1979 Alt-Topps

After a month of playing catch up, both at home and with past projects for this blog, I am ready to dive into another set of Alt-Topps.

Of all the Topps prototypes I've seen, this particular card is probably the most complete demo card. I have seen this in a few different places. It is currently on eBay with a Buy-It-Now price of $2,250.  It is the predecessor of the 1979 set and has many of that set's elements. There was really no reason to clean up this card the way I had for previous cards.

As usual, I have fashioned Alt-Topps base cards using the MVPs and Cy Young Award winners. In the N.L. In 1979 Keith Hernandez and Willie Stargell shared MVP honors.

 On Larry Hisle's mock-up card, the designer put periods after each letter of the position designator. I'm pretty sure outfield is not two separate words. But for consistency, I placed a period after each letter/number on my cards.

In the American League, Don Baylor was MVP.  The periods look odd for 1.B. as a position designator, but it works well for D.H.  Although there has never been an MVP who's primary position was DH, Baylor has the most games at DH with 69 in the 1979 season. For that reason I labeled him Designated Hitter.

,The National League Cy Young award winner was Cubs closer, Bruce Sutter. Until Mike Marshall won the Award in 1974, no reliever had won. Sutter was the 3rd. Sparky Lyle won the AL Cy Young in 1977. In all, there have been 9 relievers who won the Cy Young award. The most recent was Eric Gagne in 2003.

In the AL, Orioles lefty Mike Flanagan won with a career high of 23 wins. The Orioles pitching staff was impressive in this era. During Steve Stone's Cy Young season, 1980, Flanagan called Jim Palmer "Cy Old". He called Stone "Cy Present" and he was "Cy Young". When Storm Davis joined the Orioles in 1982 he called him "Cy-Clone" as his pitching motion mimicked Jim Palmer's.

TBT - Chicago Cubs Breakfast Cereal Edition

Guess what I found in my box of Rizzo's! A 1980 style 3-D Jake Arrieta. 

In the Chicagoland area you can still find boxes of Anthony Rizzo's Cereal at the local Jewel grocery store.  Unfortunately, they don't really have "Free Retro Baseball Cards". But they are packed with 8 essential vitamins and minerals plus the box is a "Collector's Edition".

On the 6th, The A's played host to the Cubbies for a 1980's throwback game. The Cubs wore their light blue pinstripes.  I found this card of Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter. Too bad it is a pre-bearded Sutter. It would have been nice to draw a comparison between the uniforms and the beards.

1976 Topps Rookie Pitchers - Mark Fidrych, Bruce Sutter, Joaquin Andujar, Pete Vuckovich

Detroit Tigers CTNW Fan Favorites #1

Mark Fidrych won the Rookie of the Year award in 1976 but didn't have a Topps card until 1977. This card includes 3 other pitchers that were rookies in 1976. They all had regular Topps cards in 1977 and none of them appeared on multi-player rookie cards. Andujar wan a Gold Glove in 1984 and was a 4 time All Star. Sutter went on to the Hall of Fame. Vuckovich was the Cy Young award winner for the Brewers in 1982. I best remember Vuckovich in the movie Major League. He played Clu Heywood and according to Bob Uecker led the league "in most offensive categories, including nose hairs."

Mark Fidrych was a classic case of what if... In 1976 he won 19 game and led the league in ERA and complete games, won the Rookie of the Year and came in second to Jim Palmer in Cy Young voting. The following spring he injured his knee, then tore his rotator cuff. He was selected to the All Star team but was unable to play because of injury. He attempted several come-backs but was never the same. He pitched 250 1/3 innings in 1976 and just 162 innings over the rest of his career.  His oddball personality as well as his antics on the mound endeared him to his fans. He died in a tragic accident while working on his truck in 2009.

1979 Fleer Bruce Sutter

 

In 1979 the Fleer football set had a few minor changes by adding a little color to the same basic design. Still 2 years away from their re-entry into baseball, this was Fleer's sole sports card set.  

Bruce Sutter was the NL's Cy Young award winner in 1979 leading the league with 37 saves. He was the winning pitcher of the All Star game for the second year in a row in 1979. In the next two All Star games Sutter would record the Save.