More from Rating the Rookies

I've got several more Cards That Never Were from my other blog, Rating the Rookies. These have a way of piling up on me. 

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 In 1966 Paul Lindblad and Ron Stone were rookies on the Kansas City Athletics. Lindblad played for the A's, Senators, Rangers and Yankees and had cards for each team except Washington. That is why I created a 1971 Topps card for him on the Senators. 

If Reggie Jackson is "Mr. October" then Ron Stone is "Mr. March". Every spring he would hit like gangbusters only to fade once the regular season started.  His final MLB season was 1972, so this 1973 Card That Never Was could be considered a career capper

To see their "graded" rookie card click here.

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In 1970 Al Fitzmorris and Scott Northey shared a Rookie Stars card for the Royals. 1975 was a career year in many ways for Al Fitzmorris so I made this 1975 Hostess Card That Never Was. Scott Northey was one of the original 1969 Royals, so despite him having 1970 and 1971 rookie cards, I gave him his own 1969 Topps card.

To see their "graded" rookie card click here.

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The 1968 Orioles Rookie Stars card featured Dave Leonhard and Dave May. Although Dave Leonhard's final MLB season was in 1972 he made several comeback attempts. I made this 1974 Topps Card That Never Was of him trying to come back with the Angels.

To see their "graded" rookie card click here.

Dave May is the guy the Braves got in exchange for allowing Hank Aaron to finish out his career in Milwaukee. In 1975 both players had hastily airbrushed cards. So here is a 1975 Topps Traded Card That Never Was that is gloriously non-airbrushed.

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In the 1978 set there was a four-player rookie outfielders card with Dell Alston, Rick Bosetti, Mike Easler and Keith Smith.

To see their "graded" rookie card click here.

Alston's career was over in 1980, but new card company, Donruss made a 1981 card of him anyway.So I figured I'm Make a 1981 Topps Card That Never Was of him as well.

On "Rating the Rookies" I received comment expressing dislike of the multi-team position based rookie cards from 1962, 1963 and 1973-1978. So I've decide to try and re-imagine what those cards would look like it Topps had maintained team-based "Rookie Stars" cards during those years. Since Rick Bosetti had begun his MLB career for the Phillies in 1976, this gave me the opportunity to try this out. So I teamed him up with Warren Brusstar for this 1977 Topps Rookie Card That Never Was.

After 14 MLB seasons. Mike "The Hitman" Easler played 2 more seasons in Japan. So I made this 1989 Fleer Card That Never Was of him playing for the Nippon-Ham Fighters.

After his 1978 rookie card, Topps considered Keith Smith one-and-done. But he continued to play for the Cardinals in 1979 and 1980. I had trouble finding a good picture of him on St. Louis so I did the next best thing. I made this 1979 O Pee Chee Card That Never Was of him on the Cardinals with the typical OPC trade info noted on the photo.

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Fritz Ackley famously shared a 1965 rookie card with Hall of Famer Steve Carlton. Since he never actually played for the Cardinals, I took the opportunity to re-imagine the 1963 Topps rookie cards as team-based as opposed to multi-team rookie stars cards. I teamed him up with Dick Kenworthy who played parts of 6 season on the south-side. Despite this his only card is a 1968 Mets card. A team on which he never played a regular season game. 

To see their "graded" rookie card click here.