1972 Topps Rookie of the Year Award - Chris Chambliss

In 1972 Topps released 6 "Awards" cards. These cards had pictures of the trophies on them.  I always thought that was kind of strange. Over the next few posts I will be putting pictures of the award winners on the cards.  I added facsimile autographs to identify the players while trying to keep the original look of the cards.

Chris Chambliss won the American Association Rookie of the Year award with the Indians AAA squad, the Wichita Aeros in 1970.  He began the 1971 campaign in Wichita nursing a hamstring injury he got in spring training. He made his MLB debut on May 28th in unspectacular fashion  grounding out as a pinch hitter. The next day he started at 1st base and remained there, replacing 29 year old Ken Harrelson. 

Harrelson was having a tough year off the field in 1971. His Boston night club was destroyed in a fire in January and he filed for divorce in June. The demotion to pinch hitter and utility outfielder was more than he could take. Harrelson announced his retirement to pursue a career as a professional golfer. He competed in the British Open in 1972 shooting 11 over and missing the cut.

1972 Topps Minor League Player of the Year Award

In 1972 Topps released 6 "Awards" cards. These cards had pictures of the trophies on them.  I always thought that was kind of strange. Over the next few posts I will be putting pictures of the award winners on the cards.  On this particular one, I added the players' names and the leagues they were associated with. 

On the original "Minor League Player of the Year Award" card, there are 2 trophies on the front but only one name per year on the back. For 1971 it was Bobby Grich. But in 1971 there were 3 AAA leagues affiliated with Major League ball clubs. The Pacific Coast League, The International League and the now-defunct American Association.

In 1971 Bobby Grich won the MVP award in the International League. He was playing for the Orioles AAA team, The Rochester Red Wings. In the American Association, Richie Scheinblum of the Denver Bears won the MVP. The Bears were The Washington Senators AAA club. The winner of the Pacific Coast League MVP award was Tommy Hutton of the Spokane Indians, the AAA farm club of the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

That gives me 3 MVP's and only 2 frames, so I had to take a few liberties with this card. Unlike the other "Award" cards, the trophies depicted on this one were not the trophies the players received. However, most baseball card geeks would recognize them in an instant. They are the "Topps All Star Rookie" trophies that Topps had been putting on their cards for years.

Here are a couple examples of Rookie All Star Award winners with the cartoon trophy on their cards:

1972 Topps Cy Young Award - Fergie Jenkins

In 1972 Topps released 6 "Awards" cards. These cards had pictures of the trophies on them.  I always thought that was kind of strange. Over the next few posts I will be putting pictures of the award winners on the cards.  I added facsimile autographs to identify the players while trying to keep the original look of the cards.

Jenkins put up some incredible stats in his Cy Young winning season. He pitched 325 innings in 39 starts including 30 complete games. That comes to a jaw-dropping 8 1/3 innings per start. But where he truly dominated the Major league is in his strikeout to walk ratio. He threw 263 strikeouts, which was 4th in the majors behind Mickey Lolich, Vida Blue and Tom Seaver. However over his 39 starts he yielded only 37 walks. That gave him a 7.108 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio. The next highest in all of the MLB was Hall of Famer, Tom Seaver, with 4.738 to 1.

1972 Topps Cy Young Award - Vida Blue

In 1972 Topps released 6 "Awards" cards. These cards had pictures of the trophies on them.  I always thought that was kind of strange. Over the next few posts I will be putting pictures of the award winners on the cards.  I added facsimile autographs to identify the players while trying to keep the original look of the cards.

It is a rare feat that a pitcher win the MVP award. However, since the creation of the Cy Young award in 1956, there has never been a pitcher who won the league MVP award then did not win the Cy Young award. Vida Blue went into the 1971 season with only 10 Major League starts under his belt. He went on to have his best season of a great career. He had career highs in wins 24, ERA 1.82, complete games 24, shutouts 8, and strikeouts 301.

1972 Topps MVP Award - Joe Torre

In 1972 Topps released 6 "Awards" cards. These cards had pictures of the trophies on them.  I always thought that was kind of strange. Over the next few posts I will be putting pictures of the award winners on the cards.  I added facsimile autographs to identify the players while trying to keep the original look of the cards.

In 1971, Joe Torre had career highs in Runs, hits, total bases, RBIs, batting average and stolen bases. (He only stole 4 bases but it is still a career high.) Although Torre's career year yielded his only MVP award, it was not a fluke. In his 18 year playing career he was selected to 9 All Star squads, won a Gold Glove, was second in Rookie of the Year voting and received MVP votes in 7 different seasons. In his final playing season, he was named Player/Manager of the Mets. This he transitioned into a very successful managerial career. In 29 years at the helm, Torre was named Manager of the year twice and received Manager of the Year votes 15 times. He had 13 Divisional Championships, 6 Pennants and 4 World Series titles.

Earl Weaver & Stan Musial

The baseball world mourns the loss of 2 Hall of Famers today. 

Earl Weaver Managed the Baltimore Orioles from 1968-1982 then again in 1985 and 1986.

Stan Musial played 22 seasons for the Cardinals and appeared in 24 All Star Games.

1972 Topps MVP Award - Vida Blue

In 1972 Topps released 6 "Awards" cards. These cards had pictures of the trophies on them.  I always thought that was kind of strange. Over the next few posts I will be putting pictures of the award winners on the cards.  I added facsimile autographs to identify the players while trying to keep the original look of the cards.

Vida Blue went 24-8 with  301 strikeouts and a 1.82 ERA in 1971. He was also the winning pitcher of the mid-season classic that summer. Although the A's fell to the Orioles in the post-season, Vida and his teammate, Sal Bando were number 1 and 2 in MVP voting.

1972 Topps Commissioners Award Frank Robinson

In 1972 Topps released 6 "Awards" cards. These cards had pictures of the trophies on them.  I always thought that was kind of strange. Over the next few posts I will be putting pictures of the award winners on the cards.  I added facsimile autographs to identify the players while trying to keep the original look of the cards.

In 1971 the name of the trophy given to the All Star Game MVP was the "Commissioner's Trophy". Originally it was named after the Chicago Tribune sports writer who originated the All Star game, Arch Ward.  The first All Star Game was played in old Comiskey Park in conjunction with the 1933 Century of Progress World's Fair in Chicago. Currently the award is named after Ted Williams.

There were 6 home runs hit in the 1971 mid-summer classic and every one of them was hit by a future Hall of Famer. In the N.L. Johnny Bench, Hank Aaron and Roberto Clemente cleared the fence. In the A.L. it was Reggie Jackson, Harmon Killebrew and Frank Robinson. But it was Robinson's blast that put the American League in the lead for good.  That was enough for him to earn the All Star MVP. 1971 was also the last season Robinson played in Baltimore. He would return to the Orioles as a manager in 1988.

1965 Topps Juan Marichal All Star MVP

Going Horizontal

Juan Marichal faced only 9 batter in 3 innings to start the 1965 All Star game. He gave up a single to Vic Davalillo of the Cleveland Indians to start the 3rd. He then got Twins catcher, Earl Battey, to ground into a double play. Next he retired future Hall member, Al Kaline for the 9th out of his near-perfect outing. He helped his own cause by hitting a single off Mudcat Grant then scoring on a Willie Stargell homerun.  

Although he left the game after 3 innings with the NL leading 5-0, the AL made a game of it. They tied it up in the 5th on 2 homers by Harmon Killebrew and Tiger's shortstop Dick McAuliffe. In the 7th Ron Santo drove in Willie Mays to take back the lead for good and the National League won 6-5.

1961 Topps A.L. RBI Leaders

Another new idea I wanted to explore was the Leader Card. In 1961 Topps started making multi-player league leader cards. But certain leaders weren't given their own cards until later.  Topps wouldn't include RBI leaders until 1964. They wouldn't include leaders in saves or stolen bases until 1973. Leader cards have always been a favorite of mine. They usually include some of the lesser semi-stars at the top of their game. They are also a cheap way to pick up cards of hall of famers.

The top 4 RBI leaders in 1960 all received MVP votes, with Maris winning his first of 2 consecutive MVP awards.  Maris, Lemon and Minoso were all selected to represent the American League in the All Star games.  In 1961 Maris would have his record breaking season.  He would also top his 1960 league leading 112 RBIs by hitting 29 more to lead the league with 141. The other 3 players, all in their 30s would be on the decline. Minoso would hit 23 fewer RBIs, Wirtz would drive in 42 fewer and Lemon would have 48 less RBIs in 1961.

1975 Topps Walter Payton

I've decided to add a little variety to this blog. I am going to include the occasional Hockey and Football card. In my last post I said that the Keith Magnuson card was my first hockey card. I was wrong. I forgot about this.  I have also changed my background from baseball card packs to include football and hockey packs too.

This is not my first football card. I made a few cards for my fantasy football team. I've also used football card formats a few times for baseball cards. But this is my first strictly football card that never was. 

Payton was the Bears number 1 pick in 1975. Could you imagine a set these days not including a number one pic? The other thing these sets were lacking is action shots. There were action shots in this era but they were few and far between. I think one of the reasons was the fact that Topps didn't have the rights to reproduce the team logos. I played with the idea of "airbrushing" the logo off Walter's helmet to look more "authentic". I decided to keep the photo the way it is. Ultimately the cool looking scuffs on the helmet outweighed my desire for "authenticity".

1969-70 Topps Keith Magnuson

Hockey is Back!!!

It's a new year and I wanted to try some new things. In honor of Gary Bettman and Donald Fehr finally getting their shit together, here is the first (but not last) of my Hockey Cards That Never Were. And I'm going old school. 

While Magnuson was no Hall of Famer, he was the heart and soul of the Blackhawks in the 70's. He led the league in penalty minutes his first 2 seasons in the NHL but more importantly led the Hawks in +/-.  He was a force to be reckoned with on the ice. His number 3 is hanging from the rafters in the United Center. He was also inducted into University of Denver Hall of Fame.

Video Checklist - Series 10

Sit back and enjoy the tenth series of Cards That Never Were while the Boss serenades you.

1969 Topps Checklist - Cards That Never Were - 10th Series

I ended 2012 with the final card in my 10th series.  It was also the 250th card created for this blog. Fittingly, it was another Mickey Mantle card. My first card for this blog was the 1971 Mantle.  This series of 25 probably took the longest because I was busy with other things.  I've got a few new ideas in the works for my next series. Hopefully, I will be able to update this page with a bit more regularity but I won't be able to publish new post as often as I had before. 

On this checklist, I kept with the theme of baseball players from classic movies.  In case you didn't recognize this guy, he is the leader of the "Baseball Furies" played by Jerry Hewitt.  The Furies were a rival gang in the 1979 cult classic, "The Warriors".  I'm not sure if these guys were supposed to be mimes or what. None of them had speaking parts and they hit like the 1979 last place Mets.  Seriously, check out this clip.  They all have bats and outnumber the unarmed Warriors 2-1 but still get their asses kicked.