1980 Topps Nolan Ryan

Houston Astros CTNW Favorites #1

The blockbuster move of the 1979 off-season was the free-agent signing of  Nolan Ryan. Ryan became the first million dollar player in Major League Baseball. His 1980 salary for the Astros, $1,125,000 was more than his combined salary for all his previous 13 MLB seasons with the Mets and Angels.

To this day, Ryan has the most strikeouts of any Astros pitcher with 1866. Yet his 106 wins in an Astros uniform was only good enough for 6th place. He had 1 less than J.R. Richard and 28 fewer than Astros all-time leader Joe Niekro, both of whom are featured on my top 5 list.

Although Houston signed Ryan in November of 1979, he still appeared as an Angel in the 1980 Topps set. I created this card using a press conference photo with Ryan wearing his new team jersey over a dress shirt and tie. I'm not sure if Topps would have gone this route or simply relied on the trusty old air-brush.

There was a 1980 Topps-issued card featuring Ryan on the Astros. Burger King offered a 3 pack of Pitch, Hit and Run cards with the purchase of a large fries. This 33 card set featured 11 pitchers, 11 hitters and 11 runners. It was also the first set to feature Joe Morgan in an Astros uniform after his free agency signing in January of 1980.

1972 Topps Jim Wynn In Action

Houston Astros CTNW Favorites #2

The "Toy Cannon" has been a fan favorite on many teams, but Jim Wynn's MLB career began in Houston, first with the Colt .45s then the Astrros.  1972 was somewhat a comeback year for the Cannon. His production in 1971 was off while he was recovering an off-season surgery. He and his wife were arguing when Wynn pulled an unloaded shotgun. His wife grabbed a steak knife and stabbed him in the abdomen. No charges were filed as Wynn admitted that it was his own fault. As a result his batting average dropped from .282 in 1970 to just above the Mendoza line in 1971.

By 1972 his numbers were back to where they belonged. He hit .273 with 24 homers and 90 RBIs. In 1973 under new manager, Leo Durocher, Wynn was moved from #3 in the order to leadoff to take advantage of his speed. Predictably, his batting average and RBI's dropped significantly. But the numbers you'd expect to go up by such a change - walks, runs scored and stolen bases - dropped also. After the season he was traded to Los Angeles where he staged yet another comeback. But that is a story for another day.

1973 Topps J.R. Richard

Houston Astros CTNW Favorites #3

J.R. Richard is another tragic story of what might have been. He was the first round draft pick of the Astros in 1969. But it wasn't until 1975 that he broke through. Although he was wild, leading the league in both walks and wild pitches, he managed a 12-10 record and 176 strikeouts. The following year he would win 20 games, lower his ERA to 275 and strikeout 214.  He won 18 games in each of the next three seasons, leading the league in strikeouts in 1978 and 1979. Ha had the lowest ERA in 1979.

With the addition of Nolan Ryan in 1980 the future never looked brighter. On July 30, 1980 James Rodney Richard had a stroke during warm-ups before a game in Philadelphia. Less than 2 weeks after his first All Star game, Richard's career was over. He played minor league ball for the Astros in 1982 and '83 but he was clearly not the same pitcher. He was ultimately released by the Astros just before the 1984 season.

This 1973 Topps card is a missing link in Richard's collection. After sharing a "Rookie Stars" card with Bill Greif and Ray Busse in 1972, his next Topps card would be in 1974. Not that I can blame Topps, J.R. spent most of 1972 pitching for the Oklahoma City 89ers.

1969 Topps Deckle Joe Morgan

Houston Astros CTNW Favorites #4

Joe Morgan was one of early stars of the Houston Astros and to this day fans are bemoaning his trade as the worst in Astros history, perhaps baseball history. But hindsight is 20/20.

This was an eight player trade. The Astros gave up Morgan who hit .256 in 1971, first baseman Denis Menke and his .246 batting average, back-up outfielder Cesar Geronimo who hit .220 in limitedplay, pitcher Jack Billingham who went 10-16 in 1971 and a minor leaguer, Ed Armbrister.

In exchange they got second baseman Tommy Helms who was 2 years older and not a stolen base threat like Morgan, However he was coming off his 2nd consecutive Gold Glove year and had a similar .258 batting average. They got Lee May who was an all star in 1971 and had hit 38, 34 and 39 homers in 1969, '70 and '71 respectively. They also got Jimmy Stewart who was a career .306 hitting pinch-hitter and utility man. On paper it looked like a fairly even trade. At the time...

After the trade Billingham had back-to-back 19 win seasons in 1973 and '74. Geronimo became a Gold Glove center fielder and turned his .228 career batting average with the Astros into a respectable .261 with the Reds. And we all know what became of Morgan. In Houston, Stewart was released after the 1973 season. May's numbers declined and he was traded to Baltimore after the 1974 season. Helms lasted the longest. He was traded to the Pirates after the 1975 season for Art Howe.

Since Morgan was one of the bright spots of the early Astros teams, I had to dip into the insert sets to find a Card That Never Was for him. The 1969 Deckle set was a favorite of mine and of Topps, too. They revisited it in 1974 and most recently in the Archive sets from both 2012 and 2014. Topps did actually make a Deckle Edge card of Morgan inserted into the 2012 Archives set. But as you can see the photo they used is not from the 1969 era. It is clearly from his return to the Astros in 1980.

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UPDATE
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In the comment section, Brett brought up a good point. I called out Topps for using a photo from the wrong era, but my photo would not have been used by Topps in 1969 either. That is not unintended. I try to keep the photos historically accurate (or close to it) but I also want to make the cards look the way I would have wanted them. (Right under the title of this blog it says "What cards would look like if I had my way.")  Topps used all posed photos in the original 1969 Deckle set. But even Topps went to candid or "action" shots when using the design in their Archive sets.

Realistically, Topps would have used a photo like I posted below.  Due to a trademark dispute by Monsanto, in 1968 and the first 3 series of 1969 the word "Astros" didn't exist on Topps products, nor did any Astros logos. So most likely if Topps had made a card for Morgan it would have been a head and shoulders shot of him in his away uniform (Houston on front rather than Astros). It would also have had either no hat like Morgan's 1969 base card or an airbrushed hat like Rusty Staub and Jim Wynn had on their Deckle Edged cards.

 So if I wanted to make a card like Topps would have in 1969, I think it would look more like this. I didn't know how to include a picture into the comment section so here it is:

1975 Topps Joe Niekro

Houston Astros CTNW Favorites #5

It has been months since I've made my Top 5 "Fan Favorites". For this one I've chosen to do the Houston Astros. There are several worthy players from the 90's and beyond but as usual, I chose to make cards of players I remember from my early collecting years,  which would be primarily 1980s and earlier. In case you need to be reminded, this is simply an exhibition, not a competition. So please no wagering.

Joe Niekro was purchased by the Astros just prior to the start of the 1975 season. He began his MLB career with the Cubs. He then played for the Padres, Tiger and Braves. It was in Atlanta where he honed his knuckler with the help of his teammate, future Hall of Famer, and big brother Phil Niekro. When Joe came to Houston he was used out of the bullpen. When the knuckle ball became his reliable go-to pitch he earned a starting roll. In 1980 he became the first Astro to win 20 games in two seasons.

I chose the 1975 design because Topps pictured him in a Braves uniform that year. It was also the first season the Astros wore the infamous "Tequila Sunrise" uniforms.  These unis would not appear on Topps cards until the 1976 series. That first season was slightly different than the other years in that the player's number was in a circle on the back. They also had a black #40 patch on their sleeve in honor of Don Wilson. Wilson was an All Star pitcher for Houston from 1966-1974. He died in January of 1975. You can barely make out that patch on his left shoulder.

Here is a better look at those first year uniforms. Sorry I couldn't find a decent color photo that showed both the patch and the circle number.

This photo features pitcher Doug Konieczny and manager Preston Gomez.  I know this is a post about Joe Niekro but I have to point out that in 1974 Gomez had actually brought in a pinch hitter for Don Wilson (whose patch is on his sleeve) when Wilson was pitching a no hitter after 8 innings. Granted, the Astrros were down to the Big Red Machine 2-1 on a costly 2 run throwing error by shortstop Roger Metzger. But pinch hitter, Tommy Helms grounded out and reliever Mike Cosgrove gave up a hit to the first batter he faced, Tony Perez. The 'Stros lost 2-1. Gomez was fired in August 1975 after going 47-80.  He was replaced by fired Yankees manager, Bill Virdon.

A Remake of the 1974 Topps Fergie Jenkins

Texas Rangers CTNW Favorites #1

Let's face it, sometimes Topps just makes terrible looking cards. The 1974 Fergie Jenkins was one of them:

I mean, just look at it.  Poor Fergie obviously just took off his Cubs hat and never had a chance to comb out the hat-head (just barely a step above bed-head). He deserved better. Topps should have given him the full traded card experience. First a nice card for the Cubs like I posted above. Then a decent looking card of him on his new team, like I have below:

Granted, the real Topps Traded card most likely would have either been a terrible airbrush job or perhaps the hatless bed-head picture they used on his regular 1974 card. In 1976 when he was traded to the Red Sox, Topps did give him the full treatment with both a regular and an airbrushed traded card.

Fergie pitched in 197 games for the Rangers in 1975-75 and 1978-81. He had an overall record of 93-72. He is 4th on the all-time list in wins for the Rangers and his 25 win season in 1974 remains a Texas Rangers record.

Nolan Ryan 1989 Odd-Ball Assortment

Texas Rangers CTNW Favorites #2

By 1989 the major card companies all had traded or update sets, so finding a 1989 card showing the newly acquired future Hall of Famer in a Rangers jersey was not a difficult feat. In addition there were a number of odd-ball sets sold or given away by toy stores, bread companies, department stores, you name it. So for this post I decided to create a bunch of 1989 odd-ball Cards That Never Were for Nolan Ryan:

 

Above are 1989 Cards That Never Were from Bazooka, Cap'n Crunch, JJ Nissen (a bread company that was based in Maine) and Woolworth (a defunct department store). As you can see 3 of the 4 were produced by Topps but only 2 of the 4 were officially licensed. Therefore the logos had to be airbrushed out.

Ryan was traded to the Rangers at the ripe old age of 42. He still pitched 5 seasons and threw his 6th No-Hitter in 1990 and his 7th in 1991 both for the Rangers. His record was 51-39 in 129 games.

1980 Topps Gaylord Perry

Texas Rangers CTNW Favorites #3

Gaylord Perry had 2 tours of duty with the Texas Rangers. He spent part of the 1975 season and all of 1976 and 1977 as the result of a trade from Cleveland. In 1980 he was once again dealt to the Rangers after his final All-Star season in San Diego. Overall Perry played on 8 different teams over his 22 seasons. He played 112 games for the Rangers over parts of 4 seasons. He was 48-43 with a 3.26 ERA for Texas.

1977 Hostess Bert Blyleven

Texas Rangers CTNW Favorites #4

Bert Blyleven was traded from the Twins to the Rangers in June of 1976 along with shortstop Danny Thompson for 4 players and $250,000. He pitched 54 games over the remainder of the 1976 season and the 1977 season. His 23-23 record doesn't tell the whole story of his time in Texas. He had a 2.74 ERA and threw 11 shutouts and 29 of his 54 starts resulted in complete games. He averaged just over 8 innings per start and in 1977 had the leagues best pitching ratio. After the 1977 season he was sent to the Pirates as part of a 4 team 11 player trade.

While I would have liked to create a 1976 Topps Traded card of Blyleven for this post, I had to settle for a 1977 Hostess Card That Never Was. I was beaten to the punch by The Baseball Card Blog who created this gem as part of their "1976 Topps Traded: The Missing Cards: series.

1991 Topps Rich Gossage

Texas Rangers CTNW Favorites #5

It has been months since I've made my Top 5 "Fan Favorites". For this one I've chosen to do the Texas Rangers. Additionally I've narrowed it down to the Hall of Fame pitchers who have worn the Rangers' colors.  Here they are in the order of games pitched for the Rangers. I'm sure you can guess most of them, but you may be surprised by which Hall of Famer pitched the most games in Texas.

In 1989, Goose Gossage was released by the Cubs during spring training, was waived by the Giants mid-season.  He was picked up by the Yankees where he finished out the season. After the season, the Yankees dropped him as well. Gossage spent the 1990 season in Japan pitching for the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks. Topps didn't make a 1990 card for him, "career-capper" or otherwise.

In 1991 he was signed by the Rangers where he pitched in 44 games, mostly middle relief. His days as a closer were behind him by then. Gossage was also missing from the Topps set in 1991, not even a Topps Traded card.  They did make a 1992 card of him in a Rangers uniform. That would be Topps' last regular issue card of the Goose. This despite him playing 1992 and 1993 in Oakland and 1994 in Seattle. Seems like an awful lot of cards missing for a Hall of Fame pitcher, especially in the junk-wax era.

1954 Red Heart Willie Mays

New York Giants CTNW Favorites #1

Of course the number 1 New York Giant was the Say Hey Kid. Mays was fairly well represented on cardboard during his career. Even though he missed the entire 1953 season due to military obligations, he had a 1953 Topps card. In 1954 he was in both the Topps and Bowman sets. I chose to depict him on a 1954 Red Heart card. First because in 1954 the Giant were World Series Champs. There were a few other popular odd-ball cards I considered using. There were 1954 Dandee cards which were inserted into bags of chips, 1954 Wilson Franks cards which were inserted into hot dog packages. The Red Heart cards were inserted into dog food bags.

1949 Bowman Monte Irvin

New York Giants CTNW Favorites #2

Monte Irvin wasn't technically the first black player on the New York Giants. He made his first Major League appearance on July 8, 1949. The same day that Hank Thompson made his first appearance in a Giants uniform. (Thompson was also the first black ballplayer on the St. Louis Browns in 1947.) Thompson was the leadoff batter and Irvin came in to pinch hit in the top of the 8th. On that particular day the Giants were playing the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Dodgers by the, of course, had the great Jackie Robinson. In addition the Giants were facing  a black battery of Don Newcombe and Roy Campanella. The Dodgers beat the Giants that afternoon in Ebbets Field 4-3.

1954 Topps Leo Durocher

New York Giants CTNW Favorites #3

In 1954 Leo Durocher led the Giants to their first World Series championship in 21 years.  This was Durocher's only championship as a manager. He had won 2 pennants earlier. In 1941 with the Dodgers and in 1951 with the Giants. Both times he lost the World Series to the Yankees. In 1954 he beat Al Lopez's Cleveland Indians. For his efforts Leo won his 3rd and final Sporting News Manager of the Year award.

1952 Bowman Hoyt Wilhelm

New York Giants CTNW Favorites #4

Just 3 months shy of his 30th birthday, Hoyt Wilhelm made his major league debut. The "rookie" had already led a full life. He had played 8 years of minor league ball interrupted by a 3 year tour of duty during World War II. His MLB career would span 21 seasons and end just days before his 50th birthday.

In 1952 he finished 2nd in Rookie of the year voting to another reliever, Joe Black. Both pitcher had 15 wins. Although Black had a lower ERA with 2.15, Wilhelm was the 1952 Pitching Leader with a 2.43 ERA because Black was a few innings short of the minimum. In his first Major League at bat Wilhelm hit his one and only career home run.

1912 Hassan Triple Folder T202 - McGraw, Mathewson, Marquard

New York Giants CTNW Favorites #5

The next five posts will all be New York Giants. The Giants moved to the west coast in 1958 but the franchise has been in existence since 1883.  Under John McGraw, The Giants were a dynasty in the National League. They won 10 pennants and 3 World Series. From 1911 through 1913 the Giants had a 303-153 record. They won the pennant 3 years in a row only to lose the World Series. Hall of Fame pitchers, Christy Mathewson and Rube Marquard accounted for 147 of the 303 victories.

Although this card never existed, elements of it did exist. I patched the McGraw and Marquard portions with a photo of Mathewson to put 3 Giants Hall of Famers of that era onto one card.

1975 Kellogg's George Brett

Kansas City Royals CTNW Favorites #1

The 1975 Kellogg's set was a mere 57 cards deep. For the most part it was comprised of veteran players. George Brett wouldn't be found in cereal boxes until after he had won his first batting title in 1976. So despite finishing 3rd in Rookie of the Year voting in 1974, Brett was not part of the 1975 Kellogg's set. Still, how cool would it be to have a 3D rookie card of a future Hall of Famer? And following the line of thought from my previous post, Brett is the only player to go into the Hall of Fame with a Royals cap on his plaque. He was drafted by the Royals in 1971 and played his entire 21 season MLB career in Kansas City. While the other 4 of my picks can certainly be disputed, there can really be no other player at number one. 

1983 Topps Gaylord Perry

Kansas City Royals CTNW Favorites #2

The Kansas City Royals have rostered a total of 7 Hall of Famers. Three of them were picked up in the final year of their career. Gaylord Perry was a well-traveled pitcher. He played for 8 different teams during his 22 year career, winning the Cy Young award in both the A.L. and N.L. He won it for the Indians in 1972 and Padres in 1978. In his final season he was 4-4 in 14 starts for the Royals. 

The Royals also picked up.Orlando Cepeda for a short stint at the end of his career in 1974. I had created this card for an earlier installment on this page back in 2011. Similarly, after 21 years in the Senators/Twins organization, Harmon Killebrew spent his final season wearing Royal blue. This beautiful card can be found on the Royal Heritage blog.

The Royals also had 3 Hall of Famers at the helm. In their inaugural season the Royals manager was Hall of Fame second baseman Joe "Flash" Gordon. In 1970 the Royals hired Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Lemon to run the show. In the middle of the 1975 season Whitey Herzog replaced a relatively young Jack McKeon. Unlike Gordon and Lemon, Herzog was inducted into the Hall as a manager not a player. Unfortunately, it was mostly due to his career with the Cardinals after he left the Royals. None of these managers were Hall of Famers during their tenure with the Royals. Bob Lemon was inducted in 1976, Tom Gordon in 2009 and Whitey Herzog was enshrined in 2010.

Spoiler alert: the Royals had one more Hall of Famer and he is the subject of my next post.

1986 Fleer Bo Jackson

Kansas City Royals CTNW Favorites #3

Bo Jackson was the 1985 Heisman Trophy winner and the overall #1 pick in the NFL draft by the Buccaneers in 1986. A two-sport star in college, Bo hit .401 for Auburn in 1985.  But his 1986 baseball season was cut short. He was ruled ineligible for taking a trip on the Buccaneers owner's jet to visit the team despite being assured that it had been cleared by the NCAA. Bo felt he was duped by the Bucs and vowed not to play for them. Instead he played for the Royals. Initially he played for their AA team the Memphis chicks but was called up to the show in September of 1986. 

Topps responded by including Bo in their 1986 Traded set. Likewise, Donruss included him in both their Highlights and their Rookies sets. Fleer was the only major card company that didn't have a card of this highly anticipated and much publicized player during his rookie season.

1973 Topps Hal McRae

Kansas City Royals CTNW Favorites #4

In November of 1972 Hal McRae was traded to the Royals. He was used primarily as a pinch hitter by the Reds ever since breaking his leg in 1969. Coincidentally, 1973 was the first season in which the American League had the designated hitter. It seemed like a perfect match. McRae played in 2084 MLB games but only 516 in the field. He is #5 on the Royals All Time list in hits, #4 in homers, #2 in doubles and #2 in RBIs. McRae had a card in the 1973 Topps set. He was depicted as an outfielder for the Reds.  The 1973 Topps set had no design for designated hitters but I think this McRae card merits the creation of a new design.

1980 Donruss Dan Quisenberry

Kansas City Royals CTNW Favorites #5

Here is another installment in my on again off again running theme, the top 5 "Fan Favorites" set. Just as a reminder, these are not necessarily the 5 best players from the franchise. They are just cards I decided to make of players that I like. So as David Letterman used to say before Stupid Pet Tricks, "This is only an exhibition. This is not a competition. Please, no wagering."

To be honest I have been waiting for the opportunity to make one of these ever since I learned of their existence a few years back.  This is Donruss's 1980 baseball card design that they were using as a prototype in anticipation of the antitrust ruling that would eventually break Topps monopoly.

Dan Quisenberry was called up by the Royals in July of 1979 going 3-2 with 5 saves. That was good enough for Topps to put him on a "Future Stars" card but not enough to get his own card. I have always been a fan of the sidearm style pitchers, and Quiz was the best. 1980 was his first full season and he led the A.L. in saves with 33 and won The Sporting News Fireman of the Year Award. He would win again in 1982, 83, 84 and 85.