#56 -- Rich Chiles

Rich Chiles

There isn't much to write about Rich's career. This is his rookie card. He got some time with the Astros in 1971 and was their top pinch hitter, although he only hit .227. In his rookie year he set the team record for pinch hits (since broken) with 11. He didn't really get any other playing time to speak of until he joined the Twins in 1977. He hit in the .260s with the Twins in 1977-78 before being released at the beginning of Spring Training 1979.

Hard to tell much about where this picture is. About the only place Topps was taking NL pictures with turf was Candlestick, but this doesn't have a Candlestick feel to me. The guys in the background are wearing Houston road uniforms (these were the boring uniforms before the great stripes that started around 1975). Also, I don't know why, but when I saw his photo it just screamed, "I didn't know John Schneider hit left-handed." (Disclaimer: You can now see why I'm a lawyer and not in graphic arts. I verily stinketh at photoshop/paint. That's supposed to be an Astro hat I drew on John Schneider/Rich Chiles.)

There are two other things I've found about Rich that are more interesting than his playing career. His cousin was Hall of Famer George Kelly, a first baseman with the New York Baseball Giants. I'd have to admit that would have been cool growing up to know you were going to have Christmas and Thanksgiving with a former big league ballplayer (Kelly didn't make the HOF until 1973). It also would have made a cool cartoon on the back of his card, with Rich looking at Kelly (with a pillbox style hat) and having a word balloon saying, "Hi, Cuz!" (I'll not try to draw the cartoon in Paint.)

I'd read in a geneology article (ain't Google great!) that Rich was managing the family farm after his baseball career. Then a September 2008 Boston Globe article credited Rich with being one of Dustin Pedroia's first hitting coaches, when Pedroia was about 7. Again, wouldn't it be kind of cool that an MVP's family would remember you as the child's instructor.

#55 -- Clyde Wright

Clyde Wright



Back at Billy Cowan's card, we saw the halo at the top of the Anaheim Stadium scoreboard. Now we see the next level down. Maybe a little disappointing. It's advertising gasoline and, from the color scheme, I think it's some form of the Amoco company (Correction from Andy: It's Chevron). I think we'll see this again with some of the Angels, as that spot seemed to be pretty popular for the Topps photographer.

Once upon a time, pitchers had to earn their way into the rotation. A young, up and coming pitcher would work out of the bullpen and get some spot starts along the way in order to get to a point where he would make the starting rotation in a year or two. This still happens sometimes, but a lot of guys now just move right into the rotation. Clyde made his way into the Angel rotation this way.

He had 4 years of spot starts and then was put in the rotation full time in 1970. Not much was expected because he went 1-8 4.10 in 1969. He was waived and unclaimed. He learned a screwball in a Caribbean winter league and the Angels took him back, where he went 22-12 and made the All-Star team in 1970. Ray Fosse might wish he hadn't, because Clyde threw a pitch to Jim Hickman that led to

.



Clyde had a good year in 1972, finishing 18-11 with a 2.98 ERA that was above the league average of 2.92. He also had a good year at the plate with 2 homers (off Dick Drago of the Royals and Dave Lemonds of the White Sox), 13 RBI and a .217 batting average. However, it was his last good year. Something happened that he stopped fooling hitters as his already so-so strikeout rate plummeted and his batting average against went up. He went 11-19 and 9-20 in 1973 and 1974 before being finished after 94 innings in 1975 with Texas.


He then had a stormy course in Japan with the venerable Yomiuri Giants for 3 years, pitching and homering in the Japan Series his first year. Unfortunately, in Game 7 he gave up the game-winning homer after telling his interpreter he was tired and needed to come out. Hopefully todays Japanese pitchers over here have heard that story and make sure their interpreters understand them.


Clyde had some tough days when his career was over. But he's on top of everything now. He has run a succesful academy in Anaheim called the Clyde Wright Pitching Academy. He also had a son, Jaret Wright, that pitches in the big leagues. Although Jaret is in Pirates' camp this spring, he's unlikely to pick up the 32 wins he needs to allow he and his father to join Mel and Todd Stottlemyre as the only father-son combinations to win 100 games each.

#53 & 54 -- Bud Harrelson & "In Action"

Bud Harrelson








Derrel Harrelson (good thing somebody that cared about him slapped "Bud" on him...Derrel's a good name, but that rhyming might not have worked out so well) was born on June 6, 1944. That was a hell of a day to be born.





Imagine that. You're having your 10th birthday party, a pretty big deal, and all anyone is talking about is the 10th anniversary of the Normandy Invasion. I suppose we now know why he was named Derrel, but he just as well could have been David, Donald or Daniel, when your birthday is also D-Day.


Bud always had spunk and fight in him. He went all of 5'11" and 160, but he didn't back down from anybody. Just ask Pete Rose. Bud couldn't hit his way out of a wet paper bag, but he could play the field well enough to stay in the lineup. In fact, about the only thing that could keep him out of the lineup was National Guard duty. Yes, there was actually a time when ballplayers missed time for summer Guard camp. During the season, even. And Bud missed time in 1969 when he won a World Series ring. But then again, wouldn't you expect this from a guy born on D-Day?


The "action" card here is great. It's not got much to do with Bud, though, although he's nicely slapped a ball out there. I think that's an Atlanta Braves' catcher, which would make it either Earl Williams or Hal King. I'm going to narrow this down to Earl Williams on Saturday, July 3, 1971. I'll pick that over May 22, just because the crowd is more shirtsleeves. I don't know if you can make it out, but there's a gal with some bug-eyed sunglasses in the front row on the left side of the dugout looking down to get a bite of something. Just behind her there's a long-haired hippie with a tan Gilligan hat on. (You may have to click on the card and then zoom in to see them.) Looks like an episode of Life on Mars. If only No Nuts Norris were sitting back there.....

#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.

#49 & 50 -- Willie Mays & "In Action"

Willie Mays







There is not enough that I could say about Willie Howard Mays. Even though we spell our last names different, I was disappointed as a kid to be told that we weren't related. If you ever saw me play baseball, there would be no question.

It's hard to name one person as the Greatest Player of All Time. This debate came up when Bonds was putting up great numbers in the early part of the decade, but the consensus was still that until some great hitter could get on the mound and win 100 games, the nod has to go to Babe Ruth. After Babe Ruth, there's quite a debate. This guy is one that figures prominently.

Talk about 5 tools. Could he hit for average? Lifetime .302 average brought down considerably by his last few years, but he was a good .320 hitter for the bulk of his career in a tough hitters park. Could he hit for power? 660 home runs with a year of his prime spent serving his country. That number places 3rd on the legitimate home run list (with Griffey at 611 and Thome at 541 unlikely to catch him). Could he run? Stolen bases are not the only criteria, but 338 career stolen bases are good. He went 30-30 twice when that stat meant something, missing by 4 homers of being the first 40-40 man in 1956, 8 years before Canseco was born. Could he field? His range factor was consistently above the league average for center fielders. He could get a jump on a ball. Please remember his catch in the 1954 Series rather than the misjudged fly ball on the track in the 1973 Series. Could he throw? In 1955 he had 23 assists and by 1959 guys stopped running on Willie. The only thing said to be better than his catch in the 1954 Series was his throw into second that kept Larry Doby at third.




He had some pretty impressive minor league numbers, as you can see on the back of his card. He only hit .393 in 455 at bats overall. But look at his numbers in 1951 in St. Paul. You might have a guy hitting .477 after 4 or 5 games on a very occasional basis, but that was Willie's batting average after 35 games. Of course, he'd already been playing in the Negro Leagues, so going to the minors was probably a step down for him. If he hadn't essentially missed all of 1952 and 1953, I think there would be no question but that he would have had 700 lifetime homers. If that were true, Hank Aaron wouldn't have passed him until sometime in 1973. Would Willie have tried to play in 1974 at that point? Who knows? Probably a good thing because he didn't have much left. In 1973 he hit .211 with 6 homers. He had an OPS+ of 81, the only time since his rookie year it dipped below 120 for a full season. Sadly, it was time to go.


I only got to see Willie play once. It was in the 1973 All-Star Game in K.C. I'll never get tired of thanking my dad for taking me on a bus trip to see that game. Sparky Lyle struck him out as a pinch-hitter in the top of the 8th. He was in a Met uniform. Didn't matter, because I'd gotten to see Willie Mays play. I took my son to our local minor league park when it opened to a capacity crowd in 2005 and made sure he was sitting on my shoulders (as a 10 year old....) on the outfield berm so he could see Stan Musial throw out the first pitch. I hope my son looks back on that moment someday the way I look back on having had a chance to see Willie Mays play in person.


I'm glad they gave Willie a good "action" card. One of the things he was known for was hustling and I love the shot. It looks like he's gone from first to third on a single and is sliding just because he wants to. Even at this age, I'm sure Willie could outrun any throw from the outfield not made by Roberto Clemente. If you can't tell, I idolized Willie Mays. It's been a little more difficult as he's gotten older, had the Bally's "scandal" in the 80's and been in a position of having to defend Barry Bonds lately. If you look at this entire set, you're going to find my favorite ballplayers are going to be Willie, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Lou Brock and Bob Gibson. Here's to you, Willie!

#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.

#45 & 46 -- Glenn Beckert

Glenn Beckert







Glenn put up solid minor league numbers, but his chance to play did not come because he wowed the Cubs' management into fitting him in over the prior incumbent. Sadly, Ken Hubbs died in a plane crash during the off-season after 1963. The 1964 second baseman was a revolving door of guys that couldn't get the job done, so they moved Beckert over from short. They got a good second baseman that made 4 All-Star teams from 1969-1972. That Cub infield was pretty strong in the late 60's, featuring Ernie Banks, Beckert, Don Kessinger and Ron Santo. That was definitely the Cubs' strength.


Glenn here was coming off the best year of his career, hitting .342. It was also his best year of OPS+, but that stat of 108 being your career best is far less impressive than his batting average. He didn't walk, strikeout or hit for any power, so what you got out of the batting average was what you were going to get.


Glenn's career went into a nosedive. After 1973 the Cubs overhauled the team. Beckert went to the Padres for outfielder Jerry Morales. Glenn didn't put up the numbers in San Diego, splitting time at second with Derrel Thomas. He was released in April 1975 and that was it.


The action card isn't any great shakes. He's finishing off a practice swing in Candlestick. Normally a practice swing when you're not even at bat shouldn't be part of an "action" card, but he sure put a lot of effort into that practice swing. Perhaps that kind of effort in the on deck circle at making sure you follow through properly is what leads to a guy hitting .342. I guess it's not as cold in Candlestick as it usually is during the summer because he's got regular T-shirt sleeves instead of the shimmering plastic windbreader showin in his regular card.

#43 & 44 -- Rick Wise & "In Action"

Rick Wise







When you talk about good hitting pitchers, Rick Wise is one that comes up. He’s the only person to ever hit 2 homers while pitching a no-hitter. Not much drama about who the star of the game was that night, but he wouldn’t have predicted a great game as he said he was weak from just getting over the flu. We should all be so sick. It should have been his second no-hitter. He lost his first on what he says was a poor scoring decision. Jeff Torborg was credited with an infield hit on a roller to short that the shortstop bobbled.

Otherwise, he was a league average pitcher. He was a 19 game winner for the Red Sox team that went to the 1975 World Series and had a ringside seat for Fisk’s game winning homer. Unfortunately for Rick, he's always going to be best remembered in Missouri for going 17-17 in 1972 instead of 27-10. When the Cardinal brass got sick of Steve Carlton, the Phils gave up Rick to get him. Not Rick's fault, but he was given shoes too big to fill.

There are identifiable guys in the background. From Baseball Almanac's roster page that shows numbers from 1971, I can tell that the guy on the left (#37) is Billy Wilson. The guy on the right is a minor leaguer (doesn't look old enough to be a coach), because the Phils didn't have any numbers in the 50's on their active roster. The guy in the middle is a future Hall of Famer that looks like is receiving a wedgie from Wilson. My hint is that he could slap a contempt citation on Wilson for that disrespecful act now. That pitcher is Senator Jim Bunning.


The "action" card is pretty good, given what we've seen so far. It was taken on a sunny day in Candlestick, and there's a pretty full house. Of course the Giants won the West in 1971. Rick pitched there twice. He got beat 6-0 on August 18, but that was a Wednesday with an attendance of only 10,000, so I don't that that was the game. I'm going for the first game of a June 6 doubleheader where Rick threw a 3 hit shutout with 9 K's to win 1-0. It's good to see the subject of the "action" card also be a good day for the ballplayer.

#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.

#39 & 40 -- Bob Barton & "In Action"

Bob Barton

The only year Bob was a semi-regular player was 1971. His OPS+ was a lofty 94, by far the highest of any season in which he had more than 10 plate appearances. His .250 average for a team that hit .233 was 5th for players that had 300 at bats. It was by far his best year. His competition for the spot came from rookie Fred Kendall (.171) and Chris Cannizzaro (.190). The good times stopped rolling when Bob got off to a bad start in 1972 and the Padres put Fred Kendall in to catch regularly.

I never knew Bob had a place in baseball history, especially with these numbers. However, Bob had a profound place. Marvin Miller was negotiating with the owners over the reserve clause. The owners were arguing that the reserve clause, which kept a player from being a free agent, protected players. Miller responded with “What about Bob Barton?” Miller was wondering how the reserve system protected a player like Bob Barton who’d been a 3rd string catcher with the Giants for 5 years and was getting nowhere. The owners had no response. That helped convince Miller that the reserve clause was worth fighting over. So put Bob Barton up there (but quite a bit lower on the page) with Curt Flood, Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally as heroes of free agency.

Topps made 72 “in action” cards for 1972, 12 in each of the 6 series. If I were a Topps card executive as this was being considered, I would look at this as a way to get more cards in of players that baseball fans wanted to see. That’s why we had Carl Yastrzemski and we’ll see Willie Mays, Bobby Murcer and Johnny Bench. You also need to get in someone from every team. However, why in the world were there 5 Padre “in action” cards? This would average 4 cards per team and the Pads weren't exactly the team you'd think to go over the average.

We’ll see Clay Kirby, Clarence Gaston, Nate Colbert and Ollie Brown coming up to go with Bob. I understand Nate Colbert as he was unquestionably the star of the team. Gaston and Brown were solid and Kirby was their top starter. I do not know why they have an “in action” card of Bob Barton. I’ll have the same question when we get to Pat Corrales of the Reds. Johnny Bench’s backups rarely saw any “action.” The “action” on this card is certainly questionable as it looks like he’s just chased a foul ball to the screen and is lingering to look at the attractive young lady or a kid eating ice cream in the third row. The best part of the card is the security guard. How often do you see that guy in the picture? Based on how tough he looks, I don't think they're expecting Colonel Ike Dubaku to be perpetrating any hijinks in the stadium today.

About the only other comment about Bob is that 1/3 of his 9 career homers came off Hall of Famers (Gaylord Perry, Phil Niekro and Ferguson Jenkins).

#37 & 38 -- Carl Yastrzemski

Carl Yastrzemski

If Rico Petrocelli is a Red Sox hero, here's a guy who's in the Red Sox Pantheon of Gods. He’s a Hall of Famer, but on a back field in Spring Training in the main card. I think at this time the Red Sox were in Winter Haven, FL. (They shouldn’t complain….when Babe Ruth played for them, Spring Training was in Hot Springs, AR. Of course, that may have been so Mr. Ruth could play the horses.) Looks like the same dumpy place Rico Petrocelli was, without the other player in the background.

Yaz looks young on the main card. I remember him more from the mid-70's when he'd gotten the older and harder look to him. The card pose is the classic batting stance, which I like. The only complaint about the card is the cartoon on the back. If it's talking about him leading the league in assists, why does it show him making a catch? Would it have been too difficult to draw an infielder tagging a guy with the ump in the background making an out sign with the infielder having a word balloon saying something like, "Thanks, Carl!!"?

During a stretch in the late 60’s, Yaz was as good as anyone in the League. He was hitting .300 in 1968 when no one else in the AL could. He was hitting 40 homers when the mound was high and pitchers ruled. He was also the best defensive left fielder of his day and was remarkably consistent at the plate.

OK, the photo on the action card isn’t horrible. Looks like Yaz has smoked one on a hit and run. Is that Munson behind the plate? It looks like he's got dark Yankee colors, but that could also be Billy Freehan of the Tigers or Ray Fosse of the Indians.

Think about Yaz’ career. He replaced Ted Williams in left field for the Red Sox. How does it go replacing a legend? Ask Gene Bartow when he was at UCLA or Bobby Murcer following Mickey Mantle into centerfield. Sometimes no matter how great you are in your own right, it'll never be good enough.

Yaz was one of the few that could follow a legend. Then, Jim Rice replaced him in 1975, as Yaz moved to DH and play 1B until 1983. Just think, from about 1939 until 1986 the Sox had 3 regular left fielders and all of them were dominant MVPs during their career (Mike Greenwell was looking good to extend this. For a while). And now, they’re all in the Hall of Fame.

#35 & 36 -- Jerry Johnson & "In Action"

Jerry Johnson










In 1971 Jerry was the top reliever on the Giants team that won the NL West. His 18 saves were 4th in the league. To make the All-Star team now, you’ve got to have more saves than that by the break. Of course in 1971 (1) more pitchers were throwing something called a complete game, so they didn't need relievers and (2) managers didn't give a rat's ass if a pitcher got a stat or not. The only important stat for Charlie Fox in 1971 was something called a "win."

Jerry didn’t repeat his success in 1972, going 8-6 4.42 with 8 saves. The Giants waived him. Didn’t even try to trade him. He had MVP votes the previous year and they didn’t think they could get any value for him. I guess you could do that when you had a few thousand tied up in a guy rather than a few million. Again, the rationale for whether to play or waive a guy in the early 1970's had nothing to do with contracts, but was all about winning. Today, a guy can lose his effectiveness as a closer, but he stays around. Heck, Eric Gagne just signed a minor league deal with the Brewers. Gagne was a great reliever before arm problems, but if you look at his anticipated effectiveness for 2009, you would think he would be a little less desirable than somebody like Jerry Johnson.

Unfortunately, the rest of Jerry’s career was mediocre at best. He bounced around with the Phils, Cards, Indians, Astros, Padres and Blue Jays. He was the winning pitcher in the Blue Jays first game, helping bail out Bill Singer, who we saw recently.

I can’t tell anything about the "action" in the In Action card. I know the game isn’t in June, because this photo was taken in Candlestick Park, the shadow suggests it’s late in the day and the few fans in the background aren’t huddled in blankets. But what’s Jerry doing? Is he walking off the mound after getting an inning-ending strikeout? Did he just get caught finishing his windup in warm-ups? Is he going to cover first on a bouncer to McCovey? It’s a good thing they’ve cropped this to close up on Jerry so we can’t see the rest of the field because the shadow keeps us from seeing Jerry’s face.

#33 & 34 -- Billy Martin and "In Action"

Billy Martin

















This is a famous card of Billy. Look at the middle finger on his left hand. Is he really flipping the photographer the bird or is he just comfortably leaning on the bat? I'll leave it to you.





The Tigers took the pennant this year, becoming the second team Billy led to the playoffs. He won the AL West with the Twins in 1969, but beat up a starting pitcher and ignored the owner, so he got canned anyway. I wonder if he was trying to "instill hustle and desire" into him like the cardback suggests.


He took over the Tigers and led them to within an eyelash of the World Series (a rare Eddie Brinkman throwing error led to the game winning run in Game 5), but got fired anyway after finishing 3rd the next year. Billy was fired more than any other manager, but the only one of his teams to not make the playoffs were the sad sack Rangers, although he guided them to a surprising second place finish in 1974. He "left" 9 managing assignments and the only two where he "left" with a less than .500 record in his last year was with the Rangers and the '82 A's.


Don’t tell me you didn’t see the "In Action" card coming. What is Billy Martin’s In Action card going to have? He’s arguing with the ump. He’s probably using the kind of language his left hand did in the previous card, but he hasn’t boiled over to kicking dirt around yet. Check out that vein about ready to pop on the right side of his neck. This may be the most appropriate In Action card in the entire set.

#31 & 32 Cleon Jones w/ In Action

Cleon Jones










Cleon Jones is a big guy in Mets’ lore. In 1969, he hit .340 to lead the team to an improbable Series and used the Nippy Jones trick to show shoe polish on the ball to convince the umpire to let him take first base as a hit batsman in Game 5 of the Series.

Cleon was one of the best all-around outfielders the Mets would have until Darryl Strawberry. He drew some complaints from the front office for supposedly having a cavalier attitude and being lazy (he was once pulled off the field like Jimmy Rollins), but when you're a star, you can get away with it. However, in 1975 some of his attitude met up with owner Donald Grant’s, uh, disappointment at being caught with drugs and a white woman to whom he wasn’t married. I only add the part about the woman being white because that was important in Grant’s furor. The only baseball Cleon played after that was a month with the White Sox. Still, I think Cleon is beloved to

This is the first in the "In Action" subsets. When you look through this set, almost everything is posed. In the 1971 set, there were several action shots. They went back to action shots in the 1973 set, but the photography on them looks like a 6 year old did it with one of those old Brownie cameras that you look down into the top. The 1973's are often grainy and at a distance. This was the only year that Topps used the "In Action" subset, possibly to emphasize "This is an action shot!" While it was a way for them to get additional cards of popular players in the set (they don't still do that, do they?), as you'll see, it also led to some questionable selections getting additional cards. As a whole, I think the "In Action" subset was a failure, but these cards are contained in all 6 series.

The First Series In Action cardback reminds me of when Little Ralphie Parker got his Little Orphan Annie decoder ring in "A Christmas Story" and the message turned out to be "Drink more Ovaltine." His response: "A stinking commercial" That's how I feel about these cardbacks. There's nothing there but a stinking commercial for the 3rd through 6th series.

Let’s take a look at the “action” going on. If that’s the pitchers mound in the background, then is he going to tag up at second on a fly ball? I guess he could be running from first to second and that’s the right field bullpen mound. Not a lot of action there.

#30 -- Rico Petrocelli

Rico Petrocelli








Among those adorable Chowds, Rico is a folk hero. He was made for Fenway Park. I heard an interview last fall on XM’s Baseball Channel (before Sirius took over and ruined it) of he and Jim Lonborg talking about the Impossible Dream Red Sox team from 1967. He talked about how he tailored his swing for the Green Monster and the thrill of having the soft liner that was the last out in the pennant clincher land in his glove. He's written a book about that team called "Tales From the Impossible Dream."

He was a big part of their team, hitting 40 homers as a shortstop in 1969 while making only 14 errors. He started having injury problems in 1974 and was never the same after being hit in the head in 1975, although he fared well in the Series against the Reds.

Looks like a Spring Training pose on this card. George Toma sure wasn’t the groundskeeper here. That patch on the right side of the card looks about like some of the softball fields I’ve played on. I can’t figure out who that is in the background. I’m going to say it’s some pitcher, although there’s really no telling.

Small card show report -- Last Hole Filled In

I took some time at a small card show over the weekend at the mall. There were only about 10 vendors. The one that has older vintage cards I like wasn't there. It didn't look too promising.

However, I saw another guy that I'd never seen before. He had a lot of cards from the early 70's back through the 60's in a dollar box. He also had a good trove of 1972 high numbers. I picked up one card I need for my 1964 set. I'm down to 13 needed.

I picked up about 12 of the high numbers needed for my 1972 set. I'm down to 13 needed on it.

The real big thing that came of this for me was that I got the last few cards for my 1971 set. It's finished. I now have complete Topps sets for 1971, 1973-2008. I'm about 1/2 way through a 1970 set. I have this thought that I'm going to work backwards, but I don't know how far I'll go. At the same table I saw a guy buying up 1957 singles. He was looking at a checklist. He asked how much it was. "It books for eight, but I'll let you have it for four and a half." Somehow, I don't think he was talking about dollars. That makes me wonder how far back I'll be able to go....

I wish Kevin could have been there. There were a lot of 1965's in those dollar and two dollar boxes.

#29 - Bill Bonham

Bill Bonham

This was Bill Bonham, set-up reliever/spot starter. He was decent in this role, with an ERA+ at 122 and 130. When the Cubs converted him to a starter, he was less effective, but his record was 11-22, 13-15 & 9-13. Then his fortunes changed. He went 11-5, 9-7 & 2-1. What changed? He went from pitching for the Cubs to pitching for the Reds. Arm problems brought a quick end to his career.

A highlight of his career: striking out Mike Torrez, Ron Hunt, Tim Foli and Willie Davis in order in the second inning of a game against the Expos. (Torrez reached on a passed ball and stole second for his only career steal. His only other attempt came a couple of months later when he was caught trying to steal 3rd. Had to have been a busted hit and run.) He also had 4 shutouts. He was a decent hitter for a pitcher and used 7 times as a pinch runner.

A lowlight was allowing Dave Cash (single), Larry Bowa (single), Garry Maddox (homer), Greg Luzinski (single), Jay Johnstone (double), Tommy Hutton (double) and Mike Schmidt (homer) to all get hits before he hits the shower in the first inning. This is the record for most consecutive hits allowed to start a game. Ken Crosby relieved and allowed a single to Johnny Oates before the parade was ended on Dick Ruthven’s sacrifice bunt. Why in the heck was Michael Jack Schmidt hitting 7th behind the illustrious sluggers Tommy Hutton and Jay Johnstone?

#28 -- Twins Rookies (Gebhard, Brye & Haydel)

Bob Gebhard
Steve Brye
Hal Haydel





More rookies. Steve Brye was the star of this show. The same Steve Brye that allegedly let a shallow fly off George Brett’s bat fall in on the final day of 1976 so he would win the batting title instead of Hal McRae. There are those who have opined he did so for not very nice reasons that aren’t worth repeating here. No matter what, it was an interesting day. Brett went 3-4, finishing at .333. McRae went 2-4 and finished at .332 and Rod Carew was 2-4, finishing at .331. Brye went on to be a somewhat below-average, weak-hitting outfielder with the Twins throughout the 70's, finishing up with the Pirates in 1978. Steve was also on a Twins Rookies card in 1971. If what he's alleged to have done on the final day of 1976 is true, there's not much reason to write more about him.

Bob Gebhard: as a 44th round draft pick, he overcame the odds by making the big leagues and getting 1 win and 1 save, later becoming the first GM of the Rockies. He looked like a genius with Andres Gallaraga, Vinny Cash-stealer, Dante Bichette and Larry Walker. However, a team ERA of over 6.00 doomed him. He then was Walt Jocketty's chief assistant in St. Louis and is now working with the Diamondbacks as a special assistant to GM Josh Byrnes.

Hal Haydel: his last game was in 1971, but only allowed 2/19 inherited runners to score in 1971. Don't know why he didn't get more of a chance. I guess Jim Strickland was just too much. Hal is from Houma, Louisiana, landfall point for Hurricane Gustav in 2008 and ancestral home of my father-in-law.

Card Show coming up

Living in southwest Missouri there aren't a lot of card shows. When I was in law school at Duke, I could find something in driving distance at least once a month. I even drove to Charlotte once for a big show at the Convention Center (coming back in an ice storm in a '84 Camaro with rear wheel drive...dang glad to have made it).

We have a mall show this weekend. Because it's Valentine's weekend, I'll have to squeeze it in Friday afternoon. I don't think I can get my wife out shopping this weekend and I sure don't want to take my kids. It's not like the neat shows I'd go to in the '80's, but there are 2-3 guys that bring stuff I like. There's one guy that I know will get about $50 from me, just on old assorted cards from '58 - '69 that he puts out. I'll spend a couple of hours at his table talking about old ballplayers and looking at cards. I end up getting a lot of his autographed.

I'm really looking this time to knock out a lot of my want list on the 1971 and 1972 sets. If I can find anything for 1964, I'll see about it, but those cards are probably going to go beyond what I forecast my budget for this show will be.

Anyway, guys like Cesar Gutierrez, Rick Monday, Bobby Murcer and Willie Davis can get ready to say "Hi" to me a little later on. Unless I'm really bowled over, I just don't see me picking up any 2009 cards at all.

#27 -- Bob Johnson

Bob Johnson




Bob's another guy that lost an entire year to military service. He was cruising before leaving and struggled a little coming back, but rebounded well. His numbers look better than his win-loss record for the Royals. Believe it or not, Bob was responsible for building the Royals. He was in the trade that brought Amos Otis to the Royals from the Mets and the Pirates gave up Freddie Patek to get him. Those were two cornerstones of the Royals in the '70's.

It's kind of neat to see all the guys hanging around behind him. I wonder if they're making fun of his bent-over, finishing up the fake pitch pose? Bob was 6-4 and 220, which was a big guy back then, so if anyone was poking fun at him, I'll bet little Jose Pagan wasn't one of them.

That 1971 playoff game on the back of Bob's card was a big deal. The LCS (best of 5) was tied 1-1 and the Giants were going with Juan Marichal. Marichal shut the Pirates down on 4 hits, only allowing solo homers to Richie Hebner and Bob Robertson. Bob had to be better and he was, scattering 5 hits and allowing only an unearned run over 8 innings. The Pirates won that game to go up 2-1 and then closed it out in Game 4. Bob wasn't so strong in the Series against the Orioles. He started and lost Game 2, getting knocked out in the 4th.

There were 4 Bob Johnsons to have played in the big leagues. This Bob wasn't the best, but he's the only one with a World Series ring.

Blog Bat Around #4 -- Where your heart is......

What card or set with have value in ten years?

That's a simple question in 1979. (I start there because I didn't have any cards in 1969) The answer would be the T210 Wagner and Topps. There really wasn't anything else. However, what was the rage in 1989? There are some cards that will always have value. The Honus Wagner is one and the 1952 Topps set is another. What I remember (I did no research) was that the 1984 Fleer Update set was a big deal, with rookie cards of Puckett and Clemens. The 1984 and 1985 Topps sets were big because of the rookie cards of Mattingly ('84), Gooden ('85), Clemens ('85) and McGwire ('85 Olympic).

Ask that question again in 1989? You'd think the Clemens, Gooden and Mattingly cards would be the big deals by the time Prince would be partying (1999). If you were talking about 1989 products, you'd expect Gregg Jeffries, Ken Griffey, Jr. and 1989 Score to be big deals. Possibly even Upper Deck, but it was such a new product that I wasn't quite ready to jump in with both feet until I saw if it was going to last.

I couldn't tell you what was big in 1999. I'd kind of moved away from collecting cards because I'd had kids and was buying diapers instead of cards in the mid-90's. I'd started to get back in and there was so much.......crap. There were all these insert cards that weren't part of the sets. What was that all about? I really wasn't knowing what to collect then. If you'd have asked me in 1999 what would be valuable in 10 years, I couldn't have answered it.

So that gets us to 2009. If you asked me what the big development has been in the last 10 years I'd give you 2. First, the development of ebay and the internet as the primary marketplace for cards. Second, the number of card companies has shrunk to 2, although they produce too many cards.

What developments will we see in the next 10 years? Who the heck knows. I can tell you that if the card market progresses on the same general path as the last 10 years, there may not be any "sets" that "valuable" because the card companies are getting away from set collectors with all the short prints, etc., even now supposedly getting into the flagship sets. However, I see a lot of cry on the blogs for more attention to the set collector....Hmmmm....perhaps the tide will turn.

I'd have to say that monetary value will be with vintage cards (vintage being anything before 1973). However, I'll place my own subjective value. In 10 years, I'll be 54 years old and the Duke Blue Devils will be celebrating another 2 national championships in college basketball as Coach K steps down (we're getting the crap kicked out of us by the Heels as I write this. Grrrrr....). Frankly, I value all the cards I have. Whether it's a Bob Gibson rookie card, my (almost complete) 1964 set, any Roberto Clemente card or a 1976 Randy Tate, a 1986 Bob Gibson (the Milwaukee Brewer) or my 1972 Johnny Bench with part of the front ripped off when I took it down from the bulletin board I'd taped it to in 1973, they'll all be worth more than what somebody would want to pay me.

When it comes down to it, I have always found "value" in my cards from my heart, rather than from a price guide. I hope that never changes, whether it be 10 years or 40 years from now.

#26 -- Andy Etchebarren

Andy Etchebarren

Andy had the bushiest eyebrows in the league. Leonid Brezhnev and a Jonas Brother (OK, I'm not hip enough to know which one) say he should wax those things. I’d always known him as a backup for the Orioles and was astonished to see he made 2 All-star teams and even garnered MVP votes in 1966, when he hit an astonishing .221 with 11 homers. Kevin must have been in charge of the MVP voting (don’t know how you can do that pre-natal….good job, Kevin!) because Frank Robinson was the unanimous MVP, Brooks Robinson was second followed by Boog Powell; Luis Aparicio was 9th, Stu Miller 11th, and Andy finished 17th. I don't have any problem with the Robinsons and John Wesley Powell, but I probably wouldn’t have voted Etchebarren as even the 17th most valuable Oriole.

He may not have been a relief pitcher, but Andy posted the most important save of 1966 for the Orioles. At a private party on August 22, 1966, Frank Robinson was struggling underwater until Andy dove in and saved him. Can’t you see Andy as a guest celebrity lifeguard on Baywatch, running through the sand with the other lifeguards, bushy eyebrows flapping in the breeze along with Pam Anderson’s…..wait, this is a baseball site. Maybe he got those MVP votes for making sure Frank Robby was around for a full season.

Andy was also the last man to bat against Sandy Koufax. If I were him, I'd be saying that facing me convinced Sandy to take early retirement. The truth, however, was that Andy hit into a double play in the 6th inning of Game 2 of the 1966 Series. After his playing career, Andy coached in the minors for a long time (dismissed by the Ripkens from managing Aberdeen at the end of 2007) and spent 2008 coaching in the independent Atlantic League.