#51T - Bobby Heise "Traded" (STL)

This is a bad airbrush job, but then, what's a good one?  Certainly there are worse.  I think the "StL" logo is one of the most difficult to airbrush because of its complexity.  It's probably a Brewers uniform he's wearing with the neck trim airbrushed, but one thing for sure is that he's wearing a pullover jersey.  I wonder what kind of airbrush job these Topps artists could do if they even had Photoshop at their disposal.  Probably not too bad a job.

According to the back of the card, Heise can fill in ably for Mike Tyson.  Wow, I didn't know that!  Heise is a lot older, too.  Maybe he picked the wrong sport.  In any case, Mike's trade record is a long one, as I noted in his regular card post.  He would be traded twice more in '74.  It's funny, but the A's team slogan - after winning two consecutive World Series - was "once more in '74."  Or was it, "one more in '74?"  I don't remember, but I'll have to look that one up before I post the A's team photo.

Ballpark background:  I can't quite put my finger on the ballpark in the background.  It might be the Astrodome, but I can't quite be sure.  If anybody knows what ballpark this is, I might offer to take you out to lunch.

#51 - Bobby Heise (MIL)

Bobby spent 11 years in the bigs, had 8 uniform numbers, played with 7 teams, played 6 different positions, was traded 5 times and switched leagues 3 times.  I couldn't find anything he did four times, otherwise I could have tossed something in there about a partridge in a pear tree.  He is tied with Duane Kuiper on the all-time home run list with one.  Despite all this, he had only 1100 some odd at bats in his career.  To stay around that long says something about a player.  Many guys are gone in a few years.  I really don't remember Bobby playing, but I remember his card.

Bobby never played for the Brew Crew in '74.  He was traded to the Cardinals in December of '73, at the winter meetings, I'm guessing.  He's the next card in this blog set in the form of a Traded card.  What's funny is that he would be traded twice more in '74.  Once in July from the Cards to the Angels (July 31 for those trade deadline buffs) and once more from the Halos to the BoSox in December.  I'm sure Bobby is still getting around on frequent flier miles.  Pssssst, don't tell anybody, but Bobby's pine tar extends WAY higher than anything George Brett ever sported.  Bobby, you be out with that bat!

Cartoon: Bobby played basketball in high school.  That would be in Vacaville, CA, just a half hour up the interstate from me, home of several million new outlet malls all strung together.  I'm sure I can get some great deals on basketball shoes there at the Nike outlet store.  From what little I know of Spanish, I think "Vacaville" means "cow town" in English.  They should have just called it Cow Town to begin with.  Lots of cows used to live there.

Ballpark background: I'm going to take a wild guess and say Yankee Stadium.  I don't know why.

Scanning Delays

It's been too long for me to not post regularly.  I've hit a scanning management backlog.  The technique I've used to scan my 1974 Topps cards is to place nine cards at a time on my 8 1/2" x 11" all-in-one printer glass plate and scan it in as a "sheet."  I then use a simple photo editor program to crop each of the nine cards out into their own jpeg for future posting.  I've found that this takes much less time than to scan all 660+ cards in one at a time.

Okay, I'm ahead of the game on scanning those "sheets," but way behind on cropping them into individual cards.  I've been really busy lately for various and sundry reasons, and will be back to normal, I hope, when cropping resumes.  I only need to crop a front sheet and a back sheet or so to allow blogging for a couple of weeks.  I'll attempt to do that soon.  So, until then, read my posts again and again and again, and you'll become a '74 Topps expert!

By the way, my green and gold header and my black and gold body/background of the last few weeks was meant to portray the Superbowl teams.  I know this is about baseball, but sometimes I get strange inspirations for my color layouts.  Orange and black necessarily mean Giants, and green and gold might mean A's.

#50 - Rod Carew (MIN)

Rod was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1991 for his great career with the Twinks and Halos.  He had some huge glasses on at his induction.  You know, those 80's deals that were way too big?  Those made him look mighty preppy.  Carew played 2nd base for the first half of his career, and 1st base generally the rest.  This '74 season would be his last as a full-time second bagger.  In '75, he played mostly 2nd base, but had about 15 games at first.  In '76 he was a full-time first baseman.

I remember the image of Carew most in a Twins uniform, but saw him play mostly as an Angel.  As I recall, he had a sweet swing.  Either case, this guy could hit.  He collected his 3000th hit in his last year with the Angels.  His '73 season was his first of four 200 hit seasons.  I wonder if anybody back then in '74 had somebody like Carew pegged as a future 3000 hit Hall of Famer?  I probably didn't.  But heck, I was ten. 

Cartoon: If Rod were truly one of baseball's finest bunters, then he would be holding the bat without his fingers wrapped around the bat exposing them to the 98 mph heater coming at him.  Additionally, Rod bats left, but bunts right?  The player in the cartoon also seems to be a white guy.  I think I recalled that the cartoonist must have been left handed.  I just reviewed the cartoon on Manny Sanguillen's card, and danged if he ain't a left handed catcher.  Even though, this cartoon shows a good bunt laid down.


Ballpark background: The small stands behind the plate indicate that this photo was from spring training. 

#49 - Steve Renko (MON)

A veteran with numerous ball clubs (Expos, Cubs, White Sox, A's, Red Sox, Angels, Royals), Steve wore many different uniforms.  He finished his career 12 games under .500 with an ERA of about 4.00.  He's also the first above 200 pounds card seen in a while.  I always loved these cards with the player wearing the wind breaker under his uni.  Was it a fad back then?  I see this all the time in the 70's cards.  Steve was traded in the middle of a year to an expansion team in its first year - for Donn Clendenon.  This would figure in Steve's ring total - Zero!  What a bummer, to be traded away from a team just before they win a Wolrld Series, and to never win one yourself.

Cartoon:  I wonder if Steve also enjoys horseback riding.  Are they the same, riding horses and horseback riding?  The only thing missing is a polo mallet.

Ballpark background:  This is a recurring theme in Expos ball cards, it seems.  The spring training site.  You can see the palm trees over Steve's right shoulder.  What I like, though, is the transformer on the telephone pole.  Didn't Candlestick have one of those?  I forget. 

From the Bleachers - My Baseball Blog Has Moved

Check out my baseball blog - called "From the Bleachers" - at its new address.  I write about baseball from a number of different angles, but always from a fan's point of view.  There are quite a few stories from both the bleachers and box seats.  Enjoy!  http://fromthebleachers.blogspot.com/

#48 - Dick Sharon (DET)

I don't remember Dick Sharon when I was a kid.  I vaguely remember this card, but the thing that stands out most is the way he's holding the bat.  His uniform number appears on his left wrist band, #27.  Sharon was traded five times in a three year career.  He was drafted by the Pirates in 1968, and traded to the Tigers prior to his major league appearance in 1973.  This 1974 card would be his first of his career; he would have only two total.  After the '74 season, he would be traded again, this time to the Padres for what would be his final year.  After the '75 season he would be traded three more times, from the Padres to the Cardinals, then to the Angels, then finally to the Red Sox. He never ended up playing in the majors for the Sox, so in effect he was traded three times after his final appearance in the majors. 

Cartoon: It's no wonder Dick only played three years in the bigs.  Jumping on the ball is sure to get you noticed for all the wrong reasons.

Ballpark background: Dick is giving the photographer his money's worth during batting practice at Comiskey Park.  The Tigers have their road uni's on, and that astroturf infield appears again.  I also notice the signature arches through the back wall of the lower deck.  It's Comiskey fer sure.

#47 - Dick Ruthven (PHI)

I would care to guess that this is Mr. Ruthven's first Topps card of his 14 year career.  I Googled 1973 Topps Dick Ruthven and came up with nothing.  So unless Mr. Stufflestreet at 1973 Topps Photography knows something I don't, I'm going with this card being his first.  In any case, his 1973 season was his rookie year.  His ML debut was in April of that year, so I think he was with the club through spring training '73 and this photo was taken there [see update below].  The pitcher's followthrough pose is one of my favorite poses in baseball card tradition.  His powder blue uni was the Phils' road outfit back then.  I must say I never liked the "swoopie P" Philly threads, and I hated the powder blues.  I much prefer today's modern/retro get-ups with the little blue stars as "i" dots. 

Ruthven pitched for the Phillies twice in his career, and saw post-season action with most of those powerful teams of the late 70's and early 80's.  He received a ring in '80, after getting a no-decision in game 3 vs. the Royals.  Dick pitched nine innings and left with a tie game.  The Royals won in the 10th for one of their two victories.  He also pitched for the 1984 Cubs team, but apparently didn't make an appearance in the playoffs against the Padres. 

Cartoon: Dick lists electronics among his hobbies, but the cartoonist is showing electricity.  Tharn't much 'lectronics that go into a regular light bulb.  A soldering iron fixing a transistor radio with the Phillies game on (Harry Kalas I'm guessing was the announcer in 1974) might be a better cartoon.  I'm launching my career on this blog of cartoon critic.  Gary Larson beware.

Ballpark background: This doesn't appear to be like any major league park I remember seeing, so I'm guessing that the Phils are playing at another team's spring training site. [Update: A reader named Shawn sent me a photo of a early/mid-70's era Shea Stadium showing this section of fence as being in front of the left field bullpen.  Shawn pointed out part of the "3" in the 358 sign right behind Ruthven's right behind.  His body is blocking the rest of the number.  Thanks Shawn!]

#46 - Pat Kelly (CWS)

Here, Harold Kelly is known as Pat.  I think he was known as Pat everywhere else, too.  Pat wasn't a power hitter, popping only 76 homers over 15 years, and his pose here while choking up on the bat shows that he knew the best way to hold the bat for himself.  It looks like a loose grip on the bat, as if he were going to spray hit, going wherever the ball is pitched.  Even though this is a ballcard pose, he has a determined look on his face.  His batting glove is in his back pocket.  But judging from his career stolen base numbers, that might very well be his sliding glove, which might possibly explain why he isn't wearing it while holding the bat.  He swiped 250 over all.

Kelly played for the Kansas City Royals in 1969, being picked in the expansion draft.  The Twins looked like they didn't have a place for him, and an expansion team was perfect to step into an everyday player role.  He snatched 40 bags in '69, a career high.  Kelly got one chance at a ring, playing with the '79 O's in their seven game loss to the Bucs.

Cartoon:  So it was Pat's incredible athletic ability that cracked the bell.  Maybe it was from the shotput, and recorded for an AC/DC song.

Ballpark background:  Pat is posing at Yankee Stadium on what looks like a cloudy day.

The Favorite Team

Recently I have received several comments and emails from readers expressing their die-hard allegiance to their teams.  Although that wasn't the point of their notes to me, it is nonetheless part of most all of us.  Who is your favorite team?  Having a favorite team can really make a certain set of cards special to us.  It has for me.  Well, I'll use that to talk about mine.

I grew up, and have lived my whole life, in the San Francisco Bay Area.  I live about 30 miles east of SF and 20 miles east of Oakland.  The City and the Peninsula are Giants territory.  The East Bay (proper) is A's country.  But a fascinating thing about the Bay Area and the rest of Northern California is that living outside of these two areas allows one to be a fan of either - or BOTH! - teams.  It is unlike any other metro area of the country that has two teams.  You simply AREN'T a fan of both the Yankees and Mets, the Cubs and Sox, the Dodgers and Angels.  So, I grew up a militant fanatic of both teams.  When asked how I could cheer for both teams (prior to 1989, that is), I would always answer that it was easy because it wasn't like they would ever play each other when it counts.  It was only in 1995 when the Oakland Coliseum built Mt. Davis to woo the Raiders back to Oakland from LA - and subsequently destroy my bleacher seats - that my allegiance shifted a good bit to the Giants.

But a very special thing happened in 1974, the year of this set, and also in 1973, the year that contained most of the photography in this set, as well as the year of highlights covered by special cards in this set.  The special thing was that the Oakland A's won the World Series.  I was the ages of 8, 9 and 10 when these three victories took place, '72, '73 and '74.  And '74 was my biggest collecting year, so the A's naturally had a big effect on me through this set.  It was that really special time as a kid when things were grand with your own team.  You didn't have to worry about house payments, getting a job, or girls yet.  You were free to be a kid.  And when your team wins, you do a lot of jumping up and down.  And reviewing their cards with fondness when you grow up.

#45 - Dave Johnson (ATL)

Dave Johnson, who would later(?) be known as Davey, had a career of 13 seasons in the bigs, a majority of them with the Orioles.  This card is the first card in the set showing a full time second sacker.  It's also the first card in the set, to my knowledge, where the player had at least one World Series ring each as both a player and manager.  Davey got rings with the O's in '66 and '70 and as manager of the famous Mets team of '86.  His 1974 season would be his last full season in the bigs.  He had a blowout year in '73, smacking 43 homers (breaking Rogers Hornsby's all time 2B HR record) and batting in 99.  His numbers were way off in '74 (.251/15/62), and after only one at bat in the 1975 season - a run scoring double - Davey was released by the Braves early in April.  He missed the rest of the '75 season as well as the entire '76 season.  Does anybody know why?  He was signed as a free agent by the Phillies in '77, seeing limited action in '77 and in '78 as well, when he was traded to the Cubs in August.  He played his last eight weeks of big league ball on the North Side before being cut after the season ended.

This photo is a bit strange for an action shot.  The ball is seen behind Davey's behind.  It is easy to jump to the conclusion that he swung and missed.  But... He hit right handed, so this was snapped on his follow through swing.  It looks like he either fouled the ball at the plate and it bounced up behind him or maybe it hit off the catcher or umpire and ricocheted back.

Cartoon:  Davey is a licensed pilot.  Speaking of pilot, here he is shown in a TV cartoon series pilot flying by the Umpire State Building, cutting in front of Bugs Bunny who is waiting on top of the tower to catch that ball.  The show never debuted.  This blog post used two past tense conjugations of verbs that ended in silent T's, just so you know.  Ricocheted and debuted.
Ballpark background:  I can see Mets uniforms in the dugout beyond Johnson, and this looks like the Shea Stadium dugout shown in other card shots over the years.  So, I'm going with Shea Stadium.  Final answer.

#44 - Mel Stottlemyre (NYY)

This is not only one of my favorite cards in the 1974 Topps set, it's one of my favorite cards of all time.  It's Mel's pose, simply classic for a pitcher, and that cartoonish smile on his face.  Mel's body type and his long, slender nose just make this card perfect.  Mel is so form-fit for this pose that a majority of his cards have this stance in the pic.  I love them all.  A few have slight variations of this pose or a wind-up pose.  One action card of Mel exists as a specialty card in the 1965 set showing game 2 of the 1964 World Series.  This '74 card was Mel's last card of his career, as 1974 was his last season.  His '74 offensive stats show him "appearing" in 3 games, with no at bats and 1 run scored.  I'm guessing he was a pinch runner at least once, and may have pitched in a game where the manager made a move that caused a loss of DH privileges, but where Mel never came to bat.

Mel had a pretty decent career in pinstripes when you figure in the Yanks performance over that 11 year span.  Mel was unfortunate enough to play his 11 year career smack in the middle of the Yankees 15 year World Championship drought between 1962 and 1977.  He did, however, play in the 1964 Series his rookie year in a losing effort to the Cardinals.  Mel had two sons that played in the majors, Mel, Jr., who had a brief stint in 1990, and Todd, who pitched longer than his father, for 14 seasons spanning the late 80's to the early 00's.  Todd ran up some post-season appearance totals, and although his dad played his entire career with the Yankees, Todd racked up two WS championships with the Blue Jays in '92 and '93.  I also love how Mel crosses all three T's in his autograph with one stroke of the pen.  This wasn't the first shot in the photographer's set, as Mel's grass stain on his left knee indicate a variety of poses in total.

Cartoon: Thanks to Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, Mel's home movies are now available on YouTube.

Ballpark background: Mel is wearing the classic Yankee road uniform.  I much prefer the plain gray threads with no trim and the plain letters (no trim either) to their current duds with the piping and letter outlines.  Much more classy.  Well, that's beside the point.  The only ML park I can think of that would match this photo is Shea Stadium with it's two-pole light tower and open view with trees in the background, but I don't think the Yanks played there in '73.  So, I'm going to give an educated guess that this pic was snapped at somebody else's spring training yard.

#43T - Jim Wynn "Traded" (LA)

Just to reiterate, Jim Wynn was traded for the player just previous to him in this set, Claude Osteen, shown on card #42.  What I've noticed about cards in the Trades set is that many of the trades take place in December of the previous year, while trades made after the New Year don't make it into the set.  I'll need to follow the dates listed on these cards to figure out a cutoff point for Topps publishing.  Hmmm, now a good way to do that?  Excell spreadsheet?  Back of a used envelope?...  Okay, nevermind.  I just looked at the back of all my Trades cards.  Most of the trades were between December 3 and 7, 1973, with a few as late as Dec. 11, and one in November.  It seems that these deals were probably made at the winter meetings and heavily promoted by Topps in their upcoming set.  The latest trade included in this set was Dec. 11. 

I'm also using the "Airbrush" label on this card.  While there are no grotesque attempts at logo, hat or uniform revisions, there is the small matter of the Dodger blue wool at the tip of the bill on Wynn's cap.  A fairly easy change, maybe fit for an up and coming rookie airbrush artist at Topps.  All in all, I would say this is not a very flattering picture of the Toy Cannon.  It says, "Hey, man, if you mess with me, I'll rearrange your face before I go back to bed." 

Ballpark background: If this is in a ballpark, it has a rather un-major league-like roof held up by spindly columns.  Likely, this was taken at spring training.  So, I cannot determine where it was shot.  Maybe, if Wynn got together with Osteen for whom he was traded at that golf course I think Osteen's shot was taken, then I can imagine that the roof beyond is covering the driving range.

#43 - Jim Wynn (HOU)

Jim Wynn was also known as the Toy Cannon.  This was a rather colorful nickname, and I never knew if he received this because he had a great arm or not.  Maybe he had a bad temper, but his nickname might have more appropriately been the Loose Cannon.  I wonder who gave him that nickname.  Wynn played most of his career with the Astros including his first few when they were known as the Colt .45's.  Jim was traded during the off season to the Dodgers and appeared in their '74 World Series loss to the A's.  This was as close as he would ever come to a ring.  He played for the '77 Yankees, but was realeased during the season.  He was traded for the card previous in this set, #42 Claude Osteen.  Wynn's Trades card will appear next in this blog.

Wynn had some pop in his bat, hitting 291 homers in his career, but batted for a fairly poor average, only a .250 clip.  Each game I did research for to try to pin this photo down had Jim as the 'Stros leadoff hitter.  He hit only .220 in 1973.
Cartoon:  Look at those musical notes just floating by.  That's a sure indication of jazz.  Snapping one's fingers is Jazz, too.  Hey, this guy's also wearing a long sleeve undershirt, just like Wynn in the photo.  Typical Candlestick day game in June or July.  Frigid winds and players wearing sleeves.

Ballpark background:  Here, Jim hits the ball up in the air at Candlestick Park.  I did some research on the '73 game logs between the Astros and Giants to see if I could place this photo to a specific plate appearance, and I couldn't pin anything down on Wynn.  He popped up a couple of times, and flied out to left, and flied out to center a number of times.  There were also some nondescript accounts such as "Wynn made an out to second" where it doesn't say if he lined out, popped out or grounded out.  For all I know, this shot could have been taken on a foul pop that made the stands during an at bat that had a completely different outcome than a pop up.  Judging by the angle of the sun, it's a day game rather than a night game that starts in the summer still in daylight.  There's a Giants player in the background, and by the look of the angle it's probably the first baseman.  Willie McCovey spent some time on the bench against the Astros in '73, and from the logs it looks like this player might be Dave Kingman, as this player is right handed.

#42T - Claude Osteen "Traded" (HOU)

As airbrush jobs go, this isn't one of the bad ones.  This trade has an interesting twist in the 1974 set.  Osteen was traded for the very next card in the set, #43 Jim Wynn.  How often does that happen?  Something that sticks out is that Claude's nickname, "Gomer," which was shown in the #42 card's cartoon, is in the headline here. 


Ballpark background: This photo may have been taken somewhere other than a ballpark.  Osteen's uniform really doesn't look like a uniform.  I'm guessing that his hat that was airbrushed was NOT a Dodger hat, but rather a golf hat, and those trees in the background are on a fairway somewhere.  Just over his right shoulder next to that tree looks like a sand trap.

#42 - Claude Osteen (LA)

Claude Osteen pitched for a long time, an 18 year career, most impressively with the Dodgers.  Although he pitched for a successful team in the Dodgers, with a WS victory ('65) and a pennant ('74) the season after his trade, the bookends of Osteen's blue tenure, he finished his career just one game over .500, just shy of both 200 wins and 200 losses.  He was a permanent fixture in the Dodger rotation, albeit not the most successful one.

Claude was traded in the off season to the Astros, so his '74 picture never had its fulfillment.  In fact, he was traded yet again late in the '74 season from the Astros to the Cardinals.  He finished his ML career the following year with the White Sox.  With Osteen's card, every baseball team has now been represented in this 1974 set. 


Cartoon: Well, somebody needs to have a nickname of Goober.  Wonder who it might be?  The cartoonist got the TV series reference right with the combat boots, the helmet and grenade.  I wonder if he ever threw that pitch.  Now that's what would be known as an exploding fastball.  Yuk, yuk, yuk. 


Ballpark background: It really looks to me like there's ivy on the centerfield fence behind him.  I know of only one place that could have happened in a 1973 photo shoot.  Wrigley Field.  I'm a bit troubled by the lighter green above what appears to be the top of the ivy, but from an angle such as this, the wire "fan guard" as it were might look like this.  I know there are some bleacher seats left empty for a batter backdrop, and they are painted green.  I sat there once in the mid 80's.  The "400" distance marker would be a clincher, but maybe Osteen is blocking it due to the camera angle?  I don't know.  If this is Wrigley, it would be the first appearance in the set.

#41 - Bobby Floyd (KC)

Who?  I remember this card from my youth, but never really thought much of it.  I simply don't have a place in my memory for Floyd. Bobby finished his career just one homer shy of Duane Kuiper.  This was his last card, as he played his last game in June of '74.  Notice his three different names.  His full name is Robert, his card goes by Bobby, but he signs Bob.  There is a discrepancy between the stats on this card and Baseball Reference.  His '73 season shows him going 25 for 78 with a .321 average.  BR gives him an additional hit, 26, for a .333 clip.  Who has the typo?  Was there even a typo?  Could a scoring decision have been reversed after his career was over, giving him an additional hit?  Bobby was traded from the Orioles in mid-June in the 1970 campaign, depriving him of a World Series ring.  He didn't play much at all for the O's that year, having only 2 at bats.  He picked it up in KC at the old Municipal Stadium, hitting .326 in a limited role the rest of the way.

This is the first card in this set of a second baseman.  Forty-one cards in.  And it's not a full 2B card, as Bobby is a utility player who splits time at another IF position.  I have a dummy post that I placed earlier in the set to act as a temporary place holder for labels that haven't been used yet.  So right after I post this, I need to go in and wipe it out from that dummy post.  If you click on the Dodgers team label or the DH position label in the lower right margin, this dummy post will show up.  I think I'm correct that there is still one team yet to appear, the Dodgers.  I know there hasn't been a DH position yet in this set, so after those are done, my dummy post will have served its usefulness.

Cartoon:  Evidently, Bobby never used his hobby against opposing pitchers.  Otherwise he might have broken Hank Aaron's record.

Ballpark background:  Oakland Coliseum.  Where else?  It leads the ballpark backgrounds so far in this set, according to my label list that is keeping count.  Which park will win it all in '74?

#40 - Jim Palmer (BAL)

Nineteen seasons in the big leagues, six World Series appearances, three rings.  I'd say Palmer belongs in the Hall of Fame, for sure.  He was the center of a great Baltimore pitching staff of the late 60's and 70's.  He also did underwear commercials, and the chicks dug him.  Or is that digged him?  My spell checker is placing a squiggly red line under the word digged, so maybe the chicks dug him.  I remember great matchups between the A's and O's in my childhood: Blue, Odom, Hunter and Palmer, Dobson, McNally, Cuellar.  Never were it an easy task to beat the Orioles.  The A's took them down twice in the '73 and '74 ALCS, and the O's won in '71.  I remember this card when I was a kid, but somehow the image isn't what I remember about Jim Palmer.  Maybe it's the shadow from his hat that crosses his eyes.  I don't know.  Either way, it wouldn't have been easy to get a hit off him.

Cartoon: What happened in game 11?  How lucky were his socks then?  Did this have anything to do with underwear?  Socks are classified as underwear, right?

Ballpark background: Palmer is wearing home whites, and the batter's rump is in road gray.  The blueish fence in the background is consistent with other Oriole players in this set whose card photos were obviously taken at Memorial Stadium.  So, that's what I'm guessing.

#39 - Ken Suarez (TEX)

I don't remember this card from my youth, although I'm sure I had it then.  Ken's career seems to be filled with micro facts.  He played very few games, and his '73 campaign with the Rangers was his high point with 90 games played.  He was almost totally at catcher, except in 1968 he played one inning of left field for Cleveland, one inning of "outfield," one out at second base and two outs at third.  I wonder if those non-catcher appearances were in the same game, as if they did this to get somebody else to play all nine positions.

I found out some strange things about Suarez whilst doing some research.  Although he has a 1974 card, he never played in the majors in '74.  His last game was in Sept. of '73.  He was traded to the Indians just before the start of spring training in '74, and was one of the pieces in the Indians late '74 trade with the Angels for Frank Robinson.  I'm wondering if Ken was in the minors for the '74 season (and beyond?) and was involved in two trades as a minor leaguer, and this is the reason why he has no further major league stats.  He has no card in the Trades set.

Cartoon:  Ken is a deputy sheriff, but it doesn't say where.  I'm sure it's not Mayberry.  Well, I wonder.  When did the Andy Griffith show go off the air?  Could Ken have replaced deputy Fife?  He probably would have been good at catching criminals with a baseball bat.  Louisville Slugger?

Ballpark background:  Ken is posing here at the big ballpark in the Bronx.  Yankee Stadium as it is also known. 

#38 - Don Kessinger (CHC)

Don Kessinger was the traditional weak-hitting shortstop that could field well.  Back in those days, if a shortstop could field, he was given a pass on his bat.  No Ripken, A-Rod, Jeter or Tejada of today.  Nope.  And Don was that somewhat tall, skinny kid that naturally ended up at shortstop.  He came along several years after All-Star shortstop Ernie Banks was moved to first base, and after only a few years in the bigs, he became the All-Star shortstop.  The Cubs had a lot of All-Star shortstop action in the 50's to the 70's.  He played 16 seasons in the majors, yet hit only 14 home runs.  He never played in the post-season, either.  One of his All-Star appearances appears on the back of this card under the star - where else?  Two for two isn't bad in the Summer Classic.

I remember seeing Kessinger play short on TV when I was a kid.  I watched him on radio, too, when they played the Giants.  He was the fixture SS for the Cubbies.  This 1974 season would be his last All-Star team. 

Cartoon: Don gained 25 pounds eating the spread in the dressing room prior to the game, and promptly got six hits in six at bats that day.  Oh what a day for Oscar Meyer.  I guess all that MSG made him see stars.  Hey, Doc Ellis pitched a no-hitter on LSD, so why can't Kessinger go 6-for-6 on MSG?


Ballpark background: Here's a shot of Kessinger with an amazing amount of real estate behind him.  Or, third base side at Candlestick Park.  This Astro-turf layout was certainly bigger than the Brady Bunch back yard.  Candlestick and the Oakland Coliseum were the two parks with the most foul territory until the Giants built a new park.  The A's now rule foul ground.

#37 - Dave Sells (CAL)

Something I just noticed here.  This card is of an American League pitcher, and the back of the card says he bats right.  What does that matter?  He doesn't bat at all.  The DH was in effect starting in '73, there was no interleague play, and the DH wouldn't be used in the World Series until 1976.  I guess this info is put here just in case the manager loses his mind and does something stupid enough to lose the use of the DH rule for that game and his pitcher had to bat.  I'm applying this recent revelation retroactively to all other AL pitcher cards I've done so far. [Update: Dave's batting stats on BR show one game played in 1973, as opposed to 51 pitching appearances in his pitching stats.  I guess the manager did make some move that put Dave in the lineup, but he never got his turn at bat.]

Anyway, on to Dave Sells.  He was strictly a relief pitcher in his four seasons in the majors.  He was called up in August of 1972, then took a major role in the Angels bullpen in '73.  He made 51 appearances, finishing 37 games.  This translates into ten of what we now call "saves."  He spent all of his career in LaLa Land, between the Angels and Dodgers.  In '74 his presence was cut in less than half, and by '75 he was a minor bit player, being traded in a "player to be named later" deal with the Bums, only to make two appearances with them.

Dave was a much better hitter, batting 1.000 for his career, greatly eclipsing Ty Cobb for lifetime average, and out-slugged Henry Aaron and Babe Ruth with a 1.000 slugging percentage and a 2.000 OPS.  He knocked in a run every single plate appearance ever, which is as good as my five year old on Wii Baseball.  Okay, he had one at bat with the Dodgers in '75.  But still.  I wonder if he got to keep the ball.

Cartoon:  This looks like the box office at a movie theater.  Dave is shaking his finger at this poor young woman.  No, I think he may just be a loner and is ordering one ticket.  Ever go to the movies alone on a road trip?  Looks to me from this cartoon that it isn't Dave Sells, it's Dave Buys.

Ballpark background:  Dave is standing on a piece of grass that Babe Ruth spit tobacco on forty five years earlier.  I'd say that description is close enough to figure out that Dave is standing in Yankee Stadium.

no# - St Louis Cardinals Checklist

Several things strike me as I look at the front of this card.  One, check out the names in the autographs: Robert Gibson, Louis Brock, Joseph Torre and Kenneth Reitz.  Are these autographs or signatures?  Two, the penmanship back in the 70's was quite different than today.  Reggie Smith, Lou Brock, Ted Sizemore and Tommy Agee are good examples of 3rd grade cursive being put to good use with pride.  Like we see with Reggie Smith's Hancock, there are both readability and flair.  Most of today's autographs, although not really examples of bad ability, are attempts to give a signature way of signing without legibility.  How it looks is what matters.  Autographs of a generation earlier than these 70's have even more flair and craftsmanship, the pen being a sculpturing tool as well.  What's in a name anyway?  I like Jose Cruz's accent on the "e" and McCarver's underlining of the "c."  Three, there are only 12 autographs.  I think there were only 12 for the Orioles card I posted earlier in this set.  I wonder why so few?

I wrote in yesterday's Cardinals team photo that this team didn't click with me as a kid.  In reviewing the names on the back of this checklist, they're all very well known to me.  They just have the least "teamy" feel.  Must have been the astro-turf and average record for a decade.

Cartoon: None, and maybe that's a good thing.

Ballpark background: None

#36 - St Louis Cardinals (STL)

One of the things that immediately stood out to me as I read the back of this card was that the great, all-time Hall of Fame name of not only one of the Cardinal greats of all-time, but one of the all-time greats, Stan Musial, is completely missing.  Huh?  What!!!???  Yeah.  There's Hornsby, Brock, Medwick, and Mize on the offensive side, and Dizzy Dean and Bob Gibson on the pitching side.  Stan the Man?  Yoohoo, where are you?  Wow.  Have all of his great feats been surpassed by one player or another over the years?  This is hard to believe.

For some reason, the Cardinals of the 70's don't register too well with me.  I looked at and played with those cards just as much as I did the other teams, but those teams just didn't click with my inner kid.  I recognize all the players just like any other team, but the teams didn't make as much of an impression.

Cartoon:  None.

Ballpark background:  This photo looks like spring training with the big palm tree in the background.  There are scores of onlookers behind the team, and it wouldn't surprise me at a Grapefruit League event.  Team photos taken during the season in a team's home park usually occur with empty stands in the background.

Labels Update

I have updated the Labels page at the top of the blog.  New labels have been added over time to keep track of various things.  I've added a Traded with no Trades card, because there have been players traded before the season and not make it into the Trades set.  I'm also keeping track of players and managers who have won World Series some time in their careers.  I'm also adding an airbrush label to keep track of those wonderful paint jobs.  Horizontal layout cards, too.  Each card I post has the "Cards" label because there are cards from the 660 set, the Trades set and from the team checklists that are not numbered.  Also, I'm adding a "players" label to all cards that show a player, to keep track of the number of player cards total.  I'm sure there will be more added before I'm done, but these are the latest.

I'm open to suggestion from readers as well.

#35 - Gaylord Perry (CLE)

Gaylord Perry is a Hall of Famer with a 22 year career, his longest stint being the first 10 years of his career with the Giants.  He played for seven more teams in the remaining 12 years of his career.  I once saw him in an old-timer's game with all 8 teams across his jersey front.  He played with a great Giants team over his 10 years, with fellow Hall of Famers Juan Marichal, Willie Mays, Orlando Cepeda and Willie McCovey all on the same team.  Of course, the year he was traded to the Indians, he had his career best in wins, ERA, strikeouts and won the AL Cy Young award.  Typical of Giants in those days.  The year after Cepeda was traded, he won the MVP and a World Series with the Cards.  Mays won a pennant with the Mets after he was traded.

In a strange set of events, Gaylord pitched a no-hitter against the St. Louis Cardinals and Bob Gibson on September 17, 1968, winning 1-0.  The very next day, the Cards returned the favor as Ray Washburn no-hit the Giants in a 2-0 victory.  Back to back no-no's at the 'Stick.  What a series to have tickets for.  Only 14,000 fans saw either game, and I can only wonder how few saw both.  Only 4700 saw that second game.  In a legendary story, a previous manager of Perry's allegedly said that because of his weak hitting he thought a man would be put on the moon before Perry hit a major league home run.  One hour after Apollo 11 landed, Perry hit his first home run.  But, according to snopes.com, this story could very well be an urban legend made up only after Perry hit the round tripper.  Either way, it's a good story, and either way, the Indians had dumb looking hats.
Cartoon:  If Gaylord heads an insurance company, how come he's doing door-to-door selling?  "Hi, I'm a future hall of famer.  You might die at any moment, are you covered?  Also, somebody might get electrocuted by your doorbell button."  I know that line anywhere.  I must admit, I've never sold insurance door-to-door in a baseball hat.  Raffle tickets for Little League, maybe, but never insurance.

Ballpark background:  This is unmistakably the Oakland Coliseum.  Behind Perry is the third base dugout.  Or is it the first base dugout?  You know, I'm thinking the tarps were on the outfield sides of the dugouts, so this is probably the first base dugout.  That would make sense because the first base dugout at the Coliseum has always been the visitor's dugout.

#34 - Andy Kosco (CIN)

Andy Kosco.  Member of the Big Red Machine.  Really?  I simply don't remember him when I was a kid.  I glanced at the 1974 Reds roster - 35 players are listed for the entire season - and Andy is one of only four players I don't readily recognize.  Man, with a 25 man roster, I easily recognize 31?  It's amazing what baseball cards, radio and TV can do to a kid's mind.  That stuff in ingrained in the brain.

Here, Kosco looks like a daunting figure, maybe a Ted Kluszewski Lite.  He just looks like a big man.  As I'm keeping track of in the labels, not many ballplayers in '74 were over 200 lbs.  Andy played 10 seasons in the majors, for 7 teams and had 8 uniform numbers.  As it turns out, 1974 was his last year.  And since he batted only .189 in 37 at bats, I'm sure this was his last card, too.  His last game was on July 30, even though he wasn't released by the Reds until October 25.  His card says he was an outfielder, yet he played third base in '74 more than twice as often as the outfield.

Cartoon:  A home run into the bleachers?  Big deal.  The ball has shoe polish and a bandaid on it, no doubt pitched by Mike Scott.  So how did Big Andy hit it so far?  Well, even thought the fence was 461 feet to left center at Yankee Stadium, this card came out when the Big Ballpark in the Bronx was being remodeled.  The fence was considerably shortened to, like, 399 feet in left center.

Ballpark background:  Okay, this is Shea Stadium again.  Same light tower, same flag.  Same yawn.

#33 - Don Newhauser (BOS)

This is the first Red Sox card in the set, and only the Dodgers are without a card yet.  I certainly know Newhauser more from my ballcard collection than I do from watching baseball.  But isn't that what ballcards are for?  Didn't we as kids learn a lot about baseball from looking at these things thousands of times?  The top star tells us Don was a "short reliever."  This, I think, is 70'sspeak for something akin to a closer.  Or maybe a setup man?  His 1.84 ERA is impressive, but the 38 walks (more than strikeouts!) makes him a suspect as opposed to a prospect, I'm sure.

I haven't checked the '72 or '73 checklists yet, so with Don starting each year in the minors, and never playing in the Bigs after 1974, I'm inclined to believe that this was his only card.  I always like this pitching pose, one of looking in after the follow through.  Beaucoup bodacious sideburns, Don!

Cartoon: Uhm, yeah.  Anybody who has ever watched David Letterman's "Will It Float?" episode with a baseball, or has watched a ball land in McCovey Cove in San Francisco knows that a baseball doesn't sink in water.  It floats.  It is obvious that the Topps cartoonist came before either was known.  Or, wait...maybe Don's sinker is soooo good that it really does sink in water!  Now that is a good sinker!


Ballpark background:  The blueish green fence and the Orioles logo on the scoreboard just behind Don's glove give this away as Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

#32 - John Grubb (SD/WASH)

John (Johnny?) Grubb.  Yes, there's a lot here.  This is the first Padre card of the set, and it's also the first Washington/Nat'l League card.  I love how they spell "National" and "League."  His name is John on this card, but it is Johnny on his BR page.  Though the card makes a big deal out of his 21 at bats in 1972 and his being one of the Padres leading hitters in 1973, he makes the NL All-Star team in 1974.  And not for the Washington National Leaguers.  Nope, these boys in yellow are the Sandy Eggo Padres, like in waffles for breakfast on the beach.  The beach in San Diego is beautiful, and sandy.  There are numerous waffle shops near the beach.  I know, I went there this summer. 

Grubb played a 16 year career, but was only approached being a regular player with the Padres.  He played for that amazing 1984 Detroit Tigers team, picking up a World Series ring against...hehehe...his former team.  Dontcha just love it when that happens?  He racked up 99 homers in his career, one shy of triple digits.  I love the color scheme of the Padres cards.  Kind of a mix of goldenrod (remember your Crayola sets?) and butterscotch, this color in the Padre pennants is simply delicious.  John's also one of those crossover players, batting left while throwing right.  This picture of him looks like some dude named Kevin I used to know.  Except Kevin never wore a hat.  He looks here like, "Hey, there's a deranged Mets fan on LSD that's going to try to fly off the edge of the third deck!"

Cartoon:  He hit safely in 5 of the 6 games he started?  Well, you can go 1 for 4 every day and hit safely in all 162 games, shattering Joe DiMaggio's record, yet end up with a .250 average.  Actually, though, for only playing in 7 games, hitting in 5 of them for a .333 average is not something to laugh at.  But it's a cartoon, so I'll laugh at it because that's what cartoons are for.  And, say, what kind of middle name is Maywood, anyway?

Ballpark background:  With just a light tower over his right shoulder and a flag pole over his left, this was so obviously taken at Shea Stadium it's not even funny.  That's because just a few cards prior in the set was #29 Phil Niekro at Shea Stadium, and there's the same lights and flagpole.  Not funny, I know.  But Shea Stadium nonetheless.

#31 - Mgr/Coaches Preston Gomez (HOU)

This is the first manager/coach card in this set.  The manager's photo is smaller due to the cut and paste heads of the coaches.  This is just classic ballcard type of stuff.  Off the top of my head, I don't know if the '74 Cubs team card is this way, but I've seen at least one Cubs team card that was made up of all cut and paste heads.  There really aren't stats on the back, but there is a handy little summary of each one's playing experience.  I like seeing the coaching staff, because it places them in time with a team, and there's little to no other stats for coaches.  Managers have their own pages on stat websites, but where would one go for coaches or even bullpen catchers? 

Anyway, I remember little about Preston Gomez, but I do remember hearing his name all the time.  This card probably helped that greatly.  Roger Craig and Bob Lillis have certainly made the rounds in ML history.  I couldn't have possibly known this from this card, but a bit over a decade later, Craig would become one of the most popular skippers for the Giants.  The world of baseball, with it's inside, good ol' boys network is an interesting study in itself.  I wonder if anybody's written a book about it.  Gomez was born in Cuba.  I'm wondering when he came here to the States.  Surely before Castro took power.

Okay, here's the first airbrush job on a non-Trades card.  It's only a small head shot, but notice that Roger Craig's hat has been airbrushed.  He wasn't a coach for the 'Stros in 1973, so Topps took the liberty to paint him up like one.  I 'spect Hub Kittle's probably fairly old by now, being born back in nineteen and seventeen.

Cartoon:  None

Ballpark background:  This looks like a dugout to his right, and the fence has non-major league advertising.  I'm guessing this is spring training.