WTHBALLS CUSTOM SET SPOTLIGHT: 1960S STARS OF THE GAME: WARREN SPAHN

On the blog today, we spotlight my 1960 "Stars of the Game" card of legend Warren Spahn, from my custom Gelatin set released back in 2018:

Anyone who has followed this blog long enough knows by now that any time I can create a card for the mighty lefty, I will take it!

The man was amazing, flat out, and by the time he retired in 1965 he posted a 363-245 record, with a 3.09 ERA, 63 shutouts, 28 saves and 2583 strikeouts over 750 appearances, 665 of which were starts.

Oh yeah, he also hit 35 career home runs along with 189 runs batted in with (coincidentally) 363 hits!

And remember he didn’t win his first game until he was 25 years of age, as he served in the military from 1943 to 1945.

His first 20-game season was 1947 (at the age of 26), and he kept right on rolling until his final 20-game season in 1963!

In between, he ended up posting 13 such campaigns, leading the league eight times (with five of those coming consecutively from 1957 to 1961).

 

A REDO OF ONE OF MY OWN: 1970 DON DRYSDALE CAREER CAPPER

On the blog today, I never realized that I forgot to post here my redone 1970 Career Capper for "Double-D" Don Drysdale, for my Series 11 set released back in October of 2022:

This image made much more sense than the one I used when I first created such a card back in 2014, with this image a nice posed shot of the feared slinger at the end of his career.

Though retiring at such a young age, Drysdale still collected 209 wins along with a 2.95 earned run average and 2486 strikeouts.
Imagine if he were able to pitch another three or four years. Would we be looking at a 300-win guy? Most assuredly a 3000 strikeout pitcher for sure.
Nevertheless, his accomplishments in such a short time were good enough for the BBWAA to elect him into the Hall of Fame in 1984, joining old teammate Sandy Koufax and eventually joined by Don Sutton.
Drysdale took home the Cy Young in 1962 while pacing the Senior Circuit in wins, starts, innings and strikeouts, while also posting one of his NINE sub-3.00 ERA campaigns.
Tough as nails when on the mound, he was named to eight All-Star Games, and of course had that magical run in 1968 when he threw 58 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings, including six straight shutouts.

 

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: SATCHEL PAIGE

Time to add the one and only Satchel Paige to my long-running WTHBALLS custom "Classic Baseball" set, always a fun player to have in any checklist:

The stories of Paige in his prime are endless, and while most are embellished beyond any scope of reality, the man was an incredible pitcher that many Major League stars who opposed him during his prime went out of their way to say so.

On the Major League level, Paige made his debut in 1948 with Cleveland at the ripe old age of 41, going 6-1 with a 2.48 earned run average over 21 games, seven of which were starts.

The following season he went 4-7 with a 3.04 E.R.A., but ended up missing all of 1950 before coming back to pitch three more years with the St. Louis Browns, going a combined 18-23 with a couple of shutouts and 26 saves over 126 games, 13 of which were starts.

We're talking about a man who was 46 years old at the end of that run!

Move ahead twelve years, in 1965, and Paige took the mound at the age of 58 as a promotional stunt with the Kansas City A's, yet still managed to pitch three innings, giving up a sole hit with no walks, with a strikeout thrown in for good measure! Hilarious!

In those six truncated seasons in the Majors, Paige went a combined 28-31 with a 3.29 earned run average, 288 strikeouts and two shutouts over 179 games and 476 innings.

But it was his legendary status in the Negro Leagues that made him a baseball immortal within the halls of Cooperstown.

 

SPECIAL REQUEST: 1987 CAREER-CAPPER FOR JACK PERCONTE

By special request, here's a 1987 career-capper for former infielder Jack Perconte, one of the more interesting that had one excellent year in the Big Leagues, surrounded by partial years in their career:

Originally up with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1980 for only 14 games, Perconte would play parts of five years between 1980 and 1986, surrounding two seasons in 1984 and 1985 where he was a full-timer with the Seattle Mariners.

His 1984 season was very solid for the light-hitting middle infielder, when he set career bests across the board, scoring 93 runs, collecting 180 hits, hitting .294 over 689 plate appearances for Seattle.

He never came close to those numbers again, though the following year he did appear in 125 games for the Mariners, hitting .264 with 128 hits and 60 runs scored, and a career best 31 stolen bases.

By the time he wrapped up his career with 24 games as a Chicago White Sox in 1986, he finished with a very decent .270 career batting average, with 389 hits in 1441 at-bats, with 191 runs scored and 78 stolen bases.

 

REVISITING MY "THEN & NOW" 1972 CARD FOR MUDCAT GRANT

Let's have some fun today and revisit my ten-year-old 1972 "Then and Now" card for Jim "Mudcat" Grant, one of Baseball's "Black Aces":

Though he did have a card in the 1972 Topps set, he was already done with his Major League days, finishing up with the Oakland A's at the end of the 1971 season after starting it with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Between 1958 and 1966 he was primarily a starter, putting in his finest big league season in 1965 while a member of the American League champion Minnesota Twins, going 21-7 with a 3.30 earned run average, six shutouts and 142 strikeouts over 270.1 innings and 41 games, 39 of which were starts.

By the time he retired, Grant posted a 145-119 record with a 3.63 ERA, 18 shutouts and 54 saves over 571 games and 2442 innings playing for the Indians, Twins, Dodgers, Expos, Cardinals, A's and Pirates.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1968 GRAIG NETTLES

Good day all! On the blog today, a fun card to add to the WTHBALLS checklist, a "not so missing" 1968 card for all-star third baseman Graig Nettles, who made his Major League debut in 1967 with the Minnesota Twins:

Nettles appeared in only three games for the Twins that year, going 1-for-3 at the plate, that hit being a double.

He'd appear in 22 games the following season, hitting .224 with 17 hits over 76 at-bats, including the first five home runs of his career along with eight RBIs.

It wasn’t until he got some full-time action with the Cleveland Indians in 1970 that he put up some nice numbers, becoming a productive third baseman for three years before finding himself in the Bronx after a six-player trade that left the Indians organization scratching their heads.
All Nettles would do is go on to slug 20+ homers seven straight years, leading the American League with 32 in 1976, and then topping that with 37 the following season while being an integral part of the “Bronx Zoo” championship teams of 1977 and 1978.
His incredible defensive work during the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers put him in exclusive company as a Fall Classic icon alongside the likes of Brooks Robinson and HIS defensive work in the 1970 classic against the Cincinnati Reds.
By the time Nettles was done after 22-years in the big leagues, he finished with 390 home runs, 2225 hits and 1314 runs batted in, with six all-star game nods and two Gold Gloves.

 

A SET THAT NEVER WAS: 1971 ALL-STAR TICKET SET: SPARKY ANDERSON

We move onto the Managers for the two teams in that classic of all Midsummer Classics, the 1971 All-Star game played in the "Motor City", Detroit, Michigan, and today it's the National League skipper Sparky Anderson:

Arguably leading the team of the decade, the Cincinnati Reds, Anderson was at the helm of a team that featured many of the top players of the era.

In 1975 the Reds were arguably one of the best teams in baseball history, steamrolling to 108 victories before eventually beating the Boston Red Sox in the World Series.

In 1976, more of the same as the team would win 102 games before sweeping the New York Yankees in the World Series.

Throw in the fact that they were also in the World Series in both 1970 and 1972, and it really looked like the team, stacked with guys like Johnny Bench, Pete Rose, Joe Morgan and George Foster, would be keeping our attention for quite some time.

But alas, according to Sparky, it was the trading of one of their OTHER stars, Tony Perez, that took the heart and soul out of the team, and shockingly the "Big Red Machine" would not bring home another championship, and the franchise would have to wait until 1990 before experiencing it again.

For Anderson however, the man would go down as one of the greatest managers in Major League history, moving on to the Detroit Tigers in 1979, where he would go on to manage 17 years, giving him a combined 26 years of Big League managing, even taking home another title with that great 1984 Tiger team that was in first "wire-to-wire", winning 104 games before beating the San Diego Padres in the World Series.

All told the man won 2194 games as a manager, finishing with a .545 winning percentage, three titles, 5 pennants, and of course a Hall of Fame induction in 2000.

Legend, and perpetually looking like an "old man" even when he was in his 30's!