Saturday, July 13, 2019

Angels No-Hit Tribute to Tyler Skaggs


Two days in a row, I'm creating tribute cards. Yesterday was Jim Bouton who was 80 years old.  A genuine loss to all baseball fans.  Last night the Angels paid tribute to Tyler Skaggs.  Today would have been his 28th birthday.

The tribute wouldn't have been believed if it were scripted.  The entire team wore his uniform, name and number. His mother, a former softball player, threw out the first pitch.  From the mound.  A perfect strike. 

Taylor Cole opened the game by striking out the first batter. Normally a relief pitcher, he only went two innings.  Both of them perfect.  In the Angels first, Fletcher led off with a double, then Mike Trout launched the first pitch 454 feet to put the Angels up 2-0.  Trout would also get a double in that 7 run first inning.

Felix Pena came in and pitch 7 near-perfect innings. He allowed one walk in the 5th before retiring the next 14 in a row.  After celebrating the 13-0 no-hitter, the players all laid their #45 jerseys on the  mound. 

There was so much going on that there is no way to capture it all on one card.  Instead, I made a card in the style of the 1961 Topps Baseball Thrills crediting all three pitchers. 

6 comments:

  1. Have you ever created cards for players who threw no-hitters that didn't have cards for the year of their no-hitter (ex. Odom/Barrios in 1976, D. Wilson in 1967, Mike Warren in 1983)? Would you?

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    1. The blog When Topps Had (Base)Balls has been doing that for the 70s. http://whentoppshadballs.blogspot.com/search/label/No-Hitter

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    2. Sorry for the delayed response. I did make a 1967 card of Wilson for Jim for the 1967 Topps Baseball blog Here: https://1967topps.blogspot.com/2016/09/1967-custom-cards.html

      And like Brett says, Gio over at WTHB has a bunch of custom No Hitter cards. He actually made 2 versions of the Odom/Barrios no hitter, but both were on 1977 style cards:
      https://whentoppshadballs.blogspot.com/search?q=barrios

      Also "The Baseball Card Blog" had a whole section of 1976 Topps Traded Cards That Never Were which included Blue Moon Odom:
      https://baseballcardblog.blogspot.com/p/1976-topps-traded-missing-cards.html

      I have not seen an attempt at an '83 Warren card yet.

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  2. Very classy tribute to Skaggs to include him on this card. One of the things I appreciate about cards is the way the subjects on them can kind of live on, if only on cardboard. Very nice job!

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  3. Ray Romeo's comment is perfect and encapsulates my feelings. The 1961 format triggers memories of the first year that I followed baseball - back "when it was a game". Early deaths of baseball players were almost unheard of then (at least @ the MLB level). But then again 1961 was still a hopeful year. We have lost our way. "Buzz"(Bryant)

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  4. Late to the party, but this is very nice. Dig it.

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