1981 DRAKES BIG PITCHERS: BERT BLYLEVEN

Good day all!

On the blog today we move along with my recent 1981 "Drakes Big Pitchers" custom set release and spotlight my card for Hall of Fame pitcher Bert Blyleven:

Born in Zeist, Holland (now the Netherlands), Blyleven started his 22-year career in 1970 with the Twins and quickly established himself among the best pitchers in baseball.
During his great MLB run, he posted 17 seasons of 10+ victories, with a high of 20 in 1973, along with eight 200+ strikeout campaigns and nine with a 2.99 ERA or lower.
By the time the prankster retired after the 1992 season, he finished with 287 wins, a 3.31 ERA, 60 career shutouts and 3701 strikeouts over 692 games and 4970 innings pitched.
After having to wait 14 years, the BBWA finally voted him into the Hall of Fame in 2011, finally claiming a spot which he rightfully deserved.

Great baseball lifer on the field and in the broadcast booth!

 

AVAILABLE NOW- "DEDICATED AND MISSING IN THE 1960s"

Good day everyone!

Hope 2026 is off to a great start for all of you!

Happy to announce that the newest WTHBALLS set, "Dedicated and Missing in the 1960s", is now available for purchase!

 

 

A special set dedicated mainly to guys that made their mark in Major League ball in the 1970s, it features "dedicated rookies" and straight-up "missing" cards for players like Graig Nettles, Lou Piniella, and Al Oliver.

With 21 cards total in this set, I even have a couple of "bonus" cards: a 1957 "missing" Curt Flood edition, and a 1965 card for Japanese All-Time Great Sadaharu Oh.

Sets are $15 each plus a one-time $5.00 shipping charge, no matter how many sets you purchase.

Usual Paypal address: slogun23@gmail.com

Again, thank you all so much for the interest and support!

Take Care

Gio/wthballs

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1972 JAKE GIBBS

On the blog today, we cap-off the career of catcher Jake Gibbs with a 1972 card, as Gibbs played the last of his ten Big League seasons in 1971, all with the New York Yankees:

Gibbs appeared in 70 games for the Yanks in 1971, hitting .218 with 45 hits in 206 at-bats while filling in for a young Thurman Munson.

Though he only appeared in nine total games between 1962 and 1964, Gibbs spent his entire career in the Bronx, with 1967 and 1968 as the only full years during his Major League career.

Overall, Gibbs finished with a .233 batting average, with 382 hits over 1639 at-bats, with 157 runs scored, 25 homers and 146 runs batted in.

Along with others like Mel Stottlemyre and Horace Clarke, Gibbs was one of those players that "lived" through the Yankee dark era of the latter-half of the 1960s.

WTHBALLS CUSTOM SET SPOTLIGHT: 1960S STARS OF THE GAME: NELLIE FOX

Up on the blog today, we spotlight my 1960 "Stars of the Game" card of Hall of Famer Nellie Fox, from my custom set released back in 2018:

Fox put together a brilliant Major League career, first as a Hall of Fame second baseman mainly for the Chicago White Sox, then as a coach later on, a true baseball life before sadly passing away at the young age of 47 in 1975.
He led the AL in hits four times in the 1950’s, and of course would lead the Chicago White Sox to the 1959 World Series, taking home the league’s MVP Award for his efforts.
By the time he retired as a player after two years with the Houston Astros in 1964-65, he finished with 2663 hits and a .288 batting average, with twelve all-star nods and three Gold Gloves.
Defensively, it’s incredible to see he led the American League in putouts every single season between 1952 and 1961, while leading the league’s second basemen in fielding percentage six times, double-plays five times and assists six times.
In 1997, the Veteran’s Committee selected Fox for the Hall of Fame, joining former teammates Luis Aparicio and Early Wynn from that 1959 pennant winning team.

SPECIAL REQUEST: 1978 DAVE GIUSTI CAPPER (A'S)

On the blog today, a special request for a 1978 career-capper for Dave Giusti, who recently passed away at the age of 86:

Technically Giusti finished his career with the Chicago Cubs in 1977 after starting the season with the Oakland A's.

With the Cubs he went 0-2 with a 6.04 ERA over 20 games and 25.1 innings pitched, while it was a completely different outcome with the A's when he appeared in 40 games, going 3-3 with a very nice 2.98 ERA over 60.1 innings of work.

Giusti originally came up with the Houston Colt .45’s as a 22-year old starter out of Syracuse University in 1962, their inaugural season in the National League.
He appeared in 22 games and posted a 2-3 record with a bloated 5.62 earned run average before spending the entire 1963 season in the Minor Leagues.
After some brief MLB action in 1964, Giusti was a big leaguer for good in 1965, going 8-7 with a 4.32 E.R.A. Along with a shutout as well as three saves for the newly tabbed “Astros”.
After a few more decent seasons as a starter, he found himself in St. Louis for the 1969 season, and thus began his transition to the bullpen, where he’d become a very effective reliever for another eight years, seven of which were with the Pirates.
Between 1970 and 1973 he topped 20 saves each year and posted solid E.R.A.’s, including a career-low of 1.93 in 1972 over 54 appearances and 74.2 innings pitched.
By the time he retired after the 1977 season he appeared in 668 games, 133 of them starts, finishing with a 100-93 record and 3.60 E.R.A., along with the aforementioned 145 saves.

 

REVISIT: MISSING IN ACTION 1973 PAUL JATA

Good day all.

On the blog today, since I mentioned him recently on "X", revisiting my "missing" 1973 card for one-year catcher Paul Jata of the Detroit Tigers, originally posted 10 years ago:

I came across this photo which would be perfect for a 1973 card, in honor of his sole taste of the Majors during the 1972 season.
Jata appeared in 32 games with the division champs, hitting .230 with 17 hits over 74 at-bats while playing first base, catcher and outfield.
Though the photo used shows him in catching mode, he played the bulk of his games at first and in the outfield.
Sadly for him that would be it in the Majors, though he did make a comeback of sorts in the Twins organization a few years later in 1976 in their Double-A affiliate after being out of the game in 1974 and 1975.

 

FIXING UP ALL-STAR CARDS: 1984 STEVE SAX

The next All-Star "fix" on the blog will be the one for Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Steve Sax in the 1984 set, since he was elected as starter for the 1983 game:

The guy who was given an All-Star card in that set turned out to be Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman Johnny Ray, who certainly was not a horrible choice.

However, why Topps moved away from just showing the Midsummer Classic starters beginning in 1981 is beyond me, and I always hated it.

Sax was a solid player throughout his somewhat brief career, coming up with the Dodgers for a handful of games in 1981 before putting in his first full year in 1982, leading to a National League Rookie of the Year Award based off his .282 hitting with 59 stolen bases, 88 runs scored and 180 hits.

I enjoyed his time at the end of the decade with the New York Yankees, where he played three years between 1989 and 1991, posting a 200-hit season while just missing out on a second in '91 when he totaled 198.

His 1986 was arguably his best when he collected career-highs in hits (210), doubles (43), OBP (.390) and SLG (.441).

By the time he retired after the 1994 season, he finished with 1949 hits over 1769 games, hitting .281 with 913 runs scored and 444 stolen bases. 

Not a bad career at all.