Bill Buckner 1971 Alt -Topps

1949-2019

Another 1971 Alt Topps for Bill Buckner. We lost him this past Memorial Day. On that day, 9 different players did something Buckner never did in his entire MLB career.

On the day that Bill Buckner passed away Niko Goodrum, Jim Adduci, Dainiel Descalso, Jonathan Schoop, CJ Cron, Miguel Sano, Matt Olson, Shin-Soo Choo and Mitch Haniger all struck out 3 times in a single MLB game.  In his 22 year career, Bill Buckner never had a 3-strikeout game.

Buckner led the league 4 times in At Bats per strikeout. He finished in the top 10 eleven times. Over his career he averaged 20.7 at bats for every strikeout.  Just to put that in context, the current MLB leader in strikeouts per at bat is the Angels second baseman, David Fletcher with 13.8.

Another thing Buckner didn't have was his own card in 1971. 

He had been featured on Rookie Stars cards by Topps in both 1970 and 1971. He finally had hid own Topps card in 1972.  

1971 Alt-Topps Requests

 Here's a few more 1971 Alt-Topps requested in the comment sections. KookKards wanted a card of The Hawk in his final year. Two interesting things here, first KoolKards is a blog by 3 brothers creating their own cards. Although they made a few of big league players, most are family oriented. They must've come across the same rejected mockups. Here is a link to the KoolKards page using one of the rejected designs for a family football game. Very nicely done..

Another interesting thing is that Harrelson had his nickname "Hawk" emblazoned on the back of his jersey when he was traded to the Indians in 1969. That  is why I used his nickname on his Alt-Topps card.

As usual "Buzz" (who's lengthy and informative comments often out-shine the posts themselves) had a handful of great request. He hit upon one of my all time favorites, Mr. Cub. Ernie Banks was also in his final season in 1971.

He was also looking for Felipe Alou. He was betting that I could "do better" than an already very good action card issued in the real 1971 set.

Despite my attempt, the real 1971 Topps Felipe Alou is still superior

Buzz also requested a card of the 48 year old knuckler, Hoyt Wilhelm.  After his longest tenure from 1963-1968 with the Chicago White Sox, he was well traveled in the twilight of his career.  He was picked up by the Royals in the 1968 expansion draft. KC dealt him to the Angels. Toward the end of the 1969 season, California traded him to the Braves. 

Again before the end of the 1970 season, Wilhelm was claimed off waivers by the Cubs. The Cubs the traded him back to Atlanta before the start of the 1971 season. He was released by the Braves mid season 1971. He signed with LA and played until mid-season 1972 when he ultimately ended his playing career 5 days before his 50th birthday.

Topps created a card for Wilhelm on the Cubs. In typical O Pee Chee fashion, the same photo was used on a Braves card with a notation "Recently Trade to Braves".

Tony Horton had never appeared on a Topps card in his short but prolific career. His career ended in tragically 1970.  He took himself out of a second game of a double header.  He then attempted suicide.  He was treated for stress likely stemming from the treatment he receive from the Cleveland fans following a salary dispute.  Thankfully, he recovered and still lives today.  Unfortunately, he never played another game.

Although Buzz only left a description, not a name in his first comment, I knew who he was writing about.  I had created 2 other Tony Horton Cards That Never Were. Here he is included on a rookie card created for the 1964 Alt-Topps a few months ago.

Here is another that I was asked to make for 1969 Topps Baseball blog. 

Deogolf requested that I once again complete the World Series subset.

One of the key plays of Game 1 was the play at the plate in which the umpire was out of position. Hendricks tagged Carbo with his mitt while the ball was in his other hand. Conversely, Carbo missed the plate. So while Ken Burkhart may have not been in the best position to make the call, he did manage to make the correct call.

Game 2 had plenty of offence. The game had 3 long balls in an eleven run game. I chose to put Boog hitting his second of the series on this card.

Game 3 saw 9 runs put up by the Orioles. This included a grand slam by the pitcher, Dave McNalley. McNalley also pitched a complete game for Baltimore.

Lee May kept Cincinnati's hopes alive by going 2 for 3 with 4 RBIs and a walk. This included what turned out to be a game winning 3-run homer in the 8th inning.

Game 5 and the "celebration" card were included in my previous post.

Buzz also wanted more information on the font used here.  It is called Playbill and it is based on the font that was used on vintage Broadway programs of the same name.

Buzz thought it looked similar to the old west "Wanted" posters. Here are a couple cards in that vein. I chose the career leaders (in 1971) of  stolen bases and shutouts.  I suppose in some alternate universe these cards could have been inserts into the 1971 Alt-Topps wax packs.

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There was one more request from Jim for A Tony Oliva card. I decided to add it here. I had actually made another in memory of Bill Buckner and didn't want to add this onto that page.