1973 Topps 1972 All Star Game

Tonight is the All Star Game Home Run Derby. How better to commemorate this occasion than an All Star card featuring the Home Run King. Here he is in 1972 crossing the plate after his 2 run blast put the N.L. ahead 2-1 in the 6th inning. The A.L. regained the lead with their own 2 run blast by Cookie Rojas. Billy Williams would score the tying run in the bottom of the 9th on a fielder's choice. In the 10th Joe Morgan got the game winning RBI and the MVP.

1967 Topps Checklist - Cards That Never Were - 8th Series

I've been at this for just over a year now and this is my 8th series of 25 cards. That's 200 cards all together not including the checklists themselves. If you are wondering whose floating head that is, It is Bruce Pearson of the New York Mammoths, aka Robert DeNiro in "Bang The Drum Slowly". There are a lot of really good baseball movies but this is one of the all time greatest. It was filmed at Shea Stadium and Yankee Stadium. Some of the "extras" include Tony Perez, Brooks Robinson, Thurman Munson and Bobby Murcer.

1971 Topps 1970 All Star Game

Next week is the All Star game. Here is a card that should have been made to commemorate one of the most memorable plays in All Star history. 

The AL was ahead 4-1 going into the bottom of the 9th. Dick Dietz (shown here in the foreground on deck still wearing his shin pads) homered off of Catfish Hunter to start the comeback. Hunter gave up 2 more singles before being relieved by Fritz Peterson who gave up an RBI single to Willie McCovey. He was replaced by Mel Stottlemyre. Roberto Clemente hit a sac-fly to send it into extra innings. 

In the Bottom of the 12th, Angel's pitcher Clyde Wright retired the first two batters before giving up 3 consecutive singles. Cubs' 1st baseman Jim Hickman hit the game-winning single on which Pete Rose scored from second. In the process bowling over Ray Fosse and separating his shoulder.

The All Star Game MVP award was given to Carl Yastrzemski who had 4 hits in the game. It was the second time a player on the losing team was awarded the MVP. In 1966 Brooks Robinson won in another extra inning game.

1957 Topps Stan Musial

Horizontal Variations

A couple weeks ago I posted a 1953 Topps Ted Williams which was a horizontal variation of the original design. I thought it might be a cool idea to make horizontal cards out of vintage sets with vertical designs. I asked for feedback but only got one response. (Thanks Johngy) Here is another horizontal variation that I made around the same time. Again, I like the way horizontal variations look and the way they lend themselves to action shots. 

Top 10 Posts from My First Year

I started making cards for this blog just over a year ago. I started out with a blog on Ron Santo but found that it started getting stale and that what I enjoyed more was making Ron Santo cards that never were. Over the past year these are the cards that have been viewed most often. While these are not necessarily my favorites (possibly another post?) or even your favorites, they are the ones most people have stumbled upon for whatever reason. 

10. 1976 Rookie Pitchers.  I wanted to make a rookie card for Mark Fidrych so I put him on a card with some other famous pitchers who also were rookies in 1976 but didn't have a card that year. What I didn't realize when I made this card is that the other 3 pitchers paths would cross again on the biggest stage in baseball. Game 7 of a World Series. All 3 would be playing on different teams by then. In 1982, Andujar and Vuckovich would be the starting pitcher for Game 7. Andujar would get the win and Sutter the save as the Cardinals defeated the Brewers. Vuckovich pitched into the 6th and would leave the game with the score tied at 3.

9. 1962 Topps Buck O'Neil.  This is one of my earliest and one of my favorite cards that I made. 

8. 1981 Fleer Minnie Minoso.  I'm glad this post made the top 10. As a long time White Sox fan, I love Minnie and think he really should be in the Hall of Fame.

7.  1984 Topps Mickey Mantle. Overall one of the most popular subjects is Mantle. Personally, my favorite Mickey Mantle Cards That Never Were didn't even make the top ten viewed. I like the 1971, 1976 and 1983 the best. The reason this particular Mantle card made the top 10 is that I included pictures of all the different 1954 Mantle cards out there as part of the post.

6. 1963 Topps Pete Rose.  This is certainly not the first time somebody has made a '63 Rose card.  It is kinda a no miss. Rookie card, famous (infamous?) player, good looking set. No surprise it is so popular.

5.  1991 Topps Jim Thome.  This card was somehow being used in ESPN's fantasy baseball. That was the boost it needed to make the top 5 most viewed from my blog.

4.  1963 Topps Gary Peters. I'm sure most people who stumbled upon this card did it by accident. There is another Gary Peters who is a U.S. Congressman from the suburbs of Detroit.

3.  1969 Topps Joe DiMaggio. The popularity of the Yankee Clipper evidently surpasses the ridiculousness of this uniform.

2. 1972 Topps Mickey Mantle.  I'm not sure why this is the most popular of the Mantles.  It is one of my favorite years for Topps. 

1. Rush Baseball Cards.  My most popular post was also my most unusual post. I had created cards featuring Rush in honor of 2112 (February 1, 2012) aka "International Rush Day". This must've given me a nice crossover audience. Or maybe more web surfers are into Classic Rock than baseball cards.