1968 Topps NL Leading Firemen: Ted Abernathy, Roy Face, Frank Linzy

Ted Abernathy was the Fireman of the Year in 1965 with the Cubs, leading the league with 31 saves. In 1966 he was dealt to the Braves who let him slip through their hands. The Reds picked him up in the Rule 5 draft after the 1966 season. Abernathy rewarded them with 28 saves and another Fireman of the Year award.

By 1967 Elroy Face was a wiley bullpen veteran. At 39 years old he had led the league in saves 3 times (1958, 1961, 1962) and won the Firman of the Year award in 1962. His 17 saves and 7 wins was enough for 2nd place in the N.L. in 1967.

In his 3rd full MLB season, Frank Linzy also had 17 saves and 7 wins for the Giants.

1967 Topps NL Leading Firemen: Phil Regan, Billy McCool, Roy Face

Phil Regan made his one and only All Star game appearance in 1966.  He aso led the league in saves and won The Sporting News Fireman of the year Award. Another closer making his sole All Star appearance in 1966 was Billy McCool. Both McCool and Roy Face had 18 saves in 1966. McCool had an 8-8 record while Face was 6-6.

1968 Detroit Tigers - Topps Traded

In my last post I made a couple 1968 Topps Tiger cards by request. In this post I am taking it a bit further. Truth is, I've been wanting to play around with "Traded" card designs for a while now. This is just my excuse. The idea of a 2-player traded card was flat out stolen from blogger Warren Zvon and his Mets Fantasy Cards blog. He has several great card variations on his site. Many of which I plan to steal in the future. 

Both of these players had 1968 Topps cards. Don McMahon on the Sox and Dennis Ribant on the Tigers. In their pictures neither of these two guys look particularly happy about the trade. The two relievers were traded for each other on July 26, 1968. The Tigers were apparently going for experience down the stretch trading Ribant for a pitcher nearly 12 years his senior. But McMahon ended up staying in the game 5 years after Ribant washed out.

I wanted to make single-player traded cards as well.  I went through several versions before settling on this style. Still not 100% satisfied with it but... 

Veteran relief pitcher, Roy Face was actually a late season pick up by Detroit. He only made 2 appearances in a Tigers uniform. In 1969 he was picked up by the expansion Montreal Expos. He was 4-2 with 5 saves but was let go again toward the end of the season.

1963 Topps NL Leading Firemen: Face, Perranoski, Miller, McDaniel, Baldschun

Elroy Face was the 1962 Sporting News Fireman of the Year Award winner. He had 28 saves and 8 relief wins. This card also feature the 2 previous Firemen of the Year. 1960 winner, Lindy McDaniel, who came in 4th  and the 1961 winner, Stu Miller, who came in 3rd.  In 2nd was Ron Perranoski who pitched in a league leading 70 games. In 5th was Jack Baldschun who had 12 relief wins to compliment his 13 saves.

1962 Topps NL Leading Firemen: Miller, Face, Brosnan, Henry

The Leading Firemen card would not make an appearance in a Topps set until 1973.  Topps continued to make Leading Firemen cards until 1983 with the exception of the 1980 set. For some reason Topps made all the usual Leaders cards but not a Leading Firemen card (I'll have to fix that later). In 1984 was the first appearance of a straight Saves Leader card. In 1985 the League Leader Cards disappeared altogether from Topps sets for several years.

In 1961 The Sporting News issued only their second "Fireman of the Year" award. The NL recipient was Stu Miller of the San Francisco Giants. The Save was still an unofficial stat and would remain so until 1969. Stu compiled a modest 17 save but also amassed 14 wins all in relief. He also earned a relief win in the 1961 All Star Game in San Francisco.

Roy Face of the Pirates also had 17 saves in 1961, however he only had 6 relief wins. Brosnan and Henry of the Reds both had 16 saves, Brosnan with 10 relief wins and Henry with 2.

1961 Topps N.L. Leading Firemen

In 1961 Topps began issuing League Leader cards. Although the save would not become an official stat until 1969, in 1960 The Sporting News began presenting the Fireman of the Year Award to the top relievers.  It was not a direct reflection of most saves but a combination of relief wins and saves.

Lindy McDaniel was the first N.L. recipient of the Fireman of the Year award with 26 saves and 12 wins. He was selected to both All Star games in 1960 but only saw action in the second game. He pitched 1 inning giving up a single in the National League's 6-0 rout of the American League. In addition to his All Star selection, he received votes for both the Cy Young and MVP awards.

Roy Face of the World Series Champion Pirates came in second with 24 saves and 10 wins. Face was also an All Star in 1960. He came into game 1 with 1 out and bases loaded in the bottom of the 6th and got Hall of Famer Luis Aparicio to ground into an inning ending double-play. He followed that up with a perfect 7th inning, getting 2 strike outs and a ground out. Oddly, it was his teammate and 1960 Cy Young award winner, Vern Law, who would have been award the Save had it been an official stat in 1960.

Face was followed by Turk Farrell of the Phillies with 11 saves and 10 wins and Don Elston of the Cubs with 11 saves and 8 wins.