1975 Topps Bill Madlock All Star Co-MVP

Going Horizontal

When making the horizontal versions of the 1975 All Star MVPs, I really could have gone a number of different ways and still remain true to the original 1975 Topps design.  I settled on trying to make it look like the All Star cards of 1975. By going horizontal I shifted the 2-tone split 90 degrees as well. In part because of the way Topps printed the card sheets and in part because I thought it looked better. The real problem was that I knew from the start I could not make a better card than the original 1975 Topps Bill Madlock card.

In 1974 Madlock replaced the great Ron Santo at 3rd base for the Cubs and was 3rd in Rookie of the Year voting. In 1975 he was the Cubs sole representative at the All Star Game in Milwaukee. He entered the game at 3rd base in the bottom of the 6th replacing Ron Cey. In his first at bat he flied out to 1975 R.O.Y. and M.V.P. Fred Lynn in centerfield. In the top of the 9th he came to the plate with the game tied 3-3. The bases were loaded and no-one out. He drove a single to left to score Reggie Smith and Al Oliver. He advanced to second on the throw home. The National League won the game 6-3, the final run came when Larry Bowa scored from 3rd on a fly ball off Pete Rose's bat.

1975 Topps Jon Matlack All Star Co-MVP

Going Horizontal

It's been a while since I made a horizontal version of All Star MVP cards. The last I made was the 1972 Joe Morgan card. The 1973 and 74 All Star MVPs were already depicted on horizontal cards so I skipped over those years. I'll make up for it with the 1975 versions. That year there were 2 All Star MVPs, Jon Matlack and Bill Madlock.

The Mets had 2 pitchers representing the team in the 1975 All Star Game. In the bottom of the 5th, Tom Seaver came in with a 3 run lead. A 3 run shot off the bat of Carl Yastrzemski erased the NL's lead. In the bottom of the 6th Seaver was relieved by his teammate. Matlack threw 2 scoreless innings, striking out 4. The Nationals rallied in the top of the 9th to give Matlack a 6-3 win.

Orioles 60th Anniversary Celebration At Camden Yard

Joe at The Shlabotnik Report gave me a heads up that a couple of my cards slipped by quality control and made it onto the scoreboard at Camden Yard last night.  I'm pretty sure it was unintentional, but I am thrilled none the less. Here are a couple screen shots of the scoreboard:

As you can see the center card was part of the 1971 All Star series that never existed. Here is my original post.

This one has the 1981 Cal Ripken card I created just a couple months ago. Click Here. I find the card choice a bit odd. First because they included my card at all. Secondly is that they used the original 1987 card and the 2012 Topps 1987 Mini right next to each other.

Here is a link to see a video of the ceremony. If anybody has the complete ceremony, I'd love to see it just to see what cards were used during all of the players' tributes.

Thank you Joe, you made my day.

1967 Topps NL Stolen Base Leaders: Lou Brock, Sonny Jackson, Maury Wills

In 1966 there was a changing of the guard. After finishing 2nd in stolen bases in 1964 and 1965, Lou Brock passed Maury Wills as the stolen base leader. Wills was the N.L. stolen base leader from 1960-1965 but fell to 3rd in 1966. Lou Brock would go on to be the new N.L. leader in 8 of the next nine years. 

Nearly lost in the middle of these two superstars is Sonny Jackson. Jackson had a career high 49 stolen bases in 1966. He made brief Major League appearances in 1963, 64 and 65,  but 1966 was still officially his rookie year and he finished 2nd in Rookie of the Year voting to the Reds' Tommy Helms.

1967 Topps AL Stolen Base Leaders: Bert Campaneris, Don Buford, Tommie Agee

The two teams featured on this card, The Kansas City A's and the Chicago White Sox were the top two teams in stolen bases and also the bottom 2 teams in home runs in the A.L. The White Sox were also dead last in batting average while the A's were last in on base percentage. 

The A's had the leagues top base-runner in Bert Campaneris and the top closer in Jack Aker but were sub par in nearly every other category. They finished 7th in the AL.

The White Sox made up for this power shortage with pitching and speed. They had the lowest ERA in the league with 2.68 compared to the league average of 3.44. The next closest was Minnesota with a 3.13 ERA. The Sox also led the league in sacrifice bunts and stolen bases. Don Buford had a career high 51 stolen bases and led the league in sacrifice bunts. Tommie Agee was th AL Rookie of the Year. He had 41 stolen bases and earned a gold glove in center field.This managed to keep above .500 finishing 4th in the AL.