1974 Willie McCovey - Redone?

A recurring feature that was typical of Topps in the 1960s and 1970s was to airbrush players into their new team's uniform.   In 1974 Topps may have jumped the gun a bit by declaring the San Diego Padres were now the "Washington Nat'l Lea."  That variation turned out to be a fun variation in the 1974 set.  But what if Topps took it a step further?

By that I mean, what if instead of poorly airbrushing a newly traded Willie McCovey into a San Diego Padres uniform for this "Washington Nat'l Lea." card, they poorly airbrushed him into the proposed "Washington Stars" uniform?

I had already made a 1974 Topps card of Dave Freisleben who modeled the proposed Star uniform in an earlier post.  I think it would've been cool if Topps really ran with this concept, going even further than the "Washington Nat'l Lea." variation.

MLB Dream Bracket Alt-Topps Cards Part 7

Reds v Nationals

Braves v Marlins

Dodgers v Padres

Seems to be a theme in the first round to pit teams with long histories with newer teams. This is no exception. The Nationals were born as the Montreal Expos in the 1969 expansion. That same expansion brought the Padres (who almost moved to Washington in 1974).  The Marlins were part of the 1993 expansion along with the Rockies.

In the Reds - Nationals game we have Jim Maloney, Ted Kluszewski, Pete Rose and Joey Votto going for the Reds. The Expos/Nationals have Stephen Strasburg, Gary Carter, Tim Raines and Bryce Harper. If you want to see the results of this series click here for the story and video.

In the Braves - Marlins match up, Warren Spahn is pitching with Eddie Mathews, Hank Aaron and Dale Murphy in the field. The Marlins have Dontrelle Willis, Gary Sheffield, Derek Lee and Giancarlo Stanton.  If you want to see the results of this series click here for the story.

The Dodgers -Padres series has Don Newcombe, Cody Bellinger, Jackie Robinson and Steve Garvey for the Dodgers, all of them are former NL MVPs. The Padres have reliever Trevor Hoffman, Nate Colbert, Dave Winfield and Tony Gwynn.  If you want to see the results of this series click here for the story.

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These cards are base on the MLB Dream Bracket.  Not sure who picked the "all-time players". It is a product of Twitch, Out of the Park and Draft Kings.  I take no responsibility for their choices, good or bad.  The cards themselves are based on a rejected Topps design from the late sixties.

To check the status of the bracket click here.

Glenn Beckert

October 12, 1940 - April 12, 2020

I hate to keep doing this.  But Glenn Beckert was part of my childhood and I couldn't let his passing go without a small tribute.  We are living in difficult times now.  He was in hospice in Florida with dementia when he passed away. It was heartbreaking to read how his daughters were unable to visit him due to the Corona Virus. 

He was a Gold Glove, a four-time All-Star and an important part of the ill-fated 1969 Cubs. Most impressive was his low strikeout to at-bat ratio. He led the league 5 times and placed in the top ten every year from 1965-1972.  To put it into perspective as to how much the game has changed, the player with the most at-bats to strikeouts in 2019 was the Orioles utility infielder, Hanser Alberto.  He averaged 1 strikeout in every 10.5 at-bats.  Beckert's career average was 1 strikeout in every 21.4 at-bats.

Four years ago, when Milt Pappas passed away I found this photo of Pappas and Beckert at the 100 year celebration at Wrigley Field in 2014. 

I've created a few cards of Glenn Beckert over the years. Here they are once again.

More 1971 Alt-Topps

Managers, Team Cards and Traded

The manager cards are a bit of a preview of what Topps did in 1973 and 1974.  I also chose a couple of Hall of Famers to fill these cards. Walt Alston was the Dodgers manager from 1954-1976. He won 7 Pennants and 4 World Series titles. He was inducted as a manager in 1983.

Bob Lemon was inducted into the Hall as a player in 1976. 1971 was his first full season as manager. He took the reigns in KC from Charlie Metro midway through the 1970 campaign. He would eventually get a World Series title as manager with the Yankees in 1978.

On the team cards, I tried to incorporate elements of the base cards. I shrunk the home plate to hold the team logo instead of the photo.  

The Padres and Brewers were both part of the 1969 expansion. The Brewers, of course, began in Seattle in 1969. Back then, the Brewers were an American League team.  Both these teams had very similar logos.

The giants traded Ron Hunt to the Expos for a 28-year-old rookie utility man, Dave McDonald. Before the start of the 1971 season the Expos bought McDonald back from the Giants.  Ron Hunt was a player who would take one for the team.  A ball magnet, he led the league in hit-by-pitches from 1968 to 1974. In 1971 he was beaned a career high 50 times. 

1971 marked Flood's return to baseball after sitting out the 1970 season. In 1969 the Cardinals dealt him to the Phillies as part of a multi-player trade. Flood famously sued the MLB and eventually led to free agency. But in 1971 the suit was still ongoing. The Phillies traded him to Washington. Unfortunately, he only played 13 games for Ted William's Senators. He hit a meager .200 and retired by the end of April 1971.

1976 Alt-Topps

Still creating whole sets based on rejected Topps designs. This time all I had to work with is a rough black and white copy. It seems to have some elements of the 1971 Topps Football, 1975 and 1981 Topps Baseball.

And here is my cleaned up version with an action shot of Wayne Garrett striking pose similar to the mock-up.  After cleaning it up and creating more base cards, the final product looked less like a mainstream Topps product and more like a giveaway found in a loaf of Wonder Bread.

As usual, I also made base cards of the MVPs and Cy Young award winners from both leagues.  I went with a horizontal version for Randy Jones. 

For Munson I include a cameo of one of the most famous 'fros in baseball.

Speaking of hair, I used this cap-less shot of Palmer to show off his disco era locks.

I also tried to stay true to the team colors Topps used in 1976.  These colors worked for the Padres and the Mets.  They were passable for the Yankees. But the Reds and Orioles? Ugh.  

1974 Topps John McNamara

After winning only 60 games in 1973 the Padres fired Manager Don Zimmer. Meanwhile the Padres franchise was in flux. They had been tentatively sold to Joseph Danzansky who planned to move the team to Washington. Danzansky had also made an unsuccessful bid for the Senators in an attempt to keep them from moving to Texas. The city of San Diego threatened legal action for breaking the lease at San Diego Stadium (later known as Jack Murphy then Qualcomm). 

Ultimately the club was sold to Ray Kroc and stayed in San Diego. John McNamara took over as manager. With all the off season commotion, the Padres remained the same on the field. Finishing in last place with only 60 wins again.  Because the fate of the Padres was still in flux when the 1974 set went to print, Topps made a few runs designating the team as Washington. But they never made an manager/coaches card. So here is both the 1974 Padres and the 1974 Washington "Nat'l Lea." Manager Cards That Never Were because why not?

TBT - San Diego Padres Edition

Yesterday, Ichiro passed Pete Rose on the all time hits list. That is a total of both his hits in the Major League and the Japan Pacific League. When Rose broke Ty Cobb's record in 1985 he was playing against the Padres. Ichiro and the Marlins were also playing against the San Diego Padres.

The Padres were wearing throwback uniforms last night. It would have been just too perfect if these had been 1985 era unis but they were wearing their 90's era unis. The Padres wore this style from 1991-2001. Here is a 1993 Topps throwback card of Melvin Upton Jr. from yesterday's game. As a point of contrast here is the late, great Tony Gwynn on his actual 1993 Topps card.  Mr. Padre passed away two years ago today.  As usual, the exposed stirrups are missing. The other difference is the matte finish of the modern batting helmet.

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Bonus Thowback Thursday Contest

Last week I borrowed this card from The Phillies Room showing David Hernandez wearing the 1976 pillbox cap. 

I stated that I could not find a single baseball card from any year/manufacturer to feature that hat. The closest I could find was this cover of The Sporting News from 1976 featuring Larry Bowa.

So I put out this challenge: If anybody can find a card featuring this cap on a 1976 Phillies player or coach, I will send them ten '70s era cards from the team of their choice. 

It can be a local team issue card, a card from another team with a Phillie in the background, or even a recent "retro" card (IE Archives, UD Vintage, Allen & Ginter, etc.).  It just has to be an actual card that shows the Phillies pillbox cap.

 Just to be clear, I don't need the physical card just a link to a picture of it. On COMC.com, eBay or whatever.