 2.86 ERA and 53 shutouts before he was done in 1984.

 

REVISITING A "MISSING" 1978 CARD FOR PAUL SIEBERT

Time to go and revisit a "missing" 1978 card for former New York Mets pitcher Paul Siebert, originally on the blog in October of 2015:

Siebert appeared in 25 games with the Mets after coming over from the San Diego Padres during the season.
He posted a 2-1 record (all with the Mets), with a 3.69 earned run average over 29 games and 31.2 innings of work.
In his short five-year career he went on to post a 3-8 record with a 3.77 ERA and 59 strikeouts over 129 innings and 87 appearances.
Keep an eye out for his “missing” 1979 card in the near future as well!

 

THE WHOLE NINE:SERIES 2-NOT REALLY MISSING: 1983 DON MATTINGLY

On the blog today, at long last, the first entry after 11-plus years in the blog's existence, a card for my favorite player growing up, Don Mattingly, who gets a "not so missing" 1983 card that was part of my "Whole Nine: Series 2" set released a few months back:

Mattingly made his Big League debut with the New York Yankees in 1982, when he appeared in seven games for the second-to-last-place team in a disappointing year after a World Series berth the year prior.

He went 2-for-12 at the plate, which comes to a .167 batting average, while playing both outfield corners and first base.

1983 would fare much better for the young man, as he hit .283 over 91 games, even putting together a small batting streak that was actually busted up by the famous "Pine Tar Game" as I remember it way back when.

From then on, until serious back problems cut his career short at the age of only 34 in 1995, Mattingly became a New York "God", winning a batting title in 1984, an MVP the following year when he drove in 145 runs while hitting .324 with 35 homers, a season that also saw him take home the first of his nine Gold Glove Awards for his defensive excellence.

I still feel he was robbed of an MVP Award in 1986 when pitcher Roger Clemens took home the Award, but hey, 38 years later some things will never go away for me.

As stated earlier, just when you thought he was paving a clear path to the Hall of Fame, back issues took so much out of his whip-like swing, that his power was taken away, and the final six years of his 14 year career were solid, but certainly not what fans saw the first half of his tenure.

When he retired, sadly one season before the Yanks made it to the World Series and winning it all, thus starting a dynasty that would last through 2003, Mattingly finished with a .307 lifetime average, with 2153 hits and 1099 RBIs over 1785 games, hitting 222 homers, 442 doubles and scoring 1007 runs.

When I tell you I idolized the man as a teen in Brooklyn during his career, I cannot overstate it, as he was without question one of two true idols I had, the other being singer Robert Smith of The Cure.

Just an amazing player that was sadly taken down by unjury.

"Donnie Baseball", "The Hit Man", however you remember him way back when, he was the best!

 

WTHBALLS CUSTOM SET SPOTLIGHT: 1890 "BASEBALL CHAMPIONS" TIM KEEFE

Next custom "19th Century Base Ball Champions" card to get the spotlight here on the blog years after its release in 2018 by yours truly? That would be the one of Hall of Fame pitcher Tim Keefe:

Over his illustrious 14 year career between 1880 and 1893, the man posted 342 wins along with a 2.63 earned run average, with 39 shutouts, completing 554 of 594 starts.

Breaking in with Troy in 1880, the 23-year-old completed all twelve of his starts, and led the league with a microscopic 0.86 ERA in 105 innings of work, going 6-6 along the way.

Two seasons later, in 1883, he'd post one of the greatest seasons a pitcher ever had, going 41-27 over 68 games, completing ALL 68, for 619 innings pitched, striking out 359 batters and posting a 2.41 ERA.

Though I am not one for modern analytics, etc, according to the "new math", this gave Keefe a WAR of 19.9, and it seems that my friends, is absurd!

He would post six 30+ win seasons, topping 40 twice, while leading the league in wins twice, ERA three times and strikeouts two times, mainly for the New York Giants.

In 1964 the Veterans Committee selected him for Hall enshrinement, joining contemporaries Pud Galvin, Kid Nichols, etc representing the creme-de-la-creme of 19th Century pitching.