MISSING IN ACTION- 1978 WAYNE SIMPSON

Wayne Simpson absolutely BURST onto the Major League scene back in 1970, winning 13 of his first 14 decisions, including a one-hitter, a two-hitter and a three-hitter for the Cincinnati Reds.

By July 26th of that year he had 14 wins, but because of arm troubles ended the year with a 14-3 record with a 3.02 earned run average.

Turns out the arm problems were serious enough to curtail his career right from the start, as he'd never pitch a full season for the Reds over the next few years.

After landing in Kansas City for the 1973 season, Simpson didn't fare much better, going 3 and 4 with a 5.73 E.R.A. over 16 games, 10 of which were starts.

He never saw any Major League action in 1974, and in 1975 he was now in Philadelphia, appearing in seven games, five of which were starts for the Phillies, going 1-0 with a 3.23 E.R.A., pitching 30.2 innings.

However more arm troubles caused him to miss the 1976 season, and in 1977 he found himself on yet another team, the California Angels.

It turned out he would start the most games next to his stellar rookie season for his career, toeing the rubber 23 times, 27 games total.

Though the numbers weren't stellar, he did pitch 122 innings with a 6-12 record and 5.83 E.R.A., pretty much a full season, or enough to warrant a card in the 1978 Topps set the following year.

But he never made it into the set, or into another Major League game.

But it would have been nice to have a card for him in the set anyway.

So let me present my "missing" 1978 Wayne Simpson card, showing him as an Angel, looking quite intimidating actually:

Simpson is always included in any article regarding pitchers who made an immediate splash in the Majors, along with others like Von McDaniel or Karl Spooner.

Sadly all it amounted to for Simpson was a sporadic 6 year career, finishing with a 36-31 record with a 4.37 E.R.A., two shutouts (both in his rookie year), and 353 strikeouts.

AN INCREDIBLE BASEBALL LIFE: REST IN PEACE DON ZIMMER

Don Zimmer: January 17, 1931-June 4, 2014

Sad to see that one of my all-time favorite personalities, Don Zimmer, passed away yesterday at the age of 83.

His life truly was a "baseball life", and if you're not familiar with his journey through Major League ball please do yourself a favor and read one of his books, or even some articles about him online.
The man did it all and really was one of those guys that everyone in the game loved.
From coming up with the Brooklyn Dodgers in their minor league system 1949 to his work with the Tampa Bay Rays as Senior Advisor, the man put in SIXTY SIX YEARS in professional ball.
66-years. Just incredible.
He frequently liked to tell people that he never received a paycheck in his life other than one from professional baseball. How awesome is that?
Rest in Peace "Zim", baseball will never be the same without you.

Zimmer's 1955 rookie card

 

 

 

As manager of the Boston Red Sox, 1978

JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT- 1970'S BASEBALL TRIVIA PART #53

 

Trivia Thursday time again.

And today I want to focus on the 1971 season and the FOURTEEN pitchers who posted 20 or more wins that year.

See how many you can get before I post the answers up tomorrow, as usual.

1. Of all fourteen 20 game winners in 1971, who suffered the fewest losses that year?

2. While leading the Majors in wins that year, he also posted the most strikeouts, with 308. Who was it?

3. He was the only National League pitcher to win 20 games with an E.R.A. over 3.00. Who was it?

4. Who threw the most shutouts among all 20-win pitchers that year?

5. He posted the lowest E.R.A. among 20 game winners that year. Who was it?

***SPOILER ALERT! ANSWERS BELOW: 


1.  Dave McNally, Orioles. He had only five losses against 21 wins.

2. Mickey Lolich, Tigers. He went 25-14 that year as well.

3. Steve Carlton, Cardinals. He went 20-9 with a 3.56 E.R.A..

4. Vida Blue, A's. He had eight shutouts that season.

5. Tom Seaver, Mets. A sparkling 1.76.

1975 "CY YOUNG AWARD" SUB-SET: WHAT IF? 1970

Today we move into a new decade as far as the Cy Young Award is concerned, yet we meet up with two players who were pretty well established by then: Jim Perry and Bob Gibson.

Take a look at my 1970 "Cy Young Award Winners" 1975 sub-set design before we delve into the players themselves:

In the American League we have a player who would have won his second such award had they voted for two winners back in 1960.

That year, while pitching for the Cleveland Indians, Perry posted a decent season on an off-year for A.L. Pitchers, and could have walked away with some hardware for his effort (according to the SABR guys).

Ten years later however, he posted an excellent season for the Minnesota Twins, going 24-12 with a 3.04 earned run average, four shutouts and 168 strikeouts, even finishing 9th in M.V.P. voting as well, officially taking home the award for the only time in his career.

As you all know by now, Jim Perry is half of the only brother-duo to both win the Cy Young, as his brother Gaylord took home the award just two years later (and again in 1978).

As a matter of fact, Gaylord ended up in second place for the National League award in 1970, almost giving us an award winning brother duo in the same year!

Gaylord would receive 51 points in 1970, well behind the next guy we're looking at today, Bob Gibson, who received 118 points, and his second Cy Young award.

Smack in the middle of Gibson's dominance over National League batters, he posted awesome numbers in 1970, going 23-7 (the win total marking a career high), with a 3.12 E.R.A., three shutouts and 274 strikeouts.

He'd also take home his sixth Gold Glove Award, as well as get named to his seventh all-star team and finish fourth in the National League M.V.P. Race.

Gibson would eventually become only the second pitcher in Major League history to reach 3000 strikeouts, and find himself elected to the Hall of Fame in 1981, closing out a storied career, all with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Next up on this thread we'll look at the 1971 season, where one league had an established pitcher take home the award, Fergie Jenkins, while another had a super-nova of a bright young star on their hands walk away with it, as well as the Most Valuable Player Award, Vida Blue.

"HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 1970'S" #16: 3000 STRIKEOUTS FOR GAYLORD PERRY

It's incredible to think that when Gaylord Perry struck out Joe Simpson on October 1st of 1978, he became only the THIRD pitcher in baseball history to reach that milestone!

Only Walter Johnson and Bob Gibson struck out more batters at this point in time, and considering that since then we have had no less than 13 pitchers reach the mark, you think Topps would have had a highlight card in their 1979 set to honor such a feat!

First up, I offer you my design for such a card:

I mean, come on Topps! Celebrate some historical moments in the game will you?

They did have a highlight card for Gibson in the 1975 set commemorating HIS 3000th K, but Perry joining this exclusive club fell by the wayside.

Funny enough, Perry would soon be joined in the "3000 club" by six other pitchers who would all go on to the Hall of Fame: Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton, Tom Seaver, Fergie Jenkins, Phil Niekro and Don Sutton, who all got in within five years of Perry's 3000th.

It seemed like when I was a kid there was a pitcher winning his 300th game or striking out his 3000th batter every season, and it was a pleasure to witness it all as a baseball fan!

But as of 1979, a milestone like this should have been celebrated somehow.

Ah well, 35 years later is better than nothing, right?

As for Perry, a few years later he'd also become the first pitcher since 1962 (Early Wynn) to reach 300 wins for a career, and I remember the hoopla that revolved around that very clearly to this day.

Again, I hope you're all enjoying this "highlight" series I've been working on, because I have a bunch more coming, and they are just too much fun to stop any time soon…

"HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 1970'S" #15: STEVE CARLTON WHIFFS 19 METS

Now, while I do realize this "highlight" is actually something that happened in the '60's, September 15th 1969 to be exact, this is a card that would have appeared in the 1970 Topps set, had they decided to celebrate a record that I always thought was worthy of a highlight card: Steve Carlton striking out 19 batters against the New York Mets.

Take a look at my design:

Sorry for the somewhat grainy card image. The photo I used was the best I could find for a horizontal card, and I really wanted to stick to the format for this one. Seemed "right" for it.

Ironically enough, Carlton actually lost the game, mainly on Ron Swaboda's two two-run home runs which gave the Mets all the runs they needed to beat Carlton and the Cardinals, 4-3.

However Carlton had it all working for him that day, as he marched right into the record books by beating the previous record of 18 strikeouts which was jointly held by Bob Feller, Sandy Koufax and Don Wilson.

This was pretty much the first historic highlight of the future Hall of Famer's stellar career, as he'd go on to then post his first 20-win season in 1971 while still with the Cardinals, then post his uber-famous 1972 Triple-Crown winning year as a Philadelphia Phillie, winning his first of four Cy Young Awards.

Carlton would end his 24 year career with 329 wins, 55 shutouts, a 3.22 earned run average and a whopping 4136 strikeouts.

Those monster numbers got him inducted to Cooperstown on his first try in 1994, getting named on 436 of 456 ballots.

I remember seeing Carlton pitch at the end of his career when he was trying to hang on those last couple of years.

He pitched for the Cleveland Indians against the New York Yankees at the Stadium on April 14th, 1987, giving up a grand slam homer to Yankee catcher Joel Skinner, and eventually taking the loss.

It was kind of a bummer, as he was a shell of his former self, and was caught in that vicious "hanging on" phase some players tend to get stuck in.

He'd move on to Minnesota later that year, and even pitch in four games for them in 1988 before finally hanging them up, putting to rest an incredible baseball resume that only a couple of other lefties can match in the history of the game.

I also plan on creating cards for the other two pitchers that ended up tying Carlton with 19 K's soon after in the decade: Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan.

Keep an eye out for them…

MISSING IN ACTION OR CAREER CAPPER-EITHER WAY WE CELEBRATE TWINS GREAT TONY OLIVA IN 1977

You can either look at todays 1977 card as either a "missing in action" or a "career capper" for Minnesota Twins great Tony Oliva in the 1977 Topps set.

Take a look at my creation:

Even though Oliva played out the 1976 season as a player-coach, I don't think he officially stated that it would be his last season as an active player.

But even if he did, I think it would have been nice to have one last card for him in 1977, especially since he appeared in 67 games for the Twins, good for 128 plate appearances.

The numbers weren't what everyone was used to from the former hitting machine in 1976: a .211 average with a single homer and 16 runs batted in.

But Oliva established himself as possibly the second best Twins hitter ever at that point (behind Rod Carew), and would retire with a .304 career average, 220 homers and just under 2000 hits (1917) in his 15 year career.

Throw in the fact that what would end up being his last Topps card, in 1976, is kind of lame because of the picture Topps used.

There's a prominent shadow straight across Oliva's face, and it always bothered me.

Seems I remember a few other cards in the 1975 or 1976 sets where shadows played a big part of the a card (1975 Jim Palmer for one).

Anyway, Oliva was well on his way to the Hall of Fame until injuries derailed his Cooperstown march once he reached his 30's.

He burst onto the Major League scene in 1964 when he easily won the American League Rookie of the Year award.

In that year, all he did was lead the league in batting, hitting .323, while slamming 32 homers with 94 runs batted in. 

He also lead the league in runs scored with 109, hits with 217, doubles with 43 and total bases with 374!

Those numbers also got him a fourth place finish in M.V.P. voting as well.

The following year there was no sign of a sophomore jinx, as he once again lead the lead in batting, this time hitting .321, with 16 homers, 98 R.B.I.'s, 40 doubles and 107 runs scored.

He also lead the league in total hits again, this time with 185.

All told in his career, Oliva would win three batting titles (the third coming in 1971 when he hit .337), and would lead the league in hits five times, slugging once (1971), get named to eight straight all-star teams, and have two second-place finishes for M.V.P., in 1965 and 1970.

I wouldn't say his final numbers warrant a Hall of Fame spot for Oliva. But I'll admit that you can argue a good point for it with the career he left us with.

When you really take a look, he only had 11 full seasons in the Majors, with the half-season in 1976 and three pretty much non-existant years in 1962, 1963 and 1972. 

So his numbers carry a bit more weight in that light.

And wow, what a great hitting combo he and Rod Carew made for the Twins, huh?!

Nice 1-2 punch right there.