#560 - Mike Cuellar

Here Mike Cuellar kicks off what would be the dominant theme in his baseball cards for the remainder of his career. From ’74 through ’77, Mike’s photo would be an action profile shot with the exception of ’76 when he would have an action shot on the mound. I like him with an afro since that hair style seemed to more embrace his character than the close-cropped look he’d had on his cards prior to this set. He had another excellent season in’73, as he did every year in Baltimore from ’69 to ’74, a period during which he averaged better than 20 wins. Pretty good for a pitcher a lot of people speculated was on the downswing when he came over from Houston after the ’68 season. But Baltimore specialized in those trades (Frank Robinson) and with all those wins Mike brought a bunch of color, some of it through his superstitions. He would always sit in the same spot in the dugout. He always had to have the same hat when he pitched. He never stepped on a baseline. He was a generally happy guy who was a locker room favorite. Mike’s whole life was baseball which worked for him while he was playing but unfortunately didn’t after he was done.

Miguel Cuellar was born in Santa Clara, Cuba, and by the time he finished high school was pitching for that country’s Army team. Those were pre-revolution days and that team was the showcase for Batista, and was one of the only ways for anyone from a poor family, like Cuellar’s, to get any recognition. In ’57 a Cincinnati scout spotted Miguel in a game and signed him. He remained in Cuba, pitching for the Havana Sugar Kings, a Triple A team, through ’60 and put up a combined record of 37-39 with a 2.86 ERA during that time. His short stint in Cincinnati during ’59 wasn’t too impressive though. In ’60 the embargo resulting from the ’58 revolution took hold and the Sugar Kings relocated to Jersey City where Miguel finished out the year. In ’61 he had a poor season – 4-11 with a 4.58 ERA – and at 24 he was either released or sold by the Reds. He spent ’62 pitching in Mexico for Monterrey where he got some of his mojo back, going 11-6 with a 3.60 ERA. In ’63 he then briefly hooked up with Detroit’s Double A team – 1-1 with a 2.54 ERA in 39 innings – before he was signed by Bobby Maduro, a Cuban exile who ran baseball teams and was a fan of Miguel’s from his Havana days. He owned the Jacksonville Suns, then a Cleveland Triple A affiliate. After going 6-7 with a 3.79 ERA to finish the season, Miguel had a super start at that level in ’64, going 6-1 with a 1.78 ERA in ten starts. By then Jacksonville had moved to the St. Louis system, and mid-season Miguel was called up to the Cards, just in time for a pennant race. His ERA was a tad fat, but he got seven starts and four saves among his 32 games though he got shut out of post-season work. He kicked off ’65 back in Jacksonville where he again had excellent numbers, going 9-1 with a 2.51 ERA. But Mike threw junk, his out pitches being a tough screwball and a palmball, and St. Louis thrived on heat. So that June he went to Houston with Ron Taylor for Chuck Taylor and Hal Woodeshick in a trade of four pitchers.

For the Astros Cuellar got immediately moved to Houston and the rest of the way he was a spot guy, getting four starts and a couple saves. His record was nothing special but he pulled his ERA down by a run. That was a good prelude to his ’66 season when he moved into the rotation, got real stingy with his home runs given up, and finished second to Sandy Koufax for the NL ERA title. Then in ’67 he made his first All-Star team with enough wins to set a Houston record and another excellent ERA. But ’68 was a bit of a bummer after a shoulder injury had him miss about a month total and his record moved back to the losing side. He still put up another great ERA but Houston was worried about an ailing shoulder on a 31-year old arm. That December they sent Miguel/ now Mike to Baltimore for former Rookie of the Year Curt Blefary. Oops.

With the Orioles Cuellar pretty much hit the ground running. His screwball especially was much more at home in the AL and particularly with the help of George Bamberger, Mike began a long run of excellent pitching. His first year he got five shutouts and split the Cy with Denny McLain. In ’70 he led the AL with his 24 wins, 40 starts, and 21 complete games. He also won the final game of the Series that year. In ’71 he was one of four O’s pitchers to win at least 20 games. Both those last two years he was again an All-Star. In ’72 he missed a couple starts due to the early-season player strike but still won 18 and put up his second-best ERA in Baltimore. In ’73 he got a little more generous in giving up hits and his ERA rose a bit but he still put up an excellent record. Then in ’74 he cut the homers in half and went 22-10 to lead the AL in percentage and get to his last All-Star game. In ’75 he actually got stingier with the hits but his ERA popped by half a run anyway and he went 14-12. Then in ’76 came serious shoulder pain, a 4-13 record, and a 4.96 ERA, all which got him released at the end of the season (no loyalty in that town!). In ’77 he signed with California but his arm was toast, later confirmed by an abbreviated comeback attempt in Mexico. Mike finished with a record of 185-130 with a 3.14 ERA, 172 complete games, 33 shutouts, and eleven saves. In the post-season he went 4-4 with a 2.85 ERA in twelve games and he went 74-66 with an ERA under 3.00 in the minors.

Inexplicably Cuellar was unable to find work in baseball after he finished playing. He never made a ton of money and he ended up taking his five handicap down to Florida where for years he basically made minimum wage doing various work on local golf courses and driving ranges. He did some voluntary spring training coaching for Baltimore but was never able to get a regular gig out of that. By the mid-2000’s he was pretty much retired and living off a monthly pension of about $3,100 with zero health insurance. Early in 2010 he suffered a brain anuerysm and later that year had his gall bladder removed. He then contracted stomach cancer from which he passed away later that year. He was 72.

Miguel has some awfully good star bullets and revives the parenthetical name. He is one of the few guys to have a lifetime ERA under 3.00 on his card in this set.

Here we hook up two former Reds who never played together and only met in the post-season:

1. Cuellar and Merv Rettenmund ’69 to ’73 Orioles;

2. Rettenmund and Darrel Chaney ’74 to ’75 Reds.

Only 100 cards to go!

#486 - Steve Stone

For our second double card post in a row we get a guy going the other way, from the AL to the NL. Steve Stone shows some big hair in what appears to be a dreary day at Yankee Stadium, though that may just be the exposure on the camera since there are plenty of shadows. I believe those are Yankees over his right shoulder and my guess is that’s Roy White closest to Steve. Besides the Yankees thing and the double card thing, Steve has a couple other things in common with Felipe Alou, the last post subject. He’s got the Traded card, of course, and he was also coming off a relatively short tenure with the team on his regular card. Steve’s stay with the Sox was for a full season, so it was a bit longer than Felipe’s. He’d come to Chicago from the Giants after the ’72 season with Ken Henderson for Tom Bradley. “73 worked out a bit like his two seasons with the Giants: spot work with most of his games being starts along with some middle relief. The results were a mixed bag as he put up another losing record and his ERA was a tad high, but his innings continued to increase and he finished pretty high in the AL in strikeouts per inning. The big question regarding the Traded card is: where’s all the hair? The photo Topps uses for Steve on this card is one from his Giants days so it’s at least a year older than his regular photo. I like the mop top better but both of these would pale to his ’78 one when his chest hair sort of overwhelms whatever he had on his head. So Steve’s fist stay in the AL was rather short-lived. He’d raise his profile considerably the next time.

When Steve Stone was growing up in Euclid, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, he was a star athlete at a variety of sports: volleyball, tennis (a city champ at age 12), ping pong (see card back), and obviously baseball. In ’65 he was the starting pitcher in the state’s East-West All-Star game and he romped. Playing behind him were Thurman Munson (shortstop), Gene Tenace (third), and Larry Hisle (center), so it’s not terribly difficult to figure out why. He then moved on to Kent State where his catcher and roommate would be Munson. In the summer of ’68 he played in the Cape Cod League, a year Steve was also all-conference. The next January he was drafted in the fourth round by the Giants. He would finish his degree in history in ’70 but in the meantime he took his 95 mph heater to A ball where he posted pretty good numbers, including well over a strikeout an inning. He improved things significantly the next year at Double A Amarillo and especially at Triple A Phoenix, where he posted his 1.71 ERA in eight starts. He then began his rookie year of ’71 in San Francisco where his first win was a 5-hit shutout of the Pirates. But inconsistency moved him back to Triple A for a bit and he missed the post-season.

After a decent rookie year Stone started strongly in ’72, going 3-4 with a 1.50 ERA through early June as part of the rotation. By then the Giants were in a nasty slump and had twice as many losses as wins in trying to repeat as division champs. In a game against the Pirates that had three rain delays, Steve hurt his shoulder while warming up and then sitting and worked sporadically the rest of the year, though the end results were a big uptick to his rookie ones. Still he wasn’t too happy with the Giants’ prescribed treatment for his shoulder and he asked to be traded. While with the Sox, Johnny Sain helped Steve ratchet up his strikeouts and after the season he returned to the NL in this trade. With the Cubs things got much better, at least initially. In ’74 Steve put up his first winning record, going 8-6 with a 4.14 ERA as a swing guy. In ’75 He bumped up his starts to 32 and went 12-8 with a 3.95 ERA. Then in ’76 it was shades of ’72, but much worse. Early that year he tore his rotator cuff. Again he chafed at cortisone treatment for it, this time going through his own regimen of freezing his shoulder and then exercising it at the suggestion of a non-team doctor. He played the year without a contract and after going 3-6 in only 15 starts he signed back with the White Sox as a free agent.

Stone had a pretty big I-told-you-so season in ’77. While his ERA popped a bunch to the highest of his career he lucked out signing with The Southside Hitmen and between the team’s offensive surges and his new stamina went 15-12 as the club’s leading starter. Free agent defections in ’78 turned Sox fortunes around a bit in ’78 but despite going 12-12 most of Steve’s numbers were an uptick and after the season he went free agent again, this time signing with the Orioles. By then he was throwing off-speed stuff to help assuage the damage done to his shoulder and with better defense behind him in ’79 he went 11-7 with a 3.77 ERA, over half a run better than his ’78 number. Prior to the ’80 season he developed a master plan: he’d always been tentative with his curve for fear of its effect on his shoulder, but he knew that it was a pretty good pitch and he decided to go all in at age 32 and see where it took him, potential damage be damned. It took him pretty far, to a Cy Young-winning year on the back of a 25-7 record with a 3.23 ERA and a perfect three innings as the AL starter in the All-Star game. He also got his first post-season experience, though that didn’t go nearly as well. The downside was pretty much the expected as his shoulder was permanently wrecked by the breaking stuff. After going only 4-7 with a 4.60 ERA in a strike-shortened and DL-shortened ’81 Steve retired in June of the following year. He finished with a record of 107-93 with a 3.97 ERA, 43 complete games, seven shutouts, and a save. In the post-season he put up a 9.00 ERA in a couple relief innings.

Stone rolled pretty well, having earned his degree in a relatively short time and as an ardent believer in positive energy (he took classes). While he was playing he was a published poet, book reviewer (for Oui magazine, remember that thing?), and successful restaurant owner. By the time he announced his retirement he was offered a color gig on Monday Night Baseball and then parlayed that experience to be the color guy for the Cubs from ’83 to 2004, with two generations of Caray’s. In ’04 he openly criticized the Cubs’ performance and after the season he resigned. He later hooked up with the White Sox as an announcer, a position he still holds.

Steve’s ’69 gets most of the attention on the back and was a pretty good kickoff, despite the losing record. He continued to play both volleyball and ping-pong at Kent State and was a bit of a pool hustler there as well. He lived pretty large and was a bachelor for a long time and even got a Playgirl spread in the early Eighties.

Ironically Stone had about the most meaningful career of any of these guys after the trade and he’d spend years paralleling Santo on the broadcasting side for the Cubs. Topps makes no predictions here which was probably a good thing.

I like when this exercise brings up a Hall of Famer:

1. Stone and Willie McCovey ’71 to ’72 Giants;

2. McCovey and Felipe Alou ’59 to ’63 Giants.

#350 - Bob Gibson

This is NOT Bob Gibson's last card. They would come in '75. But it is his last card memorializing a good year although it wasn't all smooth running. When the Cards were having a tough time early in '73, so was Gibby, starting off at 2-5 but with a healthy 3.34 ERA. He then went 4-1, pulled his ERA below 3.00 and was looking to get a win total to match '72's when he went down in late July with a knee injury. He missed about ten starts, effectively killing St. Louis' chance for a division title, but returned in late September to win his final game. Here he looks warm before a sparse crowd at Candlestick. Bob had absolutely zero problem throwing at hitters and I am pretty sure that being on the receiving end of that stare could be an intimidating place to be. Even in '73.

Bob Gibson was raised in housing projects in Omaha, Nebraska. His dad passed away before he was born and he had an older bother Josh - not the Negro League catcher - help look after him. He was a small kid most of his time in high school but ended up being a superior baseball and basketball player. The Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues attempted to sign him but his brother pushed him into college and Bob won a hoops scholarship to nearby Creighton University and was the school's first black player in both sports. When he graduated in '57 he signed with both the Cardinals and the Harlem Globetrotters. When the Cards scouted him in Omaha every other MLB scout was there for the CWS to see a kid from USC named Ron Fairly. The two would be teammates in Bob's last season. That summer he threw so much heat in A ball that he was bumped all the way up to Triple A - Omaha of course - where his manager was Johnny Keane. He was having a tough time finding the plate though and in '58 he pitched for two teams at the higher level, going a combined 8-9 with a 2.84 ERA. In '59 he started the season in St. Louis but between too many walks, an inability to get a regular spot in the rotation, and a less than great relationship with manager Solly Hemus, he was sent back down to Triple A. There he went 9-9 with a 3.07 ERA. After a few games there in '60 he was back up top for good.

Gibson and his manager his first few years, as noted above, didn't get along too well. Most of the black guys on the Cards thought Hemus was a racist, and none of them had a super relationship with him. For Bob's first couple seasons he caught as much pen as starting time and his inconsistent appearances didn't give him much time to work on his control. But with Gibson at 2-6 through the early part of the '61 season, Hemus was fired and replaced by Johnny Keane, a manager with whom Bob had an excellent relationship. Keane stuck Gibby in the rotation and he went 11-6 the rest of the way. He then improved his strikeout to walks ratio markedly in '62 as he won 15 and made his first All-Star team. A mostly better '63 followed in part because the strike zone was expanded. Then in '64 he capped an awesome season with an even better Series, winning the clincher in Game Seven. Then came the big years: in the next six seasons came six All-Star games, six Gold Gloves (he would get nine of those in a row), two Cy Young awards, and an MVP. The only season in that time he didn't win 20 he was injured in '67 and that year he had one of the most dominant Series ever, seemingly purely on spite, when he went 3-0 with a 1.00 ERA. In '68 he had his amazing MVP year that inluded what I still think is one of the wiggiest stats I've ever seen: nine losses in a year in which his ERA was only 1.12. No wonder they lowered the mound the next season. In '70 he nabbed his second Cy and the next season most of his streaks ended as nagging elbow pain pulled his wins south by a few games. After a nice bounce in '72 came his last Gold Glove season. In '74 the elbow issues were compounded by serious knee issues - they would be drained 22 times the next two seasons - and an 11-13 '74 was followed by a 3-10 '75. That last season his knees were so out of whack that he pulled some pen time which didn't work for Bob and he opted to retire before the season was over. Gibby finished with a record of 251-174 with a 2.91 ERA, 255 complete games, 56 shutouts, and six saves. In the post-season he went 7-2 with a 1.89 ERA in nine starts in which he totalled 92 strikeouts in 81 innings. When he was done Bob had several team and other records including most wins as a Cardinal (251), most NL strikeouts (3,117), most strikeouts in a Series game (17), most seasons with 200 or more strikeouts (nine), most consecutive starts (303), and most complete games in the Series (seven). No surprise he was elected to the Hall in '81, his first year of eligibility.

After Gibson retired he traveled the country a bit and then returned to Omaha where he served on a bank board and opened his own restaurant. He returned to baseball in '81, coaching for old friend Joe Torre on the Mets and then the Braves ('82-'84). He then did radio announcing for the Cards ('85-'89) and color for games on ESPN ('90). He would do a bit of instructional work for St. Louis for a few years before a one-year gig as a coach proper in '95. He would start an annual golf tournament in '97, put out two autobiographies, and from about '95 on has been actively involved with The Baseball Assistance Team.


Bob never passed Walter Johnson on that list but he was the first NL guy to top 3,000 strikeouts. He also threw a no-hitter in '71. I remember his commercials as a kid. The one that stands out the most is his one for an asthma product, an ailment he picked up in the housing projects.

Bob and John rarely crossed paths but a pitcher will help:

1. Gibson and Rick Wise '72 to '73 Cards;
2. Wise and John Vukovich ''70 to '71 Phillies.

#342 - Jim Lonborg

After two relatively young guys we get a player who's not exactly old but is certainly worn. Jim Lonborg poses in Candlestick, a place he hadn't been to much by the time of this shot because he was a first-time NL'er in '73. It wasn't Jim's best season and while that year he put up his second most wins in six years, he had a losing record and an ERA that popped 2 runs. His shoulder affected his pitching which was pretty much the story every season since '67 and would be for the rest of his career. He was supposed to be a super nice guy so it was too bad that his pitching time was bedeviled as much as it was. But he was still immortalized back in Boston.

Jim Lonborg played hoops and baseball while growing up in California where his dad was a professor at a local university. He played high school ball with future Reds pitcher Mel Queen. When he graduated in '60 he went to Stanford on an academic scholarship and played both hoops and pitched his freshman year. From then on it was all baseball and in the summers he would play ball in leagues sponsored by the Orioles, first in Washington and then in the Basin League - where his teammates were Jim Palmer and Merv Rettenmund - which encompassed the northern plain states. Ironically it was there he was spotted by the Red Sox who in '63 signed Jim to a $25,000 bonus. He returned to Stanford to work on his degree in biology - he'd intended to be a surgeon - and the spring of '64 began his pitching career in A ball where he went 6-2 with a 3.20 ERA and better than a strikeout an inning. He was moved up mid-season to Triple A Seattle where he went 5-7 with a 4.84 ERA. While the numbers at the higher level weren't super, the next year he was a Red Sox.

In '65 Lonborg made the Sox out of spring training and went right into the rotation. While his first-year numbers weren't too hot the Sox liked his poise and the next year he split time between the pen and starting, improving his record substantially. That off-season he played winter ball and refined his pitching considerably and then got into shape by skiing. When he returned in '67 he went on a tear, providing the pitching to complement Yaz's hitting as the two led Boston to the Series. Jim led the AL in wins and strikeouts and won the Cy and then had a super Series - 2-1 with a 2.63 ERA with just two walks in 24 innings - even though he lost the final game to Bob Gibson. When he decided to do his off-season exercise thing again - he bypassed winter ball - he tore up his leg on the slopes and required surgery to repair two ligaments in his knee. While his recovery early in the season helped kill Boston's shot as repeat pennant winners, the leg damage was not directly responsible for the time spent on the DL in ensuing seasons. When he began pitching again, Jim compensated for his tender knee by over-working his right shoulder, which caused some serious rotator cuff wear. Over the next four seasons he missed time for injury every year, spent some time in the minors, and compiled a 27-29 record with an ERA above 4.00. After the '71 season he was part of a big trade that sent him to Milwaukee.

For the Brewers Lonborg had a bit of a comeback, winning 14 and putting up a 2.83 ERA, the best of his career. By now he was a control guy and his seasonal target for walks was under 100. Despite his nice numbers he was then involved in another big trade that sent him to the NL (both trades had Ken Brett beside him). His first year in Philly he kept the walk totals low but the shoulder helped derail him a bit. In '74 he had a relatively pain-free year and led the reviving franchise with 17 wins and the starters with a 3.21 ERA. In '75 he flipped back and missed a considerable part of the season to injury, halving his win total. In '76 he was cruising and he began the season 8-0 to help keep the Phillies on top for most of the year. He would win 18 as he experienced his first post-season action in nine years. From then on, though, he was in a bunch of pain and his workload suffered. He did go 11-4 in '77 on another division-winner and then faded to 8-10 with an ERA above 5.00 in '78. After a couple poor showings early in '79 he retired. Jim finished with a record of 157-137 with a 3.86 ERA, 90 complete games, 15 shutouts, and four saves. In the post-season he went 2-3 with a 3.51 ERA in five games.

When Lonborg finished playing he returned to the Boston area full time and enrolled in Tufts University's dental program. He got a degree, opened a practice in a small town on the way to Cape Cod, and is still at it.


Jim's star bullets are all '67. Pre-med guys had better enjoy reading.

We have had two NL guys in a row and these guys would be playoff opponents:

1. Lonborg and Mike Schmidt '73 to '79 Phillies;
2. Schmidt and Pete Rose '79 to '83 Phillies;
3. Rose and Dan Driessen '73 to '78 Reds.

#316 - Jim Perry

We move now from a guy whose career was brand new to one near the end of his. Jim, the older of the pitching Perry brothers, poses rather nobly at Yankee Stadium in an undated photo. This shot was definitely taken before '73 since Jim is airbrushed into his Tiger uniform, and I have a hunch a few years earlier. A Twin for a long time he enjoyed a mid-career revival when the leagues were split into divisions. In '73 he landed in Detroit where he had a pretty good season as the third starter. During the year he went up against his brother for the only regular season game in either of their careers. The game was a pretty big deal because it was the first time any two brothers started against each other in the AL (the Niekro's had pulled the trick in the NL in '69). The game didn't really live up to the hype as Gaylord took the loss and Jim wasn't around for the decision. The next season they'd be together but this time for the same team.

Jim Perry was born and raised in North Carolina where he and his brother alternated between pitching and third base. According to Jim during his senior year the two threw nine consecutive shutouts. Jim then attended Campbell College where he played baseball (and perhaps hoops) for three years. In '56 he was signed by Cleveland for $4,000 and went to D ball that summer. A big fastballer then, he went 7-8 with a 4.80 ERA but over a strikeout an inning. In '57 he moved to C ball and while the K totals came in the other stats improved: 15-12 with a 2.88 ERA. He then got promoted to A ball, picked up a slider and went 16-8 with a 2.79 ERA with excellent control. He'd also hit .259 in the minors and in '59 he made the Cleveland roster.

Perry had an excellent debut year, initially pitching out of the pen but by the end of the season joining the rotation. His 12-10 record and 2.65 ERA - which would have been third in the AL if he had enough innings - got him second place in AL ROY voting to Bobby Allison and a spot on the Topps team. His sophomore year a 10-4 start got everyone excited and though he cooled off a bit his AL-leading 18 wins would be a career high for a while. He also led the AL with four shutouts and 35 starts. Jim's first season Cleveland was a pretty good team but bad trades in '61 and later rendered them pretty impotent for the next few seasons and in '61 that caught up to Jim as his record reversed itself and his ERA flew. In '62 he evened his record and lowered his ERA but the honeymoon in Cleveland was over and early in '63 he was traded to the Twins for Jack Kralick, another pitcher.

Perry finished '63 in the Minnesota rotation pulling his ERA back to earth. In '64 he was used as a reliever and '65 began that way as well before injuries kicked him into the rotation and he posted the best ERA of any starter, helping the Twins reach the Series. The next three seasons would see him shuttle between the pen and the rotation, each year with very good numbers. In '69 Jim's old teammate Billy Martin became manager and one of his first decisions was to put Jim into the rotation full time. Billy's managing cred was solidified when Jim won 20 and the Twins won the division. Then, though Billy left, Jim topped himself to kick off the 70's, winning 24 to tie for the AL lead, and winning the Cy Young. The next year although he earned his second consecutive All-Star nod, the long ball found him again and his record evened out as his ERA flew partly on the AL-leading 39 homers surrendered. After a sub-.500 season in '72 he was traded to Detroit for pitcher Danny Fife.

In spring training of '74 Perry returned to Cleveland in a three-team deal that had Jerry Moses go to Detroit from NY and Walt Williams and Rick Sawyer to the Yankees from Cleveland. Back with his brother for the first time since high school, Jim put up a great season, combining with Gaylord for 38 wins. That year at age 38 Jim went 17-12 with a 2.96 ERA. It would be his last good season as a 1-6 start with a 6.69 ERA to kick off '74 got him sent to Oakland with Dick Bosman for Blue Moon Odom. Although he improved to 3-4 for the A's Jim was released that August. He finished with a 215-174 record with a 3.45 ERA, 109 complete games, 32 shutouts, and ten saves. He also hit nearly .200 up top. In the post-season he was 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA in five games. He and Gaylord remain the only brothers who have each won the Cy.

After playing, Perry returned to North Carolina where for a long time he based himself as a scout for the A's. He also has taken part in a bunch of fund-raising golf tournaments there and done some pr work for the Twins. In 2011 he was named to the Twins' Hall of Fame.

Jim only gets space for one star bullet but it's one that's tough to top. I have no idea who his off-season employer was.

On this date in 1974 Stevie Wonder appeared publicly for the first time in five months at a music festival in Cannes. The appearance was a big deal because immediately after his last one he was in a nasty car accident in which he was almost killed.

Getting an old guy and a new guy together can be tough:

1. Perry and Buddy Bell '74 to '75 Indians;

2. Bell and Charlie Hough '80 to '85 Rangers;

3. Hough and Ron Cey '71 to '79 Dodgers.

#290 - Vida Blue

Now this is one of the things I like about Vida Blue, at least in his early days. Nobody had a bigger smile on his cards than this guy did in the '71 and '74 sets. Plus he had that great name and in '71 he was a rock star baseball player. With Vida back then it was all good. At least until it wasn't.

Vida Blue was a big high school baseball and football star - more about that on the back - in Louisiana and was drafted by Kansas City as a second-rounder in '67. The next summer he began his career in Single A and while he only went 8-11 in 24 starts he put up a 2.49 ERA, fired a no-hitter, and led his league with 231 strikeouts in only 152 innings. In '69 he sandwiched a 10-3 year in Double A around some late-summer innings up top and the next year stepped it up by going 12-3 in Triple A with a 2.17 ERA before being called up for good early that September. Then things started happening.

In Blue's first start he shut out the Royals on one hit. Then after a no decision he faced the division-leading Twins and threw a no-hitter, only giving up one walk to Harmon Killebrew. But those games were just a prelude to '71. After an off-season Army hitch, that year at 22 Vida became the youngest Cy Young winner - he is still the youngest AL one - by going 24-8 with his 1.82 ERA. The season began even better: after a late June shutout of the Royals (seven hits and 12 strikeouts) he was 16-2 with a 1.37 ERA. Although he had a late-season fade that culminated in a loss to Baltimore in the playoffs, Vida had an amazing MVP season and was a big-time celebrity. Before the '72 season he held out - he'd made about $15,000 in '71 - which delayed the start of his season that year. That plus a nagging shoulder problem led to a significant downtick in numbers that season. Then in the post season he would lose his only start but he put in a lot of good time in the pen. In '73 he returned to the 20-victory level and had a nice year but the big K totals were done. After winning 17 in '74 he won over 20 one last time with 22 victories in '75. In '76 he went 18-13 with a 2.35 ERA in what may have been his overall best season since '71. He would probably have had a few more decisions if in the wake of a failed sale to the Yankees, owner Charlie O hadn't sat him for a couple starts. By the end of that year only he and Billy North were left of any of the players who made significant contributions to the five past division winners. In '77 he went to the All-Star game for the third time in what would otherwise be a forgettable season: 14-19 with a relatively - for Vida at least - high 3.83 ERA. Oakland was a mess that year and after the season Vida went across the bay to the Giants for seven guys, the first one for seven trade ever.

In San Francisco Blue enjoyed a revival. He got off to a fast start in '78 and by the All-Star break was 12-4 with a 2.42 ERA. He was named that year's starter becoming the first pitcher to start the game for both leagues. He finished the year 18-10 and probably would have won the NL's Comeback award had not Willie Stargell had an even bigger turnaround. In '79 Vida went 14-14 as his ERA ballooned by more than two runs, probably because of continued shoulder problems. In '80 and '81 he was back to being an All-Star with sub-3.00 ERA's and a combined 22 wins ('81 was the strike year). After the '82 season he was sent to the Royals for four guys.

Back in the AL Blue would go 13-12 for a team between pennants. But in '83 it all hit the fan. On top of horrible stats - 0-5 with a 6.01 ERA - Vida would be busted for cocaine usage along with a bunch of other big leaguers and be forced to sit out the entire '84 season as well as do some jail time. Cut by KC during the '83 season he signed for '85 as a free agent back with the Giants. In '85 he went 8-8 and in '86 10-10 with a 3.27 ERA. The following January he signed back with Oakland as a free agent but before the season began he retired. While initially the rumors were that the retirement was fueled by more drug usage, Vida made a strong case for himself as to the unlikelihood of that since he was still constantly monitored by the authorities. His arm was done and he didn't think he could pitch effectively any more. Blue finished with a 209-161 record with a 3.27 ERA, 143 complete games, 37 shutouts, and two saves. The post-season was a lot tougher on him: 1-5 with a 4.31 ERA with two saves in 17 games. But he still got three rings.

By the late Eighties, Vida was back with the Giants, doing some coaching and working in the community relations department. He played in the Senior Leagues when it was around and also co-authored a couple books. He did a bunch of charity work as well. In the mid-2000's Vida had a relapse of sorts and after being busted a few times on drunk driving and then a parole violation lost his gig with the Giants. He did time in a halfway house and a work release. When he came out he was able to get a community work position with Oakland and re-start his charity work. I have linked to a nice piece here about his admittance into the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (?!! - it's explained in the article).


I touched on all the star bullets above. That cartoon is pretty amazing. He also apparently himself rushed for 1,600 yards that season which seems crazy but who knows. That must have been a hell of a team. Vida passed up a football scholarship to the University of Houston to play ball. The middle name makes the full one even better. At one point Charlie O wanted Vida to change his first name to "True" but Vida nixed that one fast. It has always been tough for me to reconcile this fun-loving guy with the one described in some books as constantly calling out his Oakland teammates, particularly John Odom, who Vida was described as regarding an Uncle Tom type. That never seemed fair.

Vida gets the hook-up here with a Brewer, a team against which he had pretty good success:

1. Blue and Ted Kubiak '69 and '72 to '75 A's;
2. Kubiak and Rick Auerbach '71 Brewers.

#212 - Rollie Fingers

That last post was a killer. I am so happy to just be posting on one guy and this one is a good one. Rollie Fingers is bearing down in what has to be a playoff game given the attendance. Rollie has his game face on and looks like he's throwing heat. Besides a fastball he had an awfully good slider. He also threw a curve and a changeup, but the first two were his money pitches. In '73 Rollie lowered his ERA a ton, got 22 saves and his first All-Star gig, and appeared in nine games after the season, killing a few NY rallies in the Series.

Rollie Fingers was born in Ohio and relocated to Cali as a kid. He was a high school baseball and basketball star like a lot of the taller guys in this set. He was signed by Kansas City late in '64 and spent the next four seasons - '65 through '68 - in Single and Double A as a starter where he had awfully nice stats: a 35-30 record with a 2.78 ERA. After an inning in '68 up top he came up for good in '69 and would repeat the same performance the next couple seasons: start out in the rotation and end up in the bullpen. In '71 he pitched a bunch of innings in a game against the Yankees in relief of Blue Moon Odom, did well, and was on the spot named the team closer by then manager Dick Williams. It would be a good move as Rollie would spend the next decade-plus as one of baseballs premier relievers and certainly the most consistently good one. After averaging just over ten saves a season his first three full years, he would put up 21 in '72 and then throw in nine post-season games as the A's won their first Series since the '30's. In '74 his saves ticked back under 20 but Rollie led the league in games and again had an excellent post-season, appearing in six games. In '75 he won ten, saved 24, again led the AL in games, and despite a not-great playoff vs Boston, came in third in Cy Young voting. '76 was more of the same with a twist. Looking to avoid the loss of pretty much his entire team, owner Charlie O Finley engineered a sale of Rollie at the trading deadline to the Red Sox. It was nullified by Bowie Kuhn "for the good of baseball" and Rollie returned to have probably his best Oakland season: 13 wins, 20 saves, and a 2.47 ERA. At the end of the season he left anyway, going to the Padres as a free agent.

The next two seasons for San Diego were a mixed blessing for Fingers. While he was far away from being with a winner, he ramped up his saves totals huge, getting 35 and 37 his first two seasons while leading the NL both years. '79 would be a bummer year as Rollie fought some nagging injuries, threw 25 fewer innings, and only saved 13. He bounced back in '80, winning 11 with 23 saves and a 2.80 ERA. He also broke Hoyt Wilhelm's then career record for saves during the season. It was his last year with San Diego as he went to the Cards in a big swap - 11 bodies - that saw fellow free agent signee Gene Tenace depart as well.

Right after St. Louis got Fingers they swapped him in another big trade to Milwaukee. '81 would be a the big strike year, but not for Rollie. He would go 6-3 in 47 games, finish 41 of them, grab 28 saves, post a 1.04 ERA, and return to the All-Star game for the first time in three seasons. He also returned to the playoffs, winning one game in a losing cause against the Yankees. For all that he won not only the Cy but the AL MVP as well, becoming the first reliever to pull off that double. Rollie continued rolling in '82, picking up 29 saves by the end of August. He then pulled a muscle in his forearm and was out the rest of the season - and all of '83 - including the Series which the Brewers lost in seven. Tendonitis compounded his arm problems in '83 and pretty much wrecked his career thereafter. Rollie was able to return in '84, save 23, and post a 1.96 ERA in limited use. But '85 was a big downtick and he was released at the end of the season. He finished with a record of 114-118, a 2.90 ERA, four complete games, two shutouts, and 341 saves, a record that would not be broken until '92 by Jeff Reardon. Ironically that was the same year Rollie was elected to the Hall. In the post-season he was 4-4 with a 2.35 ERA and nine saves in 30 games.

Following his career Fingers would work for a couple businesses on the west coast, but his passion was golf, which he played as both an amateur and a professional, on a celebrity golf tour. He has done work in commercials, appearances, and speaking engagements. He just did a commercial for Pepsi with a bunch of other former big leaguers. It is on YouTube.


Rollie has excellent star bullets. In '74 he won Series MVP. Neither his brother nor his dad ever made it to the majors. His mustache was obviously a big deal. When Reggie showed up unshaven to spring training in '72 Charlie O decided that since he couldn't get Reggie to shave he would have a contest to see who on his team could grow the best mustache. Rollie went all out with the handlebar and the wax and won the top prize of $300. That was a year's worth of meal money back then.

We get from Rollie to the '73 Cubs pretty quickly:

1. Fingers and Billy Williams '75 to '76 A's;
2. Williams was on the '73 Cubs.

#173 - Randy Jones

This is the rookie card of Randy Jones. Being a low-numbered Padre, Randy gets a two-fer. He looks pretty magnanimous at Jack Murphy Stadium but that's OK since he won a pitching spot on the Topps Rookie All-Star Team that year (so he's pitcher two). Randy's whole pitching career was basically built around his two wonderful seasons in the mid-'70s but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Randy Jones grew up in Brea, California and wanted to play for the Dodgers. He went undrafted out of high school though as two guys he played against - Steve Busby and Al Hrabosky - were snapped up. Randy then attended Chapman College where, due to an arm injury, he had to refine his pitching game from primarily heat to placed pitches. He was drafted and signed by the Padres in '72 and had a pretty quick rise up. By the end of that year he was in Double A and after a super start there in '73 he was moved up to San Diego. His move there was also helped by the sale of Fred Norman to the Reds that season, as the Padres needed a lefty starter to fill the gap. In going one game over .500 Randy set the then club record for winning percentage by a lefty and made the Topps team.

'74 would be tough for Jones. His money pitch was a sinker that only hit the mid-'70s but could move up and down. Most of his outs were therefore groundouts and the Padre infield of '74 was pretty porous. Top that off with declining confidence and Randy's record fell to 8-22 with a 4.46 ERA. In 17 of those losses the Padres put up two or fewer runs and the bullpen was pretty dreadful. Going into '75 Randy worked with pitching coach Tom Morgan to re-establish the sinker and refine his slider. Both would prove hugely successful when in '75 after a middling start Randy caught fire and won 20 games while leading the league with a 2.24 ERA. While Randy threw a slow pitch he worked quickly and his games averaged less than two hours. In '75 he threw a complete game on 68 pitches. Randy would finish second to Tom Seaver in Cy Young votes, make the All-Star team and win Comeback Player of the Year, which was a bit silly. In '76 the magic continued as Randy would be 15-3 by the All-Star break. He started that game, ultimately went 23-14 with a 2.74 ERA, and won the Cy. He tied a record by throwing 68 consecutive innings without giving up a walk. He would throw 315 innings that season and in his last game snapped a nerve in his upper arm that left him unable to flex his bicep. Unfortunately for Randy that injury set the tone for the balance of his career.

In '77 Jones began the season going 4-1 but the nerve damage wouldn't go away and he ended the year only 6-12 with a 4.58 ERA. For the next three seasons the ERA came back to earth but he went a combined 29-39 and after the '80 season he went to the Mets for a couple minor league pitchers. Things didn't improve in NY as Randy went a combined 8-18 in two seasons before being released. '82 was his last year and he finished things up with a record of 100-124 with a 3.42 ERA, 73 complete games, 19 shutouts, and two saves. In 305 career games he only gave up 503 walks.

After baseball, Randy moved around a bit career-wise. He did the real estate thing and also owned and ran a group of car washes. He then moved into food service and would travel worldwide seeking concessions on military bases. In the Nineties he returned to the Padres as a community rep and also opened a barbecue stand at the stadium. Away from that he has been running a baseball school - one of its graduates is Barry Zito - and does some radio work for the Padres.

The adjectives are flying in these star bullets. That's a cool cartoon. No wonder he had Dodger blue in his eyes.

This time we go all NL:

1. Jones and Jerry Morales '73 Padres;
2. Morales and Gene Clines '77 Cubs.

#95 - Steve Carlton

Lefty's picture is on the left side - that's fitting. Steve Carlton has an action shot in Philly and he gets a "5" card but not for anything he did in '73. Rather it was because of his amazing '72 season. Steve's follow-up to his big year mirrored that '72 season in that it was streaky, but that was about it. His ERA spiked a bit from that minuscule one from the prior season and the Philly bats just weren't powerful enough to cover the difference. In fact, they weren't very much help at all - in Lefty's 40 starts that year his guys score three or fewer runs in 23 of them. And his record could have been even worse - in the games he didn't get a decision, the Phillies went 2-5. And his ERA wasn't THAT bad. Plus, along with leading the NL with his 20 losses, he also led it in starts, complete games, and innings. What really happened in '73 was that beginning in spring training the press got on Steve about his - then - unorthodox training regimen and they wouldn't leave him alone about it. In response Lefty stopped speaking to the press, a practice he held to for nearly the duration of his career.

Steve Carlton grew up in Florida and after high school went to nearby Miami Dade (North) College. But during the fall season of '63 he apparently couldn't break into the rotation and so when St. Louis dangled a $5,000 check in front of him that October, he signed with the Cards. His first season in the minors in '64 he won a combined 15 games with a 2.20 ERA and over a strikeout an inning between A and Double A ball. He spent all of '65 with the Cards but only pitched in 15 games, which alludes to either some military time or to keep him out of the first year draft. After returning to the minors to start the '66 season - 9-5 in Triple A - he got back to St. Louis at the end of July and immediately joined the rotation. In '67 and '68 he had nearly identical seasons as the Cards returned to the Series both years and he copped a ring the former one. In '69 Steve improved his numbers significantly in the first year he crossed the 200 strikeout level. But in a '70 season very much a prelude to his '73 one the bottom fell out: by the end of August he was 6-18 when he received a long letter from a fan espousing positive thinking. Lefty embraced the contents of the letter, went 4-1 the rest of the season and followed it up with his first 20-win year in '71. Following that season he asked for a raise, got nowhere with the Busch family, and was sent to the Phillies for Rick Wise, another excellent young pitcher who was not having a good discourse with management.

In '72 Carlton had a season for the ages: 27-10 with a 1.98 ERA and 310 Ks for a team that won only 59 games. As noted above, it was a very streaky year for him: after the late start to the season brought about by the strike that year, he went 5-1 and then lost five straight as the Phillies gave him only ten runs of support. He then won 15 in a row and went on to win the pitching triple crown that brought him his first Cy. It was also the season he adopted his workout regimen including plunging his pitching hand into buckets of sand or rice, depending on the source. In '73 the Phillies improved a bit but Steve went the other way. But he would recover in '74 and '75, putting up better ERA's and winning 16 and 15, respectively, both with winning records. In '76 he went 20-7 in a year the Phillies returned to the playoffs. In '77 he went 23-10 with a 2.64 ERA to win his second Cy. In '78 he won 16 with another excellent ERA and in '79 he won 18 and returned to the over 200 K club where he would remain every season through '83 except for the strike year of '81. In 1980 he went 24-9 with a 2.34 ERA to grab Cy number three in the year his team won the Series. '81 looked to be as good a season - 13-4 with a 2.42 ERA - but it got derailed by the strike. The fourth Cy came in '82 on the heels of a 23-11 season; in both '80 and '82 Lefty led the NL in both victories and strikeouts.. Around this time he was engaged in a back-and-forth duel between him and Nolan Ryan for all-time strike-out leadership. He had a losing record in '83 but again led the league in K's and would destroy the Dodgers in the playoffs (2-0 with a 0.66 ERA) before losing a game in that Series. It was around this time that he discovered that his long-time agent had done a host of nasty business with Steve's money and had lost over half of his career earnings, which was a significant blow to his finances. After a decent '84 during which he went 13-7, he finally hit the wall in '86 when he was 40. From that point on he went a combined 16-37 for the Phillies, Giants, White Sox, Indians, and Twins. While he'd returned - a bit - to speaking with the press in his last seasons and expressed a desire to continue pitching, it was thought that it was really about the paychecks. He finished things up in '88 with a 329-244 record, a 3.22 ERA, 254 complete games, 55 shutouts, two saves, and 4,136 strikeouts, fourth place all-time. He went 6-6 in the post-season with a 3.26 ERA. He hit pretty well, too, with a lifetime .201 average, 13 homers, and 140 RBI's. In the post-season he hit .222 with a homer and five RBI's in 16 games. He grabbed the four Cy Young awards - the first guy to do that - pitched in nine All-Star games, and was elected to the Hall on his first shot in '94.

Steve got those strikeouts against the Mets in '69. He was a very streaky pitcher and would tend to get wins and losses in bunches. He has his own website and is now very cordial with fans and the media, from what I've heard. As I've mentioned before, he always has one of the biggest grins in the HOF photos.

This one should be shorter than the last one:

1. Carlton and Tony Taylor '74 to '76 Phillies.
2. Taylor on the '73 Tigers.

#87 - Fergie Jenkins

Okay, so let's start with the good things. First of all, it's Fergie Jenkins. Second, how often do you get a card whose player's first name is the same as the last name of the guy on the last card! Now for the bad. It's a non-Traded traded card. Because of that, Topps used a photo with no hat and no discernible uniform. But it's not a uniform; it's an undershirt! And how far back did they go for this card? Pre-mustache obviously. This card could be anywhere between one and six years old. Sorry Topps, but Fergie Jenkins deserved a lot better than that. And Fergie also deserved a lot better than his '73 season. After winning 20-plus for six straight seasons, nearly everything went awry for him in '73: he led the league in homer give-ups, but he almost always did that. But the complete games dropped by over two-thirds; the ERA floated up to league average; he posted his first losing record since '66; and during the season he indicated that year would be his last in baseball. Did all the Chicago pratfall seasons over the years take their toll? Who knows. But what probably nobody figured on was that it would take this trade - to the worst team in the AL - to revive Fergie's achievement level in baseball.

So what kind of guy is Fergie Jenkins? About the best, to which I can attest from personal experience (probably the only time I can say that about a guy in this set). I was lucky enough to spend some time with him a few years ago. For anyone interested there is a wonderful SI article regarding him here. It was written around the time he got in the Hall and is very poignant and gets to the nature of the guy pretty completely.

Fergie Jenkins is from Ottawa, Canada, from a small town outside Chatham. He played hockey and hoops growing up and his dad played in the Canadian version of the Negro Leagues. Fergie picked up baseball relatively late and honed his skills tossing rocks down a coal chute. A local scout got him a tryout with the Phillies in '62 and they signed him to a minor league contract. He started off really well at the lower minor levels - a combined 19-7 in two years of A ball; 10-6 in a '64 in Double A - but couldn't get a decent Triple A run until later that year when he went 5-5 with a 3.16 ERA. A better '65 (8-6 with a 2.95 ERA) at that level followed and he then came up at the end of that season and threw some very nice ball in relief. Fergie's trademark pitching style was already apparent - lots of hits and homers, but excellent control resulting in some miniscule walk totals. He remained on the Philly roster to start the '66 season but only got in one game before he was on the right side of one of baseball's worst trades: in late April Fergie went to the Cubs with Adolpho Phillips for Bob Buhl and Larry Jackson.

Jenkins spent his first season as a Cub initially in the pen - he recorded five saves - and then the rotation. The next spring manager Leo Durocher installed Fergie in the rotation full-time, a very good move as Mr. Jenkins would win at least 20 each of the next six seasons. He tended to give up a bunch of home runs - his 484 career total is third all time - and to compensate he became a low ball specialist which also helped his strikeout totals since the NL Is a low ball strike league. He also had amazing control and his K to walk ratios generally led the league. During that time frame he also led the league in starts three times and complete games three times. In '67 he came in second in the Cy race. In '68 he added innings and dropped his walk totals. In the heartbreaking season of '69 he led the NL in strikeouts. In '70 he led MLB in baserunners allowed per nine innings. In '71 he won the Cy via his NL-leading win total and a sick total of only 37 walks in 325 innings. '72 was a third-place Cy year and was followed by his last forgettable season in Chicago, at least for the first run. That October he was traded to the Rangers for new infielders Vic Harris (second base) and Bill Madlock (third base).

Jenkins continued his record of doing well in new environments as well as performing well for difficult managers. Going from Leo Durocher to Billy Martin wasn't anybody's idea of a picnic but Fergie made it work. In '74 he went 25-12 with a 2.82 ERA, 225 strikeouts, and six shutouts to nearly ride the Texas train to a divisional championship. He came in second in AL Cy votes and won comeback player of the year. But because things never went well in Billy-land for long, the following off-season Fergie hurt his knuckles punching out a guy in a pick-up hockey game and his stats declined the following year and he went 17-18 as the homer tally ratcheted up a bit. In November he went to Boston for Juan Beniquez as the piece to guarantee the Sox' continued playoff presence. While Fergie put up way better than average numbers league-wise he was only a game over .500 the next two years, winning just 22 in that span, and ended up in manager Don Zimmer's doghouse (he was viewed as way too friendly with Bill Lee, a personal adversary of Zimmer's). From there, Fergie's career reversed itself geographically. In '78 he returned to the Rangers where he won 18 his first year and was the best Texas starter for three seasons. He had an off '81 and the next year went to the Cubs as a free agent. He won 14 in '82 at age 39, pitched one more season and was done. He finished up with a record of 284-226, a 3.34 ERA, with 3,192 strikeouts, 267 complete games, 49 shutouts, and seven saves. He, Greg Maddox, Curt Schilling, and Pedro Martinez are the only guys to have over 3,000 lifetime Ks and less than 1,000 career walks. Not a bad hitter, he poked 13 homers with 85 RBI's lifetime and made four All-Star teams. He got in the Hall in '91 on his third attempt.

Following his career Jenkins coached a bit, first for Texas, and then for other organizations. But he has since spent most of his time running his working farm back in Texas.

The card back is not nearly as bad as the front, but I'd tweak it a little. For the cartoon, Fergie definitely played hockey, but by his own admission he wasn't so great so I am pretty sure he didn't get several pro hockey offers. He did, however, get to show off his basketball skills by touring with the Harlem Globetrotters a couple years. The year he won the Cy he also hit a ton: .243 with 6 homers and 20 RBIs in 115 at bats. He still holds the season K mark for the Cubbies. And this is the first card that we see the little notation regarding the trade. There will be a couple of these. And that number sucks. 87??!! Even if his '73 was below standard for him, Fergie was deserving of at least a "5" card.

So how do we connect the Fergusons?:

1. Jenkins and Bill Buckner and Ron Cey '83 Cubs;
2. Cey, Buckner, and Joe Ferguson '73 to '76 Dodgers.

I love the guy, but Fergie gets an ugly card here, just because of the t-shirt.

#80 - Tom Seaver

If there is a New York icon in this set, this guy is it. Tom Terrific (I never liked that nickname) was the most consistent NY All-Star of his time and again was a pivotal reason the Mets got into the post-season. While he came up just shy of 20 wins, his miniscule ERA, NL-leading strikeout totals, and very nice post-season work helped him grab his second Cy in '73. Here he is pitching at Shea with John Milner in the background as well as some blob-like thing right over Tom's butt. It looks like Topps blurred that bit out intentionally, but I wonder why? If it was something untoward in the stands, I cannot imagine it would be seen clearly, since nothing else that far back is. It does look like Tom is throwing heat here, so maybe it's just something thermal.

Tom Seaver had an interesting time of things even before hitting the majors. He graduated high school in Fresno in '62 and did a stint in the Marines. He attended Fresno City College from '63 to '64 and in the summers of '64 and '65 played baseball in Alaska. He initially went there at the suggestion of Rod Dedeaux, the USC coach, who was interested in signing Tom but wanted to see him first against some major college competition. Tom passed the test and went to USC for the '65 and part of the '66 seasons. He was drafted by the Dodgers in '65 but shot them down (he thought it would take too long to reach the majors with them). The Braves signed him in early '66 but the signing was voided as a sort of tampering case. The Mets then signed Tom as a free agent to their Triple A Jacksonville Suns team and he had a nice season in his only minor league time, going 12-12 with a 3.13 ERA. Then it was all MLB time.

Seaver came up in '67 and went 16-13 for a team that would lose over 100 games. He won that year's Rookie of the Year award and never looked back. In '68 he won 16 again and put up his first year of over 200 K's under Gil Hodges. Then came the magic year of '69: 25 wins, a 2.21 ERA, his first Cy Young, and the big Series win. From then until '73 he would average over 20 wins, over 200 Ks and never top 3.00 in ERA. In '70 he led the NL in strikeouts and ERA. He turned that trick again in '71, posting a sick ERA while coming in second in the Cy race. After another excellent '72, by '73 he had begun acquiring his vineyard interests in California and he hurt himself moving cases of wine, missing some starts and almost for sure another 20-win season. He also won the division-clincher against the Cubs and had that excellent post-season, even though he only went 1-2 (he put up 35 Ks in 31 innings and had a 2.00 ERA). In '74 hip problems dropped his record to 11-11 as he missed a few more starts and had a tough time completing games - the Mets were pretty awful that year - but he bounced back in '75 to win 22 and grab his third Cy. '76 was Jerry Koosman's year and Tom would post the last of his nine successive 200 K seasons as his decisions dropped substantially and he went only 14-11 despite another excellent ERA of 2.59. The next season, in the wake of bitter contract negotiations between Seaver and Mets GM Donald Grant, Tom was on a nice early season roll when at the June trading deadline the unthinkable happened: he was sent to the Reds for a bunch of young players: Doug Flynn, Steve Henderson, Pat Zachry, and Dan Norman.

For pretty obvious reasons the trade of Seaver was hugely unpopular in NY, and while a couple of the kids would have some decent seasons, that Tom went on to win 21 games that year really cemented the bad feelings generated by the transaction. It certainly wasn't all bad for him though. NY was at the beginning of a downward spiral that would produce some ugly teams and last though the early Eighties. Meanwhile, Cincy was still tough and after a 16-14/2.88 year in '78 that was his final one of over 200 strikeouts, Tom returned to the post-season in '79 with a 16-6 year. In '80 he missed a bunch of starts to the hip again and his record fell to 10-8 in the first year his ERA was sub-par to the NL's. But a big season followed in the strike year of '81 when Tom went 14-2 with a 2.54 ERA to nearly nab another Cy. Unfortunately that year was followed by an '82 when he had his arguably only bad season: 5-13 with an ERA that exceeded 5.00.

In '83 Seaver returned to the Mets in another trade with a bunch of kids on the other side. NY made a huge deal about Tom's return but after a middling year for him they then left him unprotected following the season. The White Sox picked him as a free agent compensation pick as they had lost Dennis Lamp to Toronto. Then any team losing a player to free agency had the right to pick any unprotected player from any team. Tom then won 31 games in two years for the Sox, including his 300th win at Yankee Stadium. In '86 he pitched for both Chicago and Boston. It was his final season and he saw no action in that post-season. Seaver retired with a record of 311-205, a 2.86 ERA, 231 complete games, 61 shutouts, a save, and 3,640 strikeouts. In his three post-seasons he was 3-3 with a 2.77 ERA and 51 strikeouts in his eight games. On top of his three Cy Young's and ROY he made 12 All-Star teams. He went in the Hall on his first ballot in '92. He has become a professional vintner and done lots of broadcasting, first for the Yankees and then the Mets.

At this point in Tom's career he could have had about 30 impressive star bullets. The game with the 10 consecutive K's was against the Padres in which he struck out a total of 18. He actually did enjoy playing bridge. That was what he was doing when Jerry Koosman had a locker room guy impersonate Howard Cosell on the radio in the early 70's and say Seaver had been traded to Houston for Doug Rader. At the time trading Tom was unimaginable. Little did they know...

Tenace and Seaver again met in the '73 Series. How do we get them together?:

1. Seaver and Keith Hernandez '83 Mets;
2. Hernandez and Gene Tenace '81 to '82 Cards.

Another All-Star. That's appropriate.

#73 - Mike Marshall

It has been a while since we have had a multi-card post and it is appropriate that it is this guy, the subject of the first or second biggest trade of the off-season. Mike Marshall looks enormous here pitching at Candlestick in a position that indicates he has yet perfected his delivery system (more on that later). If I am correct, then that is one of four guys behind Mike: Ron Hunt (too tall to be him I think) or Tim Foli (don't see the glasses) at second or Mike Jorgensen or Hal Breeden playing an awfully wide first base. My nod goes to Jorgensen. Regardless of who is behind him, Mike put up a very big year in '73, setting soon-to-be-broken records in games and relief innings by a pitcher; winning 14 in the pen with an NL-leading 31 saves; and finishing second in NL Cy Young voting. He damn near got his team to the playoffs which would have put a non-US team there 20 years before Toronto.

Like the man himself, Marshall had an interesting career. Signed by the Phillies in 1961 as a shortstop, Mike put up some nice offensive numbers in four minor league seasons: a .280 average with an OBA in the upper .300s. He had a very bad back that was injured in a horrible car accident when he was 11 and that plagued him throughout his career which made fielding problematic. One season he had 68 errors. He reached Double A in the infield and in '65 informed management that he was going to become a pitcher. He had just finished his undergrad degree at Michigan State and had started on his Masters when they demoted him to A ball in response to his position change. Mike actually put up some decent numbers as a reliever right off the bat and by the end of the '65 season was back in Double A. Prior to the '66 season he was sold to Detroit and for them he put up super numbers at that level - 11-7 with a 2.33 ERA again in the pen - and was promoted in '67. It was around then that he became interested in the physics of throwing a baseball and kinesiology and that year he initiated his ability to piss off his managers and other players by utilizing the fruits of his academic labors in his craft. Despite excellent numbers, he was sent down by Mayo Smith, who was upset that Mike taught himself a screwball, which would be his signature pitch. It was also around this time that as a graduate teaching assistant at Michigan State, Mike had a student who happened to be a wide receiver on the football team named Steve Garvey. After a season in Triple A as a starter - he went 15-9 with a 2.94 ERA - he was taken by the Pilots in the expansion draft. There he got some nice props from Jim Bouton in "Ball Four" and also argued constantly with manager Joe Schultz and pitching coach Sal Maglie, neither of whom came off particularly well in the book. Thogh Mike's numbers remained pretty good in Triple A  - the Seattle minor league system was a bit messy - Mike's '69 for the Pilots was pretty messy itself and he decided around then that due to his back and other issuers he was much more effective as a reliever. He was sold to the Astros before the '70 season and then went to the Expos mid-year for Don Bosch. For both teams his time was spent primarily at Triple A where his numbers - a combined 6-4 with a 1.85 ERA and seven saves in 25 games - showed it was time to be given a shot up top. It was in Montreal he found his niche.

For the Expos, everything started clicking for Marshall in '71. While his ERA was nothing special, it was his first of four successive seasons that he led the league in games finished and the year he established his game: three money pitches (screwball, slider, and curve) and 100+ innings in relief with double digits in saves and decisions. He attributed his success to an understanding manager in Gene Mauch. In '72 and '73 he had his two huge seasons, garnering significant Cy Young and MVP votes. Those four seasons he put up 93 saves. When in '73 LA decided that a workhorse reliever was the needed step for a title, they sent Willie Davis to Montreal for Marshall. The trade was hugely rewarding for LA as the team won the NL pennant and Mike got his Cy, setting new records in games and relief innings pitched, with 106 and 208 respectively. In '75 Mike broke a rib throwing a curve which aggravated his back as well and he missed a significant part of the season. In '76 he was traded to the Braves - while he and Walter Alston got along great, he and Tommy Lasorda were not friendly - and for the next few seasons his stats were mediocre. During that time he injured his knee and finally had surgery that repaired his back.

In '78 Marshall was signed by the Twins as a free agent and reunited with Gene Mauch, then Minnesota's manager. For those next two seasons, he was up to his old tricks, and in '79 he had numbers that rivaled his best: 142 innings, 10 wins, a 2.65 ERA, 32 saves, 90 games, and 84 finished games. He led the league in those last three. He had a poor start in '80 and as player rep managed to piss off Calvin Griffith and was cut. A nice season followed with the Mets, but despite really good numbers, he was released. Mike finished with a 97-112 record, 3.14 ERA, three complete games, a shutout, 188 saves, and 1,386 innings pitched in 723 games, or nearly two innings per game. He was also a pretty good hitter and an excellent fielder. In his sole post-season, '74, he went 0-1 but with a 0.75 ERA in seven games, striking out 11 in 12 innings.

Marshall now runs a baseball institute in Florida where he teaches pitchers to throw using the fundamentals he developed from his studies. He has a pretty cool website, linked to here. It has videos and a bunch of literature.

OK, so we finally have a lame Traded card. It is not the phosphorescent paint on the hat that bothers me so much as it is the photo itself. First of all, it is the same one used for Mike's regular '73 card. On top of that, I am almost positive that it is a Tigers uniform he is wearing which would make the photo seven years old! That's lame.

Look at those '73 numbers: hard to believe they were just a warm-up. Of course Marshall played chess; the guy was a genius. He has another name that would have been great for a lawyer. Mike was also the guy that talked Tommy John into getting his rotator cuff surgery.

Not too much going on with the Traded card back. I find it hard to believe that his season did not qualify for at least a "5" card. Frankly, though, I have not found anyone occupying those cards not deserving of that status.

Again, these two guys narrowly missed playing with each other:

1. Marshall and Tommy John '74 to '76 Dodgers;
2. John and Aurelio Rodriguez '80 to '81 Yankees.

#66 - Sparky Lyle

This is Sparky Lyle's last card without his walrus mustache. It is also one of the cards I am classifying as an action shot even though there is nothing happening. Not unless you include that wad of tobacco being chewed. The shot looks like it was taken by the dugout at Yankee Stadium. Spark's '73 was pretty active though it didn't start that way as an off-season ankle injury led to an abbreviated spring training and a save-less April. But in May he caught fire and by the end of June had 19 saves which helped him grab his first All-Star nod. He would finish with 27 saves for the season despite missing some significant time from early August on, again due to the ankle.

Sparky Lyle played American Legion ball in rural PA during high school - his HS didn't have a baseball team - and was signed by the Orioles in '64. After spending that summer as a starter in Rookie ball (not so good) and A ball (quite good), Sparky was left unprotected and taken in the first year draft by the Red Sox. While his first season for Boston didn't produce great numbers - 5-5 with a 4.24 ERA in A ball - it was a very important year for Sparky career-wise because of two things: he met Ted Williams who told Sparky he needed to pick up a slider; and he got moved to the pen. Armed with his new pitch Sparky accelerated his move upward as a nice 8-3 extended season in Double A and fall ball in '66 was followed by a '67 in Triple A during which he went 2-2 with a 1.71 ERA in 16 games that got him elevated to Boston that June.

Once Lyle got to the MLB level he was there to stay and he picked up that summer of '67 where he left off in the minors, throwing excellent ball and adding five saves. An injury in late September kept him from the Series though. Two excellent seasons followed during which Sparky accumulated a total of 28 saves. Then, after not giving up a run until early May a tough spring of '70 led to a poor record and elevated - for him - ERA, though he did record 20 saves. '71 saw the ERA returned to its norm, another 16 saves, and a trade. Prior to the '72 season the Sox, looking for a first baseman after the trade of George Scott to the Brewers, sent Sparky to the Yankees for Danny Cater and Mario Guerrero. The trade worked out damn well for NY.

While the trade hardly matched the Ruth sale from years earlier, it did land the Yankees an All-Star reliever for a backup infielder and a guy that would be out of baseball in three years. Lyle hit the ground running for NY in '72, posting his best numbers to date, including a sub-2.00 ERA, nine wins, and a then-AL record 35 saves (that record was broken the next season by a guy we have already seen, John Hiller). Sparky was viewed as the primary reason the Yanks almost won the division and he would ironically finish higher in MVP voting (third) than in Cy Young voting (7th). After his All-Star '73 he repeated the great/OK pattern in '74 -'75: the first year he went 9-3 with a 1.66 ERA and 15 saves; in '75 as things got a bit testy with manager Bill Virdon, his line was 5-7/3.12/six. In '76 Spark returned to the All-Star game, led the AL with 23 saves, and pitched shutout ball in the post-season. In '77 he stepped up those numbers in his final All-Star season, led the league in games, went 13-5 with a 2.17 ERA and 26 saves, and won the Cy, the first AL reliever to do so. He won two games against KC and one in the Series. The reward for that was being stuck behind free agent Goose Gossage the following season and while the numbers were decent - 9-3/3.47/nine saves - it was a very frustrating season for Lyle as detailed in his diary of that year, "The Bronx Zoo." After repeated requests to be traded he got his wish when after the season he was sent to Texas in a deal that brought the Yankees Dave Righetti.

Things didn't go super well for Lyle once he departed NY. His record woulds be pretty good and his first season in Texas produced a 5-8/3.13/13 saves line. But after his ERA moved up by over a run in '80 Sparky was sent to Philadelphia for the pennant dash and while he threw well he got there too late to make the post-season roster. In '81 he went 9-6 in 48 games but the ERA stayed up there and he only recorded two saves. After a poor start to the '82 season he was sold mid-year to the White Sox in his final year. Sparky finished with a 99-76 record, 238 saves, a 2.88 ERA and 899 games, all in relief. In the post-season he was even better: 3-0 with a 1.69 ERA and a save in his 13 games. And he wasn't a bad hitter, putting up a career batting average of .192.

After playing Lyle made some Miller Lite commercials and spent a few years working the casino circuit. He then returned to baseball in '97 when he became the manager of the Somerset Patriots, a Jersey minor league franchise. He just finished his 13th year there.

The first star bullet refers to a game in '64 in which Lyle pitched 15 innings. The cartoon is very tongue-in-cheek although the author of it may not have known that at the time. Sparky's primary association with birthday cakes was that he enjoyed sitting - naked - on the ones that came for his teammates. This is also courtesy of his book. I do not remember anything from it that specifically related to the '73 season, but there will be other pearls on future posts.

It does seem appropriate to link these two All-Stars with a third:

1. Lyle and Lou Piniella '74 to '78 Yankees;
2. Piniella and Amos Otis '70 to '73 Royals.