WTHBALLS GUM PACK CUSTOM SET: JIM "CATFISH" HUNTER

Today on the blog, my "Catfish Hunter" mini special from my custom "Gum Pack" set released a few months back just for the fun of it:

Love creating ad issuing off-sized oddball cards, and this set fit the bill perfectly in deluxe gum-pack packaging.

Over his 15-year career, which wrapped up in 1979 due to arm troubles, Hunter racked up 224 wins, a 3.26 earned run average, 42 shutouts and 2012 strikeouts.

He took home the Cy Young Award in 1974 in his last season with the A's, came in second for the award the following year in his first year as a landmark Free-Agent with the Yankees, and threw a perfect game back in 1968 at the young age of 22.

A big-game pitcher, Hunter was a member of no less than five World Champion teams: 1972-74 Oakland A's, and the "Bronx Zoo" Yankee teams of 1977-78.

Did you know that Hunter is the last pitcher in the Major Leagues to complete 30 or more games in a season? 

In 1975 he completed 30 of his 39 starts, on his way to a 23-14 record with seven shutouts and a 2.58 E.R.A.

Between 1971 and 1975 he won 20 or more games each year, a great five year run which saw him win 111 games.

As a matter of fact, Hunter was the first pitcher since the all-time great Walter Johnson to win 200 games before the age of 31! And the only other guys at that time to also do it? Christy Mathewson and Cy Young. Incredible.

Sadly arm troubles and diabetes started to affect his career, forcing him to retire in 1979 at the age of only 33.

The final feather in his baseball cap would be a Hall of Fame induction in 1987 along with Chicago Cubs great Billy Williams, giving him a solid place in baseball history, if he didn't have one already...

1960'S DEDICATED ROOKIE: 1965 JIM "CATFISH" HUNTER

On the blog today, we spotlight another card from my 1960's Dedicated Rookie set released a couple of years ago, this time my 1965 card for Hall of Famer Jim "Catfish" Hunter:

Hunter was a 19-year-old who hadn't yet pitched in a Big League game when this card would have come out, who would go on to finish 8-8 over 32 games with two shutouts and a 4.26 earned run average over 133 innings.

Over his 15-year career, which wrapped up in 1979 due to arm troubles, Hunter racked up 224 wins, a 3.26 earned run average, 42 shutouts and 2012 strikeouts.

He took home the Cy Young Award in 1974 in his last season with the A's, came in second for the award the following year in his first year as a landmark Free-Agent with the Yankees, and threw a perfect game back in 1968 at the young age of 22.

A big-game pitcher, Hunter was a member of no less than five World Champion teams: 1972-74 Oakland A's, and the "Bronx Zoo" Yankee teams of 1977-78.

Did you know that Hunter is the last pitcher in the Major Leagues to complete 30 or more games in a season? 

In 1975 he completed 30 of his 39 starts, on his way to a 23-14 record with seven shutouts and a 2.58 E.R.A.

Between 1971 and 1975 he won 20 or more games each year, a great five year run which saw him win 111 games.

As a matter of fact, Hunter was the first pitcher since the all-time great Walter Johnson to win 200 games before the age of 31! And the only other guys at that time to also do it? Christy Mathewson and Cy Young. Incredible.

Sadly arm troubles and diabetes started to affect his career, forcing him to retire in 1979 at the age of only 33.

The final feather in his baseball cap would be a Hall of Fame induction in 1987 along with Chicago Cubs great Billy Williams, giving him a solid place in baseball history, if he didn't have one already...

 

BASEBALL'S GREATEST MOMENTS: JIM HUNTER'S 1968 PERFECT GAME

The next 1971 "Baseball's Greatest Moments" card added to my custom "extended set" is a card celebrating Hall of Famer Jim "Catfish" Hunter and his 1968 perfect game:

 

On May 8th of that year, one year and one day before I was born FYI, Oakland A's starter Jim Hunter took the mound against the heavy-hitting Minnesota Twins, a line-up that featured THREE future Hall of Famers in a row in Rod Carew, Harmon Killebrew and Tony Oliva.

It was only the 25th game for the Oakland franchise after moving there from Kansas City, and the scant 6,300 fans were treated to history, as Hunter ended up tossing the ninth perfect game at the time in MLB history, beating the Twins 4-0 at Oakland-Alameda County Stadium.

Hunter struck out eleven batters, including the last two of the game, with only two batters even reaching a three-ball count: Tony Oliva in the second inning and the final hitter of the game, pinch-hitter Rich Reese, who actually fouled-off five straight 3-2 pitches before whiffing.

It was actually the first regular season perfect game in the American League since 1922, when Chicago White Sox pitcher Charlie Robertson accomplished the feat, and first no-hitter in the Athletics franchise since the Philadelphia days, when Bill McCaha threw a no-no in 1947.

Incredibly, what is often forgotten is that the star HITTER of the game was Hunter himself, as he went 3-for-4 at the plate with three runs batted in!

Just amazing!

The game took a nice 2:28 minutes to complete, and really introduced the budding ace to the rest of the baseball world, as he would become a perennial 20-game winner, 1974 Cy Young recipient, and five-time champion before retiring in 1979.

REVISITING A BLOG POST FROM SEPTEMBER, 2014: JIM "CATFISH" HUNTER NICKNAME CARD

Thought it would be fun today to revisit a blog post from just about eight years ago, my 1973 "nicknames of the 1970's" card for Hall of Fame pitcher Jim "Catfish" Hunter:

One of the earlier nickname cards I created, and a favorite!

Hunter was coming off of his second of what would be five consecutive 20-win seasons, his last one as a member of the New York Yankees after signing with them as one of the game's first big-time free agents.

What a class-act Hunter was.

A down-to-earth dude who didn't let stardom sidetrack him, it was sad that he'd have to retire from the game at the age of 33 because of arm troubles, but downright tragic that he would pass away in 1999 from ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) at the young age of 53!

By the time he retired in 1979, he posted 224 wins, a 3.26 earned run average, 2012 strikeouts, and most importantly, FIVE championships: three with Oakland and two with the Yankees.

In 1987 Cooperstown came calling and elected him in, forever enshrined in baseball's all-time history.

 

1970 IN-GAME ACTION: JIM HUNTER

Next up in my on-going 1970 "In-Game Action" set is the great Jim Hunter, aka "Catfish", who was still in the beginning stages of his eventual Hall of Fame career:

 

In his 15-year career, which wrapped up in 1979 due to arm troubles, Hunter racked up 224 wins, a 3.26 earned run average, 42 shutouts and 2012 strikeouts.

He took home the Cy Young Award in 1974 in his last season with the A's, came in second for the award the following year in his first year as a landmark Free-Agent with the Yankees, and threw a perfect game back in 1968 at the young age of 22.

A big-game pitcher, Hunter was a member of no less than five World Champion teams: 1972-74 Oakland A's, and the "Bronx Zoo" Yankee teams of 1977-78.

Did you know that Hunter is the last pitcher in the Major Leagues to complete 30 or more games in a season? 

In 1975 he completed 30 of his 39 starts, on his way to a 23-14 record with seven shutouts and a 2.58 E.R.A.

Between 1971 and 1975 he won 20 or more games each year, a great five year run which saw him win 111 games.

As a matter of fact, Hunter was the first pitcher since the all-time great Walter Johnson to win 200 games before the age of 31! And the only other guys at that time to also do it? Christy Mathewson and Cy Young. Incredible.

Sadly arm troubles and diabetes started to affect his career, forcing him to retire in 1979 at the age of only 33.

The final feather in his baseball cap would be a Hall of Fame induction in 1987 along with Chicago Cubs great Billy Williams, giving him a solid place in baseball history, if he didn't have one already...

EXPANDED LEAGUE LEADERS- 1975 A.L. VICTORIES

On the blog today, we move on to the American League and their top winning pitchers for 1974, on a 1975 “expanded league leader” card:

 

 

The top spot with 25 victories was shared by two future Hall of Famers, Jim “Catfish” Hunter and Fergie Jenkins, who both had monster seasons and finished first and second respectively in the Cy Young race by season’s end.

For Hunter, he finally brought home the Cy Young Award after going 25-12 for the Oakland A’s, helping them win their third straight World Championship, defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers.

He also led the league with a 2.49 earned run average, starting 41 games and completing 23, with six shutouts and 143 strikeouts in 318.1 innings of work, edging out Jenkins 90 points to 75 for pitching’s greatest award.

For Jenkins, he just missed out on becoming the first pitcher to take home the award in both leagues, as he would go 25-12 with a 2.82 ERA over 41 starts, completing 29 while tossing six shutouts himself, striking out 225 batters for the surprising Texas Rangers.

It was the last of his seven 20-win seasons in the Majors, as he would go on to finish with 284 wins over his stellar 19-year Big League career.

In third place with 22 wins apiece are four solid starters from the decade, including one Hall of Famer: Nolan Ryan, Mike Cuellar, Steve Busby and Luis Tiant.

All four of these guys put in Cy worthy years for their respective teams, with Ryan leading the league with 367 strikeouts, Cuellar leading the league with his .688 winning percentage, Tiant leading the league with his seven shutouts and Busby tossing the second no-hitter of his young career, becoming the first pitcher to ever toss two no-no’s in his first two full seasons in the Majors.

Well there you have it! SIX top-notch pitchers of the era represented on a fun card to create for the blog!

 

EXPANDED LEAGUE LEADERS: 1975 A.L. E.R.A.

Today on the blog, we move on to the American League and their top three ERA pitchers of 1974, in my 1975 "expanded league leader" series:

 

We begin with Hall of Famer Jim "Catfish" Hunter, who led the Junior Circuit with his 2.49 earned run average to go along with his leading 25 victories, earning him a Cy Young Award by season's end.

Hunter pitched an amazing 23 complete games out of his 41 starts that season, with six shutouts and 143 strikeouts in 318.1 innings of work, helping the Oakland A's win a third straight World Series title.

Just behind Hunter with a 2.51 ERA is another Hall of Fame pitcher, Gaylord Perry of the Cleveland Indians, who went 21-13 that year, with four shutouts and 28 complete games out of his 37 starts! These guys were bulls!

Along with those stellar numbers, Perry also struck out 216 batters, the seventh time at that point in his career, adding one more the following season to his already incredible Big League resume.

As amazing as those numbers were, all it got Perry was a fourth place finish in the Cy Young race, giving you an idea just how stocked Major League pitching was in the 1970's.

In third place with a 2.61 ERA is the surprise of the bunch, though certainly not some no name pitcher, California Angels starter And Hassler, who, despite that nice ERA ended up with a record of 7-11 in his 1974 campaign.

The hard luck pitcher completed 10 of his 22 starts that year, with two shutouts and a save thrown in, pitching 162 innings on the nose.

Still only 22 years of age, Hassler would stick around the Big Leagues until 1985, appearing in 387 games over his 14-year career with 44 wins and 29 saves.

And there it is! Your top three American League ERA men of 1974.

EXPANDED YEARLY LEADER CARDS: 1973 A.L. EARNED RUN AVERAGE

On the blog today we move on to the American League Earned Run Average leaders for 1972, featuring three big time pitchers, two Hall of Famers and someone who arguably should be in:

 

Starting off, we begin with a pitcher who made quite a comeback, resurrecting his Big League career in 1972, Luis Taint, who led the league with a brilliant 1.91 ERA in his first full season with the Boston Red Sox.

After going 21-9 with a league leading 1.60 ERA in 1968 while with the Cleveland Indians, Taint's career took a nosedive, losing 20 games in 1969, appearing in only 18 games in 1970 with the Minnesota Twins, then going 1-7 with a 4.83 ERA in Boston.

However, in 1972 he was back on top, going 15-6, tossing six shutouts and saving three over 43 appearances, 19 of which were starts.

He'd go on to win 20+ games in three of his next four seasons, eventually retiring after the 1982 season with 229 wins, 49 shutouts and a 3.30 ERA.

Just behind him in the ERA chase was Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry, who had his first Cy Young season in 1972, coming over to the Cleveland Indians after the big trade for Sam McDowell, and Perry would not disappoint, going 24-16 over 41 games, throwing a monster 342.2 innings and sporting a 1.92 ERA,with five shutouts and 234 strikeouts.

Six years later, when many thought he was "done", he'd win his second Cy Young, now with the San Diego Padres, becoming the first pitcher to win the award in both leagues, going 21-6 with a 2.73 ERA over 37 starts at the age of 39. Not too shabby!

Third in the league with a 2.09 ERA in 1972 was another Hall of Famer, former Oakland A's ace Jim "Catfish" Hunter, who had himself a very nice season helping the A's to the first of what would be three straight World Championships, going 21-7 with 191 strikeouts and five shutouts over 38 appearances, all but one as a starter.

It was his second of five straight 20-win seasons, as he'd finish up with 224 wins after arm troubles set in, tossing 42 shutouts and posting a career 3.26 ERA over 15 seasons, though still only 33 when he hung up the spikes.

Well there you have it, three studs who finished 1 through 3 in the league ERA category!

ON-CARD ALL-STAR: 1974 JIM "CATFISH" HUNTER

Today we reach the final American League player to get the "on-base-card" All-Star banner for 1974, Hall of Fame pitcher Jim "Catfish" Hunter:

 

Hunter had himself quite a year in 1973, topping 20 wins for the third straight season with 21, going 21-5 with a 3.34 earned run average and 124 strikeouts over 36 appearances.

Along the way he tossed three shutouts while completing 11 games, pitching a total of 256.1 innings.

Of course more importantly he also helped the Oakland A's win their second straight World Series, and they weren't done yet as they'd march to their third straight championship in 1974, beating the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Of course we all know Hunter would become one of the early big-time Free Agents, signing with the New York Yankees in time for the 1975 season, and he'd go on to enjoy another two championships, helping the "Bronx Zoo" Yanks win it all in both 1977 and 1978.

Sadly, though still only 33 years of age in 1979, he called it a career after injuries took their toll, finishing up with a record of 224 and 166, with an ERA of 3.26 with 42 shutouts and 2012 strikeouts over 500 games, 476 of those starts, completing 181.

In 1987 he'd be voted into the Hall of Fame, and sadly just 12 years later he would pass away at the age of only 53 due to ALS.

1974 SPECIAL- THE OAKLAND A'S 20-WIN TRIO

Today I thought I’d love to post up my 1974 special card of the Oakland A’s trio of 20-games winners from 1973, Vida Blue, Catfish Hunter and Ken Holtzman:

The A’s would march on to their second straight World Championship that season, led by the 62 combined wins of the three starters, with Hunter and Holtzman posting 21 wins and Blue coming in at 20.
The team would post a record of 94-68, beating the Baltimore Orioles in the Playoffs 3 games to 2 before proceeding to beat the New York Mets 4 games to 3 in the World Series.
It was be the last time a team would have as many as three 20-game winners in the same season, with the 1989 A’s coming close when they were led by Dave Stewart’s 21 wins, with teammates Mike Moore and Storm Davis coming in at 19.
It’s also worth noting that in 1989 the A’s also had Bob Welch come in with 17 wins. Amazing to think just how close they were to have four 20-game winners.

1975 IN-ACTION: JIM "CATFISH" HUNTER

Time to go and give Jim “Catfish” Hunter a card in my on-going 1975 “In-Action sub-set, in all it’s beautiful Oakland A’s glory:

I can never get tired of those uniforms!
Hunter was just completing his incredible run with the A’s, which saw him win three straight championships between 1972 and 1974, while also posting four straight 20-win seasons stretching back to 1971.
But he wasn’t done just yet, going on to be one of the first big time Free Agents and signing with the New York Yankees and winning another 23 games in 1975 to lead the American League after doing the same with 25 the year before.
After posting 17 wins for the Yankees in 1976, helping them get to the World Series for the first time in 12 seasons, Hunter developed arm problems, playing out his Hall of Fame career with 24 wins over the next three seasons before calling it a career in 1979.
I still marvel at his 1975 season with the Yanks, which saw him complete 30 of his 39 starts, throwing 328 innings while finishing second in the league’s Cy Young race.
To think he retired at the age of only 33!

A 1975 "SPECIAL" CARD- THE ALL-STAR COMBO OF JIM HUNTER AND ROLLIE FINGERS

I came across this image a long time ago and always wanted to create one of those 1960s era “special” cards, so here goes, a 1975 card featuring the awesome one-two punch of Jim “Catfish” Hunter and Rollie Fingers, future Hall of Fame members:

These two were an incredible tandem for the Oakland A’s, with Hunter rolling with four straight 20-win seasons between 1971 and 1974, including a Cy Young Award for his 25-win year of 1974, while Fingers would be collecting 20+ saves a year while notching around 10 wins, all out of the bullpen, pitching over 100-innings every single season.
Just an awesome pair of 1970’s players who would eventually team up once again in Cooperstown with another teammate, Reggie Jackson.
Three important cogs in the three-peat champion teams of 1972-1974 that also included guys like Joe Rudi, Sal Bando, Gene Tenace and another ace pitcher, Vida Blue.
Of course, Hunter would sign with the New York Yankees before the 1975 season, setting off the dismantling of the dynasty with everyone, and I mean everyone, soon gone, leading to Oakland becoming a last-place team within a few years.

CY YOUNG AWARD- 1975 SUB-SET

Next up in the Awards thread is a 1975 card for the 1974 Cy Young winners, Mike Marshall and Jim “Catfish” Hunter, who put together a couple of monster seasons in 1974:

Starting off with Marshall, he put in a season for the ages coming out of the bullpen for the Los Angeles Dodgers on their way to the National League Pennant, appeared in a (still) Major League record 106 games, posting a record of 15-12 with a 2.42 earned run average along with a league-leading 21 saves.
The man pitched an incredible 208.1 innings out of the bullpen, striking out 143 batters while closing out 83 games for L.A.
His performance even got him a third place finish in the league Most Valuable Player race, finishing behind winner (and teammate) Steve Garvey and stolen base guru Lou Brock.
Over in the American League, Catfish Hunter edged out the Texas Rangers’ Fergie Jenkins, taking home the Award based on his league-leading 25 wins and 2.49 earned run average, along with six shutouts over his 41 starts and 23 complete games as he anchored an Oakland staff that led the team to their third straight World Series win.
It was his fourth straight 20-win season, to which he’d add the following season as a New York Yankee after becoming the first big-time Free Agent in baseball’s new age.
It’s still amazing to remember that Hunter’s career was over by the time he was 33, even though he already had 224 wins under his belt.
Wonder just how many wins he could have racked up had he been able to stick around to his late-30’s.

TURN BACK THE CLOCK 1968: JIM HUNTER TOSSES PERFECT GAME

Today we celebrate Jim “Catfish” Hunter’s perfect game from May 8th, 1968 versus the Minnesota Twins:

The future Hall of Fame pitcher held the hard-hitting Twins in check, which is amazing when you consider this line-up consisted of: 10 batting championships, 6 homer champions, and nine total-hits champions!
The Twins line-up that day had Rod Carew, Tony Oliva, Cesar Tovar and Harmon Killebrew as the first four batters! Incredible to think Hunter mowed them down one by one.
What is often forgotten is that the hitting star that day for the Oakland Athletics was none other than Hunter himself, going 3-for-4 at the plate with three RBI’s in the 4-0 win.
Of course, at the time Hunter was just a 22-year old .500 pitcher for the organization, a few years before he’d become the five-time 20-game winner we all remember.
It was the 1st regular season perfect game in the American League since Charlie Robertson tossed one in April 30, 1922 for the White Sox in their win over the Detroit Tigers.

MISSING IN ACTION-"IN ACTION" #17: 1972 JIM "CATFISH" HUNTER

Today's player for my ongoing 1972 "Missing In-Action" stars is Jim "Catfish" Hunter. Future Hall of Famer and stalwart of the Oaklnad A's dynasty of the mid-1970's.

Take a look:

Hunter was coming off of his first of what would be five consecutive 20-win seasons, his last one as a member of the New York Yankees after signing with them as one of the game's first big-time free agents.

What a class-act Hunter was.

A down-to-earth dude who didn't let stardom sidetrack him, it was sad that he'd have to retire from the game at the age of 33 because of arm troubles, but downright tragic that he would pass away in 1999 from ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) at the young age of 53!

By the time he retired in 1979, he posted 224 wins, a 3.26 earned run average, 2012 strikeouts, and most importantly, FIVE championships: three with Oakland and two with the Yankees.

In 1987 Cooperstown came calling and elected him in, forever enshrined in baseball's all-time history.

NICKNAMES OF THE '70'S #7: "CATFISH" JIM HUNTER

If I'm going to have a thread creating a sub-set of classic nicknames of the 1970's, you KNOW I have to design a card for Hall of Fame pitcher Jim "Catfish" Hunter.

Take a look:

I chose to use a 1973 card design since Hunter was in the prime of his career around then.

Already a World Champ in 1972, Hunter was on his way to FOUR more championships split between the Oakland A's and New York Yankees,  (1973/74 & 1977/78).

One of the first big-name free agents, Hunter went on to a great 15-year career that eventually got him inducted into Cooperstown's hallowed halls.

"Catfish", what a classic nickname! One for the ages…

THEN AND NOW #9: JIM "CATFISH" HUNTER 1979

Today's "Then and Now" super veteran is former Oakland A's and New York Yankees pitching great Jim "Catfish" Hunter.

Take a look at my card design:

 

 

 

In his 15-year career, which was wrapping up in 1979 due to arm troubles, Hunter racked up 224 wins, a 3.26 earned run average, 42 shutouts and 2012 strikeouts.

He took home the Cy Young Award in 1974 in his last season with the A's, came in second for the award the following year in his first year as a landmark Free-Agent with the Yankees, and threw a perfect game back in 1968 at the young age of 22.

A big-game pitcher, Hunter was a member of no less than five World Champion teams: 1972-74 Oakland A's, and the "Bronx Zoo" Yankee teams of 1977-78.

Did you know that Hunter is the last pitcher in the Major Leagues to complete 30 or more games in a season? 

In 1975 he completed 30 of his 39 starts, on his way to a 23-14 record with seven shutouts and a 2.58 E.R.A.

Between 1971 and 1975 he won 20 or more games each year, a great five year run which saw him win 111 games.

As a matter of fact, Hunter was the first pitcher since the all-time great Walter Johnson to win 200 games before the age of 31! And the only other guys at that time to also do it? Christy Mathewson and Cy Young. Incredible.

Sadly arm troubles and diabetes started to affect his career, forcing him to retire in 1979 at the age of only 33.

The final feather in his baseball cap would be a Hall of Fame induction in 1987 along with Chicago Cubs great Billy Williams, giving him a solid place in baseball history, if he didn't have one already...

1975 "CY YOUNG AWARD" SUB-SET: WHAT IF? 1974: THE FINAL CHAPTER

Well, after almost six months of seeing a weekly post regarding my imagined sub-set, "1975 Topps Cy Young Award Winners: 1951-1974", we have finally come to the last post, the 1974 winners: Jim palmer and Mike Marshall.

Take a look at my card design:

As with my 1972 post, I had to first create a new card for Marshall (Like Steve Carlton in '72), since his regular 1974 card had him as a Montreal Expo.

So I designed a new card showing Marshall as a Dodger, for whom he went on to win the award with in 1974.

Take a close-up look at my redesigned 1974 Mike Marshall card:

And for those who forgot what the original looked like, here you go:

Marshall came to Los Angeles and just put in a season for the ages, as he appeared in a (still) Major League record 106 games, all out of the 'pen, leading the league with 21 saves and 83 games finished.

The man posted 208.1 innings pitched IN RELIEF! Just incredible!

For the season he posted a record of 15-12, with a 2.42 earned run average and 143 strikeouts, not only giving him a Cy Young Award, but a third place finish for Most Valuable Player as well.

Over in the American League, it was a tremendous season for Oakland A's starter Jim "Catfish" Hunter.

After finishing in the top-5 for the award the previous two years, he took it home in 1974 by posting a 25-12 record along with a 2.49 E.R.A.

The wins and earned run average led the Junior Circuit, and he also led the Oakland A's to their third consecutive World Championship, beating the Los Angeles Dodgers and cementing their place as one of the powerful dynasty's in baseball history.

It was the fourth of five consecutive 20-win seasons for "Catfish", his last coming the following year in his first campaign with the New York Yankees.

Well, this was one heck of a thread. Fun to design the cards and write up some of the original information I gathered from the SABR article dating back to 1993 regarding "What if" Cy Young winners between 1951 and 1966.

Since John Hogan and his blog "Cards That Never Were" already did such an amazing job with this same idea put to Rookies of the Year, I'll have to scrap that idea and perhaps apply it to something else.

We shall see what I can come up with…maybe World Champions?

Keep an eye out…

HALL OF FAME LEADERS XV: 1976 A.L. E.R.A. LEADERS

Today we move ahead to 1976 in our chronological look at 1970's League Leader cards that feature solely future Hall of Famers.

The only card in the 1976 Topps set to feature such a group is the American League E.R.A. card (#202), featuring to established veterans at the time, and one young stud who'd make a change in career path, and walking that path straight to Cooperstown: Jim Palmer, Jim "Catfish" Hunter, and Dennis Eckersley.

Take a look:

Palmer, who lead the league with a sterling 2.09 E.R.A., would win his second of three Cy Young awards in 1975, leading the league not only in earned run average but wins, with 23, and shutouts, with 10 (the only pitcher to reach double-digits in the decade).

It was also the fifth time Palmer would top 20-wins in his career, something he'd go on to do eight times!

Hunter, in his first season pitching for the Yankees after a highly publicized free agent courtship, did not disappoint the Bronx fans, as he tied Palmer for the league lead in wins with 23, as well as a second place finish in E.R.A. at 2.58, to go along with an amazing 30 complete games (out of 39 starts) and seven shutouts. 

That performance would get him a second place finish in Cy Young voting, a year after he won the award while in Oakland in 1974.

For Dennis Eckersley, 1975 was an excellent rookie campaign, as he posted a 13-7 record to along with his third-place 2.60 earned run average in 24 starts.

But sadly for him, this was the year a couple of Boston Red Sox rookies (Fred Lynn and Jim Rice) made a splash, leaving "Eck" out in the cold when it came time for "Rookie of the Year" consideration.

Nevertheless, Eckersley would stick around the Majors for another 23 years, switching over to a relief role after an effective 12 years as a starter, and redefining the relief pitcher role while pitching for the Oakland A's and Tony LaRussa, eventually getting him a Hall of Fame induction in 2004.

He narrowly missed being the only player ever to both win and save 200+ games in a career, finishing with 197 wins and 390 saves.

I do remember a moment back in 1987, when he was called in to relieve a starter against the Yankees, and I thought, "Huh, he's a reliever now?", thinking his career was pretty much done.

Little did I know…

Not a bad trio of future Hall members here.

Next up we move to the 1977 set and a couple of guys we've seen before: Nolan Ryan and Tom Seaver.

#200's for the 200th

Well well...
Feels good to have this blog going strong and making it to it's 200th post!
Thanks to all who are reading it...
Let's jump right in and take a look at all the cards #'erd 200 for the decade of the 1970's:

1970: Kind of a bummer here. For some reason Topps let a sub-set take the #200 spot in the set, and the sub-set was a bit lame for my tastes.
Big burly Boog Powell scoring the winning run in game two of the A.L. playoffs. In black and white nonetheless!

1971: Well, Topps went and did it again! Total bummer that we have two years in a row that card #200 wasn't dedicated to a superstar.
This year we have the National League playoffs depicted, showing Reds' player Bobby Tolan scoring his third run of the game in Game Two of the series. This time Topps went for the tonal image instead of black and white. Ugh. The card borders are infinitely more interesting than the photo itself.

1972: Finally!  We have a Hall of Famer!  Lou Brock graces card #200 in the 1972 set.
Nice card of the St. Louis speedster. After two straight years of bland, colorless photos we have a nice explosion of color here.
On a more personal note, I'm almost positive that the Lou Brock card was the first "star card" of 1972 that I got as a kid years later. Great card!

1973: Nice to have another Hall of Famer at #200, but too bad we have a bit of a boring card for Cubs' slugger Billy Williams.
Williams was just coming off perhaps his best year in his solid career, leading the league in batting while also slugging 37 homers and driving in 122 runs.
As mentioned earlier, it would be the second time in three years he'd lose out on the M.V.P. award, finishing second both times to Johnny Bench.

1974: Here's a nice card of a player that seemed to be on the verge of becoming a monster of a player for years to come.
Coming off of two incredible years for the Houston Astros, Cesar Cedeno looked like he was indeed set to be one of the true superstars of baseball as both a slugger and a base stealer.
After stealing over 50 bases, clubbing over 20 homers, AND batting .320 in 1972 and 1973, everyone was just waiting to see what else he would accomplish between the foul lines.
And while he went on to drive in over 100 runs for the first time in 1974, his average dipped almost 60 points to .269.
He remained solid for the rest of his 17 year career, topping 2000 hits, stealing over 500 bases and just missing 200 homers with 199, but he never really blossomed into that superstar that fans were waiting for after exploding on the baseball world in the early '70's.
I like this card for showing that promise and expectation that was hovering around him then.

1975: One of my favorite sub-sets of the 1970's was the "M.V.P." series celebrating 25 years of Topps baseball cards.
Just so happens that one the reasons I loved it as a kid was because Topps had to create cards for the sub-set that never existed before, and THIS card happens to be one of them.
Maury Wills didn't have a Topps card until 1967, as a Pittsburgh Pirate. So when Topps was putting this sub-set together, they had to go back a create a 1962 card for him since he was the N.L. M.V.P. that year.
Nice. Early cards "that should have been" going on in 1975!

1976: Kind of a bummer. Even though you have two Hall of Famers here, plus one of the most "colorful" (pun intended) characters in Vida Blue depicted on the card, it kind of sucks that card #200 in my favorite set was a league leader card.
Nevertheless, it could have been worse. It could have been that dumb Kurt Bevaqua bubble-gum blowing card that I always thought was silly, even when I was seven years old!

1977: Here's a guy that really came on the baseball scene and was ready to team up with Nolan Ryan as the most powerful one-two fire-balling punch in the Majors.
Frank Tanana wasn't exactly a superstar in the late 70's, but people were gambling on the future with him as a star, and he didn't disappoint for a little while.
Topps went ahead and gave him a superstar number based on a successful 1976 season which saw him finish third in the Cy Young voting behind Jim Palmer and Mark Fidrych.
His first five full seasons in the bigs were excellent. A strikeout crown, and E.R.A. crown, four seasons of 15 or more wins and three years of sub-3.00 E.R.A.'s.
He really was well on his way to being a star.
Sadly arm-trouble set in and even though he managed to stick around for 21 years, he never did become the star pitcher everyone was expecting.

1978: Well, not much to say here since I already profiled this card earlier on this blog.
One of my all-time favorite cards. Quite possibly my second all-time favorite behind the 1976 Johnny Bench card actually.
Total perfection. A truly amazing card for "Mr. October" right after he elevated himself into baseball eternity in the 1977 World Series.
Man when I first saw this card I flipped out! What an awesome freaking card!
Reggie at the height of his fame. He really was a player who lived for the spotlight, and was absolutely up for the big obnoxious glare of the new York City spotlight.

1979: Great superstar, pretty lame-looking card.
Was never a fan of this card. Seems like bench just grounded to a middle-infielder and was swinging through, ready to drop the bat and run out the futile at-bat.
And by now I'm sure you all know how much I hate photos of superstars on cards that show futility. No need for it!
But it WAS an All-Star card, and I have always had a soft-spot for that n ice "all-star" banner blazing across a card.

Not nearly as entertaining as the "100's" profiled earlier, so let's hope I get up to the "300's" and have better cards to profile.
But then again, having seven Hall of Famers among the cards #'ered 200 isn't too shabby a selection to look at.