"GIMME A DO-OVER"- PART XXI: 1970 #17 HOYT WILHELM

Today's "do-over" is Hoyt Wilhelm's 1970 Topps card (#17).
As you can see from the original issued card below, Topps did an airbrush job on him with a blotchy black patch covering the logo on his cap.
The thing is, I swear it seems that Topps went and used an image of him in a Chicago White Sox uniform.
If so, that means they used an older image since Wilhelm split the 1969 season with the Angels and Braves.
It certainly looks like a late '60's White Sox jersey he has on doesn't it?
Anyway, since I've profiled Wilhelm before I won't go too much into his career here. However it is interesting to note that by 1970 Wilhelm was 47 freakin' years old already! And he still had a couple of years left in that arm of his before he called it quits after the 1972 season. Just amazing...
I found a nice image of "Old Sarge" wearing an Atlanta Braves uniform, and I feel that it makes for a nice card. Hope you all think so as well.

Airbrushed issued card by Topps.

A better image in an Atlanta Braves uniform.

AN ALL-TIME CLASSIC CARD: 1971 LINDY McDANIEL

The 1971 Topps Lindy McDaniel (#303) card has always been another of my favorites from the set.
For me, it always seemed like the perfect "classic" baseball photograph with McDaniel on the mound at the "old-OLDER" Yankee Stadium in 1970.
Besides the fact that the black-bordered 1971 set always looks nice, the photo is perfectly cropped to show the in-game action and the vastness of the stadium behind him.
There were a few Yankee players that were given an awesome card in this set. Earlier on this blog I profiled the Ron Woods and Thurman Munson cards, and in the future I plan on posting on the Roy White issue as well.
Just a nice card that reflects the era it was snapped in very well.
As for McDaniel, he had a nice 21 year career in the big leagues, proving himself mainly as a reliever. He lead the league in saves three times and finished with 172 in his career.
1970 was arguably his finest year in the Majors, as he appeared in 62 games for the Yankees, with a 9-5 record and 29 saves to go along with a nifty 2.01 E.R.A.
At the time of his retirement after the 1975 season, he was second all-time (behind Hoyt Wilhelm) in game appearances by a pitcher with 987.

About as "classic" a photo as you can get...

THE STRANGE CASE OF RICKEY CLARK...3 CARDS FOR 53 INNINGS

What an odd topic Rickey Clark was as far as baseball cards go.
We've all seen Topps make strange choices when it came to selecting players to depict on their yearly sets, but Clark is up there when it comes to "why?", multiple times!
To start with, take his 1970 card (#586): considering that in 1969 Clark appeared in only six games for 9.2 innings TOTAL, going 0-0 with a 5.59 E.RA., you can't help but wonder why Topps put him in their set the following year.
But it gets better!
Clark didn't even appear in a big league game in 1970, toiling in the Angels' minor leagues all year, yet Topps went ahead and gave him another card in their 1971 set (#697).
No clue as to why. It's not like Clark tore up the Minor Leagues or anything. He went 6-10 with a 4.99 E.R.A. for both the Detroit and California Minor League system. Yet once again kids were staring down at a "Rickey Clark" card the following year.
Then in 1972 Topps went ahead and gave him yet ANOTHER card (#462), even though he only appeared in 11 games for 44 innings in 1971.
So if you add it up, Rickey Clark was issued three straight cards for only 17 games and 53.2 innings of work in the big leagues!
Pretty amazing when you think about it. Heck, guys like Luis Tiant weren't even given a card during some of those years, yet this guy was given a slot each and every time.
Actually Clark started out in the Majors on the right foot and had a really good rookie year in 1967, going 12-11 with a 2.59 E.R.A. with a shutout over 174 innings.
But in 1968 he had a COMPLETE change of fortune, going 1-11 with a 3.53 E.R.A. over 94 innings, with his luck getting even worse the rest of his career.
From 1968 through 1972, his final year in the Majors, Clark posted a record of 7-21 over 63 games, before finally hanging them up after the 1973 season which he spent in the Minors for the Philadelphia Phillies Triple-AAA team in Eugene, Oregon.
Oh, and yes, Clark did indeed have a card in the 1973 set as well, but at least he broke 100 innings the year before (109 to be exact). It's just that he never appeared in a game in the Majors ever again.
Strange indeed.

A card for 9.2 innings of total work the previous year.

A card for ZERO innings of Major League work the previous year!

Hold on now! This time he threw 44 innings. Gotta have a card now, right?!

JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT- 1970'S BASEBALL TRIVIA PART XVIII

Here's this week's set of trivia questions. Take a shot and see how many you can get. Answers will be posted tomorrow down below:


1. Five pitchers in the decade won 20+ games in a season in both the A.L. And the N.L. Who were they?

2. This player drove in 100+ R.B.I.'s three years in a row without hitting 20+ home runs in any of those seasons. Who was he?

3. Only two players hit 40+ home runs in a season during the 1970's while also collecting 200+ hits. Who were they?

4. Besides Bobby Bonds, who else had a 30 homer/ 30 stolen base season in the decade?

5. This pitcher started an incredible 49 games in 1972, tying for second place all-time since 1900. Who was it?

***SPOILER ALERT! ANSWERS BELOW: 

1. Tommy John (Yankees and Dodgers); Andy Messersmith (Angels and Dodgers); Gaylord Perry (Indians and Padres); Fergie Jenkins (Rangers and Cubs); and Jerry Koosman (Twins and Mets).

2. Thurman Munson, New York Yankees: 1975-1977.
 
3. Billy Williams, Chicago Cubs: 1970 and Jim Rice, Boston Red Sox: 1978.
 
4. Tommy Harper, Milwaukee Brewers: 1970.

5. Wilbur Wood, Chicago White Sox.

DEDICATED "ROOKIE CARDS" #1: 1977 ANDRE DAWSON

I was never a fan of multi-player rookie cards.
They always had pictures that were too small and had basic or no info on the backs. Thus the cards were pretty much useless for fans who liked to study stats or keep track of all the guys on their favorite teams (even if they ended up not sticking around long).
The worst part of those cards were when one of the players ended up becoming a superstar, making for quite the "rookie" shortcoming as far as collecting was concerned.
Today I post the first design of what will be a short thread on this blog: cards of future Hall of Famers who had their rookie cards in the 1970's on one of these multi-player issues.
I say "short thread" because there were only about six players that fit this criteria as far as I can tell: Gary Carter, Jim Rice, Carlton Fisk, Paul Molitor, Mike Schmidt and today's subject, Andre Dawson.
Dawson's actual rookie card from the 1977 set sucks, plain and simple. Sharing a card with three other players who didn't really set the Majors on fire makes for a forgettable piece of cardboard.
So let's jazz things up a bit by giving Dawson a dedicated "rookie card".
First off, let's remind ourselves what his actual issued rookie card (#473) looks like:

It doesn't get any more boring than this!

OK. Now allow me to post up my design for a dedicated 1977 Andre Dawson card:

Dawson on his way to "Rookie of the Year".

Would have been nice to have a rookie card like this for "The Hawk" instead of what was issued by Topps.
Oh well, at least it's fun designing these decades later.
Dawson ran and slammed his way to a Hall of Fame induction in 2010 after a fabulous 21 year career with the Expos, Cubs, Red Sox and Marlins.
By the time he hung up the cleats he posted the following: 2774 hits, 438 homers, 1591 runs batted in and 314 stolen bases.
Throw in a Rookie of the Year award in 1977, an M.V.P. award in 1987, eight Gold Gloves and four Silver Slugger awards, and you see why he was such a force on the baseball diamond.
And let us not forget: if he didn't tear his knees up on that Montreal artificial turf, who knows WHAT he could have added to his final numbers.
Anyway, keep an eye out for the "dedicated rookie cards" of the remaining five players listed above in the future.

NEVER TO BE SEEN AGAIN- 1976 MIKE THOMPSON AND HIS 1-15 CAREER RECORD

I've been meaning to write a profile about this card for some time now.
Besides the fact that it features a player that never actually played in the Majors again by the time this card came out, a BIG interest of mine as far as cards go, it's also a player that ended his career with a 1-15 record, with that one win coming in 1971!
Five years before this card was issued, Mike Thompson came up in his rookie year for the Washington Senators and appeared in 16 games with 12 of them being starts.
He finished with a 1-6 record over 66 innings, sporting a 4.86 E.R.A. for a team that went 63-96 for manager and all-time legend Ted Williams.
In 1972 he spent the year in Denver for the franchise's (now the Texas Rangers) Triple-A team, going 6-8 with a 4.10 E.R.A. over 112 innings in 20 games. He never got called up to the Majors, and would find himself traded the following Spring to St. Louis for a player to be named later.
Oddly enough, the fact that Thompson didn't appear in the Majors was good enough for Topps, as they issued a card for him in their 1973 set, which I'll profile later on.
Sadly his time with St. Louis wouldn't offer him much more as far as big league action, as he only got into 2 games in 1973, good for four innings with no decisions.
Over the course of the following two seasons in 1974 and 1975, Thompson would split the time between St. Louis and the Atlanta Braves, who bought him in September of '74.
In those two seasons he got into 36 games, 15 of them starts, but came up on the wrong side of every single decision he had, going 0-9.
So by the time the card you see below was issued in 1976 (#536), he was at a career 1-15 record over five years for three teams, 0-9 of that record the past four years, 0-6 of THAT the previous year, yet Topps went ahead and included him in their awesome 1976 set.
Go figure.

At the time this card was issued, he hadn't tasted a win in five years.

Thompson was out of baseball after a year in the Cincinnati minor league system in 1976, and forever gave us a card that we can gaze upon for years on end asking, "Why did this guy get a card?"
You have the love the facial hair though. True '70's look until the Brooklyn hipsters adopted it in the '00's, much to my (and MANY others') dismay.

RANDOM QUICKIE: 1974 RON CEY

Ron Cey wasn't the tallest player in the big leagues, but at 5' 10", he certainly wasn't short either.
That's why I've always loved this 1974 (#315) card of the "Penguin" that made him look like five feet tall.
I'm sure his stocky build helps, but there seems to be something about the angle of the shot that really contributes to why he looks so small.
I mean, look at home plate! It looks oddly big in relation to Cey.
Hilariously "wrong" looking photo, but a really card overall actually.

Awww, look at the little kid on a Major League field.

Ron Cey is always one of those players that gets lost when talking about star players from the 1970's.
Until Mike Schmidt really hit his stride, Cey was arguably the best third baseman in the National League.
It's easy to forget that Cey was on three all-star cards as the N.L. starting third baseman: 1975, 1976 and 1978, getting beat out by Pete Rose in 1977 and 1979.
But when you look at his career, you see that between 1974 and 1977 he received M.V.P. votes each year while also appearing in every all-star game through 1979.
By the time he retired in 1987 after 17 years in the Majors, Cey pounded out over 300+ home runs with 1100+ runs batted in, and will always be linked the that awesome starting infield for the Los Angeles Dodgers that included Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes and Bill Russell.