1975 Alt-Topps

Once again, I am working from a black and white print. This one looks about 1975 vintage due to the Toy Cannon in Dodgers blue.  There was a lot going on here that I could not duplicate exactly.  I tried to find a glove shape that would allow enough space for a decent photo. The font was just impossible to duplicate but I think mine captures enough of the original gist. 

In typical fashion, I made some base card mockups using the Cy Young Award winners for the 1975 season. Jim Palmer won his second of 3 Cy Young Awards in 1975. He had career highs in victories (23), complete games (25) and shutouts (10). The NL also had a 3-time winner. Tom Terrific won his 3rd and final Cy Young. He led the NL in strikeouts (243) and wins (22).

The AL MVP, Fred Lynn, was also the Rookie of the Year.  I decided to substitute Lynn (and save him for later) with the runner-up MVP in the AL, John Mayberry.  Mayberry had career highs in home runs (34), RBIs (106), slugging (.547) and hits (162). He also led the league with 119 bases on  balls.  In the NL was Joe Morgan who won his first of two consecutive MVPs for the Big Red Machine.

Another departure on this set is the color selection.  In 1975 the Topps set was all over the place with many color combinations for teams.  For the Alt-Topps set I tried to match the team colors.

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Just a quick note to the usual suspects that have been following my blog these past years:

I've been trying to stay active on this blog but haven't been very successful lately.  You can probably tell by the post season cards I posted.  I missed the Wildcard games.  Somehow I managed to post for the Divisional Series but again missed the Championship Series and World Series.  So, I've got a bunch of half-finished projects that I may post at a later date.

Sometimes the real world comes crashing into the hobbies that were meant to take your mind off the real world.  Having said that, I managed to finish this 1975 Alt-Topps project and will try to create a few requests, as usual.  Just leave comments and I will do my best.

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.

1980 Fleer Steve Stone

 

Finally in 1980 Fleer would have a significant change in its football card design.  Also in 1980 Fleer won the antitrust suit against Topps and the Players' Union. In 1981 they could begin printing cards but Topps retained a monopoly on cards packaged with gum. Fleer would insert sticker similar to those they sold in packs with gum in the '60s and 70's. Donruss would insert puzzle pieces. I understand that initially cards were used to help sell gum, but by 1981 the cards were the main attraction. Not the gum, not the stickers, not the puzzle pieces, certainly not the cookie inserted in the 1963 Fleer baseball card packs.

The 1980 AL Cy Young winner Steve Stone had a career year on a steady diet of curveballs. He ended up winning 25 games during the regular season but it took a toll on his arm. In the post season he only pitched 2 innings in relief giving up 2 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks. In 1981 he went 4 -7 and retired at the end of the season.

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.

1978 Fleer Ron Guidry

 

The 1978 version of the Fleer football cards were literally a just yellow border on the 1977 version.  Apparently the focus was on the action photos featured on the cards, not the design. 

The 1978 AL Cy Young award winner was Ron Guidry. Guidry led the league in wins, shutouts, ERA and was second only to Nolan Ryan in strikeouts. He also had a spectacular post-season. He won the one game playoff against the Red Sox. He won the final game of the AL Championship against the Royals. He also got a complete game win in game 3 as the Yankees beat the Dodgers 4 games to 2 in the World Series.

1977 Fleer Steve Carlton

 

In 1977 Fleer continued to make football cards featuring official logos but not the players' names. These cards advertised "Live Game Photos" which were few and far between on Topps cards of that era.  Here is 1977 Cy Young award winner Steve Carlton on what would have been a baseball version of that set.

In 1977 Carlton won his second of four Cy Young awards. His league leading 23 wins helped the Phillies win the NL East. His luck ran out in the playoff. He gave up 9 runs in 11 2/3 innings as the Dodgers won 3 games to 1.

1976 Fleer Randy Jones

After losing the battle to Topps in 1963 Fleer wouldn't make cards featuring active baseball players until 1981. They also stopped making football cards with Topps and Philadelphia printing AFL & NFL cards respectively. In 1976 Fleer began making football cards with active players again. They had a contract with the NFL but not with the Players' Union. So while Topps could print cards featuring players they could not use copyrighted team logos. Fleer on the other hand could use team and league logos but not the players' names.

Here is Randy Jones as he would have appeared on a 1976 Fleer issue. After coming in 2nd to Tom Seaver in the 1975 Cy Young voting he secured the 1976 Cy Young award by leading the league in wins and complete games. All this while playing for the 5th place Padres. He was named starting pitcher the All Star game. He pitched 3 scoreless innings and earned the win. After the 1976 season he had surgery and never regained his Cy Young form.

1962 Fleer Don Drysdale

 

In 1962 Fleer didn't issue a baseball card set. It did issue baseball stickers (see the Fleer Sticker Project). It also issued a nice looking set of AFL football cards. I used these cards to further my theme of putting active MLB players on pre-1981 Fleer cards.

The 1962 Cy Young award winner was Don Drysdale. He led the league in victories with 25 and strike outs with 232. He was named starting pitcher in the first of two 1962 All Star Games. He pitched 3 scoreless innings but didn't get the decision in the NL's 3-1 victory.

1961 Fleer Whitey Ford

In 1961 Fleer again put out a set of Baseball Greats. With Ted Williams retiring at the end of 1960, this set contain no active players. If Fleer had included active players in this set, this is what the 1961 Cy Young award winner's card might have looked like.

In 1961 Whitey Ford had a career high 25 wins. He also had his second highest career ERA but he had run support from Mantle and Maris in their chase for the home run record. Ford won the 1961 World Series MVP by pitching a complete game shutout in game 1 and pitching 5 innings of the game 4 shutout of the Reds.

1960 Fleer Vern Law

In 1960 Fleer release a set of Baseball Greats. This set featured retired players, managers and executives plus one active player, Ted Williams. Continuing the theme, I put the 1960 Cy Young Award winner, Vern Law on a 1960 Fleer card.

Vern Law won 20 games for the 1960 World Series Champion Pirates. In the World Series he won game 1 and game 4 and started game 7. He left game 7 with the Pirates up 4-1 in the 6th but didn't get the decision. The Yankees stormed back and ultimately the Series was won on Mazeroski's memorable homer. Law also pitched in both All Star games in 1960. He earned the save (not an official stat in 1960) in the first game and the win in the second All Star game.

Vern Law was also the father of Vance Law a utility infielder for both the Cubs and the White Sox.

1959 Fleer Early Wynn

In 1959 Fleer had an exclusive contract to produce Ted Williams cards. Topps could not make cards featuring the Splendid Splinter and Fleer couldn't make cards of virtually every other active Major Leaguer. Over the next few posts I plan to make Fleer cards that might have been. I'll take Cy Young Award winners and put them on Fleer sports cards that were issued before 1981 when Fleer and Donruss began competing with Topps.

Here is the 1959 Cy Young Award winner as he might have appeared on a 1959 Fleer card if Topps didn't have a virtual monopoly on baseball cards. I used the format of the 1959 Fleer Ted Williams set.

In 1959 Early Wynn won the Cy Young and led the AL in wins for the AL Champs, the Chicago White Sox. He also came in 3rd in MVP voting behind teammates Nellie Fox and Luis Aparicio.