MISSING IN ACTION- 1970 GUS GIL

Here’s a “missing” 1970 card for Seattle Pilot player Gus Gil, who I also created a “missing” 1971 card for earlier on this blog:

Gil appeared in 92 games for Seattle in their sole season as a Major League franchise, batting .222 with 49 hits in 221 at-bats along with 20 runs scored and 17 runs batted in.
With 241 plate appearances, how did this guy NOT get a Topps card in 1970?
Nevertheless, Gil spent 4 years in the Majors, batting .186 with 87 hits over 468 at-bats, playing all four infield positions over the course of 221 games.
He also spent 16 years in the Minor Leagues, starting as a 20-year old in 1959 in the Cincinnati Reds system and playing straight through to the 1976 season for the Poza Rica organization in the Mexican League, batting .274 with over 1500 hits.

1976 PROJECT- WILLIE DAVIS RE-DO

Once again “Reader Jim” asked me to redesign a card for his 1976 Project, this one for Willie Davis, who was originally on an airbrushed San Diego Padres card in the 1976 Topps set, but re-done with him as a St. Louis Cardinal, for whom he played the second half of 1975:

A nice action shot of “3-Dog”, who was finishing up an excellent 18-year career in the late-70’s, the first 14 of them as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers, including 2 championships in 1963 and 1965.
The last four years of his career were divided among the Montreal Expos (1974), Texas Rangers (1975), Cardinals (1975) and California Angels in 1979 (he didn’t play in 1977/1978).
All told the man collected 2561 hits and a .279 batting average, along with three Gold Gloves, 182 homers, 398 stolen bases, 138 triples and 1217 runs scored over 2429 games.
Excellent numbers for a guy who is easily lost among the elite National League outfielders of his day like Aaron, Mays and Clemente.

MISSING IN ACTION- 1973 MARTY MARTINEZ

Here’s a “missing” 1973 card for former Texas Ranger Marty Martinez, who was wrapping up a seven-year career in 1972:

Martinez appeared in 57 games during the ’72 season, split between three teams: St. Louis Cardinals, Oakland A’s and Texas Rangers, hitting .159 with 14 hits in 88 at-bats, with six runs batted in and runs scored.

Originally up in the Majors at the age of 20 with the Minnesota Twins in 1962, he wouldn’t make it back to the big show until 1967, now with the  Atlanta Braves for a couple of years before moving on to the Houston Astros until his well-traveled final season of ’72.

For his career he hit .243 with 230 hits over 945 at-bats in 436 games, collecting 57 RBI’s and scoring 97 runs with 19 doubles and 11 triples.

TURN BACK THE CLOCK 1961: WILLIE MAYS SLAMS FOUR HOMERS IN ONE GAME

As if Willie Mays needed anything other accomplishment to cement his place as one of the greatest players the game has ever seen, on April 30, 1961 he poured it on when he hit four home runs in one game, the Milwaukee Braves being the victim of his latest offensive onslaught:

Mays was pretty much in his prime in the early 60’s, and this game was a clear sign of his dominance against National League pitchers, as he became the seventh player to accomplish the feat in the 14-4 Giants win.

All he did that day was go 4-5 with the four home runs and eight runs batted in. Not a bad day’s worth, especially when you take into account that he wasn’t even going to play that day because of his jaunt the night before with Willie McCovey to eat ribs!

The man was a baseball machine!

A NICE AIRBRUSHING JOB- 1978 RICH GOSSAGE

Today I’d like to focus on a very nice airbrushing job Topps put out there, the 1978 Rich Gossage card, getting him as a New York Yankee after coming over from the Pittsburgh Pirates:

Gossage was a huge pick up for the reliever-rich Yanks, as they already had former Cy Young winner Sparky Lyle, leading to one of my favorite baseball-quips of all-time: “You went from Cy Young to sayonara”, uttered by the jokester Graig Nettles to Lyle, as the writing was on the wall.

By the time the 1979 season opened Lyle was a Texas Ranger, and Gossage was closing in the Bronx straight through the 1983 season, becoming one of the best closers in Yankee history.

As for the card, Topps really did do a nice job getting the uniform as realistic as possible in this action shot, about as smooth a job as I can recollect. It had me fooled as a kid when I ripped the card out of a pack for the first time.

It’s definitely on-par with cards like the 1978 Elliot Maddox or 1976 Nelson Briles cards, even the 1977 Doyle Alexander and 1973 Davey Johnson.

MISSING IN ACTION- 1974 WAYNE SIMPSON

Here’s a “missing” 1974 card for former pitcher Wayne Simpson, who burst on to the Major League scene in 1970 as a member of the Cincinnati Reds, but because of injuries never found that initial success later on:

Four years removed from his fantastic rookie year, Simpson found himself in Kansas City, trying to hang on and pitch through injuries that derailed his career, one that saw him go 14-3 with a 3.02 earned run average and league-leading .824 winning percentage as a member of the pennant winning Reds team in 1970.
For the Royals in 1973 he would go 3-4, with a 5.73 ERA over 16 appearances, 10 of which were starts, with a complete game and 29 K’s over 59.2 innings.
Sadly for him, he would only pitch a handful of games in 1975 for the Phillies, then make somewhat of a comeback in 1977 with the California Angels, which saw him go 6-12 with a 5.83 ERA over 27 games, 23 as a starter.
But that would be it for him, and at the age of 28 he would never see Major League action again.
His 1970 season was one of those rookie splashes up there with Von McDaniel, Mark Fidrych and Herb Score, enough so that he would still be a figure baseball magazines would write about years later as far as a young arm making an immediate impact.
Sadly like so many of those other young studs, it was something that they couldn’t maintain through no fault of their own.

1976 PROJECT: MIKE GARMAN RE-DO

Today I post a “re-do” of former pitcher Mike Garman’s 1976 Topps card, which was originally an airbrushed to show him on his new team, the Chicago Cubs, for which “Reader Jim” wanted a St. Louis Cardinal version to reflect the team he suited up for in 1975.
First up, the original:

Now the redesigned card with the Cardinals:

As I’ve stated before, I have always thought of a year’s baseball card set as more of a “yearbook” of sorts for everything that happened the previous year, and agree with Jim that having cards reflect that seem to make more sense.
Of course the other side of the argument is just as valid and I do see the reasoning, but nevertheless I am more than happy to accommodate Jim and what he asked me to create.
Garman put together a nice ‘75 season in St. Louis, posting a 3-8 record which wasn’t indicative of his 2.39 earned run average with 10 saves in 66 appearances and 79 innings pitched.
He would pitch for nine-years in the Major Leagues, collecting 42 saves and 22 wins (against 27 losses) generally out of the bullpen, as only eight of his career 303 games were as a starter.
He’d also finish with a 3.63 ERA and 213 strikeouts in 433.2 innings, with his only postseason action coming in 1977 as a member of the National League champ Los Angeles Dodgers.