FIXING UP ALL-STAR CARDS: 1984 ROBIN YOUNT

Up on the blog today we have another 1980s Topps All-Star fix, this time a 1984 All-Star card for the 1983 American League starting shortstop, Robin Yount:

If you remember, Topps decided to give Cal Ripken the All-Star card in their 1984 set over the rightful player, Yount. Still a mystery as to why Topps changed their All-Star card selection process in 1981. Never a fan of that!

Yount went 0-2 at the plate with a run scored and an RBI in the 1983 Midsummer Classic, the first win for the A.L. since 1971! I remember that game vividly, as I watched it as a 14-year-old and witnessing an A.L. win for the very first time as a young baseball fan.

A Milwaukee Brewer for life, Yount finished his great career with 3142 hits, 1632 runs scored, 251 homers and 271 stolen bases, taking home two A.L. MVP Awards and incredibly only making three All-Star teams. How on earth?!
Anyway, it’s amazing to realize that when he had his first true All-Star season in 1980, after what was already seven years in the Big Leagues, Yount was STILL only 24 years of age!
He was on cruise-control from then on, elevating his game to become one of the elite players in the American League, with 1982 the high point when he led the Brewers to the World Series and taking home his first MVP Award.
What a player...

 

MISSING IN ACTION: 1978 BREWERS MANAGER-ALEX GRAMMAS

On the blog today, finally "fixing" a missing manager card in the fabulous 1978 sub-set, that of Milwaukee Brewers Alex Grammas, who skippered the team in 1977:

Grammas put in two seasons with Milwaukee, leading them to almost identical records in 1976 and 1977, 66-95 (1976) and 67-95 (1977).

It was the only two years at the helm of the team, and besides a temporary stint as Manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1969 (season-ending 5 games as a fill-in for Danny Murtaugh), his only taste as a Big League manager.

The Brewers decided to go with George Bamberger in 1978, for which I did produce a card for way back in 2013 here on the blog, but felt that Grammas really deserved one here.

I've always been a huge fan of the 1978 Topps managers sub-set, and wished they would have used that template for something else, with star players instead.

Ah well...

REVISIT: 1971 CAREER-CAPPER FOR TITO FRANCONA

Thought it'd be fun to revisit a ten year old post from the blog today, this time my 1971 Career-Capper for Tito Francona:

Father of current Cincinnati Reds Manager Terry Francona, Tito appeared in 84 games in his final big league season, split between the Oakland A’s and Brewers.
He hit .235 with 23 hits over 98 at-bats with both four runs scored and runs batted in  while playing both first base and the outfield, the two positions he’d mainly play throughout his career.
Francona came up in 1956 with the Baltimore Orioles and ended up second in Rookie of the Year voting behind Chicago White Sox speedster and future Hall of Fame player Luis Aparicio.
In that season Tito would hit .258 with 115 hits over 445 at-bats, with nine homers, 62 runs scored and 57 RBI’s in 139 games.
His finest season was his first with the Cleveland Indians, for whom he had his best years, when he batted .363 with 20 homers and 79 RBI’s in 122 games.
He didn’t qualify for the batting title based on his 443 plate appearances, but he did finish fifth in MVP voting.
All told he’d finish his career with a .272 average with 1395 hits in 5121 at-bats over 1719 games, with 125 home runs and 656 RBI’s and 650 runs scored.

 

OPC IMAGE VARIATION: 1977 GEORGE SCOTT

Time to put the spotlight on George Scott and his 1977 image variation between his Topps and OPC cards, a classic photo with an airbrush-touch in only the way the 1970s could have given us:

OPC version

Topps version

Not too bad a job to put "Boomer" back in a Boston Red Sox uniform after some power-house years with the Milwaukee Brewers!

Already an all-star for the Red Sox between 1966 and 1971 before heading to Milwaukee, Scott came back and continued his bashing ways in 1977, hitting 33 homers with 95 runs batted in and 103 runs scored, getting him his third and final all-star nod.
Sadly for the Red Sox, Scott’s production would drop-off, to the point he found himself in Kansas City in 1979, whereas Cecil Cooper went on to a borderline Hall of Fame career with the Brewers through the 1980’s.
Nevertheless, Scott put together an excellent 14-year career that saw him collect just under 2000 hits, 271 home runs and 1051 RBI’s along with eight Gold Gloves for his fielding at first base.
Not bad at all...

OPC IMAGE VARIATIONS: 1977 DARRELL PORTER

Today on the blog we take a look at Darrell Porter and his image variations for his 1977 OPC and Topps cards:

OPC Version

Topps version

The young catcher was part of a multi-player trade in December of 1976 that had the people at OPC scrambling to airbrush him into a Kansas City Royals uni, while the Topps cards were already going to press, leaving us with what you see here.

Not that bad a paint-job by OPC. Lord knows we have seen worse (or some may say GLORIOUS) work over the decade!

As for Porter, I never realized that he was never a subject here on the blog all these years.

While he did make an All-Star team and finish third in Rookie of the year voting as a member of the Brewers, it was after he found himself in K.C. that he really became a solid Major League backstop, with three All-Star nods in a row between 1978 and 1980, including a starting gig in the 1979 game, with two top-10 MVP finished as well in that time.

His 1979 season is really not spoken about enough in respect to the 1970s!

Quite possibly the best offensive year by an American League catcher in the 1970s, Porter was a beast at the plate.

He hit .291 for the Royals, with 101 runs scored and 112 runs batted in, with 20 homers and an American League leading 121 walks, for a nifty .421 on-base-percentage, while also leading the league with 13 sacrifices.

He also hit an amazing 10 triples over his 155 hits, which as we all know for a catcher is not a common occurrence in the game.

In 1981 he would become a St. Louis Cardinal, signing with them as a Free Agent and replacing Hall of Famer Ted Simmons, and Porter would be part of the World Champion 1982 team, having himself an incredible Post Season, taking home MVP honors in BOTH the N.L. Playoffs and the World Series after hitting a ridiculous .556 against the Atlanta Braves, then hitting .286 with eight hits and five RBIs in the Fall Classic.

He'd finish his career with two seasons playing part-time with the Texas Rangers in 1986 and 1987, finishing up with a .247 batting average over 17 seasons, with 188 homers, 765 runs scored and 826 RBIs, four All-Star nods and the aforementioned two top-10 MVP finishes.

Sadly, because of a substance abuse problem that began during his baseball career, Porter passed away in 2002 related to cocaine at only 50 years of age.

His life was full of turmoil during and after his baseball career, and he even wrote a book about it called "Snap Me Perfect!", detailing his life in the sport and struggles with drugs.

R.I.P. Darrell Porter: 1952-2002.

 

OPC IMAGE VARIATIONS: 1977 CECIL COOPER

Up on the blog today, we have a look at the image variations for Cecil Cooper's 1977 Topps and OPC cards:

OPC version

Topps version

One of my favorite non-Yankee players as a kid at that time, Cooper found himself traded to the Milwaukee Brewers before the 1977 season, with OPC airbrushing him into a Brewer uniform for their set, while Topps still had him with the Boston Red Sox, the only team he'd suited up for during his career to that point in time.

Not bad an airbrushing job by the OPC folks to be honest, working with a photo that made it a little easier to transform.

Cooper was traded to the Brewers in December of 1976 for Bernie Carbo and George Scott, and immediately became a star, putting together seven straight seasons of a .300 batting average or higher, with a high of .352 in what is pretty much a forgotten incredible season in 1980 (thanks to George Brett), when he also led the American League in runs batted in with 122 while collecting 219 hits, 33 doubles and 25 homers.

The five-time all-star had three 200+ hit seasons, four 100+ RBI seasons, five 20+ homer seasons and even took home two Gold Gloves for his defensive work.

Between 1980-1983 he finished in the top-10 for Most Valuable Player, and also won three straight Silver Slugger Awards.

By the time he retired after the 1987 season, he finished with over 2000 hits, 1000 runs scored, 400 doubles, 240 homers and 1100 RBI's with just under a .300 batting average (.298).

What's astonishing to me is that when he became eligible for the Hall of Fame, he didn't get a single freaking vote! None! Yet guys like Bill Campbell, Andre Thornton and Davey Lopes got some support.

Just incredible to me…

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: ROBIN YOUNT

On the blog today, we add Milwaukee Brewers legend Robin Yount to my custom "Classic Baseball" set, which I hope to produce later this year, celebrating the great game:

Just a fun image of the teen-aged Yount as he was launching what would turn out to be a Hall of Fame career.

A Milwaukee Brewer for life, Yount finished his great career with 3142 hits, 1632 runs scored, 251 homers and 271 stolen bases, taking home two A.L. MVP Awards and incredibly only making three All-Star teams. How on earth?!
Anyway, it’s amazing to realize that when he had his first true All-Star season in 1980, after what was already seven years in the Big Leagues, Yount was STILL only 24 years of age!
He was on cruise-control from then on, elevating his game to become one of the elite players in the American League, with 1982 the high point when he led the Brewers to the World Series and taking home his first MVP Award.
What a player...

REVISITING A 10-YEAR-OLD POST: 1974 FANTASY ROOKIE CARD

On the blog today, we revisit a 10-year-old blog post featuring a fantasy multi-player 1974 rookie card that would have been quite the doozy had it really been out there:

Not a bad group of young ballplayers right here!

Here's the original write-up for it:

"Now here's a card that would have been nice to pull out of a pack! (Even though I am admittedly NOT a fan of the "multi-player" rookie cards).

Like I previously did with the 1978 dream rookie card with Ozzie Smith, Paul Molitor, Lou Whitaker and Alan Trammell, I couldn't resist designing a 1974 "Rookie Infielders" card with Robin Yount and George Brett.

Now it wasn't beyond the realm of possibility to have the two future Hall of Famers appear on one of those multi-player rookie cards in the '74 set.

But I DO understand why Topps didn't give them a look at the time.

I took an already existing card (#604) and replaced Terry Hughes and John Knox (sorry guys!) with Brett and Yount.

Teamed up with two other future solid major leaguers in Andre Thornton and Frank White, and this card would have been a killer at the card shows of the late 1980's when the rookie-card explosion happened.

Thankfully, because of the wonderful world of Photoshop, we can all go ahead and "fix" these so many years later."

 

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1978 DAN THOMAS "THE SUNDOWN KID"

On the blog today, a card I meant to create years ago, but would flip-flop about because of the troubled player depicted, a "not so missing" 1978 card for the "Sundown Kid", Dan Thomas of the Milwaukee Brewers:

Thomas appeared in what ended up being the last 22 games of his short MLB career in 1977, hitting a respectable .271 after hitting .276 in his rookie year of 1976, when he appeared in 32 games.

Coming into the 1977 season, Thomas, who recently joined the "Worldwide Church of God" and began strictly observing the Sabbath, notified the club that he would NOT play on the Sabbath, earning him the nickname mentioned earlier.

The media played the situation up somewhat, even leading Thomas to being featured in People Magazine, where he is quoted as stating, "If I'm good at baseball, it's only because God gave me the talent. I'll give it all I've got, but I won't play on the Sabbath."

Even though the young hitter was hitting .271, he was still demoted to the Triple-A Spokane Indians, with one columnist stating that "No matter how tolerant and ecumenical Brewers' management wants to be, they are irked by having a player sit out two games a week".

Thomas' relationship further deteriorated after he even agreed to a pay cut of one day a week while with Spokane, refusing another demotion to their Eastern League affiliate in August after a decline in performance, prematurely ending his season.

Brewers' President Bud Selig even chimed in on the matter, stating "It's just a tragic story. I know a lot of people are mad at us because of what they think we've done to him...He's really a nice kid who wants to do the right thing."

From there, Thomas' pro career was essentially done, as he was unsuccessful in later attempts to latch on with other organizations.

He'd go on to play for the Independent Boise Buckskins in the Northern league, where he'd actually win the Class-A batting title in 1978, before putting in some time with the Miami Amigos of the Inter-American League in 1979 before quitting baseball all together shortly after.

Things took an even more terrible turn for him when, in June of 1980 Thomas was arrested on a rape charge involving a 12-year-old girl in Mobile, Alabama.

While in jail on the rape charge, Thomas committed suicide by hanging, with his family so poor that they couldn't even afford a proper funeral, leading him to be burried in a "Potter's Field".

Thomas had a history of mental health problems, even taking to drink and pills to combat his inner-demons in the mid-70s.

In 1976 while in Venezuela, he was even hospitalized after overdosing on pills, telling his wife, "...I wish I had cancer, then at least people would realize what was the matter with me."

Just a tragic story all-around.

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1973 BILLY CONIGLIARO

Good day all!

On the blog today, a "not so missing" 1973 card for Billy Conigliaro, who moved West to Milwaukee after his first three years in the Big Leagues with the Boston Red Sox:

Conigliaro "the younger" appeared in 52 games for the Brewers in 1972, hitting .230 with seven homers and 16 runs batted in.

Billy had himself a promising rookie year in 1970 that saw him slam 18 home runs while batting .271 in only 114 games, but he could never quite match that production again, finding himself with the Brewers after those initial three years in "Beantown" followed by a year with the Oakland A’s in 1973, playing a total of 100 games combined those two seasons before finding himself out of baseball for good.

He put in parts of five seasons in the Majors, hitting .256 over 347 games, with 40 homers and 128 runs batted in, scoring 142 runs between 1969 and 1973.

1970'S ALL-DECADE TEAM: A.L. FIRST BASEMAN GEORGE SCOTT

OK!

Here's another of my picks for position player of the 1970's that I am sure will cause an argument or two: my pick for the American League's top first baseman for the decade, and here I went with a guy who played the WHOLE decade at the position, George Scott, aka "Boomer":

Now hear me out.

While Hall of Famers like Carl Yastrzemski and Rod Carew put in time at the position during the decade, they certainly did not play the whole decade there, while Scott not only did, but also took home six Gold Gloves as a first baseman between 1970 and 1979, while giving the Boston Red Sox and Milwaukee Brewers serious power, even leading the league with 36 homers and 109 runs batted in in 1975.

This combination of consistent hitting and fielding for all ten years of the 1970s made this my surprise pick, as I initially thought I'd go with Yaz.

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...

So what say ye out there, do you agree with this pick or not?

Let me hear it up on Twitter!

EXPANDED LEAGUE LEADERS: 1979 A.L. E.R.A.

Up on the blog today, we have a 1979 "expanded league leader" card celebrating the top three ERA men in the American League for 1978:

Of course we begin with the pitching apex of 1978 in Major League baseball, New York Yankees great Ron Guidry.

Guidry was unstoppable that season, cruising to an incredible 25-3 record, helping the Yankees win their second straight championship while setting a new MLB record .893 winning percentage for 20+ win seasons, which still stands today.

Along with his 25 wins, “Louisiana Lightning” led the league with his nine shutouts and 1.74 earned run average, while finishing second with 248 K’s, a new Yankee record that stood until last season when Gerrit Cole topped the mark.

That all resulted in a Cy Young Award while coming in second for the MVP, which arguably should have been his. Just a legendary season for the whip-it from Lafayette, Louisiana.

Lost in the Ron Guidry performance in 1978, the wonderful season the second place finisher in ERA had in his first year with the Texas Rangers, former N.L. Rookie of the Year Jon Matlack, who posted an excellent 2.27 ERA while going 15-13 over 35 appearances, completing 18 starts while striking out 157 batters.

Matlack, who spent the first seven years of his Big League career with the New York Mets, was as solid as they came between 1972 and 1980, regularly putting in 200+ innings of work a year with double digit wins for some pretty bad teams.

By the time he hung them up he finished with 125 wins and 1516 K's, with 30 shutouts  and a very nice 3.18 ERA.

In third place, the man who had the misfortune of having his best Big League season in 1978, Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Mike Caldwell, who along with his 22 wins and six shutouts, posted an ERA of 2.36 over 293.1 innings.

Incredibly Caldwell completed 23 of his 34 starts, the top mark in the A.L. that year, even picking up a save as he also made three relief appearances over the course of the season.

That year would begin a six-year run for him that saw double-digit wins and 200+ innings every year except the strike-year of 1981, when he still tossed 144.1 over 23 starts.

Three great starters right here!

EXPANDED LEAGUE LEADERS: 1979 A.L. VICTORIES

On the blog today, we move on to the American League’s top winning pitchers for 1978 on an “expanded league leader” card, showcasing the top three players in each statistical category instead of the two top league leaders as Topps issued for a few years during the decade:

Of course, we begin with Mister “All-World” as far as pitchers go for 1978, the New York Yankees Ron Guidry, who put in an all-time year on the mound, leading Major League ball with his 25 wins.

Guidry was unstoppable that season, cruising to an incredible 25-3 record, helping the Yankees win their second straight championship while setting a new MLB record .893 winning percentage for 20+ win seasons, which still stands today.

Along with his 25 wins, “Louisiana Lightning” led the league with his nine shutouts and 1.74 earned run average, while finishing second with 248 K’s, a new Yankee record that stood until last season when Gerrit Cole topped the mark.

Of course, all of this led to Guidry taking home the league’s Cy Young Award, while finishing second in the MVP race to Jim Rice, who put in an equally superb year from the offensive side of the game.

In second place with 22 wins is a guy who happened to have his best MLB season at the wrong time, as he would have easily taken home the Cy any other year, Mike Caldwell of the Milwaukee Brewers, who went 22-9 with a brilliant 2.36 ERA and six shutouts, completing 23 of his 34 starts.

A solid starter between 1978 and 1983, the man had it all working in his first full year with the Brewers, tossing 293.1 innings and even picking up a save over his 37 appearances.

Originally somewhat of a journeyman pitcher in the National league between 1971 and 1977, he found his home in Milwaukee, playing the last eight years of his 14-year career there, even leading them to a World Series appearance in 1982 as well as a playoff in the strike-shortened 1981 campaign.

Tied for third with 21 wins apiece, Kansas City Royals pitcher Dennis Leonard and Baltimore Orioles legend Jim Palmer, who each put in solid years for their respective teams.

For Leonard, it was his second straight 20-win season for the A.L. West juggernaut Royals, posting a record of 21-17 over 40 starts, with an ERA of 3.33 over 294.2 innings of work, with 20 complete games and four shutouts.

After a 14-win season in 1979 he’d be back in the 20-win circle again in 1980, going 20-11, making it three times in four years the ace reached the elite level, as well as a 13-win season in 1981, just one off the league lead because of the strike.

For Palmer, it was “business as usual” for the Orioles Hall of Famer, posting his eighth 20-win season in nine years with a wonderful 2.46 ERA and six shutouts over 38 starts, just missing the 300-inning mark with 296, which broke his string of three such seasons between 1975 and 1977.

The man was top-three as far as pitchers are concerned for the 1970’s, in my book only behind Tom Seaver, but with Steve Carlton elbowing his way in the conversation.

A great group of hurlers here!

 

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1977 STEVE BOWLING

Up on the blog today, we have a 1977 "not so missing" card for two-year Major League outfielder Steve Bowling, who made his Big League debut in 1976 as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers:

Bowling appeared in only 14 games for Milwaukee, hitting .167 with seven hits over 42 at-bats, scoring four and driving in two.

The following year he would find himself a member of the new Toronto Blue jays franchise, playing in 89 games and hitting .206, scoring 19 and driving in 13.

It's surprising Topps didn't give Bowling a card in their 1978 set considering all the playing time he had that season, so years ago I did create a "missing" card for him in that set.

Anyway, after two more seasons in the Minors for the White Sox and Reds, he'd call it a career for good after 1979.

His final career stats: a .199 batting average, with that single home run and 15 runs batted in over 103 games and 236 at-bats.

OPC IMAGE VARIATIONS: 1977 SAL BANDO

On the blog today, we take a closer look at another OPC/Topps image variation, this one the odd 1977 cards for former All-Star third baseman Sal Bando, who was airbrushed into the uni of his new team, the Milwaukee Brewers:

OPC VERSION

TOPPS VERSION

 

Now, for some strange reason except to the fine people at Topps/OPC, the difference between the two cards were that Bando was "flipped", a luxury that the "M" on the Brewers cap allowed since you wouldn't really know the difference.

Though seriously, why even bother then?

Would love to know the reason behind this!

As for Bando the player,  a huge cog in that Oakland machine of the mid-70's, he would end up making four All-Star teams over his career, while placing top-4 in MVP votes three times with a high of second place in 1971 when teammate Vida Blue took home the honors.

Bando put together a very solid Big League career that saw him take home three championships, participate in four all-star games, and finish in the top-10 in MVP voting three times.

His five 20-homer and two 100+ RBI seasons were a nice compliment to Reggie's offensive exploits, and with Joe Rudi, Gene Tenace and Bert Campaneris thrown in you can see why those A's teams were so strong.

Then again, with starting pitching like Vida Blue, Catfish Hunter, Ken Holtzman, Rollie Fingers et al, yeah, they were going to kick-ass no matter what…

He retired in 1981 with 1790 hits, 982 runs scored, 242 homers, 1039 runs batted in and a .254 batting average.

EXPANDED LEAGUE-LEADERS: 1979 A.L. RBI's

Welcome again folks!

Today on the blog we celebrate the top three RBI men of the American League in 1978 with a 1979 "expanded league leader" card in my long-running thread that's about to wrap up in a few weeks:

 

Of course, if we're talking 1978 in the American League then it is ALL about the great Jim Rice, who would take home an MVP Award for his tremendous season that year.

Rice led the league with his 139 RBIs, while virtually leading the league in everything else, including hits, triples, homers, slugging and total bases.

An absolute beast at the plate that year, while also putting together arguably the best three-year run between 1977 and 1979 of the era.

In second place with 121 RBIs, Detroit Tigers DH/OF Rusty Staub, who can easily be argued to be a Hall of Famer himself.

Staub had one of the best seasons of his illustrious career that year, hitting .273 with 24 homers, 175 hits and those 121 RBI's, finishing fifth in the MVP race at season's end.

In his three full season's in Detroit he definitely earned his stripes, driving in no less that 96 runs while collecting 176, 173 and 175 hits successively. Not too shabby!

In third place with 115 RBIs, the player who actually led the A.L. in RBIs the previous season, Larry Hisle, who had a great first year with his new team, the Milwaukee Brewers, after coming over from the Minnesota Twins.

Hisle made an immediate impact with Milwaukee in 1978, hitting .290 with 34 homers, 96 runs scored and his 115 RBIs, giving the Brewers an explosive bat to go along with young players such as Robin Yount and Paul Molitor, while finishing third in the MVP voting that year.

Sadly however, in 1979 he'd seriously hurt his shoulder, curtailing a fine career, resulting in his retirement just four seasons later, never playing in more than 27 games in any of those campaigns, done at 35.

CAREER-CAPPER: 1978 JIM WYNN

Fun card to add to the blog today, and one that was included in my Series 13 set printed up a month or so ago, a 1978 "career-capper" for the "Toy Cannon", Jim Wynn, who closed out a very nice Big League career with some games as a Milwaukee Brewer in 1977:

Wynn appeared in 36 games for Milwaukee after starting the season with the New York Yankees, hitting .197 while hitting .143 for New York, a combined .175 figure over 66 games total.

He put up some solid years during his excellent 15-year Big League run between 1963 and 1977.

Eight times he'd top 20 homers, with three of them 30+, while also driving in 100+ runs twice, scoring 100+ runs four times and topping 100 walks six times, two seasons of which he'd lead the National League, with a high of 148 in 1969.

While slugging away, he was also a threat on the base paths, as he'd go on to swipe a total of 225 before retiring, with a high of 43 in 1965.

After those handful of games with the Milwaukee Brewers in the latter half of 1977, he called it a career, finishing with 1100+ runs scored, 1665 hits, 291 homers and 964 runs batted in, with a .250 average thrown in.

Just a solid, overlooked player from the era that deserves a spotlight for his excellent career!

EXPANDED LEAGUE LEADERS: 1979 A.L. HOME RUNS

Up on the blog today, we head on over to the American League for their top three home run hitters of 1978, proudly displayed on a 1979 “expanded league leader” card in my long-running thread:

 

Of course we begin with the A.L. MVP himself, a man who not only led the league with his 46 home runs, but also mind-blowingly led the league with his 15 triples, Boston Red Sox Hall of Famer Jim Rice, who had an all-world season in 1978.

Let’s see, all Rice did that year was score 121 runs, collect 213 hits, collect 86 extra base hits, drive in 139 runs and hit a cool .315 while becoming the only player in the decade to top 400 total bases, with 406.

The man was a complete stud, helping the Red Sox go to the wire before falling to the New York Yankees in their 163^rd game for the A.L. East title. Certainly not any fault of his own!

While many think of Rice as a premier power hitter, they can often forget that over the course of his career he collected 200+ hits four times, while hitting .300+ seven times! Just an amazing player who rightfully got his spot in Cooperstown after retirement.

In second place with 34 home runs, the man who would end up taking home the league MVP Award in 1979, California Angels thumper Don Baylor, who also scored 103 runs while driving in 99, giving everyone a prelude to his monster 1979 campaign that would see him hit 36 homers with 139 RBIs and 120 runs scored.

I loved Baylor during his tenure with the New York Yankees between 1983 and 1985!

A great hitter who could also steal a base for you, as evidenced by his 285 career steals, including 52 in 1976 in his only season with the Oakland A’s. As a matter of fact Baylor would top 20 steals in a season eight times in his career, something you’d never think was possible seeing he was built like a tank.

Tied with Baylor with 34 homers in 1978, Milwaukee Brewers slugger Larry Hisle, who had a very nice first season for his new team after coming over from the Minnesota Twins.

Hisle also scored 96 runs while driving in 115, this a year after driving in a league leading 119 in 1977, while hitting a very nice .290.

Sadly for him, he would suffer a torn rotator cuff in 1979, effectively ending his career, playing only 79 games over the final four years of his career before retiring in 1982.

Well there you have it, the top-3 home run hitters in the A.L. for 1978, on an “expanded” 1979 league-leader card.

MISSING IN ACTION: 1972 JOHN MORRIS

On the blog today, a "missing" 1972 card for former Milwaukee Brewers pitcher John Morris, who really should have gotten a card in the monster 1972 set:

Morris, who funny enough also got a "not quite missing" 1970 card created for the blog just a couple weeks ago, appeared in 43 games for the Brewers during the 1971 season, throwing a total of 67.2 innings, finishing up with a record of 2-2 with a 3.72 ERA with one save.

That is definitely enough playing time for a pitcher to get a card in that 787 card set!

Anyway, he'd go 6-5 over the next two years for the Brewers, used both as a starter and a reliever, before moving on to the San Francisco Giants where he'd pitch the final three years of his career, going a combined 2-1 out of the 'pen.

All told, between 1966 and 1974 Morris finished with a career record of 11-7 over 132 games, with an ERA of 3.95 with two complete games and two saves, throwing 232.1 innings.

 

GIMMIE A DO-OVER: 1973 GEORGE SCOTT

Happy to post up a "do-over" that I think came out spectacular, a 1973 redo for "Boomer" George Scott, whose original 1973 Topps card was a mystery to many with the obviously "photoshopped" image.

First up, my color-bursting redo:

Just a great card with colors tying in together between image and card template!

His original, for those that don't remember, was an odd card where the background was obviously replaced with a strange shot of the crowd looking out into the outfield:

Really strange image, though I am always a sucker for the horizontal layout.

But really, what an odd card.

I profiled the original 1973 card way back in June of 2013 here on the blog. Here's the original write-up:

"The 1973 George Scott Topps baseball card, #263.

This card has held my fascination for over 30 years now. When I first saw it I thought it was a simple bad-airbrushing job. Then, as I took a closer look, I was confused because there was this odd outline around the players, especially Scott, that made it seem that they were cut out of one photo then pasted onto this another.

But wait, it continues!

Upon an even CLOSER look, I noticed that the crowd was looking somewhere else completely, and it was now obvious that indeed, the players and the crowd were from two different images.

Just look at it. What was going on here? 

And if all of that wasn't enough, another question I always had was that if Scott was playing first base, then you'd assume the play being shown was of a pick-off attempt with the A's Bert Campaneris just getting back to the bag before the throw. But look at Campy. It doesn't look like he's sliding back to the bag on a pick-off attempt, but that he's sliding into a bag at full steam, as if he's advancing, NOT sliding back to first. It's almost as if Scott was actually playing third base and was waiting for a throw while Campy was sliding in for a triple.

Now keep in mind that Scott did indeed play some third base for the Brewers in 1972, and I can't really confirm that he has a first baseman's mitt on. It could be a regular fielder's glove. Am I wrong? Anyone out there have any answers on this one? Is the crowd actually looking towards home? When looking to the left of the card, are you looking NOT to the outfield, but in the direction of home plate?

Such a strange card all-around. Where was that crowd image from then? Why the need to use a different background than whatever was originally there?

It's not a horrible card by any means, but just confuses me on so many levels I'd love to get the low-down on what went on here. 

It's cards like this that keep me coming back to the 1970's! Love it…"