The
next rookie that had a “missing rookie cup” on their Topps card is the
1979 card for former pitcher John Henry Johnson of the Oakland A’s, who
had a nice rookie year in 1978:
Johnson made the jump to the Big Leagues at the age of 21 and was
immediately a starter for Oakland, and went on to post a record of 11-10
with an earned run average at 3.39 over 33 appearances, 30 of them
starts.
He completed seven games while tossing two shutouts, striking out 91
batters in 186 innings of work for an Oakland team that would finish
69-93.
The following year was a rough one for Johnson, as he would start the
season 2-8 for Oakland before finding himself traded to the Texas
Rangers for Dave Chalk and Mike Heath in June, where he’d almost mirror
those first half numbers with a 2-6 record, combining for a 4-14 showing
with an ERA at 4.63 over 31 appearances.
Though he would go on to pitch another six seasons in the Majors over
the next eight years, he’d never again find the success of that rookie
year, mainly working out of the bullpen for the Rangers, Boston Red Sox
and Milwaukee Brewers until 1987.
By the time he retired, he finished with a record of 26-33, with an ERA of 3.90 over 214 appearances and 602.2 innings pitched.
Next
up in my “missing rookie cup” thread is former Kansas City Royals
pitcher Rich Gale, who had himself an excellent rookie season in 1978,
gaining him a 4th-place finish in Rookie of the Year voting, and a spot
on Topps’ “Rookie All-Star” team:
Gale finished the season with a record of 14-8, with a very nice 3.09 earned run average over 31 appearances, 30 of them starts.
He threw 192.1 innings, with nine complete games and three shutouts
while walking 100 batters along with 88 strikeouts for the Western
Division champions.
Of course, when the 1979 Topps cards cam out, we kids saw that for some
reason they decided to scrap the cool-looking rookie all-star cups we
had grown accustomed to between 1975 and 1978.
Nevertheless, here we are some 40 years later, with a “fix” to remedy that decision.
For Gale, as we have seen so many other times, that rookie season would
turn out to be the best of his 7-year Big League career, though he would
go 13-9 two seasons later.
But by the time he left the Majors in 1984 after a brief stint with the
Boston Red Sox, he finished with a career record of 55-56, with a 4.54
ERA over 195 appearances and 970 innings pitched, with five shutouts and
518 strikeouts.
We’re
coming towards the end of the line for the “missing rookie cup” thread
here, and today we “fix” the 1979 card of former Minnesota Twins
outfielder Hosken Powell, who had a nice rookie year in 1978:
Powell appeared in 121 games for the Twins, batting .247 with 55 runs
scored and 11 stolen bases along with 94 hits, 20 of them doubles.
He had an even better sophomore season in 1979, batting a career-high
.293 with 99 hits in 338 at-bats, playing in 104 games, generally as a
right fielder.
1980 would see him become a regular, appearing in a career-high 137
games with 523 plate-appearances, batting .262 with 127 hits and 14
stolen bases, scoring 58 runs while driving in 35, but turns out that
would be the high-point of his Big League tenure, as the
strike-shortened 1981 season had him play 80 games before moving on to
the Toronto Blue Jays, where he played sparingly over the 1982 and 1983
seasons, his last in the Majors.
He’d spend the 1984 season in the Milwaukee Minor League system before
playing out his Pro career in the Mexican League in 1985 for the
Saltillo Saraperos team.
For his career, Powell batted .259 with 470 hits and 241 runs scored in
594 games, stealing 43 bases while driving in 160 runs for Minnesota and
Toronto.
Next
in line form a “rookie cup” fix is former Chicago White Sox outfielder
Bob Molinaro, who put in a nice rookie debut in 1978 and was named to
Topps’ rookie all-star squad:
Originally up with the Detroit Tigers in 1975 for a brief cup of coffee,
Molinaro got a chance to put in some full-time work, albeit barely, in
1978 with Chicago, appearing in 105 games and batting .262 with 22
stolen bases and five triples in only 286 plate appearances.
Apparently it was good enough for Topps, though as we all know, they stopped using their cool Rookie All-Star trophy on cards.
The following season he had an even better year, batting .291 over 119
games and 384 plate appearances, collecting 100 hits and stealing 18
bases along with 48 runs scored and another four triples.
Sadly for him however those two would be the only seasons of his
eight-year Big League career where he saw any decent amount of time on
the playing field, as he would find himself reduced to filling in and
pinch-hitting over the next three seasons.
After getting less than 100 plate appearances each season between 1981
and 1983 playing for Chicago, Philadelphia and Detroit, he was done as
an active player in the Majors.
All told he finished with a career average of .264 over 401 games,
collecting 212 hits in 803 at-bats, with 46 stolen bases and 106 runs
scored.
Time
to go an add former Toronto Blue Jay Rick Bosetti to the role of
“missing rookie cups” thread I’ve been running for a while:
Bosetti had himself a very nice rookie season in 1978, hitting .259 with
147 hits over 568 at-bats, with 25 doubles, five triples and five
homers in 136 games.
Topps selected him as a “Rookie All-Star”, but sadly stopped using the cool trophy they ran for the previous four years.
As for Bosetti, I’d love to know what happened to his career, since he
followed up the nice 1978 season with an even better sophomore campaign
the following year when he played in all 162 games for Toronto, batting
.260 with 161 hits, 35 doubles and 65 RBIS over 619 at-bats.
Not a bad year at all, yet he then only appeared in 53 games the
following season, followed by only 34 in 1981, then only six in 1982,
the last of his Major League career.
I can’t find anything on injuries, etc giving him such an abrupt end to a once promising career.
Anyone know?
The
next Topps rookie card to get the “missing rookie cup” treatment is
that iconic card from the 1979 set: Bob Horner’s first cardboard slab:
We all remember the hype, and the fact that for some time this was THE
card to pull out of a pack because of the splash Horner made in his
first season, just weeks after being drafted #1 overall by the Atlanta
Braves in June of 1978.
An All-American out of Arizona State where he set NCAA records for home
runs, Horner never broke stride after making his debut 10 days after
being picked in the draft.
Over the final 89 games of the season, all he’d do is club 23 homers
while batting .266, with 63 runs batted in and 50 runs scored,
eventually getting picked for the National League Rookie of the Year
Award, though I feel Ozzie Smith should have won it based on his
full-season (he got shafted).
Horner would go on to hit over 30 homers in three of the next four
seasons, the only time missing the mark due to the 1981 strike, while
also topping 20 homers in three of the next four after that.
However, his career was essentially ruined due to the baseball owners
colluding in 1986, purposely NOT offering any high-dollar contracts to
him and others (Jack Morris, etc), eventually leading to Horner signing
with the Yakult Swallows of the Japanese League where he’d hit 31 homers
in only 93 games.
He’d make it back to the Majors the following season, now with the St.
Louis Cardinals in 1988, but after getting injured after only 60 games,
though batting a not-so-terrible .257, he’d call it a career at only 30
years of age.
Think about this: Horner hit 218 home runs with 685 RBIs and 560 runs
scored in only 10 abbreviated seasons, in only 3777 at-bats, and a very
decent .277 career average.
His last full season, 1986, at only 28 years of age, he hit .273 with 27
homers and 89 RBIs, yet had his career screwed because of collusion.
Years later he’d win a $7 Million settlement with baseball owners due to
the nefarious act, but man, this guy could have easily hit 400+ homers
with some other gaudy numbers had he been given his rightful chance to
keep playing, even with his nagging injuries that held him to one season
of 500+ at-bats, ironically that 1986 season.
Next
up in the “Missing Rookie Cup” thread is one of the great rookie cards
of the decade, 1979’s Ozzie Smith, which in my opinion would have been
oh-so-much better with that Topps Rookie All-Star trophy at the lower
right corner:
Smith made an immediate impact in the Majors when he came up in 1978,
finishing second to slugger Bob Horner (and all the hype) in the
National League Rookie of the Year Award.
Playing in 159 games for the San Diego Padres, Smith hit .258 with 152
hits, 69 runs and 40 stolen bases, giving everyone a good idea of what
to expect for the next 19 seasons.
But of course it was his defensive wizardry that led him straight to the
Hall of Fame, collecting 13 straight Gold Gloves between 1980 and 1992,
while making 15 All-Star games and giving everyone thrills along the
way.
“The Wizard of Oz” was incredible, and definitely one of those players I am so grateful to have had seen play in person.
Time
to go ahead a “fix” the 1979 Paul Molitor Topps card, his first “solo”
card after being on a multi-player card the year before with another
future Hall of Famer, Alan Trammell. On the 1979 card, I’ve gone ahead
and placed the Topps “All-Star Rookie” trophy, which Topps stopped using
in 1978:
Molitor finished second in the American League Rookie of the Year race
in 1978, to Trammell’s teammate and another (hopefully) future Hall of
Famer, Lou Whitaker.
Molitor put in a wonderful rookie year, hitting .273 with 73 runs scored and 30 stolen bases, over 125 games and 521 at-bats.
Of course, all he’d do the rest of the way was put in 21 seasons of
All-Star baseball, topping 200 hits four times, 100 runs five times,
batting over .300 12 times, and finishing up with over 3000 hits, a .300
avergae, 600 doubles and just under 1800 runs scored.
I was always mesmerized by the seasons he put in the 1990’s, as it
seemed like he got BETTER in his 30’s, shaking the injury-bug, driving
in 100 runs for the only two times in his career, collecting three of
the four 200-hit seasons and topping a .320 batting average five times!
The man was incredible.
I can only imagine what his final stats would have been had he not
missed about three seasons worth of playing time earlier in his career.
Nevertheless, he was a cinch for the Hall of Fame, getting elected on his first year of eligibility in 2004.
We
take a big leap forward some five seasons with the “Missing Rookie Cup”
series since Topps did well in presenting all winners between 1975 and
1978. So today we have Oakland A’s first baseman Dave Revering, who had
himself a nice debut in 1978:
Revering put together an excellent rookie season in ‘78, batting .271
with 16 home runs and 46 runs batted in over 152 games, the first of his
MLB career.
He’d actually go on to have another two straight solid seasons for
Oakland in 1979 and 1980, batting .288 and .290 respectively, with 19
and 15 homers.
However in 1981 he’d be traded to the New York Yankees for Jim Spencer
and Tom Underwood in May, and before you knew it, he’d be out of
baseball a season later after playing for no less than three teams:
Yanks, Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners.
It’s really something to see a young talent produce for the first three years of his career, then be “done” so quickly.
After a Spring Training with the Detroit Tigers in which the team
offered a Minor League assignment in 1983, he decided to retire instead,
just 29-years-old.
Next
in line for a quick-fix with a “missing” Topps rookie all-star trophy
is future all-star catcher Bob Boone, who set the tone for what would be
a great 19-year Major League career in 1973 with a fine rookie year:
Boone played his first full season in the Big Leagues in 1973 and didn’t
disappoint his Philadelphia Phillies, finishing third in Rookie of the
Year voting with a .261 batting average, along with 10 homers and 61
runs batted in over 145 games.
Over the course of the next two decades, he’d be named to four all-star
teams, help guide the 1980 Phillies to a World Championship, and win
seven Gold Gloves, which include four after the age of 38!
As a matter of fact Boone won four straight Gold Gloves from the age of
38 through 41! Just incredible when you think about how grueling the
catching position is.
By the time he retired after the 1990 season, he finished up with a .254
average with 1838 hits over 7245 at-bats, while setting the high-mark
for games caught before a guy named Carlton Fisk broke that record a few
years later.
One of the rare members of a three-generation baseball family, his
father Ray played, as did his sons Bret and Aaron, who now manages the
New York Yankees.
Next
up in the “missing rookie cup” parade is the 1974 card for future Cy
Young winner Randy Jones, who came up in 1973 and had himself an
excellent freshman showing with the San Diego Padres:
Jones made his Big League debut in June of 1973 and went on to post a
record of 7-6, with a nice 3.16 earned run average over 20 appearances,
19 of them starts.
Though he would have a forgettable sophomore season in 1974 which saw
him lead the National League with 22 losses, along with an ERA of 4.45,
we all know how that could have easily been different had he pitched for
a better team.
Regardless, over the next two seasons he arguably could have taken home
the Cy Young BOTH times, as he’d go on to post records of 20-12 and
22-14, leading the league in ERA with a 2.24 in ‘75 and posting another
nice 2.74 mark in his Cy season.
His 1976 season was something, as he’d complete a league-leading 25
games (out of his 40 starts), while logging 315.1 innings, tossing five
shutouts and facing 1251 batters. Incredible.
Sadly, all that work took a toll on his arm, and the following season he
was reduced to just under 150 innings and only 27 appearances, seeing
his ERA balloon to 4.58 before getting back to a 2.88 figure in 1978.
After a couple of more mediocre seasons in San Diego, he’d end up with
the New York Mets, where he stumbles, posting a combined 8-18 record in
1981/1982, retiring at the young age of 32 after the ‘82 season.
All told, he finished his career with a record of 100-123, with a decent
3.42 earned run average over 305 appearances and 1933 innings pitched,
with that 1976 Cy Young Award and a second place finish the year before.
Next
up on the “Missing Rookie Cup” line is a fix for the 1974 Steve Rogers
card, when Topps decided to do-away with the cool rookie trophy:
Rogers, who would go on to play all 13 years of his career with the
Montreal Expos, had himself a wonderful rookie campaign in 1973,
finishing second in the league’s rookie of the year voting with a 10-5
record along with a microscopic 1.54 earned run average with three
shutouts over 17 starts and 134 innings pitched.
I always felt he should have won the award over Garry Mathews actually,
completing seven of his starts and giving up only 23 earned runs while
striking out 64.
Of course Rogers would go on to become an all-star pitcher, having five
such nods over his career, while finishing second in the Cy Young vote
in 1982, then coming in fourth the following season.
Arm trouble cut his career somewhat short at the age of 35 in 1985, as
he retired with a record of 158-152, pitching on some tough losing teams
early in his MLB tenure.
Nevertheless, the man put in some stellar performances on a Big League
mound, leading the league in shutouts twice, ERA in 1982, and ending up
with 37 shutouts over 399 appearances.
Next
up in the “Missing Rookie Cup” brigade through the 1970’s is none other
than 1973 National League Rookie of the Year, Gary Matthews, aka
“Sarge”, who had himself a very nice start to an excellent 16-year Major
League career:
Matthews broke into the Big League scene with the San Francisco Giants,
and hit an even .300 with 162 hits over 540 at-bats, with 74 runs scored
and 58 runs batted in during the 1973 season.
It would pretty much be steady straight from there, as he’d go on to
consistently put similar numbers up through his tenures with the Atlanta
Braves, Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs until he’d retire after a
brief stint with the Seattle Mariners in 1987.
By the time he left the game as an active player, he racked up a
lifetime .281 average, with 2011 hits and 234 home runs to go with his
1083 runs scored and 978 RBI’s.
He’d also put in some excellent postseason performances, as he’d hit
.323 over 19 games with seven home runs and 15 RBIs, including an MVP
performance in the NL Championship series while with the Phillies when
he hit three homers and drove in eight runs in only four games against
the Dodgers, helping the “Wheez Kids” make it to the World Series.
Seems I gotta make up a “Sarge” nickname card soon for my “Nicknames of the 1970’s”!
Next
up in the on-going “missing rookie cup” series through the 1970’s is
former San Diego padre Johnny Grubb, who was a Topps All-Star Rookie for
his 1973 rookie year, thus the “fixed” 1974 card:
Grubb had himself a very nice rookie campaign, finishing up the season
hitting .311 with 121 hits over 389 at-bats, scoring 52 runs while
collecting 33 extra base hits.
He would go on to have a nice 16-year career in the Big Leagues, easily
overlooked with his .278 batting average playing for the Padres,
Cleveland Indians, Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers between 1973 and
1987.
Sadly for him, though he did stick around for 16 seasons as a Big
Leaguer, that .311 batting average in 1973 turned out to be a
career-high, and it was also arguably his finest season in Major League
ball.
Nevertheless, by the time he retired he left the game with 1153 hits
over 4154 at-bats, along with 553 runs scored and 475 runs batted in,
while also being a member of the World Champion juggernaut 1984 Detroit
Tigers team that went wire to wire.
Not too shabby...
The
next rookie card from the 1970’s that we “fix” is the 1974 Rich
Coggins, who now has the special “Rookie All-Star” cup that should have
been there in the first place:
Coggins had quite a nice rookie season for Baltimore in 1973, batting .319 with 124 hits over 389 at-bats in 110 games.
He would finish sixth in Rookie of the Year balloting, behind eventual winner, and teammate, Al Bumbry.
The following season saw him fall back to earth a bit, getting
sufficient playing time but seeing his average drop to .243, while
appearing in 113 games, though stealing 26 bases, a career high.
Over that off-season, he would end up getting traded as part of somewhat
of a big deal, seeing pitcher Dave McNally going to the Montreal Expos,
with pitcher Mike Torrez and outfielder Ken Singleton coming to
Baltimore.
For Coggins however, the change of scenery didn’t help his career, as he
would play only 13 games North of the border before seeing himself with
the New York Yankees, who purchased him in June of 1975.
For the Yanks the rest of the way, Coggins hit .244 , giving him a
combined .236 average for the season, playing in a combined 64 games
between the two teams.
In 1976, he opened the year with the Yankees, but was traded over to the
Chicago White Sox in the Ken Brett deal, and would play 32 games for
the South-Siders, in what would end up being the last games of his
five-year Major League career.
All told, Coggins finished with a .265 career average, with 287 hits
over 1083 games in 342 games played, along with 125 runs scored and 90
runs batted in.
The
next card in the “Missing Rookie Cup” hit parade is the 1974 Dan
Driessen card, who put together a very nice rookie year for the
Cincinnati Reds in 1973:
Driessen, who would eventually be thought highly enough for the Reds to
deal future Hall of Famer Tony Perez to the Montreal Expos a few years
later, hit .301 in his Major League debut, driving in 47 runs while
scoring 49 himself in only 102 games.
In 1977, with Perez now with the Expos, Driessen put together his finest
Big League season of his 15-year career, driving in 91 runs while
hitting .300, with 31 doubles and 17 home runs along with 75 runs batted
in.
He would play all the way through the 1987 season, finishing up with the
St. Louis Cardinals, and end up with 1464 career hits with a .267
batting average, hitting 153 homers and driving in 763 runs and stealing
154 bases.
Next
up in the on-going “Missing Rookie Cup” thread is former Minnesota
Twins Jerry Terrell, who was the Topps All-Star Rookie shortstop for the
1973 season, and should have had the rookie cup on his 1974 card:
Terrell had a nice MLB debut in 1973, batting .265 with 116 hits over
438 at-bats, with 13 stolen bases and 43 runs scored in 124 games
played.
Sadly for him that would be the most action he’d see in any of his eight
Big League seasons, as he’d become a player “off the bench” over his
next four years with Minnesota followed by his three years with the
Kansas City Royals.
By the time he retired after the 1980 season, he finished with a .253
career average, with 412 hits in 1626 at-bats over 656 games, all with
the Twins and Royals, while also pitching two games, one each in 1979
and 1980, throwing two scoreless innings in total.
The
next player who got “ripped off” a nice Rookie Cup by Topps in the
1970’s is none other than future Dodgers’ All-Star second baseman Davey
Lopes, who broke into the Major Leagues with a very nice 1973 season:
Lopes hit .275 for Los Angeles in his rookie year, with 36 stolen bases
and 77 runs scored, giving the team an idea of what he’d end up doing
over the next eight years while making the All-Star team four times
while also taking home a Gold Glove.
He’d would lead the National League in stolen bases two years in a row: 1975 and 1976, with a high of 77 in ‘75 and 63 in 1976.
What always amazed me about that 1976 total was that he stole those 63
bases on only 103 hits! Incredible to think he swiped so many bags on so
few hits (along with 53 base on balls).
On occasion he’d also show some “pop”, as he did in arguably his finest
season in the big leagues when he hit 28 homers to go along with 44
stolen bases, 109 runs scored and 97 walks in 1979, starting the
All-Star game alongside his teammate Steve Garvey.
By the time he retired after the 1987 season, he collected 557 stolen
bases and 1023 runs scored to go along with 1671 hits and a .263 batting
average.
And to think, he didn’t play his first full season until the age of 28
in 1973. I never realized he got such a late start in his MLB career.
The
next “Missing Rookie Cup” in the series is a 1974 card for former
outfielder/first baseman Gary Thomasson, who would go on to put in
nine-years in the Major Leagues:
Thomasson came up for a cup-of-coffee in 1972 for his first taste of the
Big Leagues, appearing in 10 games for the San Francisco Giants and
going 9-for27 for a .333 average.
In 1973 he would play in 112 games, putting in a nice rookie year,
batting .285 with 67 hits over 235 official at-bats, scoring 35 runs
while driving in 30.
Though he wouldn’t hit that high again during his career, he would
pretty much put up the same numbers every year, becoming a solid platoon
player, only having a truly full season of action once over the length
of his career, in 1977 when he appeared in 145 games and had 534 plate
appearances, hitting a career high 17 homers while driving in 71 runs.
After six seasons in San Francisco, he was part of the trade that
brought the Giants pitching ace Vida Blue, with Thomasson and six others
going to Oakland, where he would play through June before getting
traded yet again, this time East to the eventual World Champion New York
Yankees for Dell Alston and Mickey Klutts.
The trade allowed him to see the only Postseason action he’d get in his
career, going 1-for-4 against the Dodgers, ironically the team he’d find
himself playing for the very next season, where he would play out his
active career in 1980, finishing up with a .249 batting average with 591
hits over 2373 at-bats and exactly 900 games.
The
next “Missed Rookie Cup” in this new series is the 1973 Dick Tidrow,
who was named to Topps “All-Rookie” team in 1972 for his fine Major
League debut:
Tidrow posted a record of 14-15 for the Cleveland Indians, with an
excellent 2.77 earned run average and 123 strikeouts over 39
appearances, 34 of the starts, with three shutouts and 10 complete
games.
Pretty good rookie year to say the least.
He would go on to put in a solid 13-year career in the Big Leagues, both
as a starter and reliever, appearing in 620 games with a record of
100-94 along with 55 saves.
The high point of his career would have to be his years spent with the
New York Yankees between 1974 and 1979, becoming a dependable arm out of
the bullpen as well as spot-starting, participating in both World
Champion teams of the “Bronx Zoo” years.
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