1970'S ALL-DECADE TEAM: N.L. CATCHER JOHNNY BENCH

Today on the blog we begin a FUN new thread, my personal picks for the 1970's "All-Decade Team", which I'm sure will cause some arguments back and forth as I have selected some surprises when it was all said and done!

I definitely plan on releasing this as a custom set this year, as the cards came out brilliant, using the 1980 Topps template as the design.

We begin with my pick for the decade's best N.L. catcher, this is a simple decision, Cincinnati Reds legend Johnny Bench, perhaps the greatest catcher of them all:

Not really much going into this pick, as anyone trying to argue for someone else as the decade's best N.L. catcher has quite the task in front of them, with Bench dominating the Majors over the 1970's.

Leading the Cincinnati Reds to two World Championships, four World Series appearances, two MVP Awards, and absolutely rewriting the catching game in Big League history, the man was already a legend by the time he was in his early-20's!

Of course as we all know, he would go on to put together a career rarely seen by ANY player, let alone a catcher: TWO N.L. MVP Awards, 14 all-star games, 10 Gold Gloves, two home run titles and three RBI titles, all while donning the “tools of ignorance” for 17 seasons, all with the Reds.

L-E-G-E-N-D.

Next week, my pick for the A.L.'s top catcher for the 1970's...

 

EXPANDED LEAGUE LEADERS: 1979 N.L. ERA

On the blog today, we move on to the National league and their top three ERA pitchers of 1978, displayed on a 1979 "expanded league leader" card:

We begin with New York Mets starter Craig Swan, who surprisingly put in a solid year for the cellar-dwelling Mets, leading the league with his 2.43 earned run average.

Though his record was only 9-6 over his 29 appearances, he did toss 207.1 innings, giving up only 56 earned runs while completing five games, including a shutout.

He'd follow that season up with another solid season, posting a record of 14-13 over 35 starts, with an ERA of 3.29 along with three shutouts and twn complete games, striking out a career-best 145 batters.

Sadly for him injuries began setting in, and aside from 1982 when he threw 166.1 innings, over the rest of his career he'd never throw more than 96.1, retiring in 1984 at the age of only 34.

In second place with a fin 2.47 ERA, Montreal Expos All-Star Steve Rogers, about as solid a starter in the game between 1973 and 1983 before injuries also derailed his career.

For Rogers, he gave the upstart Expos 13 wins against 10 losses, with eleven complete games and a shutout, throwing 219.1 innings.

Of course we know now that he would go on to become a top starter in the early-80's, taking home an ERA crown himself in 1982 with a 2.40 mark, winning 19 games and coming in as runner-up in the Cy Young Race.

In third place with a 2.54 ERA, St. Louis Cardinals starter and future A.L. Cy Young winner Pete Vuckovich, who put in a very nice year for his new team after coming over from the Toronto Blue Jays.

Vuckovich was used as both a starter and reliever, appearing in 45 games, with about half of those starts, completing six games and tossing two shutouts on his way to 198.1 innings of work.

After two more solid years with the Cardinals, he'd find himself with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1981, tying for the league-lead with his 14 wins during the strike-shortened season, then following that up with his Cy Young year, helping Milwaukee make it all the way to the World Series as he'd go 18-6 with a 3.34 ERA over 30 starts.

GIMMIE A DO-OVER: 1970 JACK AKER

On the blog today, a "do-over" of the very first 1970 Topps card I ever owned, bought as a ten year old in 1980 at an Antique Store in Brooklyn, featuring former New York Yankees reliever Jack Aker:

As issued by Topps

As you can see from the original image, Topps was in the middle of a battle with MLBPA regarding licensing rights so they were recycling tons of photos of many players in the late-60's/early-70's.

The issued image shows Aker clearly as a member of the Kansas City/Oakland A's, where he played between 1964 and 1968.

He did appear in 38 games for the Yankees in 1969 after coming over from the Seattle Pilots, performing very well by posting a record of 8-4 with a 2.06 ERA and eleven saves.

In his entire 11 year career he never started a single game, appearing in a total of 495 games in relief, posting a (then) very respectable 124 saves, including 32 in 1966 alone when he had his best season in the big leagues for the Kansas City Athletics, going 8-4 with a 1.99 ERA to go along with those league-leading saves.

Between 1964 and 1974 he'd suit up for the Athletics, Pilots, Yankees, Cubs, Braves and Mets, finishing with a 47-45 record with a nice 3.28 ERA and 404 strikeouts over 746 innings of work in 495 appearances.

1970 "20-WIN CIRCLE" DAVE McNALLY

Today on the blog we add Baltimore Orioles great Dave McNally to my fun 1970 "20-Win Circle" sub-set, something I plan to produce and release this year:

McNally was in the middle of a tremendous four-year run by the time this card would have come out, posting four straight 20+ win seasons along with three wins spread over three World Series (1969-1971) and a World Championship.

His 20-win season in 1969 was this second, going 20-7 over 40 starts, with four shutouts and 166 K's along with an ERA of 3.22.

Between 1969-1971 he finished in the top-5 in Cy Young voting each time, with a second place finish in 1970 behind Jim Perry.

Along with Jim Palmer and Mike Cuellar he formed one of the most talented pitching rotations in the game, and in 1971 was one of FOUR Oriole pitchers to post 20 or more wins.

By the time he retired after the 1975 season, he finished with a 184-119 record, with a 3.24 earned run average, 33 shutouts and 1512 strikeouts.

Some of the other highlights of his career are pretty nifty: still the only pitcher to hit a Grand Slam in a World Series game; he had three different streaks of 12 or more wins in a row during his career (Roger Clemens would later match this) including a 17-game streak between 1968-69; and he threw a Series-clinching shutout against the Dodgers in the 1966 World Series to match teammates Jim Palmer and Wally Bunker, completing an improbable sweep of the reigning champs and their staff which had future Hall of Fame pitchers Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale.

Quite a career for the man from Billings, Montana.

1960'S DEDICATED ROOKIE: 1966 FERGIE JENKINS

On the blog today, we spotlight my 1966 "dedicated rookie" card for pitching great Fergie Jenkins, who began his fantastic career as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies:

The card was part of my fun "1960's Dedicated Rookie" set released a few years back, easily one of the more popular sets I've produced since starting the blog.

For Jenkins, the 22-year-old appeared in seven games for the Phillies in 1965, going 2-1 over 12.1 innings with a very nice 2.19 EAR and 10 strikeouts.

After one game with Philadelphia in 1966 he was shipped to Chicago in a multi-player trade that the Phillies would LOVE to take back, as Jenkins would go on to reel off six straight 20-win seasons beginning in 1967, taking home the Cy Young Award in 1971.

As we all know, by the time he hung them up he put together a Hall of Fame career, topping 280 wins, 3000 strikeouts, with 49 shutouts, a Cy Young Award in 1971 and four other top-3 finishes in the award voting.
In 1991 he capped off his career with an induction into Cooperstown on his third try, just getting the 75% of the vote with 75.4% support.
On a geeky side-note, “Fly” was also the first pitcher to ever register 3000+ strikeouts while issuing less than 1000 base on balls.

The man was truly "Fly"!

 

OPC IMAGE VARIATIONS: 1977 DOCK ELLIS

Good day everyone!

Up on the blog today, we take a look at the images variation between Dock Ellis' Topps and OPC cards from 1977:

OPC version

Topps version

Nothing really too earth-shattering here, with the Topps image much nice in my humble opinion, showing the iconic starter posed at the Stadium rather than some Spring Training shot.

Ellis has one full season with the New York Yankees, posting a very fine season in 1976 and helping them make the World Series for the first time in 12 years before losing to the "Big Red Machine" Cincinnati Reds.

He posted a record of 17-8 over 32 starts with a 3.19 ERA, tossing 211.2 innings while completing five and throwing one shutout.

By the time he left the game after the 1979 season, Ellis would post a final record of 138-119 over 345 games, 317 of them as a starter, tossing 14 shutouts and striking out 1136, while famously throwing a no-hitter in 1970 allegedly while tripping on LSD, and also starting the 1971 All-Star game, giving up the towering home run to Reggie Jackson that struck a light tower at Tigers' Stadium.

Eventful career to say the least!

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1975 JIM SADOWSKI

Today's blog post has a good old-fashioned "not really missing" card for four-game Major League pitcher Jim Sadowski of the Pittsburgh Pirates:

Sadowski appeared as a reliever in all four of those games, going 0-1 with a 6.00 earned run average for the Pirates, throwing exactly nine innings and giving up six earned runs on seven hits and nine walks (ouch!).

The 22-year-old Pittsburgh native would go on to put in four more years in the Minors for both the Pittsburgh and Kansas City Royals organizations before retiring in 1978, having those four games during the Spring of 1974 that most of us can only wish we had.

Cheers buddy!