1971 "BASEBALL'S GREATEST MOMENTS": RICHIE ALLEN

Good day everyone!

On the blog today, another "missing" 1971 Greatest Moments card, this time celebrating Dick (Richie) Allen and his fantastic Rookie of the Year winning 1964 season:

His rookie year was phenomenal, as he'd score 125 runs, collect 201 hits, lead the league with 13 triples, while collecting 38 doubles, hit 29 homers and drive in 91 runs, and hit .318, finishing seventh for the MVP Award.

Needless to say, he took home the Rookie of the Year in 1964, and in 1972 would take home the MVP trophy while with the White Sox when he paced the American League with 37 homers and 113 RBI's, while just missing out on the Triple Crown, batting .308, just ten points off the league-leading mark by perennial winner Rod Carew.

By the time he left the game at the age of 35, Allen hit over 350 homers, batted .292 and scored 1099 runs with 1119 RBI's.

The seven-time all-star also led his league in triples once, walks once, on-base-percentage twice and slugging three times.

I'm not saying the man is a lock-tight Hall of Fame candidate, but I do think in light of some of the guys already in, HE should also be in there.

The fact that the most support he got was an 18.9% showing in 1996 seems like a joke to me.

What do you all think?

VINTAGE CUSTOM SPOTLIGHT: 1950 DRAKE'S "EXTENDED" SET: LUKE APPLING

Today's blog post has us taking a look at my 1950 "missing" Drakes card for Hall of Famer Luke Appling, part of my fun custom set produced in 2020 in deluxe "floating frame" packaging:

One of the All-Time great shortstops of the game who is sadly overlooked, Appling was a two-time batting champ over his 20 year career, spanning 1930 through 1950, with pretty much two seasons lost to military service in 1944 and 1945.

The six-time All-Star hit as high as .388 in 1936, which gave him the first of two batting championships, with his second coming in 1943 when he hit .328.

Sadly for him, after that second title he was shipped off to his military service before coming back to hit .300+ the final five of his six Big League seasons.

By the time he retired, he hit .310 over 2422 games, with 2749 hits in 8856 at-bats, finishing runner-up to two MVP Awards while garnering support in nine other seasons.

In 1964 he was selected for the Hall of Fame , named to 189 of 201 ballots.

"Old Aches and Pains"!

SPECIAL 1969 "TEAM" CEREAL EXTENSION SET: REGGIE JACKSON

On the blog today, we have my 1969 Nabisco Team Flakes "missing" card for the man himself, Reggie Jackson:

 

Hope to have this cereal box printed up in the coming months, as a special bonus custom release on the WTHBALLS imprint!

Jackson truly arrived with his 1969 season, exploding for 47 home runs with a league-leading 123 runs scored, while driving in 118 runs.

He also led the league with his .608 slugging percentage and 20 intentional base-on-balls, making his first All-Star game at the age of 23.

Those numbers got him a fifth-place finish in the MVP race at season's end, and we all know he was FAR from finished.

Truly one of the eternal icons of the game, the man was just destined for baseball greatness since his days at Cheltenham High School in Pennsylvania.
Recruited by pro teams and colleges alike, he went on to Arizona State where he was actually on a football scholarship.
Of course we all know the story of the 1966 amateur draft, where the New York Mets held the #1 pick, and opted for high school catcher Steve Chilcott instead of who many considered the true #1 overall amateur, Jackson.
With the second pick, the Kansas City Athletics (later Oakland) picked the slugger and the rest is history, as he would eventually lead the organization to three straight championships between 1972-1974 before being traded in a blockbuster to the Baltimore Orioles where he’d play for one season in 1976.
As a highly coveted free agent before the 1977 season, Jackson signed with the New York Yankees, and with Reggie in NYC, the legend exploded as he helped the Yankees to two championships in 1977-78.
With his larger than life persona, New York ate it up and before you knew it, he was known around the world, even getting his own candy-bar by the end of the decade.
For a kid like me growing up in Brooklyn in the ‘70’s, Reggie was like a God, larger than life, and before he finished up his career in 1987, putting in 21 seasons, he would put together a Hall of Fame career with 563 homers, 1702 runs batted in, an MVP Award in 1973, and five championships.
Add to that 14 all-star nods, four home run titles, a legendary homer in the 1971 All-Star Game against Dock Ellis, his 1977 World Series performance, and you can see why he goes down as one of the most well-known baseball personalities the game has ever seen!

 

1971 TOPPS ROOKIE ALL-STARS: DAVE CASH

Up on the blog today, we take a closer look at the unreleased 1971 Topps Rookie All-Star card of Dave Cash, part of a fun sub-set that I wish Topps went ahead with way back when:

These were never released to the public, and were paste-up oversized designs on poster board, with some "leaking out" and making their way out for us to see.

Nice time-specific design and coloring!

Cash appeared in 18 games as a 21-year-old in 1969, hitting .279 with 17 hits over 61 official at-bats, with eight runs scored and four RBIs.

But in 1970 he'd show the Pirates what he'd end up doing throughout his career, HIT, as he'd put up a .314 batting average over 64 games.

He'd head over to the “City of Brotherly Love” in October of 1973 in a trade for pitcher Ken Brett, and did not disappoint the Phillie faithful, having his three best years as a Major Leaguer between 1974-1976.
In those three seasons Cash averaged over 200 hits a season, along with a .300 average while playing pretty much every single game, even setting the MLB record (since broken) of 699 at-bats during the 1975 season.
He’d sign with the Montreal Expos in the Winter of 1976 as a Free Agent, and would have one more very good year in 1977 before quickly having his career turn South.
After an injury-plagued 1979 season he found himself with the San Diego padres in 1980, where he hit .227 over 130 games, before retiring at only 32 years of age.
All told, Cash finished with a very nice .283 career average, with 1571 hits over 5554 at-bats and 1422 games between 1969 and 1980, stealing 120 bases and scoring 732 runs.

JAPANESE SPECIAL: 1979 ISAO HARIMOTO

Good day all!

On the blog today, the next Japanese legend to get the spotlight here, this time Hall of Fame outfielder Isao Harimoto:

Harimoto put in 23 seasons in the Japanese League, playing between 1959 and 1981, mainly for the Toei Flyers (Hokkaido).

He was Rookie of the Year in 1959, hitting .275 with 13 homers and 57 runs batted in over 125 games.

From then on he would turn into a legend of the game in japan, becoming the All-Time hit leader when he retired with 3085 hits, while also clubbing 504 home runs and driving in 1676 runs, while scoring 1523 himself.

To this day he is still the only player in Japanese history to collect 3000+ hits over a career.

He would top 20 homers 16 times, with five of those seasons 30+, while finishing up with a career average of .319, hitting .300+ 16 times.

He won seven batting titles, hitting as high as .383 (1970), and was selected for the "Best Nine Award" 16 times, as well as an MVP Award in 1962 when he hit .333 with 31 homers and 99 RBIs.

He is also the only member of the Japanese 3000/500/300 club, finishing with 319 career stolen bases, something only Willie Mays and Alex Rodriguez have done here in the United States.

In 1990, he was duly elected to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.

 

VINTAGE CUSTOM SPOTLIGHT: 1950 DRAKE'S "EXTENDED" SET: LARRY DOBY

Hello everyone!

On the blog today, we march right along and showcase my "missing" 1950 Drakes card for Larry Doby, part of my custom set released a couple years back in fun deluxe "floating frame" packaging:

Doby began his professional career at the age of 18, suiting up for the Newark Eagles at second base in 1942, putting in parts of three seasons before heading off to the Military in 1945.

He'd be back to playing ball in 1946 with Newark, and would lead the Negro Leagues with 85 hits, 10 triples  and 138 total bases while making his first All-Star team.

In 1947, just a few months after Jackie Robinson broke the MLB color-barrier playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the National League, Doby would do the same in the American League, donning the uniform of the Cleveland Indians, appearing in 29 games.

Though his initial start with Cleveland was a bit rough, to the tune of a .156 batting average over 32 at-bats, Doby would immediately find his stroke in 1948, hitting .301 for the eventual World Champions, scoring 83 runs while hitting 14 homers with 23 doubles and nine triples, even garnering some MVP attention at season's end.

He would make seven All-Star teams while with Cleveland, with MVP consideration in four of those campaigns.

He'd lead the A.L. in homers twice with 32 in both 1952 and 1954, while leading the league with 126 RBIs in the latter season, one of five seasons he'd top 100.

Never given enough praise for his ground-breaking MLB debut, often overshadowed by Jackie Robinson's debut just before him, I'm happy to see his place in Big League history getting more and more attention as time passes.

Thankfully, he was also given his rightful place in the Hall of Fame, having been selected for enshrinement in 1998, though far too late in my opinion, but at least before he passed away, which he did on June 18th of 2003 at the age of 79.

1970'S ALL-DECADE TEAM: N.L. OUTFIELDER PETE ROSE

Up on the blog today, my third and final National League outfielder to make my personal "All-Decade" team for the 1970s, and I went with the Sporting News "Player of the Decade" outright, Pete Rose:

Though Rose only played a part of the decade in the outfield, he was definitely going to be a part of my squad here.

In a decade where we had future powerhouse Hall of Famers like Johnny Bench, Tom Seaver, and Reggie Jackson, Rose was the guy who came out in front of them all when it came time for the Sporting News to select someone who would represent the go-go '70's.
In the ten years spanning 1970-1979, he was on two world champion teams, four pennant winners, had six 200-hit seasons, and lead his league in no less than 13 offensive categories!
And that's not all: in NINE of those years he received Most Valuable Player consideration, taking home the award in 1973.

The man excelled no matter what position he played: second, third, outfield, first. That cannot be overlooked.

So my N.L. outfield is built on Greg Luzinski, Lou Brock and Pete Rose.

Of course I gave heavy consideration to George Foster, Dave Parker and Willie Stargell, but for me I figured a well-built line-up would be best served by my three picks to man the outfield grass.