EXPANDED LEAGUE LEADERS: 1979 A.L. VICTORIES

On the blog today, we move on to the American League’s top winning pitchers for 1978 on an “expanded league leader” card, showcasing the top three players in each statistical category instead of the two top league leaders as Topps issued for a few years during the decade:

Of course, we begin with Mister “All-World” as far as pitchers go for 1978, the New York Yankees Ron Guidry, who put in an all-time year on the mound, leading Major League ball with his 25 wins.

Guidry was unstoppable that season, cruising to an incredible 25-3 record, helping the Yankees win their second straight championship while setting a new MLB record .893 winning percentage for 20+ win seasons, which still stands today.

Along with his 25 wins, “Louisiana Lightning” led the league with his nine shutouts and 1.74 earned run average, while finishing second with 248 K’s, a new Yankee record that stood until last season when Gerrit Cole topped the mark.

Of course, all of this led to Guidry taking home the league’s Cy Young Award, while finishing second in the MVP race to Jim Rice, who put in an equally superb year from the offensive side of the game.

In second place with 22 wins is a guy who happened to have his best MLB season at the wrong time, as he would have easily taken home the Cy any other year, Mike Caldwell of the Milwaukee Brewers, who went 22-9 with a brilliant 2.36 ERA and six shutouts, completing 23 of his 34 starts.

A solid starter between 1978 and 1983, the man had it all working in his first full year with the Brewers, tossing 293.1 innings and even picking up a save over his 37 appearances.

Originally somewhat of a journeyman pitcher in the National league between 1971 and 1977, he found his home in Milwaukee, playing the last eight years of his 14-year career there, even leading them to a World Series appearance in 1982 as well as a playoff in the strike-shortened 1981 campaign.

Tied for third with 21 wins apiece, Kansas City Royals pitcher Dennis Leonard and Baltimore Orioles legend Jim Palmer, who each put in solid years for their respective teams.

For Leonard, it was his second straight 20-win season for the A.L. West juggernaut Royals, posting a record of 21-17 over 40 starts, with an ERA of 3.33 over 294.2 innings of work, with 20 complete games and four shutouts.

After a 14-win season in 1979 he’d be back in the 20-win circle again in 1980, going 20-11, making it three times in four years the ace reached the elite level, as well as a 13-win season in 1981, just one off the league lead because of the strike.

For Palmer, it was “business as usual” for the Orioles Hall of Famer, posting his eighth 20-win season in nine years with a wonderful 2.46 ERA and six shutouts over 38 starts, just missing the 300-inning mark with 296, which broke his string of three such seasons between 1975 and 1977.

The man was top-three as far as pitchers are concerned for the 1970’s, in my book only behind Tom Seaver, but with Steve Carlton elbowing his way in the conversation.

A great group of hurlers here!

 

NEGRO LEAGUE TO MAJOR LEAGUE STARS: JACKIE ROBINSON

On the blog today, we add the great Jackie Robinson to my thread celebrating players who made their professional debuts in the Negro Leagues before playing the Majors, of course he being the man who started it all:

Before Robinson made baseball history in 1947 as the first African-American to play in the Majors, he suited up with the Kansas City Monarchs in 1945 while he was still in college.

He played in only 47 games, but excelled, hitting .387 with 5 home runs and 13 stolen bases, even appearing in the East-West All Star Game.

Garnering interest from a few Major League teams, Robinson eventually signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers, and spent 1946 in their Minor League system, playing for the Montreal Royals of the International League.

Of course, the rest is history, as Robinson would make his MLB debut in 1947 and immediately make an impact, taking home the Rookie of the Year Ward, while also winning MVP two years later.

Just an incredible man who had the strength that most of us do not possess, to handle all that was thrown at him solely for the color of his skin.

1977 N.L. CENTENNIAL: JERRY KOOSMAN

On the blog today, we add former New York Mets ace Jerry Koosman to my running 1977 sub-set celebrating the Senior League's 100th anniversary of 1976:

“Kooz” spent the first 12 years of his Major League career as a New York Met, and performed marvelously, posting solid seasons which saw him finish behind Johnny Bench in 1968 for National League Rookie of the Year in 1968, and in second-place for Cy Young in 1976 when he won a career high 21 games to along with a 2.69 earned run average and 200 strikeouts.
But over the following two seasons, and not entirely HIS fault, Koosman posted a combined 11-35 record, even though his ERA was around 3.62 and he struck out 352 batters.
That was enough for the Mets to ship him to Minnesota on December 8th, 1978 for a relief pitcher that would pay off years later, Jesse Orosco.
Koosman immediately made an impact in Minnesota, posting another 20-win season (at the time one of the few to do so in both leagues), while posting a 3.38 ERA and 157 strikeouts.
By the time he retired after the 1985 season he’d win 222 games, while collecting a nice 3.36 ERA with 2556 strikeouts and 33 shutouts over 612 games, 527 of which were starts.
I remember hearing years ago that Koosman loved to tell people how his “rookie card” was worth a lot of money and was the hottest card in the 1968 set, only to follow up and casually mention that “Oh yeah, some guy named Nolan Ryan is on there too.”
Love it...

GIMMIE A DO-OVER OF ONE OF MY OWN: 1973 CAREER-CAPPER FOR HOYT WILHELM

 

Today on the blog, a do-over for one of my early "career-cappers", a 1973 capper for the great Hoyt Wilhelm, who I originally had an early version created for way back in September of 2013, using an image that was a bit sub-par for my taste:

This is a great image of the man closing out a game during his final season of a Hall of Fame career, one that was unique and in my opinion under-appreciated.

Here's the original write-up from the first time around:

"As if Hoyt Wilhelm needed another card in a LONG and illustrious career, I couldn't help but create a 1973 Topps card for the knuckleball relief specialist.
I've always been fascinated by Wilhelm's career.
Who knows what he could have done if he remained a starter. Who knows what his career numbers would have been if he began his career in his early 20's instead of at the ripe "old" age of 29!
Think about this for a second: the man started his career at 29 and he STILL pitched in 21 seasons. He still ended up setting what was then the all-time record for appearances by a pitcher with 1070.
Throw in seven seasons of sub-2.00 E.R.A.'s, 227 saves, and on top of all of that, TWO E.R.A. crowns in the ONLY two years he even threw enough innings to qualify, and you definitely have a Hall of Fame career when it's all said and done.
Take a look at Wilhelm's rookie season. In 1952 he shows up in New York, pitching for the Giants, and all he does is go 15-3 in 159.1 innings, with a league-leading 2.43 E.R.A. and 11 saves. And this was ALL in relief! He appeared in 71 games without a single start. Just awesome.
He also managed to hit a home run in his first Major League at bat on April 23, 1952, never to hit another one in his career. Go figure.
It would then be another seven years before he would pitch more than 154 innings, this time topping out with a career high 226 with the Baltimore Orioles in 1959 mainly as a starter.
His other numbers that year were good enough to have him selected as an All-Star: 15-11, league-leading 2.19 E.R.A., and 13 complete games with three shut outs.
Whether you had him starting or coming in as a reliever, he was up for the challenge.
Wilhelm finally called it a career after the 1972 season where he appeared in only 16 games for the L.A. Dodgers.
Over the course of his last five seasons (all post-45 years of age), he bounced around a bit and pitched for five teams: White Sox, Angels, Braves, Dodgers and Cubs, going 17-18 with 43 saves.
Nevertheless, Wilhelm was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1985, generally considered the first relief pitcher to have this honor bestowed upon him.
So without any further delay, here's a 1973 card design capping off a great and unique Major League career."

1960'S DEDICATED ROOKIES: 1966 DON SUTTON

Today's blog post has us putting a spotlight on my 1966 "dedicated rookie" for the great Don Sutton, from my custom set released a few years ago:

A really fun set to produce, and one of the most popular sets among you all over the years, there was a plethora of future Hall of Famers to create dedicated cards for from the 1960s.

Sutton was set to start a wonderful 23-year run in the Major Leagues, reeling off win after win for the Los Angeles Dodgers coming up as a 21-year-old in 1966.

The man was a machine, and while some people think incredible steadiness like this doesn’t warrant a Hall of Fame selection, I do!

There is something to celebrate when a player performs year after year over a long period of time (think Eddie Murray) without having a “mega-season” along the way.
By the time Sutton left the game after the 1988 season, he finished with 324 wins, a 3.26 earned run average, 58 shutouts and 3574 strikeouts in 774 appearances, 756 of them starts.
Needless to say, in 1998, on his fifth try, he made it into Cooperstown, joining former teammates Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale, with 81.6% of the vote.

 

REVISITING A BLOG POST FROM 2014: JIM BARR AND HIS INCREDIBLE STREAK

On the blog this fine day, we revisit an old post from the blog dating back to June of 2014, a "Highlights from the 1970's" card featuring San Francisco Giants pitcher Jim Baar and his record-breaking streak of 41 batters in a row retired:

Here's the original write-up for the post:

"Here's a highlight from the 1970's that usually went underreported, Giant pitcher Jim Barr and his 41 batters in a row retired in 1972.

What made this more amazing was that he retired 41 batters in a row yet didn't throw a no-hitter, since it spanned two games on August 23rd and August 29th of that year.

On the 23rd he retired the final 21 batters he faced after he walked Pirates pitcher Bob Moose in the third inning.

Then on the 29th, he retired the first 20 Cardinals batters before Bernie Carbo hit a double.

It wasn't something that got a lot of attention until White Sox reliever Bobby Jenks topped it 35 years later in 2007 (then later topped by another White Sox hurler, Mark Buehrle, in 2009-including his perfect game).

Barr fashioned a pretty solid 12 year career between the San Francisco Giants and California Angels between 1971 and 1983.

He finished 101-112 with a 3.56 E.R.A., with 20 shutouts and three seasons of a sub-3.00 earned run average.

1974 was arguably his best season in the Majors, as he went 13-9 with a 2.74 E.R.A. and five shutouts, with two saves thrown in as well.

I remember this streak was one of my favorite trivia questions to stump people from time to time as a kid, and I promise you no one ever got it.

It just wasn't appreciated, either by baseball folk or Topps."

1970 "20-WIN CIRCLE": DAVE BOSWELL

Good day all!

On the blog today, we add Minnesota Twins pitcher Dave Boswell to my new(ish) 1970 "20 Win Circle" sub-set, celebrating the pitchers who reached the magic mark during the 1969 season:

Boswell had what turned out to be the best season of his career in 1969, helping the Minnesota Twins take the American League West by posting a record of 20-12 over 38 starts, posting an earned run average of 3.23 and tossing 256.1 innings.

Sadly things went downhill for him rather quickly after that season, as he suffered an arm injury in the 1969 American league Championship Series against the Orioles.

In 1970, he went 3-7 over 18 games, with a bloated 6.42 ERA before finding himself splitting the 1971 season with the Detroit Tigers and Baltimore Orioles, his last year in the Big Leagues.

For his career Boswell went 68-56 with a 3.52 E.R.A., six shutouts and 882 strikeouts before leaving the game at a young 26 years of age due to the aforementioned injury.

Rough end to a once thriving career.