NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1975 JOSE MORALES

Today the blog offers up a 1975 "not so missing" card for former pinch-hitter extraordinaire Jose Morales of the Montreal Expos, who appeared in just over two dozen games during the 1974 season:

 

Morales was in his second taste of the Big Leagues in 1974, collecting seven hits over 26 at-bats for a .269 batting average while putting in some time behind the plate for the Expos after splitting his initial Major League season with Oakland and Montreal the year prior, playing in eleven games.

Never a full-time player, he'd find his groove as a bat off the bench, specializing as a pinch-hitter with some success in the role.

Of course if any of you remember the 1977 set, you’ll remember that Morales set a new Major League record for pinch-hits in a season in 1976 when he collected 25, breaking the record held by Dave Philley and Vic Davalillio, appearing on a “Record Breaker” card in the set.
He would play twelve seasons in the Big Leagues, finishing up with a nice .287 career batting average with 375 hits over 1305 at-bats between 1973 and 1984.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1978 JOHN FLANNERY

Up on the blog today, how about a 1978 "not so missing" card for seven game Major Leaguer John Flannery, who played the entirety of his Big League career in September of 1977:

 

Flannery appeared in the aforementioned seven games for the Chicago White Sox at the end of the '77 season, going 0-2 at the plate with a run scored and a walk while getting some time in defensively at shortstop and third base.

Only 20 years of age at the time, he was back in the Minors by the start of the 1978 season, where he'd actually remain for the rest of his professional career, through the 1982 campaign when he played in Birmingham of the Southern League for the Detroit Tigers organization.

He never did get another shot at a Major League game again, finishing up with just those seven games.

1972 ALL-STAR SUB-SET: RAY FOSSE

On the blog today, we move on to the American league in celebrating the starters of the classic 1971 All-Star game, with a 1972 "missing" All-Star card for starting catcher Ray Fosse:

 

Now, you'll notice I had to break down and use the image Topps used for his 1971 "Super" card since, believe it or not I just CANNOT find a usable portrait image of him from the period. Incredible that I've been looking for months and nothing.

Regardless, the "Marion Mule" made his second straight All-Star game in 1971, and was a burgeoning star in the league.

By season's end he took home his second straight Gold Glove, while also hitting .276 with 12 homers and 62 runs batted in for the Cleveland Indians.

Contrary to what many believe, the All-Star injury at the hands of Pete Rose did not derail his career, as other injuries along the way in the following years also contributed to his drop in performance.
Nevertheless, by the time Fosse retired after a brief stint with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1979, he finished with a .256 average, with 758 hits over 2957 at-bats, driving in 324 runs while scoring 299 himself over 924 Big League games.
On another note, you really have to wonder how good those Cleveland Indians could have been by the late-70’s had they NOT traded away players like Graig Nettles, Dick Tidrow, Chris Chambliss and Fosse.

Rest in Peace Ray Fosse...

DEDICATED MANAGER CARD- 1977 DON ZIMMER

Always a good day here on the blog when I can add another custom card for "Popeye" Don Zimmer, one of my favorite "baseball people". This one a dedicated 1977 manager card:

 

"Zim" took over as manager of the Boston Red Sox about half way through the 1976 season, leading them to a 42-34 record under his watch the rest of the way.

Over the next three years he'd have the BoSox in the thick of things, winning 97, 99 and 91 games, but always falling JUST a bit short to the New York Yankees the first two seasons, and the Baltimore Orioles the third.

In 1980 he'd start the year with Boston, guiding them to a record of 82-73 before being let go towards the end of the year, moving on to the Texas Rangers during the strike year of 1981, where he'd manage through the first half of 1982.

After that, he'd coach until he was handed the managerial job of the Chicago Cubs in 1988, where he'd lead them through the first third of the 1991 season, including their fun 1989 season that saw the Cubbies finish in first before losing to the San Francisco Giants in the N.L. playoffs.

Of course, Zimmer will always be remembered most as a baseball “lifer”, playing, coaching and managing in Major League ball for an incredible 61 years, from 1954 to 2014.
Loved him when he was coaching with the New York Yankees during the Joe Torre years!
Rest in Peace “Popeye”! You are missed!

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1979 PAT ROCKETT

Up on the blog today, we have a 1979 "not so missing" card for three year Major League shortstop Pat Rockett, who played the last of his Big League games during the 1979 season:

Rockett appeared in 55 games for the Atlanta Braves in 1978, kind of making this card truly a "missing" variety instead of "not so", though he did hit only .141 with 20 hits over 142 at-bats.

Originally up in 1976 with a scant four games for the Braves, he saw the most action during his brief career in 1977 when he played in 93 games, hitting .254 with 67 hits in 264 at-bats.

He’d play two more seasons in the Minor Leagues, both for the Braves and the Toronto Blue Jays, but would never get back to the Majors again, finishing up with a career .214 average, with 88 hits in 411 at-bats, with 33 runs scored and 28 RBIs over 152 games.

A RE-DO OF ONE OF MY OWN: 1974 RAY LAMB

Waaaay back on July 8th of 2014 I created a "missing" 1974 card for former Cleveland Indians pitcher Ray Lamb, who really did deserve a card in the 1974 Topps set based on his 1973 action.

Thing is at that time the only image I could find to use for the "card" was a team-issued postcard, which wasn't exactly the optimum image I wanted.

All these years later, I finally found one, so I recreated it using an actual Topps photo:

For those that want to see what my original card looked like, here you go:

Here's my original write-up for the blog way back when:

"Quick: who was the only player to wear uniform number "42" for the Los Angeles Dodgers after Jackie Robinson retired?

If you answered Ray Lamb, today's "missing in action" subject, good for you!

Turns out Lamb wore the legendary number in 1969 while with the Dodgers, before they retired the number in 1972.

Lamb was already a member of the Cleveland Indians by then, and was out of professional baseball by 1974.

However I feel he "should" have, or "could" have had a card in Topps 1974 set based on the playing time he put in the previous year.

In 1973 Lamb appeared in 32 games for the Tribe, going an even 3 and 3 with a 4.60 earned run average and 60 strikeouts in 86 innings of work.

But by March of 1974, he was released, and as far as I can tell never played again, not even Minor League ball.

Strange, as I haven't come across any info regarding an injury or something like that.

Lamb's best season was arguably 1971, when he posted a deceptive 6-12 record to go along with his 3.35 E.R.A., three complete games and a shutout playing his first year for the Indians after being dealt by the team that drafted him, the Dodgers.

He put in a decent year in 1972, going 5-6 with an even better 3.09 E.R.A., mainly as a guy out of the 'pen.

All told, he finished his career with a 20-23 record, 3.54 E.R.A. and 258 strikeouts in 424 innings over 154 games."

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1978 JOHN VUKOVICH

Time to go and give former Philadelphia Phillies infielder John Vukovich a "not so missing" 1978 card to go along with three other "missing" cards created for the blog over the years:

 

Vukovich, who also got missing 1971, 1972 and 1977 editions created here over the years, appeared in only two games for the Phillies during the 1977 season, going 0-2 with a strikeout in that time.

He would spend all of 1978 in the Minors before coming back to the Big Leagues in 1979, albeit for only 10 games, hitting an even .200 with three hits in 15 at-bats.

All told he’d finish up with a .161 career average with 90 hits in 559 at-bats over parts of ten seasons, while playing all infield positions and playing for two World Champs (1975 Reds and 1980 Phillies), though he didn’t get into Post Season action himself.
He would also get two brief stints as manager, two games heading the Chicago Cubs in 1986 and nine games in 1988 with the Phillies.