NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1980 DAVE RIGHETTI

Fun card to add to the WTHBALLS stable today, a "not so missing" 1980 card for Dave Righetti, a New York Yankee mainstay through the 1980s, but someone who actually made his Big League debut in 1979:

Righetti appeared in three games, all starts, for the Yankees, tossing 17.1 innings and going 0-1 with a 3.63 ERA at the age of 20.

He'd be back with a bang the next season, as he posted a record of 8-4 over 15 starts, just missing the ERA crown by falling short of innings required by 1.2 innings! Yep, someone on the Yankees dropped the ball on this and didn't get Righetti some mop-up role at the end of the year to bring home the ERA crown, as his 2.05 mark was far better than the guy who did win the ERA title, Oakland A's pitcher Steve McCatty, who finished with a 2.33 ERA over 185.2 innings.

Nevertheless, Righetti became a cog of the Yankees through the 1980's as a starter and reliever, posting a few solid seasons as a starter between 1981 and 1983 including the classic July 4th no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox in '83, before converting to a relief role the rest of his very nice 16 year career, including his 1986 campaign that saw him establish the (then) MLB record 46 saves, earning him a fourth-place finish in the Cy Young race.

By the time he retired after the 1995 season, he finished with a record of 82-79 over 718 games, with a 3.46 ERA in 1403 innings, with 252 saves.

MISSING IN ACTION: 1974 RICK REICHARDT

Time to finally create a "missing" 1974 card for uber-Bonus-Baby Rick Reichardt, who was coming to the end of an unfulfilled Major League career after only a decade or so:

Reichardt appeared in 87 games over the 1973 season, split between the Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals, hitting .250 with six homers and 33 runs batted in.

He'd appear in one single game in 1974 before finally retiring, ending what was once a very promising career that was derailed by kidney problems.

Of course, Reichardt is well remembered as a spectacular two-sport superstar at the University of Wisconsin, so much so that a bidding war began by Major League clubs for his services, eventually having him sign a then unheard of $200,000 signing bonus with the (then) Los Angeles Angels of the American League.
This necessitated the development of the Amateur Draft, which began the very next year in hopes of curtailing such a wild scenario as the Reichardt affair.
Sadly for Reichardt, a serious kidney ailment cut short an excellent 1966 season which saw him have a kidney removed, and though he put up some decent numbers from time to time through the rest of his career, he was never the same again.
His last Topps card was in the 1971 set, which is odd since he really should have had a card from 1972 to 1974.

 

REVISITING MY 1973 "NICKNAME" CARD FOR JIMMY WYNN

On the blog today, we go back 10 years or so and revisit my 1973 "Nicknames of the 1970s" card for the "Toy Cannon", Jimmy Wynn:

I used a 1973 template to play around with the cannon icon in the lower right-hand corner, while also giving him a card while he was still in a Houston uniform before he went on to play for the Dodgers and get named to two consecutive all-star starts in 1974 and 1975.

Wynn put up some solid years during his excellent 15-year career.

Eight times he'd top 20 homers, with three of them 30+, while also driving in 100+ runs twice, scoring 100+ runs four times and topping 100 walks six times, two seasons of which he'd lead the National League, with a high of 148 in 1969.

While slugging away, he was also a threat on the base paths, as he'd go on to swipe a total of 225 before retiring, with a high of 43 in 1965.

After a handful of games with the Milwaukee Brewers in the latter half of 1977, he called it a career, finishing with 1100+ runs scored, 1665 hits, 291 homers and 964 runs batted in, with a .250 average thrown in.

 

MISSING IN ACTION: 1967 ROY WHITE

Today on the blog we have a "missing" 1967 card for the quiet one, former New York Yankee lifer Roy White, about as solid and under the radar as they came:

Though White was part of a multi-player rookie card in the 1966 set, Topps left him out of the '67 set, even though he appeared in 115 game in 1966, hitting .225 over 356 plate appearances.

By now White was where he would play all the way through the 1979 campaign before making his way to Japan to finish up his pro career.

He became a dependable starting outfielder within three years, on his way to a career that spanned the “dark years” in the Bronx from 1965 through the end of the decade through to the successes of the “Bronx Zoo” teams that won two World Series and three pennants.
Even though the man was a New York Yankee "lifer", playing 15 years between 1965 and 1979 wearing only the Yankee pinstripes, White was often overshadowed by the likes of Mantle, Munson, Murcer, Nettles and Jackson.
Nevertheless he put in a very solid career, amassing over 1800 hits, with just under 1000 runs scored, 160 home runs and 233 stolen bases.
After his Major League playing days he even put in three good years in Japan, playing for the Yomiuri Giants between 1980-1982.
Just a quiet, solid player who more than did his job while between the foul lines, year in and year out.
I've mentioned this earlier here on this blog: years later I would end up befriending and DJ-ing in the same club scene here in NYC with his son Reade, even though he never DID tell me who his father was!
I'd only find out years later from a mutual friend after I was long gone from the club-circuit…
Would have been nice to try and schmooze a conversation or two with the senior White in the early-90's!

GIMMIE A DO-OVER: 1970 RUDY MAY

Thought it'd be fun to give former pitcher Rudy May a "do-over" on his 1970 card, so here you go, using a much better image of him during his time as a California Angel:

My re-done version

Original Topps release

May made his Major League debut in 1965 as a 20-year-old, appearing in 30 games and tossing 124 innings, certainly good enough for a card in the 1966 set.

He posted a record of 4-9 with a 3.92 earned run average, striking out 76 batters while throwing a shutout.

All told, he posted a 152-159 career record, with a 3.46 earned run average, 24 shutouts, 12 saves and 1760 strikeouts between 1965 and 1983.

His finest year was easily 1980, when he led the American League in E.R.A. with a nice 2.46 mark, WHIP at 1.044 and strikeouts-to-walks with a 3.41 number as a member of the New York Yankees.

 

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: MINNIE MINOSO

Let us go and add the great Minnie Minoso to my long-running custom "Classic Baseball" set, a WTHBALLS exclusive design that I hope to have printed up this Spring:

I'm so happy that Minoso is finally a Hall of Famer, and I always felt the stunts in 1976 and 1980 may have even hurt his chances of getting into Cooperstown.
From 1951 to 1961 he had a wonderful Major League career, leading the league in stolen bases three times, triples three times, and hits and doubles once each, while also driving in over 100 runs four times and topping 20 homers four times.
Eight times in that span he would top a .300 batting average, and in 1951 many consider him the true American League Rookie of the Year when he hit .326 split between the Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox, while topping the league in triples with 14 and stolen bases with 31.
Along the way he was named to seven All-Star games, winning three Gold Gloves as well, funny enough finishing fourth in the A.L. MVP race four times.
Of course, 12 years after his last playing days, in 1976, he ended up going 1-for-8 at the plate as a 50 year-old, then coming back in 1980 at the age of 54 and going hitless in two at-bats.
Nevertheless, Minoso finished his career with a .298 average, with 1963 hits over 6579 at-bats, along with 186 homers and 205 stolen bases while also topping 1000 runs scored and RBIs, 1136 & 1023 respectively.

If only he didn't have to wait until his age 27 season to show the ENTIRE country what he could do on a ball field.

 

CAREER-CAPPER: 1985 JIM PALMER

Let's venture into the 1980s again and have me post up my 1985 "career-capper" for the great Jim Palmer, who finished up his incredible Hall of Fame career in 1984:

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.