1975 "IN-ACTION": GEORGE SCOTT

Today we go an add former thumper George Scott of the Milwaukee Brewers to my long-running 1975 "In-Action" thread:

 

Scott was right in the middle of an impressive career-run by 1975, on his way to a home run title, hitting 36, with a league-leading 106 runs batted in and 318 total bases, as well as his seventh Gold Glove for his defensive work at first base.

All those numbers would get him an eight-place finish for the MVP Award by season's end, MVP attention that he'd receive for the fifth straight year at that point.

Overall he put together an excellent career playing for the Red Sox, Brewers, Royals and Yankees between 1966 and 1979, slamming 271 home runs with 1051 RBI's, 1992 hits and a .268 batting average.

Defensively all he managed to do was take home eight Gold Gloves for his work at first base, and though he was only named to three all-star games, he garnered MVP attention in seven seasons, or half his career!

Not too shabby to say the least...

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1973 FRANK TEPEDINO

On the blog today, we have a "not quite missing in action" 1973 card for former outfielder/first baseman Frank Tepedino of the New York Yankees:

 

Tepedino was back with the Yankees in 1972 after a season with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1971, though his 1972 season was the sum total of eight games, all as a pinch-hitter, going 0-8 at the plate with a strikeout.

Never a full-time player, Tepedino never played more than 78 games in a season, and that was in 1974 with Atlanta, when he hit .231 with 39 hits in 169 at-bats.

Originally up with the New York Yankees, he also played with the Milwaukee Brewers the last half of 1971, before a short stint back with the Yanks in 1972, then on to the Atlanta Braves.

He would end up batting .241 as a Major League player, totaling 122 hits in 507 at-bats in 265 games, with 50 runs scored and 58 runs batted in.

 

EXPANDED LEAGUE LEADERS: 1978 N.L. RUNS BATTED IN

On the blog today, we move on to the National League’s top three RBI men of the 1977 season, with an “expanded 1978 league leaders” card in my on-going thread:

 

Of course, when we talk about 1977 in the N.L. we usually begin with all-world Cincinnati Reds slugger George Foster, who took home an MVP Award that year for his incredible season that saw him lead the Majors with 149 RBIs along with his 52 homers, 124 runs scored and .631 slugging percentage while batting .320 on 197 hits.

The man was a force that season, following up on a brilliant 1976 campaign that saw him finish runner-up in the MVP chase to teammate Joe Morgan as they both helped the Reds to their second straight championship.

In second place with 130 RBIs, Philadelphia Phillies thumper Greg “The Bull” Luzinski, who had the misfortune of having his best MLB season in 1977, as he once again finished second in the MVP race to a Red, as he did in 1975 to Joe Morgan.

Luzinski hit 39 homers to go with those RBIs, scoring 99 runs while hitting .309 with 35 doubles and 329 total bases for the N.L. East champion Phils, his third season in a row topping .300.

Easily overshadowed by his N.L. counterparts, as well as his own teammate in Mike Schmidt, it’s easy to forget he was one of the most feared sluggers of his era.

In third place with 115 RBIs, Los Angeles Dodgers All-Star first baseman Steve Garvey, who had the “usual” season fans grew accustomed to from their first sacker.

Garvey hit a career-best 33 homers that season, with 192 hits, 91 runs scored and a .297 batting average, smack in the middle of an incredible seven-year run that saw him reach 200 hits six times, top .300 six times, 100 RBIs five times and 20 homers five times.

The man was THE N.L. first baseman for my generation, and the fact that he is not in the Hall is amazing to me, new baseball metrics be damned.

There we have the top RBI men of 1977, celebrated on an “expanded” league leader card as part of a very fun thread for the blog!

BASEBALL'S GREATEST MOMENTS: JIM HUNTER'S 1968 PERFECT GAME

The next 1971 "Baseball's Greatest Moments" card added to my custom "extended set" is a card celebrating Hall of Famer Jim "Catfish" Hunter and his 1968 perfect game:

 

On May 8th of that year, one year and one day before I was born FYI, Oakland A's starter Jim Hunter took the mound against the heavy-hitting Minnesota Twins, a line-up that featured THREE future Hall of Famers in a row in Rod Carew, Harmon Killebrew and Tony Oliva.

It was only the 25th game for the Oakland franchise after moving there from Kansas City, and the scant 6,300 fans were treated to history, as Hunter ended up tossing the ninth perfect game at the time in MLB history, beating the Twins 4-0 at Oakland-Alameda County Stadium.

Hunter struck out eleven batters, including the last two of the game, with only two batters even reaching a three-ball count: Tony Oliva in the second inning and the final hitter of the game, pinch-hitter Rich Reese, who actually fouled-off five straight 3-2 pitches before whiffing.

It was actually the first regular season perfect game in the American League since 1922, when Chicago White Sox pitcher Charlie Robertson accomplished the feat, and first no-hitter in the Athletics franchise since the Philadelphia days, when Bill McCaha threw a no-no in 1947.

Incredibly, what is often forgotten is that the star HITTER of the game was Hunter himself, as he went 3-for-4 at the plate with three runs batted in!

Just amazing!

The game took a nice 2:28 minutes to complete, and really introduced the budding ace to the rest of the baseball world, as he would become a perennial 20-game winner, 1974 Cy Young recipient, and five-time champion before retiring in 1979.

STARS RETIRE: 1974 WILLIE MAYS & LUIS APARICIO

On the blog today, another in my "Stars Retire" thread, this time a 1974 edition celebrating the careers of recently retired Willie Mays and Luis Aparicio:

 

To start, Major League baseball saw one of the greatest ever, Willie Mays, call it a career after finishing up where it all started, New York, with the Mets with whom he made it back to a World Series before losing to the three-peat Oakland A's.

Really, at this point what else needs to be said about arguably the best all-around player in baseball history. 3000+ hits, 660 homers, 1900+ R.B.I.'s., 1951 Rookie of the Year and N.L. M.V.P. in 1954 and 1965. But he was much more than just stats. He was the "Say Hey Kid".
By the time the 1970's hit, he was a walking legend of the sport, and being enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979 was the cherry on top of it all.

Along with Mays, the great Luis Aparicio hung up the cleats after a wonderful career that saw him become one of the great base-stealers of his era.

He actually wrapped up his playing days by the end of the 1973 season, but Topps (for a change) went ahead and issued a card for him in their 1974 edition. So we were given an "accidental" career-capper" with his final Topps card.

From the moment Aparicio made it to the Majors in 1956 with the Chicago White Sox, he was a star.

He took home the A.L. Rookie of the Year that season, and proceeded to be an all-star player for most of his 18-year career.

Between 1956 and 1964, nine consecutive years, he led the American League in stolen bases every single season!

As a member of the "Go-Go" 1959 Chicago White Sox he finished second to teammate Nellie Fox for Most Valuable Player, and he'd go on to win nine Gold Glove Awards before hanging up the spikes.

All told he suited up for the White Sox, Baltimore Orioles, and Boston Red Sox for the final three years of his illustrious career.

By the time he retired the numbers were solid: 2677 hits, 1335 runs scored, 506 stolen bases and over 10000 at-bats!

It took a few years on the ballot, but he was finally inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1984.

Two giants of the game finishing up Hall-worthy careers, celebrated on this one card.

Hope you enjoy them!

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 1970's: MAJOR LEAGUE BALL COMES TO SEATTLE

I don't know why it has taken me so long to create a 1970 "Highlight" card celebrating Major League baseball coming to Seattle, but I fix that today with the following card:

I have already created other such cards for the Montreal Expos (1970), Texas Rangers (1973) and Milwaukee Brewers (1971), so why the Pilots cards escaped me I have no idea.

Funny I bring up a 1971 card for the Milwaukee Brewers, since as we all know that is the franchise that was born from the mess that was the Seattle Pilots endeavor, as the Pilots lasted only one season as a Big League team before a last-minute deal with Milwaukee car-dealer Bud Selig before the 1970 season led to a hasty relocation to the Brew-city.

The team went 64-98 in their only season, led by manager Joe Schultz, with their top players being Don Mincher, Tommy Harper and Tommy Davis.

On the pitching side of things, Diego Segui put in a good year, going 16-6 mainly out of the bullpen, with starter Gene Brabender leading the team with 13 wins, seven complete games and 139 strikeouts.

Of course, thanks to pitcher Jim Bouton, who appeared in 57 games as a reliever for the team, we were also left with hilarious stories of the tumultuous season because of his landmark book "Ball Four", giving us insight into the personalities that made up the squad.

If you STILL have not read it, please do yourself a favor and get to it!

There's so much I can get into here, but for a more rudimentary quick read on the team and that 1969 season, here's the Wiki-link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Pilots

REVISITING AN OLD BLOG POST FROM OCTOBER, 2014: 1976 "TRADED" REGGIE JACKSON

Thought it'd be fun for you "newer" blog followers to see an older blog post today, this one from October of 2014, my 1976 "traded" card for uber-star Reggie Jackson:

 

I wanted to try something different from what Topps did for their traded sub-set, a set I was never a fan of.

Since I've always been a sucker for horizontal lay-outs, I tried it with the 1976 template and this is what I came up with.

Here's the original write-up from that post:

"This is my second card (following the 1977 Tom Seaver) in my "Traded" sub-set, creating cards of players that were traded before Topps could get them on the correct team by Opening Day.

As we all know, Reggie was traded by the Oakland A's right around the start of the 1976 season to the Baltimore Orioles.

And even though we were left with what is STILL one of my all-time favorite cards, that '76 card of Reggie would have been nice to have depicted him on the correct team.

There are a lot of really takes on this out there, for sure. Hope you all think this one is an adequate addition to them as well!"