#114 -- Bill Buckner

Bill Buckner





This is one of my favorite cards in the set. He's holding the bat in a "coming at you" pose and it intersects neatly with his Topps All-Rookie Team cup of gold. You can see under the hat he's got a full head of black hair, with long sideburns and heck of a set of eyebrows crawling over his eyes. So far we've had Buckner and Andy Etchebarren with the eyebrows. I remember there being more. Has something happened in the last 35 years? Have some of those chemicals Al Gore rails against caused guys to have thinning in their eyebrow hair? Or have some of those chemicals Bud Selig rails against caused eyebrows to thin? I just don't see thick bushy eyebrows on today's player and (except for Eric Byrnes) don't tell me they sit around and tweese or wax them.


Buckner was a good all-around player when he came up. He played first and the corner outfield spots well. He didn't remind anybody of Maury Wills, but he stole 15-30 bases a year. He had doubles power and hit for average. Then he had a horrific ankle injury and that slowed him down. Later in his career, he just didn't move around well. However, he was still a .280-.300 hitter and didn't strike out (although he didn't take a walk, either).


Buckner isn't known for having 2700 career hits, a batting title, holding the record for assists by a first baseman or an All-Star appearance. Nope. He's known for something he supposedly did wrong. We all know what it is and I don't want to go there. That seems to be all we remember. The Sox actually waived him in 1987 while he was hitting .276 with 2 homers and 42 RBI. Yep. Didn't want anything for him, all so they could bring in future Hall of Famer Sam Horn. Acutally, that was probably more of a mercy thing for Billy Buck because Boston fans can be harsh. He went on to hit over .300 for the Angels after they grabbed him up. He struggled in 1988 and 1989 with the Angels and Royals. His 1988 card still shows he had quite the head of hair.


Buckner ended up going back to the Red Sox to finish his career in 1990. He didn't do well and was released in early June. However, before he was released, he hit his last career homer in Fenway Park. Was it an opposite field shot over the Monster? Did he curl one in around Pesky's Pole? Did he pour everything he had and lay into one and hit it out to the Triangle? Nope. This 41 year old with bad ankles managed an inside the park homer. The play-by-play says it went down the right field line, which is the shortest part of the park, but has some tough angles. Claudell Washington was playing right field that day and you have to wonder if he wasn't stricken with a nasty case of something for him to mess around with the ball long enough for Buckner to circle the bases. Or maybe it was like the end of the Bad News Bears movie when the opposing team's pitcher held the ball while Tanner (?) rounded the bases. If I remember right, he was mad at his Marinovich-like father. In any event, Buckner's last homer had to be his most improbable.

Sorry Mets fans (and I know some of you admit to it). I'm not going to show the video.

1972 Feature
June 12, 1972 was a light day on the schedule. There were only 6 games in the big leagues as half the teams had the day off. There was 1 blowout, 1 slugfest and 4 pitchers' duels. Maybe that's why I still appreciate the baseball of the day.

The best of the pitchers' duels would have been Pat Dobson and the Orioles hanging a 1-0 loss on Vida Blue (0-3 now after his dual Cy Young/MVP season). However, I'm going with the slugfest down on Peach Tree Street in Atlanta for my Game of the Day.

This starts out as a pitching duel between Gary Gentry of the Mets and Phil Niekro of the Braves. After 6, the Mets are up 2-1. The only scoring has come on solo homers by John Milner and Wayne Garrett of the Mets and Earl Williams of the Braves.

In the 7th the Mets loaded the bases with 1 out. The play account says Duffy Dyer hit a grounder to Niekro and he forced the runner at the plate. I'd want to know why they weren't able to get Dyer, a catcher, to complete the 1-2-3 double play and get out of the inning. Gentry then stepped up with a 2-run single to left and, after an error, Buddy Harrelson singled in another. The Braves came back with 3 in their half of the 7th on singles by Dusty Baker and Mike Lum.

In the 8th, Buzz Hardin replaced Niekro (who'd been lifted for a pinch-hitter) and he was promptly greeted with a solo homer by Rusty Staub. That was enough and Cecil Upshaw came in and gave up a 1-out homer to Ken Boswell and the Mets were up 7-4.

The Braves then took the lead in the bottom of the 8th off Faith Hill's father-in-law. With nobody out, Rico Carty knocked in a run. Next, two runs scored to tie the game on a wild throw by Met third baseman Wayne Garrett and Darrell Evans made it to third as the go-ahead run, still with nobody out. He wasn't able to score on Earl Williams' grounder to third. He was able to score when centerfielder Tommie Agee couldn't catch Dusty Baker's fly ball (he still got credit for a sac fly). Upshaw then put down the Mets 1-2-3 and that was the end to a wild game.

#80 -- Tony Perez

Tony Perez

There are many of the Topps sets where the player's position is noted on the front. Off the top of my head, it's hard to think of one where it isn't mentioned. The 1972 set doesn't have the player's position on the front, but they do have it on the back. I say that because when I mention "Tony Perez" the position most usually associated with him is first base. At this point, he'd been a regular with the Reds for 7 years, so he was fairly well established.

From 1967-1971, Tony played third base for the Reds. Looking at the stats, he was roughly league average, which surprises me some. I don't remember him being a great fielder, but I suppose this goes to show he was a good athlete. The Reds were playing Lee May at first, and there sure wasn't anywhere else he was going to play. When the Reds made the blockbuster deal with the Astros (May, Tommy Helms and Jimmy Stewart for Joe Morgan, Cesar Geronimo, Denis Menke and Jack Billingham -- who got the best of that?) in addition to picking up a lot of talent, the Reds cleared a spot to move Perez to first.

Tony had great RBI numbers. Of course, he had Pete Rose, Joe Morgan and either Bobby Tolan or Ken Griffey hitting in front of him. I'm convinced Enzo Hernandez could have hit 4th or 5th for the Reds and driven in 80 runs. Tony wasn't a loud guy who called attention to himself. He just went along and did his thing without a lot of fanfare.

The Big Red Machine suffered a blow when the Reds traded Perez to the Expos to open up playing time for Dan Driessen. That was in 1977. The next time the Reds went to the World Series was 1990. Driessen was good, but he wasn't Tony Perez good. It's true that Perez was a 10 year vet at the time and he was going to start winding down, but for the next couple of years his numbers were still better. Woodie Fryman and Dale Murray didn't really do a whole lot for the Reds, either.

I always liked Perez as a player, but I don't think he'd make my Hall of Fame. He had good lifetime numbers, especially RBI, but he just doesn't hit me in the guy as being a Hall of Famer. He was one of those guys, like Ron Santo, Dave Parker and Andre Dawson who was consistently far above average, but not dominating. Oops. I mentioned that I don't think Ron Santo should be in the Hall. I should know better than that with all the Chicago readers I have. Please forgive me guys!

Oh, and Mario had a bad encounter with Tony.

#79 -- Red Sox Rookies (Garman, Cooper, Fisk)

Mike Garman

Cecil Cooper

Carlton Fisk

Here's one of the best multi-player rookie cards you'll find. All 3 had good major league careers, 2 were All-Stars and 1 is in the Hall of Fame.

Mike Garman didn't have a long Red Sox career. The Sox kept bringing him up but not for long, even in years like 1972 when they didn't have much in the bullpen. However he wasn't really putting it together. The minor league numbers on the back were also kind of unspectacular. However, when he was traded to the Cardinals, he put up a couple of good seasons and was the right-handed complement to Al Hrabosky. Then the Cardinals traded him for Don Kessinger. Whoops. However, Garman went downhill, too. He had another good year in 1977 and threw a scoreless 5 innings in the playoffs that year.

Cecil Cooper. What I remember most about him is a unique batting stance. It took him a while to establish himself as a semi-regular in Boston. Originally he would get platooned and not play against lefties. He was a great hitter. It didn't matter what anybody threw at him, he hit it. He got traded to the Brewers because there just wasn't any room for him, Jim Rice and Yaz in Boston. It opened up playing time for him and he finally got to play full time. He's 2nd or 3rd in most Brewers lifetime hitting categories. Of course, he's now the Astro manager.

Carlton Fisk. Everyone knows him for the big homer in the 1975 Series. He was a lot more than that. He was somewhat of a surprise as the Red Sox catcher in 1972. He hit 7th or 8th most of the year, despite winning the Rookie of the Year and finishing 4th in the MVP voting. He had early injury problems, but overcame that to be extremely durable. If it weren't for Yaz, he'd have been the face of the Red Sox franchise during the 70's. I have to say, I also remember him for the commercial where he was splitting wood in his flannel shirt hawking Skoal. I guess it was better than cigarettes, but looking back it's probably not the best product to endorse.

I have to show it:

#57 -- Bob Oliver

Bob Oliver

For the 2nd time in the last 3 cards, we've got a player whose son is still pitching in the big leagues. Bob's son is Darren Oliver, who I thought was finished about 5 years ago, but he's lefthanded, so he'll be in the big leagues for another 8 years.

There's no denying Bob in this photo. Where do we start? I may have thought John Ellis was lazy in his posed "first base stretch" photo, but Bob's going all out. Looks to me like he's reaching out to get a throw from Cookie Rojas while the Royals are attempting to double up Bert Campaneris. This was likely taken at the Royals' old spring training home in Fort Myers. From what I've read, it's fallen into disarray, but some college teams use it. From what I could tell of the street view on Google Maps, it's not really anywhere I want to visit the next time I go to Fort Myers.

Then, there's the satin jacket. What's up, Bob? Did you forget to wear your uniform top on picture day? Spill a cherry Kool-Aid on your shirt? Surely it's not that cold in Spring Training. Bob sure does a good job of modeling the Royals' jackets I remember from my youth. Plus, he's featuring the John Olerud style of wearing the batting helmet in the field almost 20 years before Olerud made it fashionable.

Bob was one of the Royals' first big power hitters. He had some of their most memorable "firsts" since he played for the 1969 expansion Royals. He had the first 6-6 game in 9 innings. He also had the first grand slam, on July 4 against Jim Bouton. Imagine that, it took over 3 months for the Royals to hit a granny.

However, when the Royals picked up John Mayberry, Bob was expendable. He mostly played first, but he could go to 3rd or play the outfield without embarrassing himself. The Royals got good production while Bob was there, but they didn't get much for trading him. They picked up Tom Murphy, who spot started some in 1972, then flipped him to the Cardinals for Al Santorini. As a Cardinal fan, Al Santorini couldn't have been taken off our hands too soon. He never played in the big leagues for the Royals. Great. In a matter of 2 deals, they turned Bob into zilch. Bob's career didn't do so great after leaving KC. He did fine in 1972 as the Angels' first baseman, but then his knees started to bother him and he bounced around and slid out of baseball.

Bob is now retired and runs a baseball academy looking to give instruction and opportunities to athletes in Sacramento.

#51 & 52 -- Harmon Killebrew & "In Action"

Harmon Killebrew





Harmon Killebrew was one of the gentlest big men to play in the big leagues. He's 2nd all time for most AL homers. Anytime Babe Ruth is the only person ahead of you on the leaderboard, you're a stud . By this time in his career, Harmon was declining. But I'd have to say that he's still the best Minnesota Twin in their history, with only Rod Carew close by.


This makes back to back Hall of Famers. If you want to count Harmon's appearance on John Ellis' "action" card, this is 5 cards in a row with Hall of Famers. Pretty good run.

Harmon wasn't big, only 5'11". But he hit some of the farthest homers around. Legend has it that an Idaho senator tipped off Clark Griffith about this guy who was hitting .847 for a semi-pro team. That's pretty good. That's even better than I hit in my heyday of playing co-ed softball and refining my stroke to hit it to the girl in right field that didn't want to be there. Harmon signed and, under baseball's Bonus Baby rule, had to spend 2 years on the big league roster. He made his debut 6 days short of his 18th birthday. He wasn't ready. It wasn't until 1958 that he was ready to play.

OK, it's Hall of Fame time. You've got a guy with 573 lifetime homers, at the time #5 all-time (Aaron, Ruth, Mays, F. Robinson), 1 MVP award and 5 other Top 5 finishes, 11 time All-Star, lifetime OPS+ of 143 and 8 40-homer seasons. In or out? In Harmon's first trip on the ballot, he was named on only 59% of the ballots. Bob Gibson was the only inductee and future HOFers that didn't make it that year included Don Drysdale, Hoyt Wilhelm, Juan Marichal, Red Schoendienst, Jim Bunning, Nellie Fox, Richie Ashburn, Orlando Cepeda, Luis Aparicio and Bill Mazeroski. Harmon, with his credentials, didn't make it until the 4th ballot. There's no doubt that "The Killer" was a shoo-in Hall of Famer, but you can see that the voters at that time were very protective of who got enshrined in Cooperstown. I fall into that same crowd and think the HOF is for the very absolute best of the best.

The "action" card could be one of two things. Either Harmon has just nailed one that's headed for parking lot or he's popped up to the catcher. Either way, even though he wasn't a tall guy, he looks like a giant the way Topps framed this card. I think it's great. Harmon lives in the Scottsdale area now and does a lot of charity work, including a golf tournament every year in the name of his former Twin teammate Danny Thompson, who died of leukemia.

Harmon's one of those guys who isn't just a Hall of Famer ballplayer, he's a Hall of Fame person.

#47 & 48 -- John Ellis & "In Action"

John Ellis









John's pose is neat. It's a little different than what we usually see. However, he doesn't exactly look like he's holding Lou Brock or Freddie Patek on. He looks more like he's displaying the stance when he would have to hold on someone like Mickey Lolich or Wilbur Wood. He's standing more comfortable than stretched out to take the throw and slap on a tag.


I always remember John as a guy who got moved around a lot. He was almost always playing a lot at DH and then he alternated between catcher and first base. He had a couple of good years in the middle of the 70's for the Indians. Still, no matter how well he played for them, he was going to be known as the main guy they got for Graig Nettles. The Yanks built a lot of their late 70's team using the Indians as a farm system. They got Nettles for Ellis (and others) after 1972 and got Chris Chambliss and Dick Tidrow for a declining Fritz Peterson and some assorted stale bullpen arms.


John's career ran into problems when he left Cleveland. If I remember correctly he had some injury problems and had trouble staying on the field. That's too bad because he had a strong bat and was a good option as a part time DH/1B.


One interesting fact I got on John was that his first big league homer was an inside the parker to center in Yankee Stadium (the old one, before the 1974 renovations). There was a lot of area out there, and I think the ball either must have caromed off one of the monuments, fell in the outfield drain that Mickey Mantle tore up his knee on or Angel centerfielder Jay Johnstone fell down. John was not fleet afoot. He had a career record of 6/16 in stolen bases (including going 3/3 in 1980) and hit into a lot of double plays.

John only played 2 home day games against the Twins in 1971 where he would have reached first to be held on by Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew in the "action" card. Based on the stats above, I guess Harmon was holding him on as a courtesy since John had exactly zero stolen bases at that point in his career. One of those games was April 24 where he was 1-1 with 4 walks (Gene Michael was hitting behind John, so I don't think they were pitching around him) and the other was a July 21 Wednesday afternoon getaway game where he singled late off Jim Kaat. I'm going for the July game because he doesn't have sleeves.

#41 & 42 -- Tommy Davis & "In Action"

Tommy Davis








Tommy is kind of in between careers here. Tommy got off to one of the best starts to a career you’ll ever see with the Dodgers. He won the batting title in 1962-63 and had 153 RBI in 1962. Anybody starting to think about Albert Pujols. Unfortunately, Tommy bunged up his ankle breaking up a double play in 1965 and he was never the same. He could still hit, but he couldn’t take a spot in the field. He bounced around – Mets, hitless wonder White Sox, Pilots, Astros then to the A’s and Cubs a couple of times each. He also had a reputation of not being a hard worker, and is quoted as saying, “The lazier I feel, the better I hit.” In 1971 he must have felt pretty lazy because he hit .324 for the A’s in 79 games. They were trying to hide him at first base, but it’s hard to keep a guy around that makes 3 errors at first base in 35 games.

It looked like he was done, as the A’s released him at the end of Spring Training 1972. I'm sure that coupled with the strike caused more than a few anxious moments for Tommy. He didn’t catch on with anyone until the Cubs signed him in July. They kept him for 6 weeks and then traded him to the Orioles. Tommy has a look in his regular card that he remembers the guy that played for the Dodgers in the early 60’s and he knows he can do it, but he can’t stay in the field enough to get regular at bats. He seems a little sad to me.


The Orioles must have made the trade in August 1972 knowing about the rule change on the horizon because Tommy Davis was made to be a DH. The Orioles installed him as their DH and he hit .306 with 89 RBI. He was the regular DH from 1972-75 and was one of the best early DH’s. The O’s released him after 1975, when he was still hitting .283, but they didn't have a regular DH after that. Tommy tried to hang on, but he was released in Spring Training by the Yankees and played for the Angels and Royals, but hit an empty .265 without any homer or doubles power. It was the end of the line, but he had quite a career.


With the advent of box scores on the internet it's sometimes possible to pinpoint where in a particular game a photo is taken. On the action card, I can't get any closer than the date. Tommy's wearing a road uniform and the only time he played first in Yankee Stadium in 1971 was a doubleheader on May 31. It's hard to make out the runner, but it looks more like Roy White than Horace Clarke.


With all the stars the A’s had at this time (Reggie, Catfish, Bando, Rudi, Campaneris, Fingers, Blue, etc.) they give an “in action” card to on older player winding down. That’s kind of nice, and two of those guys listed got "action" cards, but Tommy didn’t really get much action in 1972 between the Cubs and Orioles.

# 16 -- Mike Jorgensen

Mike Jorgensen







Mike is very appropriately shown in a fielding pose. His glove was his greatest baseball weapon. His card even talks about him being valuable as a centerfielder. I had to look that up to make sure it was right. Sure enough, the Mets usually trotted him out to start in center 20-25 games/year. Usually a first baseman has to take a corner outfield spot (think Willie Stargell or Greg Luzinski), but there are rare guys like Jorgensen and Wes Parker that can play center. I don’t think we’ll be seeing Carlos Delgado or Albert Pujols in center, but I could see the Dodgers put James Loney out there in a pinch.

Jorgensen was an adequate hitter, but not good enough for a regular first baseman. He found himself on several teams, mostly with the Mets and Expos. Just as the 1972 season began, he was traded to the Expos with Tim Foli and Ken Singleton for Rusty Staub. The Expos sure plugged a few holes with that trade. Jorgenson played first allowing Ron Fairly to move into Staub’s old position in right field; Foli replaced .200 hitting Bobby Wine and Singleton replaced a revolving door in left field. Mike missed out on being a part of the 1973 Mets team that went to the Series, but was a bit player on the 1985 Cardinals team that went to the Series. Since his retirement, he’s been a part of the Cardinals front office, working with the guy on the next card.


1972 Feature

There are many reasons I prefer baseball to football. One of the sillier is that baseball is the only major professional team sport (sorry World Team Tennis and Major League Soccer) that has their entire season in the same calendar year. When I think about the NFL in 1972, I obviously think about the Dolphins perfect record. That occurred, but the Super Bowl was in 1973. The 1972 Super Bowl, or Super Bowl VI, was for the 1971 season.


The 1972 Super Bowl was the first one I remember. I may have watched a previous one, but I don't remember it. This one had the Dallas Cowboys against the Miami Dolphins. The Cowboys seemed to be the Red Sox of the NFL. They could get to the championship game, but they hadn't won. They made it to the previous Super Bowl, only to lose to the Colts on the last second field goal of Jim O'Brien. They made it back the next year and they were loaded. The Dolphins were making their second run to the playoffs under Don Shula.


The Dolphins finished 10-3-1 in 1971, losing 2 of their last 3. To make the Super Bowl they had to outlast the Chiefs in double overtime in the longest game in NFL history (I watched that game on the black & white TV in my bedroom on Christmas night.....I learned to hate tie salesmen named Yepremian) and a rematch with the Colts who'd beaten them down the stretch. Paul Warfield caught a couple of bombs from Bob Griese, who threw only 8 passes in the conference championship. The Dolphins strength was a backfield of Jim Kiick, Larry Csonka and Mercury Morris.


The Cowboys had a 10-3 regular season, winning their last 7. They got to the Super Bowl stuffing the Vikes and the 49'ers. They were led by Roger Staubach, in his second year at quarterback, with Craig Morton as a backup. They had a solid rushing game with Duane Thomas, Walt Garrison and Duke All-American Grant Hill's daddy.


What really defined the Cowboys was their defense. Jethro Pugh, Bob Lilly, Chuck Howley, LeeRoy Jordan, Herb Adderly, Mel Renfro and Cliff Harris. They were brutal. In the Super Bowl they held the Dolphins to 80 rushing yards and forced Griese to chuck it 23 times. I know, those numbers don't make any sense in today's game. The Cowboys won decisively 24-3. They punctuated the game with Mike Ditka catching a TD pass. They ran for 252 yards. The one play I can remember from the game was Bob Lilly chasing Griese all over the field and finally sacking him for a 29 yard loss. Yep, you read that correctly.


Facts from that Super Bowl:

• Coach Landry said the Dolphin defense concerned him, but he didn't know the names of any of the players, leading to the famous nickname "No Name Defense"


• Dolphin safety Jake Scott had a broken left hand. During the game he broke his right wrist, but wouldn't come out. Later, having casts on both hands, he realized that "You find out who your true friends are when you have to go to the bathroom."


• President Nixon called Coach Shula after the win over the Colts and gave him a play. Shula used it late in the first half, but the pass was broken up.

Finally, if you put "super bowl vi" into YouTube, you'll find a couple of cool videos, one showing interviews with some hippies to see who they thought would win and the other has game film, showing goalposts on the goal line, linemen who went about 260 and straight on kickers.