A 1974 AIRBRUSHING GEM: CLYDE WRIGHT

Here’s another airbrush classic thanks to Topps, the 1974 Clyde Wright (father of Jaret) edition:

Wright found himself in Milwaukee after an eight-year run with the California Angels, the team he came up with in 1966.
So Topps whipped out the tools and gave us this great paint job to “Brewer-ize” Wright just in time for their 1974 set.
Wright had quite a run with the Angels between 1970 and 1972, posting three straight years of sub-3.00 earned run averages along with 56 wins with a high of 22 in 1970, with six shutouts while averaging about 265 innings pitched.
Sadly for him however once a Brewer in 1974, he would end up losing 20, going 9-20 with a not so terrible 4.42 ERA, but in the light-hitting early 1970’s it was high enough to spell doom for any pitcher.
He would spend the 1975 season with the Texas Rangers, then find himself out of the Major Leagues for good, finishing with a 100-111 career record along with a 3.50 ERA over 329 games and 1728.2 innings pitched.
Years later his son Jaret would make a name for himself in 1997 beating the Yankees twice in the Division Series to help the Cleveland Indians eventually move on to the World Series before losing to the Florida Marlins.

MISSING IN ACTION- 1973 TOM PHOEBUS

Here’s a missing “career-capping” 1973 card of former pitcher Tom Phoebus, one-time Baltimore Oriole young gun who wrapped up a seven year career with the Chicago Cubs in 1972:

Phoebus appeared in 38 games in 1972, split between the San Diego padres and Cubs, posting a 3-4 record with a 4.04 earned run average over 89 innings of work.
He somewhat burst onto the Major League stage in 1966 when he threw two shutouts in three starts, going 2-1 with a 1.23 ERA.
Over the next three seasons he performed really well, winning 43 games with nine shutouts, even throwing a no-hitter on April 27th, 1968 against the reigning American League champ Boston Red Sox.
But after a 1970 season that saw him limited to 21 starts, posting a 5-5 record, Phoebus was traded to the San Diego Padres where he went 3-11 with a 4.46 ERA, before ending his career with that last split year in 1972.
Overall, Phoebus posted a 56-52 record with a nice 3.33 ERA over 201 games, 149 of them starts, with eleven shutouts and 725 strikeouts in 1030 innings pitched.

MISSING IN ACTION "IN ACTION: #61: WES PARKER

It’s been a little while since I added to the missing 1972 “In Action” series, so today I post one up for former Gold Glove first baseman Wes Parker, aka “Mr. Steady” of the Los Angeles Dodgers:

Parker was just a season off of his fantastic 1970 campaign when he hit .319 with 196 hits with 10 home runs and 111 runs batted in with a league-leading 47 doubles.
Really an anomaly since before that he never batted higher than .278, or drove in more than 68 runs.
Nevertheless the man was a fantastic defensive player as evidenced by his six consecutive Gold Glove Awards between 1967 and 1972.
After the 1972 season Parker, then only 32 years old, retired from baseball, cutting his then nine-year career short.
I can’t really find anything online as to why, since it doesn’t seem to be injury, but it did open up the position for a young stud out of Michigan (and SHOULD-BE Hall of Famer) Steve Garvey.
Anyone know why Parker retired?
I do remember him becoming an actor and even appearing on The Brady Bunch once, but as to why he left the game so early on is beyond me...

MISSING IN ACTION- 1977 JIM LYTTLE

Here’s a “missing” 1977 card for a guy who was never a full-time player, but still put together an eight-year career between 1969-1976, outfielder Jim Lyttle:

Lyttle capped of his career with a final year in 1976 split between the Montreal Expos and Los Angeles Dodgers, where he hit a combined .248 with 38 hits over 153 at-bats in 65 games.
Originally up with the Yanks, he’d play in the Bronx until 1972 when he put in a lone season for the Chicago White Sox before moving on to the Expos where he would play until his move to L.A.
All told Lyttle batted .248 for his career with 176 hits in 710 at-bats over 391 games, with his 1970 season being his best when he hit .310 for the Yanks over 87 games played.

THEN AND NOW- WILLIE DAVIS 1961-1977

Next up in my “Then and Now” super veteran series is former long time Dodgers center fielder Willie Davis, who capped off a wonderful 18-year career in 1979 with the California Angels, but had his last card in the 1977 Topps set:

Davis came up with the Dodgers as a 20-year old in 1960, just in time to be a part of the organization’s great run which included two world championships in 1963 and 1965, as well as a World Series appearance in 1966.
A speedster who racked up hits and had the occasional power, Davis finished his career with over 2500 hits, 182 home runs and 398 stolen bases, along with a nice .279 batting average in 2429 career games.
Though he played the first 14 years of his career in L.A., Davis would go on to play for five teams over the last four years of his career: Montreal Expos, Texas Rangers, St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres and the Angels in 1979 after a two-year absence from MLB ball in 1977 and 1978 when he played in Japan.

COACH CARD- 1976 BOB LEMON

Here was a fun card to create, a 1976 “Coach” card for Hall of Famer Bob Lemon, who was coaching the eventual American League champ New York Yankees:

I had to get a bit creative with the player graphic in the lower left of the card. Just imagine it being a coach hitting some fielding practice bunts to players before a game.
Anyway, before memorably leading the Yankees to a World Championship in 1978 with one of the most improbable come-backs in history, Lemon was giving his expertise to pitchers like Ron Guidry, Catfish Hunter and Sparky Lyle.
But before taking the helm of the Bronx Bombers he would have a stint as Chicago White Sox manager in 1977, a team that surprised many with an offense led by Oscar Gamble and Richie Zisk, popping almost 200 home runs during the homer happy season.
Nevertheless he found his way back to the Yanks in the middle of the 1978 season, leading the team past the Boston Red Sox in a 163rd game that we know as the “Bucky Dent” game, and eventually past the Los Angeles Dodgers for the Yankees second consecutive championship.
A true baseball “lifer”, Lemon would also find his way to Cooperstown in 1976, elected by the BBWAA based on his 207 wins, all with the Cleveland Indians, which included SEVEN 20-win campaigns in only ten full seasons. Amazing.

MISSING IN ACTION- 1972 TONY GONZALEZ

Here’s a 1972 card for former Cuban outfielder Tony Gonzalez, who just celebrated his 80th birthday this past August:

Gonzalez wrapped up an excellent 12-year career in 1971, appearing in 111 games for the California Angels and batting .245 with 77 hits over 314 at-bats.
It’s easy to forget that he finished with a very nice .286 career batting average, something he did over the modern “dead-ball” era.
His hey-day was with the Philadelphia Phillies, for whom he played nine-years through the 1960’s, batting as high as .339 in 1967 and hitting as many as 20 homers in 1962.
After he left the Majors he tried playing in the Mexican League and Japanese league in the early ‘70’s, but was out of the pros by 1973 after a brief stop at Reading (AA) for the Phillies at the age of 36.