I Will Just Make Up My Own Set

There was no Minor League Baseball season this year, which means there was no post on this year's Durham Bulls team set.  It's an annual rite of fall.  Lining the cards up as straight as possible on scanner, hoping that they don't all shift when I close the lid.  I need to start running those posts with a five year delay.  They are actually more fun to look at now then at the time the cards were produced.  

Look at this group from 2014.  

You've got the reigning National League leader in saves, a guy with three gold gloves, and the manager of the Toronto Blue Jays.  I think Enny Romero might have been the highest rated prospect in this group in 2014 and he's not even playing anymore.  

Crazy stuff.  

With no Durham Bulls team set coming out in 2020, I decided I would just work on putting together another team set from a different year.  After checking out what was available on Ebay, I decided that was actually not much of a challenge.  So, I am making up my own Durham Bulls set to collect.  

Something I don't already own.  

Something with interesting players.  

Something with a decent quantity of cards.  

Something that will require me to work harder than placing one Ebay or COMC order.  

After a lot of thought, I am putting together a 1975 Topps Mini Set of the Durham Bulls.  There were a ton of Durham Bulls players who were in the Majors at the time.  The cards are fun to collect.  While they are easy to find, it's such an odd combination of players that I cannot just click a few Ebay listings and have all the cards. 

In fact, I am still making the checklist.  I think the answer is between 15 and 20 cards.  I will let you know for sure with the next post.  So, for tonight, I have my first group of cards fresh out of the mailbox.  

Scans are jumbo, cards are minis.  

#476 - Ed Figueroa - 1968 Raleigh-Durham Mets 

It makes me cringe when I see the "Raleigh-Durham" one the back of a baseball card sometimes.  What person thought it was a good idea to change the name of the Durham Bulls?  Obviously someone in the Mets front office, but the Phillies kept it later on.  Figueroa was on the Raleigh-Durham Mets.  He's a player I learned about after moving to North Carolina.  Ed had two Top 10 Cy Young finishes and pitched for two World Series winners with the Yankees.  

He actually hurt his arm while pitching here, hence the 7 games, and quit baseball to join the Marines.  After a stint in Vietnam, he ended up in the Minors with the Giants, but was traded to the Angels.  Ed Figueroa made his Major League debut pitching in long relief for Nolan Ryan who had given up 3 runs in the first inning and had walked the bases loaded in the second.

 

#245 - Mickey Lolich - 1959-1961 Durham Bulls 

Lolich is best know for winning Game 7 of the 1968 World Series.  He also retired as the all-time left-handed strikeout leader before being passed by Steve Carlton.  Randy Johnson and C.C. Sabathia have also passed him, making him fourth.  Lolich ranks 20th overall, roughly 150 strikeouts away from 3,000.  I don't think Mickey is a Hall of Famer, but he's better than Jack Morris.  Maybe he is? 

#351 - Bob Boone - 1969 Raleigh-Durham Phillies 

Another Raleigh-Durham card.  Bob Boone played 19 years for the Phillies, Angels, and Royals.  He also managed the Royals and Reds for awhile in the late 1990s and early 2000s.  Boone was on the 1980 Phillies World Series winner.  He didn't win the MVP in that series, but he did hit .412.  While Boone did not win the World Series MVP, he did win 7 Gold Gloves.  

Is the jacket he is wearing under his uniform from an Army surplus store?  

#630 - Greg Luzinski - 1969 Raleigh-Durham Phillies 

I am a little disappointed that Luzinski's Minor League stats were not included on the back of his card considering that he and Boone were in Durham the same season.  Luzinski was shuffled between the Minors and Majors several times during his first few seasons, so maybe with the multiple teams over multiple seasons it would not have fit on the card.  He hit 31 home runs that season with the Raleigh-Durham Phillies, which would look nice on a baseball card.  

Luzinski was an old guy on the White Sox by the time I started watching baseball.  "The Bull" is not a Hall of Famer, more a great of his era.  He and Schmidt were a pretty scary tandem in the middle of the Phillies lineup.  

Last night.  

#44 Pat Dobson - 1960 Durham Bulls 

This card was made near the end of Dobson's career.  He played with the Durham Bulls while he was coming through the Minors with the Tigers.  The 1960 Bulls were 20 games under .500 and had a starting rotation with both Pat Dobson and Mickey Lolich, who were both on the 1968 Tigers World Series team.  Dobson also pitched for the 1971 Orioles, who made it to the World Series, but lost to the Pirates.  

More 1975 Topps Minis and a checklist next week.  

Project Durham Bulls #47 - Ed Figueroa

1968 Raleigh-Durham Mets 

Background- 

Figueroa joined the Mets organization in 1966.  He spent his first few seasons bouncing around between the Mets Rookie League and A Ball teams.  In 1968, he joined the Mets Carolina League team, the Raleigh-Durham Mets, formerly the Durham Bulls, for seven games.  Figueroa's ERA was over 6, he hurt his arm, and he was then drafted into the Marines for the Vietnam War.  He spent 1969 in Vietnam before returning to baseball in 1970, signing with the Giants as a free agent.  Figueroa would eventually find his way onto the Angels, who then traded him with Mickey Rivers to the Yankees for Bobby Bonds.  

Figueroa had four really good year during his eight year career starting in 1975 with the Angels.  He won 16, 19, and 20 games for the Yankees from 1976 through 1978.  While he did not pitch well in the postseason, Figueroa was a key part of the Yankees World Series teams in both 1977 and 1978.  He only won 10 games over the last three years of his career, but retired as the only Puerto Rican born pitcher to have ever won 20 games in a single season.  

Card- 

Upper Deck had some really good product out in the mid 2000s with some older signers.  There were some that were centered around the Yankees, which is actually where I thought I would get an autograph of Ed Figueroa if there was one available.  However, I like these Timeless Teams autographs too, which came out in 2005.  The set is based around World Series teams, and while there are some big names from big teams in the product, there is also a good blend of players whose names are not household names.  In many ways, this set reminds me a lot of some of the Topps Archives sets in terms of the autograph checklist with just a little bit more focus.