1960S "IN-ACTION": 1963 FLEER ROBIN ROBERTS

Good day all.

On the blog today, we have my 1963 Fleer "In-Action" card for the great, and under-appreciated Hall of Famer Robin Roberts, from my custom set released a few months back:

Just a nice shot of the righty ace towards the end of his stellar career during his tenure with the Baltimore Orioles:

Roberts resurrected his career somewhat in 1962, his first season with the Baltimore Orioles, posting a very nice 2.78 earned run average over 27 appearances, going 10-9 with six complete games.

This was after a disastrous 1961 season that saw him go 1-10 over 26 appearances, with a bloated 5.85 ERA in his last year with the Philadelphia Phillies, with whom he came up to the Major Leagues back in 1948.

Roberts was a freaking machine during the 1950’s pitching for the Philadelphia Phillies, posting six 20-win seasons with  a 19 and 17 win season thrown in as well.
He led the league in wins four times with a high of 28 in 1952, while also leading the National league in strikeouts twice, complete games five times, innings pitched five times and shutouts once.
By the time he retired after the 1966 season, he finished with 286 wins and a 3.41 earned run average, with 45 shutouts and 2357 strikeouts over 676 games and 4688.2 innings pitched.
Between 1950 and 1956 he was named to the all-star team each year, while also garnering MVP attention every season.
To be honest how he didn’t win the MVP in 1952 is beyond me, as the award went to Chicago Cubs slugger Hank Sauer.
Granted the Phillies finished in fourth place with an 87-67 record, 9.5 games behind the Dodgers.
But the Cubs finished in fifth place, with a 77-77 record.
So what went on there is something worth looking into considering all Roberts did was go 28-7 with a 2.59 ERA, three shutouts, 148 strikeouts and 30 complete games out of his 37 starts!

1960S ALL-DECADE TEAM: N.L. OUTFIELDER WILLIE MAYS

Today we have my pick for the second outfielder on my national League team of the 1960s, and about as easy as it gets as I go with the Sporting News Player of the 1960s, all-time great Willie Mays:

The man flat-out raked during the decade of the '60's!

All the man did was finish in the top-10 in M.V.P. voting seven times, taking home the award in 1965 (with many remarking that HE should have won in 1962 over Maury Wills), top 30-homers six times, 40 homers four times, and 50 in 1965 (being the last to reach that mark until George Foster hit 52 in 1977).

Throw in seven 100+ R.B.I. seasons, six 100+ runs seasons, five .300+ years, nine Gold Gloves and all-star appearances every single year, and you see why it was so easy to choose the "Say Hey Kid" as the player of the decade.

Is it me, or is being voted "Player of the Decade" pretty freakin' big?!

I think such an honor speaks volumes historically, and it's a shame it goes so unnoticed through the years.

Anyway, so far an outfield of Roberto Clemente and Willie Mays both in their prime is ridiculously elite! And with the addition of my third outfielder on the N.L. team, which I'm sure you can all guess, it would easily be the greatest outfield the game would ever see if they had the chance to play together.

MISSING ALL-STAR MANAGER: 1971 GIL HODGES

Today we add former New York Mets manager to my "missing All-Star manager" cards I've recently created for the blog, joining my Earl Weaver 1971 card from last week, to celebrate the managers that led their respective leagues in the "Midsummer Classic" during the 1970s:

Because of his World Championship season of 1969, when he led the improbable "Miracle Mets" team to a shocking win over the juggernaut Baltimore Orioles, Hodges was tabbed as the skipper of the N.L. for the 1970 All-Star game.

Played at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, the National League would pull-out the win in the 12th inning, remembered as the Pete Rose run when he barrelled into young Cleveland Indians catcher Ray Fosse for the game winning run.

Excelling on the field for the Dodgers as well as in the dugout for the Mets, Gil Hodges became a legend in the New York area, and his name still has recognition around here thanks to the top-notch little league that kids flock to every year (of which I also took part in as a kid 40-45 years ago).
After his Hall-worthy playing career Hodges was the first successful manager of the New York Mets, and was depicted on Topps cards in the late-60's and early-70's.

After a ninth place finish his first year as manager of the Mets (just one game above the last place Houston Astros), Hodges and the Mets did the unthinkable in 1969.
Led by a young corps of talented guns like Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman and a yet "unknown" Nolan Ryan, they managed a historic 27-game turnaround, good for first place in the new N.L. East with a record of 100-62.
Once into the postseason, they stunned the baseball world by sweeping the Atlanta Braves in the playoffs, then defeating the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles in the World Series four games to one, claiming about as unexpected a championship as anybody could have dreamed of.

Hodges, who finally made the Hall of Fame recently, should have been in decades ago based on his playing and managing career.

Gone far too soon after dying at the age of only 47 just before the 1972 season from a heart attack.

WTHBALLS GUM PACK CUSTOM SET: JOE MORGAN

On the blog today, a spotlight on my Joe Morgan mini, from my "Gum Pack" custom set in special packaging released last year:

Just a fun set to whip up and get out there to add to the WTHBALLS checklist!

Morgan was "all-world" by the time he had a few seasons with the Cincinnati reds under his belt!

What else could Morgan have accomplished by the end of the 1970s?! The two-time MVP led his “Big Red Machine” Cincinnati Reds to two straight World Series wins in 1975 & 1976, took home his third straight Gold Glove Award, was RIPPED OFF a Rookie of the Year Award back in 1965 (look it up), and was well on his way to the Hall of Fame.
His 1976 season was the stuff of legend at the time: a .320 batting average, 27 homers, 111 runs batted in, 113 runs scored and 114 base on balls, leading his league in On-Base-Percentage and Slugging while claiming a spot on his seventh National League All-Star team.

He created a modern standard for a middle infielder, a standard that rarely has been matched since.

One of the all-time greats of the game.

 

WTHBALLS "SERIES 17" CUSTOM SET NOW AVAILABLE!

It's that time again!

The newest WTHBALLS custom set is here, and it's the "SERIES 17" set!

 

SPOILER ALERT! See photos attached for the cards in this set.

 

 

As usual, this features 15 cards plus a bonus, which will be the fifth WTHBALLS membership card, this one in the 1971 format featuring Vida Blue.

As usual, the sets come wrapped inside a "WTHBALLS" wrapper like the other "Series" set packs from the past.

The new "packs" are $13 each plus $4.50 postage, and as usual, if you buy more than one set, postage always stays the same at $4.50.

My paypal is the usual: slogun23@gmail.com
Thank you all for the continued support and interest!
Be well and safe!
Gio/wthballs

OPC IMAGE VARIATIONS: 1977 PHIL GARNER

Today on the blog we take a look at Phil garner, aka "Scrap Iron", and the image variation between his 1977 Topps and OPC cards, with some hilarious results:

OPC version

Topps version

After coming up with the Oakland A's in 1973 and playing for them for four years, Garner was part of a blockbuster trade that saw him go to the Pittsburgh Pirates along with Tommy Helms and Chris Batton for Tony Armas, Doug Bair, Dave Giusti, Rick Langford, Doc Medich and Mitchell Page.

To say that the Oakland A's made out like BANDITS on this deal would be an understatement!

Anyway, while Topps didn't catch the trade in time and used a nice shot of Garner in action, OPC did and created this absolutely fantastic airbrushed job in all it's mustard glory! Wow!

Nevertheless, Garner would go on to a very nice 16-year career as a player, along with another eight as a manager during the 1990’s and 2000’s, even guiding the Houston Astros to a National League Pennant in 2005 when they eventually lost to the Chicago White Sox in the World Series.
As a player, he was a part of the 1979 World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates team, as well as a member of the 1973 and 1974 World Champ Oakland A’s, though not a cog or even a regular by any means.
By the time he retired as a player after the 1988 season, the three-time All-Star finished with a career .260 average, with 1594 hits over 6136 at-bats and 1860 games.

Not a bad Big League resume!

REVISITING A BLOG POST FROM 2015: ALLIE REYNOLD'S TWO NO-HITTERS

On the blog today, we revisit a blog post from November of 2015 celebrating Allie Reynolds and his two no-hitters of 1951 on a 1971 "Turn back the Clock" card:

Here's the original write-up for the post as it appeared back then:

Today we celebrate Allie Reynolds and his two no-hitters in 1951, which he threw against the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Red Sox, in my “Turn Back The Clock” series.

The “Super Chief” had it going on in 1951, winning 17 games and leading the league with seven shutouts.
On July 12th of that year he faced his old team, the Indians, and beat them 1-0 thanks to a solo home run by Gene Woodling. He retired the last 17 batters he faced, and his rival pitcher, Bob Feller, pitched a no-hitter himself just eleven days earlier!
On September 28th, he faced Boston and easily beat them 8-0, which allowed the Yankees at least a tie for first in the American League.
Reynolds struck out nine and walked four, and of course we all know that the final batter he faced was none other than Ted Williams, arguably the greatest all-around hitter in baseball history.
All Reynolds had to do was, in a sense, retire him TWICE, as Yogi Berra dropped a foul pop-up for the final out, before catching the very next one, as Williams popped out to end the game.
Only six pitchers have thrown two no-hitters in one season, with Roy Halladay (2010) and Max Scherzer (2015) being the most recent to the exclusive club.