Topps All-Star Misses: 1970 AL Outfield

 In 1970 Topps had All Star cards of Reggie Jackson, Frank Robinson and Carl Yastrzemski in the American League outfield.  Reggie and "The Judge" shared the outfield with Frank Howard as starter in the 1969 All Star game.  Howard started the 1970 ASG as well. Hondo was also named to the 1970 Sporting News All Star team. Since that is what the cards supposedly declare in fake headlines, he probably should have had an All Star card in 1970.

The other two AL outfielders that were named to the 1970 Sporting News All Star roster were Reggie Smith and Tony Oliva.  Here are their All Star Cards That Never Were:

Who probably didn't merit inclusion in the 1970 Topps All-Star set, but was in it anyway?

Carl Yastrzemski:

 Yaz was neither a starter in the 1969 ASG nor named to the Sporting News All Star team in 1969 or 1970. That being said he had a great 1970 season and was a starter in that season's ASG. 

Cards I Made for Other Websites

Cleaning Out the Closet 

Here are some cards I found, going through some of my old stuff that never got published on this blog. Some of these, I don't remember where I published them.  Like this Bo Jackson throwing out the first pitch at a White Sox - Royals game.  Apparently he wanted to appear neutral by wearing a plain black cap and sweatshirt.  I added the Sox logos because I am not neutral. But I really don't remember where or when (or if) I posted this card. 

This card was made for Rich Klein of Sports Collectors Daily.  The Astros had the first pick of the 1992 draft.  Hal Newhouser, who was at that time serving as scout for Houston, tried to convince them to draft Jeter. After they picked Phil Nevin instead, Newhouser quit.  This was my attempt at a "What if?" card.

Phillies reliever Al Raffo pitched in 35 games in 1969, but never had a card.  Jim from Downington requested this for his 1970 Topps Baseball blog.

In 1967 there were several of these type of multi-player cards. These cards were an attempt at giving at least one to each team.  I had a hard time finding era appropriate photos and ultimately abandoned the project.

More requests from Jim from Downington.  These were the QBs missing from his 1971 Topps Football blog.

1967 Alt-Topps

Here is another Topps mock-up.  Although the name says Ben Solomon, it's obviously Eddie Mathews.  Ben Solomon was an art director for Topps.  His name on the card must be an inside joke.  The Braves moved to Atlanta in 1966. Mathews is sporting a Milwaukee Braves cap. That is because the photo was lifted from his 1964 Topps card.





Mathews last season for the Braves was their first season in Atlanta.  That made him the only Braves player to play for the Braves in Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta. Despite the Milwaukee cap and the fact that Mathews was traded to Houston before the season, I placed this set in 1967, AKA "the Summer of Love".  These cards give off that vibe. This is in contrast to the classic, clean, no-nonsense design Topps actually used in 1967.

Here is my version.  I used a more straight forward, less cartoony font for the team name. But I preserved the other design elements.






As usual, I made base cards of the respective MVPs and Cy Young Award winners.  I also followed Topps' color scheme from the actual 1967 set (as best I could).

The 1967 AL MVP was Triple Crown winner, Carl Yastrzemski. In the NL the MVP was Orlando Cepeda.  He had been the 1958 Rookie of the Year for the Giants. Primarily a first baseman, there was just no room on the Giants behind "Stretch".  He was traded to the Cards in May of 1966.

1967 was the first year the MLB awarded Cy Youngs to each league.  In the AL, Jim Lonborg of the Red Sox was having a career year.  He had 22 wins and 246 strikeouts, both league-leaders and career highs.  In the NL, Giants pitcher Mike McCormick also had a career high and league-leading 22 victories.

To be continued...

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Just as I've done in previous Alt-Topps posts, this post contains the base cards, I'll make a couple more posts with various subsets. And, of course, I'll make as many request as I can an hopefully post them in a few weeks. Just post your requests (or even ideas for other subsets, etc) in the comment section.  Thanks.

1989 All Star Game Honorary Captains: Carl Yastrzemski & Don Drysdale

The 1989 ASG was played under the "Big A" in Anaheim. Once again neither Honorary Captain had ties to the host team.

The AL Captain was newly minted Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski.  The 1989 class consisted of two first-ballot superstars, Johnny Bench and Carl Yastrzemski. The veteran's committee also selected Red Schoendienst and umpire Al Barlik. Yaz's stats read the way you would expect of a first-ballot HOFer; Triple Crown winner, AL MVP, All Star Game MVP, 18 All Star Games, 7 Gold Gloves.  But there was controversy too.  Yaz was accused of a lack of hustle when he thought the play or game wasn't important.  This led to a much publicized rift that may or may not have caused the Sox to trade Tony Conigliaro to the Angels.

The NL Captain was Dodgers great Don Drysdale. Had he not been forced into early retirement (age 32) due to shoulder soreness, Drysdale might have been a first-ballot HOFer, too.  He was an imposing pitcher at 6'5" and he had a 2 for 1 rule: "If one of my teammates got knocked down, then I knocked down two on the other team”.  His stats bore that out. In his 14 season career, he was in the top-ten of Hit-By-Pitch 12 times. If you are wondering if this was intentional or not, he also finished in the top-ten for strikeout to walk ratio 10 times in 14 years.

Here are the Topps versions of the Captains Cards that appeared as inserts in the 1990 set.

1968 Alt-Topps Requests

Sorry for the late posting. Believe it or not, January has been a very busy month for me. The weather in Chicago didn't help. And I get the feeling February won't be any better...

Let's start the requests with the All-Stars for Bill.  He wanted to see one of his favorites. The Killer. The man who may (or may not) have been the inspiration for the MLB logo created in 1969. 

The other was for the 1967 Triple Crown winner, Yaz. Although he saw significant drops in all three categories, he still was the AL batting leader in 1968. He also led the league in walks and on-base percentage.

Now for what I call "The Buzz Challenge".  Buzz must've been quite the pitcher in his youth considering the curve-balls he likes to throw.  Even a gimme like Mickey Mantle, Buzz wanted him with a first baseman's mitt. Now I had already made a card of the Mick at first base here.  I have seen a handful of action shots at 1st but very few posed. Since this set is supposed to be circa 1968 an action shot would have been unusual to say the least.

Many of Buzz's other challenges were the usual odd player-team combos. Here is Jim Bunning who was known for pitching in Detroit and Philly. In 1968 and the beginning of 1969 he was a Pirate. He also spent part of 1969 as a Dodger. I made a card of him on LA a few years back.

You can also see his west coast favorites come out. Here is a long-time Dodgers catcher on his new team. Johnny Roseboro went to the Twins in a deal that brought 1965 MVP Zoilo Versalles to LA.

Another short-time Dodger was Rocky Colavito. Known mostly for playing in Detroit and Cleveland, Rocky did short stints for the A's, White Sox and Yankees.

He was looking for a card depicting 1964 MVP Ken Boyer in a Dodgers uniform. Boyer actually began the 1968 campaign playing 3rd base for the White Sox. This was actually a tougher photo to find. This is the only color shot I found of him in a Sox uniform. I have absolutely no idea where he got that lightning-bolt windbreaker.

Ken Harrelson is perhaps best known for playing in Boston.  Topps, however, could never seem to make a card of him in a Red Sox uniform. It was always an airbrushed A's or Senators uni. Hawk also played in Cleveland where Topps caught up to his uniforms again.

Lastly, was utility infielder, John Kennedy. After playing for the Yankees in 1967, Kennedy spent the entire 1968 season in the minors before being picked up by the expansion Pilots for the 1969 season.

Even More 1968 Alt-Topps

World Series, All Star and Leaders Cards

As I finish out the 1968 sub-sets, I think Topps missed the boat by not making this into a real set. The stars design adapts well to multiple sub-sets. For the World Series cards I swapped the oval out for a Shield (borrowed from 1978 Topps All-Stars).

For the All-Stars, I went horizontal. Same as the real 1968 set but I borrowed the B/W action background from the 1969 Topps All-Stars.

I used a couple of my favorite outfielders from that ERA. Sweet-swinging Billy Williams and Hondo.

Unlike the real 1968 Topps, this set used a variation of the much-used vertical format for the leaders cards.

I couldn't have 1968 leader cards without Yaz, who won the triple-crown in 1967.

1973 Topps All Star Cards - American League East

In the AL East, I once again get to utilize the Manager/Coaches format for the Team All Star cards. Freehan was the starting catcher in the 1972 All Star Game. Joe Coleman made his only ASG in 1972 but never left the bullpen. Lolich pitched 2 scoreless inning for the AL. Norm Cash came in to relieve Dick Allen and struck out in his only at bat.

Yaz was not the only Boston Red Sox elected to the All Star team. Aparicio was also picked to start but had to sit out due to injury. 1972 Rookie of the Year Carlton Fisk singled and scored on Cookie Rojas's 8th inning homer. Reggie Smith struck out pinch hitting for Gaylord Perry.

The Orioles had 3 starters plus the All Star Manager. Pat Dobson and Dave McNally were reserves. Dobson never saw action but McNally got the loss by giving up a walk a sacrifice bunt and a single in the 10th inning.

Bobby Murcer was the Yankees' sole representative in the 1972 ASG. These were dark times for Yankees fans. It had been 10 years since their last World Series Championship and it would be another 5 years until their next. My heart bleeds. Call me when you get to 106 years.

According to Baseball-Reference there were 3 blown saves in the 1972 ASG. The first belonging to the Indians only All Star, Gaylord Perry who gave up a 2 run homer to Hank Aaron. 

In their 3rd year of existence the Brewers had one player representing them in each ASG. In 1972 it was Ellie Rodriguez who never saw action. In 1971 it was pitcher Marty Pattin who didn't leave the bullpen. Tommy Harper was still the only Brewer to see action in an All Star Game. He was a pinch runner in 1970 and was promptly caught stealing.

1973 Topps All Star Cards : American League Outfield

After winning the MVP in the 1970 All Star game, Carl Yastzemski went 0-3 in both the 1971 and 1972 midsummer classic.

Bobby Murcer hit a career high 33 homers in 1972 and was awarded the Gold Glove. In his 2nd All Star game he was hitless in 3 at bats.

Reggie Jackson had a double and a single in the 1972 All Star game but was stranded on base both times. In the 1972 ALCS Jackson stole home in game 5 to help the A's win the pennant, but the hamstring injury sustained on that play prevented him from playing in the World Series.

1972 Topps All Star Cards : The Outfield

For the 1972 All Star cards I borrowed a bit from the 1974 All Star cards. I put both players on one card. This format wasn't exactly universally beloved. In fact Dick Allen Hall of Fame disliked it so much that he remade the 1974 All Star cards individually. Click here and here to see them.

In left field for the AL was Carl Yastrzemski. Yaz struggled during the 1971 season. He hit a meager .254. In 1970 he led the league in runs scored with 125. In 1971 that number dropped by 50 runs. In the 1971 All Star game he went 0 for 3 with a walk.

In the NL, Willie Stargell drew a walk in his first at bat then scored on Johnny Bench's 2nd inning homer. In his next 2 at bats he struck out facing pitchers Jim Palmer and Mike Cuellar. This would be a preview of the 1971 World Series for Stargell. He would hit only .208 striking out 9 times in 24 at bats. Palmer and Cuellar would strike Stargell out 3 times each.

Bobby Murcer was to be "the next Mickey Mantle". He was from Mantle's home state, Oklahoma and he was signed by the same scout as Mantle. 1971 showed the first glimmer of what Yankees fans had hoped for. He had a career high batting average of .331. He hit 25 homers with 94 RBIs and was selected to his first All Star game. He singled in his 1st at bat, then popped out and struck out. In the 6th inning Amos Otis took over in center.

Playing in his 22nd consecutive All Star game and his final in a Giants uniform, Willie Mays led off and started in centerfield. After going 0 for 2 he was replaced in the bottom of the 4th in one of those overly-complicated quadruple swaps that seem commonplace only in All Star games.

Frank Robinson earned the All Star game MVP award by hitting a 2 run homer in the bottom of the 3rd to put the AL ahead 4-3. Not to be out done by Sparky Anderson's quadruple switch in the 4th, Earl Weaver pulled a quintuple swap in the 6th replacing Robbie in rightfield with Al Kaline.

Also involved in the 4th inning quadruple switch was perennial All-Star, Hank Aaron. He went 1 for 2 with a solo homer against Vida Blue before Lee May took over in the 4th.