NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1973 PETE KOEGEL

Let’s go and give former catcher-first baseman Pete Koegel a final card for his three-year Major League career, a 1973 edition after appearing in 41 games for the Philadelphia Phillies during the 1972 season:

Koegel pretty much evenly split time playing catcher, third base and outfield for the Phillies, with pinch-hitting duties as well, hitting .143 with seven hits over 49 official at-bats.
Originally up with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1970. He was traded over to the city of Brotherly Love in April of 1971 as part of the Johnny Briggs trade.
Those 1972 games would be the last he’d play on a Major League level, but he would stick around, playing in the minors as well as in Mexico through the 1977 season, wrapping up in the Kansas City Royals organization before retiring for good as a player.
For his big league career, he finished with a .174 average with 15 hits over 86 at-bats in 62 games split between the Brewers and Phillies, with a single home run and five runs batted in along with three runs scored.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1970 DANNY LAZAR

Here’s a 1970 card that wasn’t really “missing” for former White Sox pitcher Danny Lazar, who finished up a brief two-year Major League career in 1969 with nine appearances:

Lazar originally came up during the 1968 season for the Sox, appearing in eight games and posting a record of 0-1 with a 4.05 earned run average in his first taste of the big leagues.
The following season, he appeared in the aforementioned nine games, not factoring in a decision with a bloated 6.53 E.R.A. over 20.2 innings of work.
He’d spend the 1970 season in the minor leagues, pitching for Chicago’s Triple-A affiliate Tucson Toros before calling it a career.
He would spend his whole pro career, spanning 1965 through 1970, with the White Sox system.

1975 "IN ACTION"- HARMON KILLEBREW

Hey everyone! Hope you're all about to have a nice relaxing Labor Day to cap-off the Summer!
The next player showcased in my 1975 “In-Action” sub-set is a player who was winding down a Hall of Fame career in 1975, the great slugger Harmon Killebrew:

“Killer” had already hit 559 of his 573 home runs by the time this card would have come out, with six home run titles and an amazing eight 40-home run seasons.
He topped 100 runs batted in nine times during his 22-year career, with a high of 140 during his MVP season of 1969 as he led the Twins to an American League West title before losing the inaugural Championship Series to the Baltimore Orioles.
By the time he retired after a season with the Kansas City Royals in 1975, he finished with 573 homers, 1584 RBI’s, 2086 hits and eleven all-star nods.
It took a few years, but in 1984 he was finally voted into the Hall of Fame, getting named on 335 of 403 ballots, in my eyes an obvious choice for Cooperstown!

CY YOUNG AWARD- 1973 SUB-SET

Moving along in my “awards sub-set” thread for the decade, we spotlight the Cy Young Award winners of 1972 on what would have been a 1973 sub-set if I had my way:

Of course, the talk of the town was the once-in-a-lifetime performance the Phillies Steve Carlton put in during his first season there after coming over in a trade.
All “Lefty” did was post a phenomenal 27-10 record with a 1.97 earned run average and 310 strikeouts, taking home not only the Cy Young but the league’s triple crown for pitching.
He completed 30 of his 41 starts, and threw eight shutouts for a team that only posted 59 wins all season!
Granted, Carlton won 20 games the year before while still with St. Louis, and already had a record-breaking 19-strikeout game in 1969, so he wasn’t exactly “out of nowhere”.
But this was the year he made his mark on the game and was well on his way to three other Cy Young Awards (the first to win that many), 329 wins and 4136 strikeouts.
Need less to say a Hall of Fame induction was a “gimmie”, and in 1994 he was named on 436 of 456 ballots.
On the American League side, we have another future Hall of Famer, Gaylord Perry, who came in second place for the Cy Young Award in 1970 while still pitching for the San Francisco Giants. The very same year his older brother Jim won the award pitching for the Minnesota Twins!
All Perry did in his first year with the Indians was post a record of 24-16, with a 1.92 E.R.A., five shutouts and 234 strikeouts, edging out Chicago White Sox pitcher Wilbur Wood 64 points to 58.
Ironically, had Gaylord Perry won the award in 1970, this 1972 win would have made him the first pitcher to win the award in both leagues.
Turns out, he would in fact end up being the first anyway when he took won the award six years later in 1978 while pitching for the San Diego Padres!
Amazing...Gotta love baseball and it’s rich history!

TURN BACK THE CLOCK 1969- STEVE CARLTON STRIKES OUT 19 BATTERS

Today we celebrate the great Steve Carlton and his 19-strikeout game on September 15th of 1969, the real first glimpse of the greatness to come over the next 15 years:

Ironically enough, Carlton actually lost the game, because of 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.

WTHBALLS ISSUE #14 AVAILABLE NOW! "NICKNAMES" ISSUE WITH BONUS "YAZ" POSTCARD

Hello Everyone!

Happy to announce that the next issue of the “WTHBALLS” magazine, the “Nicknames” issue, is now available for purchase.

Following previous issues of the magazine, this one has 24-pages of full color custom work created by yours truly, and features all the “Nicknames of the 70’s” cards I posted up on the blog.

Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Johnny Bench and many, many more packed into this issue!

As an added bonus, each issue also comes with a “Yaz” postcard, sized to actual card size, so you can cut and drop into a top-loader if you prefer. That’s what I do and they look great!

Each issue is $7 ($5 plus $2 postage), and ship out immediately upon payment.

You can paypal me at: john@slogun.com

Thanks! 

Gio/wthballs

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1973 DON SHAW

Here’s a 1973 card for former pitcher Don Shaw, who wrapped up a five-year Major League career with three games for the Oakland A’s in 1972:

After starting the season with the St. Louis Cardinals, for whom he had his finest season as a big leaguer the previous year, Shaw was traded to Oakland for Dwain Anderson on May 15th, and quickly pitched in three games within a few days, making his last MLB appearance on the 18th after getting hit hard.
In those three games for the A’s, Shaw yielded 12 hits and 10 runs in 5.1 innings, for an unsightly earned run average of 16.88.
After spending the rest of the year in the Minors, he would be traded to the Detroit Tigers before the 1973 season started, but would spend the year in their Minor League system, his final season as a pro.
In 1971, Shaw had his best year, posting a record of 7-2 with a 2.65 E.R.A., with a couple of saves over 45 appearances and 51 innings pitched, and for his career posted a 13-14 record with a 4.01 E.R.A. in 138 appearances, all but one out of the bullpen.