1972 ALL-STAR SUB-SET: FRANK ROBINSON

Moving right along with my "missing" 1972 All-Star sub-set, we come to the second starting All-Star outfielder for the American league in 1971's Midsummer Classic, the great Frank Robinson of the Baltimore Orioles:

 

It was the eleventh All-Star nod for the legend, who would have himself another great year, finishing third in the A.L. MVP race at season's end, hitting .281 with 28 homers and 99 runs batted in.

Robinson is perhaps the “greatest underrated player” in Major League history.
A two-time Most Valuable Player, and the first to do it in both leagues, Robinson also took home a Triple Crown in 1966, was a twelve time All-Star, finished in the Top-4 in MVP voting outside his two wins, and oh yeah, as mentioned earlier was also the first African-American Manager in league history.
When he retired as an active player in 1976, Robinson was in the top-5 in so many offensive categories he was in the company of Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays.
Yet oddly enough, perhaps because of the era he played in, he would get buried in the “all-time greats” conversation in lieu of the aforementioned players along with guys like Ty Cobb, Roberto Clemente and Ted Williams.
I would say he and Stan Musial are the TWO greatest “underrated” players of all-time, and you could arguably throw in others like Bob Feller for good measure.
Just an all-out legend in so many ways.

EXPANDED LEAGUE-LEADERS: 1974 A.L. FIREMEN

On the blog today, we come to the American League's top firemen of 1973 with my 1974 expanded league leader card:

 

Leading the way with his 48 'points" is Detroit Tigers reliever John Hiller, who had one of the best seasons for a relief pitcher during the 1970's incredibly after suffering a heart attack in 1971 at only 27 years of age.

Despite the real threat of having his career over because of the heart attack, Hiller made his way back and in 1973 dominated, appearing in a league-leading 68 games, setting a new record with 38 saves, and pitching to a sparkling 1.44 earned run average over 125.1 innings and a record of 10-5.

Those numbers got him a fourth place finish in both the Cy Young and MVP race at season's end, and set a standard for saves until guys like Dan Quisenberry and Bruce Sutter came along in the 1980's.

Behind Hiller with 32 points was New York Yankees reliever Sparky Lyle, who followed up a tremendous 1972 campaign with another great season, posting 27 saves to go with his five wins, finishing up with an ERA of 2.51 over 51 appearances, earning him his first All-Star nod in the process.

In third place with 29 points, future Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers, who helped the Oakland A's to their second straight championship with his 29 points, 22 saves to go along with his seven wins over 62 appearances, finishing up with a very nice 1.92 ERA over 126.2 innings pitched.

Just as with Lyle, these numbers would also get Fingers his first All-Star nod, something he would end up doing seven times before his great career would come to an end in 1985.

There you have it! The full 1974 "expanded league leader" series. Hope you're enjoying the ride!

Next we move on to the 1975 Topps set with a full run of expanded league leader cards.

WTHBALLS CUSTOM NEGRO LEAGUE SET: CRISTOBAL TORRIENTE

Next up in my recent custom set to be profiled here on the blog, all-time great Cristobal Torriente, who is grossly overlooked even when talking about legends of the Negro leagues:

 

Torriente holds the Cuban Winter League career high-water mark for batting average at .352, and also went on to retire with a .340 Negro League BA, winning titles in 1920 and 1923.
One of my favorite quotes in ANY baseball lore is one attributed to Indianapolis ABC’s manager C.I. Taylor, who stated, “If I see Torriente walking up the other side of the street, I would say, ‘There walks a ballclub.’”

From the pitching side of things, Torriente posted a career 13-7 record over 32 appearances, 23 of them starts, completing 13 games and tossing two shutouts with 60 strikeouts in 179.2 innings, with an ERA of 4.46.

In 2001 Bill James rated Torriente as the 67th greatest baseball player ever for his book “The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract.”
In 1939 he was one of the first to be elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame, and though it took a long while, he was finally elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1979 MIKE SEMBER

On the blog today, we have a "not so missing" 19769 card for former Chicago Cubs infielder Mike Sember, who played the last of his brief Big League career during the 1978 season:

 

Sember appeared in nine games for the Cubs in 1978, this after making his Big League debut the season before with a scant three games as a 24-year-old.

Over those nine Major League appearances, he'd end up picking up two hits in seven at-bats, good for a .286 batting average, with two runs scored and a walk.

He’d play all of 1979 in the Minors for the Toronto Blue Jays organization, hitting only .150, which would be the last professional action he’d see in his career.

GIMMIE A DO-OVER: 1973 CHUCK TAYLOR

I recently gave former pitcher Chuck Taylor a "do-over" for his 1974 Topps card, which originally had him airbrushed into a Montreal Expos uni after coming over from the Milwaukee Brewers.

Well today we backtrack a season and do the very same for him, as his original 1973 card had him airbrushed into a Milwaukee uniform:

 

It's funny because Taylor actually finished the 1972 season with five games as a Brewer, the only games he'd appear in for the franchise before moving North of the border with the Expos.

Yet for whatever reason Topps didn't get him photographed with his new team before the production of the 1973 cards (??).

Nevertheless, here you go, with a nice shot of him as a Milwaukee Brewer that, believe it or not, TOPPS took!

Taylor went over to Montreal after a split season in 1972 when he suited up for both the New York Mets and Milwaukee.

In his first year with the Expos, he appeared in eight games, going 2-0 with a very nice 1.77 earned run average over 20.1 innings of work out of the bullpen.

He had a decent run as a reliever the last three years of his career after coming up with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1969 as a starter.
He would end up at 28-20 with an impressive 3.07 ERA over 607 innings and 305 appearances, all but 21 in relief.

AIRBRUSHING THROUGH THE 1970's: 1976 TRADED KEN REITZ

On the blog today, thought it'd be fun to take a look at the original airbrushed image used for former third baseman Ken Reitz's 1976 Topps card:

 

"Zamboni" would find himself traded to the San Francisco Giants from the St. Louis Cardinals straight up for pitcher Pete Falcone in December of 1975.

Reitz would have a nice 11-year career in the Majors, getting that Gold Glove in 1975 and making the National League All-Star team in 1980.
Of course, along the way he’d get the nickname “Zamboni” for his ability to suck up ground balls on the artificial turf of Busch Memorial Stadium playing the hot corner.
Six times in his nine full seasons of Big League ball would he go on to lead the N.L. in fielding percentage, which is amazing considering he played in the same era as contemporaries Mike Schmidt, Ron Cey and for a while even Pete Rose.
Talk about bum-timing! Kind of like being an excellent National League outfielder in the 1960’s when you had Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Roberto Clemente keeping everyone back.
Nevertheless, by the time Reitz retired after the 1982 season, he finished with a .260 batting average, with over 1200 hits and as far as I can tell, at the time a fourth place spot as highest fielding percentage as a Third Baseman behind only Brooks Robinson, Floyd Baker and Rico Petrocelli (according to Baseball_Reference).
Not bad!

 

IN-GAME ACTION: JOHNNY BENCH

This week's 1970 "In-Game Action" card is none other than the great Johnny Bench, who was just beginning to build on what would become considered the greatest Major League catching career the game has ever scene:

 

Still only 22 years old, Bench was a Rookie of the Year in 1968, a two-time All-Star and Gold Glove winner by the end of 1969, and would go on to take home the first of his two MVP Awards at the end of the 1970 season.

All-time best at his position? I'd be hard-pressed to argue this.

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.
As a kid growing up in the 1970’s, this man was a mythic figure, a “god”.