MISSING IN ACTION- 1977 ELROD "ELLIE" HENDRICKS

Here’s a “missing” 1977 card for former catcher Elrod “Ellie” Hendricks, who was at the tail-end of his 12-year career which included three separate stints with the Baltimore Orioles:

Hendricks split the 1976 season appearing in 54 games with the Orioles and the New York Yankees, and hit a combined .174 with 23 hits in 132 at-bats while filling in behind the plate.
He would go on to play in just under a couple dozen games between the Yanks and again the Orioles over the next three seasons, finishing up with a sole appearance in 1979 with the eventual American League champ Orioles.
For his 12-year career spanning 1968 to 1979 he played in 711 games, with 415 hits in 1888 at-bats, giving him a .220 lifetime average with 205 runs and 230 runs batted in.

A DREAM ROOKIE CARD THAT NEVER WAS-WINFIELD, PARKER AND EVANS IN 1973

Every once in a while I have to create a hum-dinger of a stretch “Fantasy” card that never was, and this one fits the bill, a fantasy 1973 rookie card of Dave Winfield, Dave Parker and Dwight Evans:

One player went on to the Hall of Fame, and the other two can be argued to be part of that posse.
I for one STILL say Dave Parker is a Hall of Famer!
Nevertheless, we know Winfield and Parker would actually have their rookie cards the following year in the 1974 set.
Evans was the only player of the three to appear on a multi-player rookie card in ‘73, and I left his part “as-is” and added the other two on either side of him.
It’s been stated that Parker and Winfield changed the ballplayer prototype when they entered the league. Huge, slugging athletes who could also run and play stellar defense.
Evans of course took a little longer to come into his own, but when he did he became of the game’s best in the early to mid 80’s.
All three had awesome Major League careers, with Winfield leading the way and ending up in the Hall of Fame.
But again, look at what those other two did on the ball field and tell me without question that they don’t deserve to be there.
It’s a tough argument for sure...
Would have been an awesome card to be chasing as a kid, as well as these days as a “collector” (what it has come to mean in this day and age).

MISSING IN ACTION- "IN ACTION": JOE RUDI

Here’s a “missing” in-action 1972 card for a guy who gets forgotten a bit in the baseball decade of the 1970’s, but was really a key figure on a big team, Joe Rudi of the Oakland A’s:

Rudi was an important cog in the machine that was the dynastic A’s team that put together three straight World Champion teams between 1972 and 1974, as his two second-place finishes show in 1972 and 1974.
Throw in three straight Gold Gloves from 1974-1976 and three all-star game nods, and you see why the guy should be remembered a bit more for his contributions during the decade.
He would lead the American League in hits and triples during the ‘72 season, with 181 and nine respectively, and would also pace the league in doubles and total bases two years later with 39 and 287.
A solid player through his 16-year career, he would finish after the 1982 season with a stint back in Oakland after four years in Anaheim and a year in Boston.
He would end up with a .264 average, 179 homers, 684 runs scored and 810 runs batted in, mainly during the “dead” 70’s hitting era.

MISSING IN ACTION- 1970 GARY BELL

Let’s go and give former pitcher Gary Bell a career-capping “missing” 1970 card, closing out a nice 12-year career that saw him come up back in 1958 with the Cleveland Indians:

Bell split the 1969 season between the Seattle Pilots in their one and olny year of existence, and the Chicago White Sox.
In that time he posted a combined 2-6 record, with a 5.31 earned run average in 36 games and 100 innings pitched.
It was a bit of a surprise since the previous year he went 11-11 with a nice 3.12 ERA, though it WAS in the “year of the pitcher”.
But it was the type of season he put in year after year in Cleveland between 1958 and 1966 and with the Boston Red Sox in 1967 and 1968.
A three-time all-star, Bell would finish his career with a 121-117 record with a 3.68 ERA along with nine shutouts and 50 saves over 519 appearances, with 233 of them coming as starts.

COACH CARD- 1971 LARRY DOBY

Here’s the second “coach card” I’ve created for Hall of Famer Larry Doby, the first being the card I created for him in the 1977 set that had him coaching the Chicago White Sox.
Today’s card has him in his earlier coaching gig with the Montreal Expos back in 1971:

Doby lent his expertise on the ball-field to a few coaching jobs after his playing days were over.
This one had him with the new expansion Expos serving as a batting instructor under manager Gene Mauch off and on until 1976 after actually serving the organization as a scout and Minor League instructor in 1969/1970.
In between his stops in Montreal and Chicago, he even served as first base coach for the Cleveland Indians in 1974, so I’ll try tracking down a nice coaching image from that stint to create another coach-card.
His Negro and MLB playing days eventually earned him a spot in the hallowed doors of Cooperstown, getting elected in 1998 by the Veteran’s Committee, and rightly so.

MISSING IN ACTION- 1972 BUDDY BRADFORD

Here’s a “missing” 1972 card for former outfielder Buddy Bradford, who finished the 1971 season as a member of the Cincinnati Reds after starting out with the Cleveland Indians that year:

Bradford actually played in 99 combined games in ‘71, batting .188 with 26 hits in 138 official at-bats, a decent amount of playing time to be omitted from the 1972 set.
He would go on to play through the 1976 season, finishing up with the Chicago White Sox and completing an eleven-year career that began with the very same organization in 1966.
His final career numbers were a .229 average with 363 hits over 1605 at-bats in 697 games, with 52 home runs and 175 runs batted in with 224 runs scored, playing for the White Sox, Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Cardinals and Reds.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 1970'S: JIM PALMER WINS HIS THIRD CY YOUNG AWARD

The next highlight from the decade of the 1970’s I wanted to celebrate was the third Cy Young Award taken home by one of the best pitchers from the era, Baltimore Oriole Jim Palmer, who became the first American League pitcher to do so in 1976:

Palmer joined Sandy Koufax and Tom Seaver  as the only pitchers at that time to reach three Cy Young Awards after putting in another masterful season in ‘76, posting a 22-13 record with a 2.51 earned run average, six shutouts and 159 strikeouts over 40 starts and 315 innings pitched.
It was his sixth of eight 20-win seasons, all achieved in the 1970’s. An amazing feat regardless of the decade!
The man was a pitching machine, eventually finishing with a 268-152 record, good for a .638 winning percentage, with a minuscule 2.86 ERA and 53 shutouts along with 2212 strikeouts over 558 games, 521 of which were starts.
Pretty much THE dominant starter in the Junior Circuit in that era, he appeared in six All-Star Games, had three second-place Cy Young finishes and was awarded four Gold Glove Awards for his defensive capabilities.
Beyond an easy pick for the Hall of Fame, he was inducted in his first year of eligibility, being named on 92.6% of the vote in 1990.
Imagine the 7.4% who kept him off their ballot?! Absurd...