SPECIAL REQUEST: DO-OVER FOR MY 1971 "MINOR LEAGUE DAYS" DON DRYSDALE: LEGENDS EDITION

We card collectors can be quite the fickle bunch!

And today is a good example, as I go and "fix" a card that has bugged me ever since I originally created it, my 1971 "Minor League Days" card for Don Drysdale, which I originally designed as part of the "current player" set, that is, with some color elements, with today's version the more appropriate "Legends Edition" black and white design, which is how it should have been created in the first place:

"Big D" retired at a young 32 years of age, and it's fun imagining his career extending into the mid-70's or so, something we didn't get to see.

The fresh-faced 18-year-old you see here on this card went 11-11 for the Montreal Royals, posting an ERA of 3.33 over 173 innings, with three shutouts and only 80 strikeouts.

He'd make his MLB debut in 1956 and show the Brooklyn faithfull what he was capable of, going 5-5 with a very nice 2.64 ERA over 99 innings of work, completing two of his 12 starts while relieving in another 13 games for the eventual N.L. champs.

He'd go one to become a true ace, posting double-digit wins every full year of his career, making eight All-Star teams, taking home the Cy Young Award in 1962, and posting seven seasons of sub-3.00 ERAs.

Though he did eventually make the Hall of Fame, he retired with a 209-166 career record, a 2.95 earned run average and 2486 strikeouts. Excellent numbers of course, but arguably borderline stats for the Hall (think Jack Morris, Luis Tiant, etc).
So imagine if he was able to tack on some more wins and maybe even reach 3000 strikeouts, which at the time of his retirement only the great Walter Johnson had done in Major League history.
The man WAS a beast though, intimidating batters along contemporary hurler Bob Gibson like few before or since, five times leading the National League in plunked batsmen, just to let them know who was boss.
Love guys like that!
Only wish we would have been able to see him pitch more, and more importantly regale us with stories a lot longer than his short 56 years, shockingly passing away in 1993.

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS: LEGENDS EDITION- JOE McGINNITY

Up on the blog today, a fun guy to add to my long-running "Minor League Days: Legends Edition" set, Hall of Fame pitcher Joe McGinnity, who won nearly 500 games over his professional career, which spanned a quarter century from 1893 to 1925:

By the time McGinnity decided to rest his arm for good after pitching for the Dubuque Climbers in the Mississippi Valley League in 1925, he finished his pro career with 478 wins, collected over a staggering 1048 games, which saw him throw 7091 innings.

Pictured here on this card with Dubuque, he was in his 50's when he suited up for them in 1922-1925.

Nicknamed "Iron Man", you can understand why when you look at his time with the New York Giants at the turn of the 20th Century when he teamed up with Christy Mathewson to form one of the All-Time great 1-2 pitching tandems in MLB history.

Over his 10-year MLB career spanning 1899 through 1908, he posted 20+ wins eight times, with a high of 35 wins in 1904 when he appeared in 51 games, with 44 starts and 38 complete games, amounting to 408 innings of work, with nine shutouts.

Incredibly, a year before that in 1903 he posted a record of 31-20, appearing in 55 games, with 48 starts and a ridiculous 44 complete games, pitching a mind boggling 434 innings.

He also posted a 28 win season for the Baltimore Orioles in 1899 as a rookie, followed by another 28 win year in 1900 now with the Brooklyn Superbas.

His pro breakdown for wins was 246 in the Majors and 224 in the Minors, with 32 shutouts as a Big Leaguer, with his Minor League stats lost to history. So who knows just how many shutouts, complete games, etc he racked up overall.

In 1946 he was eventually voted into the Hall of Fame by the "Old Timers Committee", joining many of his former teammates in Cooperstown, and rightly so!

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS: LEGENDS EDITION- WALTER JOHNSON

On the blog today, we keep building on my future custom "Minor League Days: Legends Edition" set by adding "The Big Train", my personal pick as greatest pitcher ever, Walter Johnson:

Funny enough, Johnson's only time in the "true" Minors was after his Big League tenure, appearing in one single game for the Newark Bears in 1928, facing one batter, whom he walked.

That was it!

99.9% of his time on a mound was for the Washington Senators between 1907 and 1927, producing one of the all-time greatest careers the game has ever seen.

Perhaps the greatest all-time pitcher PERIOD when you consider all the bad teams this guy pitched for.

All Johnson did while pitching his entire career for the Washington Senators was win 417 games (second all-time), throw 110 shutouts (all-time high), whiff 3509 batters (the record until the late-70's), and post a stellar 2.17 earned run average.

Can you imagine if Johnson pitched for good teams most of his career!? He'd probably have an extra 50-100 wins thrown in!

His 1913 season is just too sick: a 36-7 record with a 1.14 E.R.A, and 243 strikeouts, all league highs, as well as leading numbers in complete games (29), shutouts (11), winning percentage (.837)and WHIP (0.780). 

Needless to say he won the first of two M.V.P. awards that year, with his other award coming in 1924 when at the age of 36 he went 23-7 with a 2.72 earned run average and 158 K's (again winning the pitching Triple Crown) as he led Washington to a World Series win over the New York Giants.

He actually won a third "Triple Crown" in 1918 as well, when he posted a 23-13 record with a 1.27 E.R.A. and 162 strikeouts.

All told he led the league in wins six times, E.R.A. five times, shutouts seven times and strikeouts twelve times, twice topping 300 for a season (1910 & 1912).

And for you "modern" analytics fans out there, how about EIGHT seasons of 10+ WAR, with an INSANE 15.2 mark in 1913!?

And the year before THAT he posted a WAR of 14.3!

He was really a player from out of this world pitching among children. Incredible.

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS: LEGENDS EDITION- JIMMIE FOXX

The next legend added to my long-running "Minor League Days: Legends Edition" set is the "Beast", Jimmie Foxx, all-timer and about as nasty a batter the game has ever seen:

Shown here as a 16-year old with the Easton Farmers in his first year of pro ball, Foxx would hit .296 over 76 games as a catcher with 10 homers among his 77 hits.

He'd put in another year of Minor League ball the following season with Newark and Providence before making it to the Majors in 1925, and ripping the cover off the ball over the next 20 years.

From age 21 through 32 he was absolutely ELITE, with only guys like Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth that could compare to both the average and power numbers he was putting up year after year.

He'd win TWO Triple Crowns, four home run titles, three RBI titles, and his high mark in offensive categories were, well, offensive to opposing pitchers!

His career-bests: 151 runs scored in 1932, 58 home runs in 1932, 213 hits in 1932, 175 RBIs in 1938, .364 average in 1932, 438 total bases in 1932, .749 slugging in 1932.

Clearly, it's also obvious his 1932 seasons goes down as one of the top offensive years by a player in baseball history, and it brought him the first of his eventual three MVP Awards.

Incredibly, by the time he was 33 in 1941, his numbers would drop off dramatically, with his career done in 1945 after some time with the Philadelphia Phillies.

However, his final stats: a .325 batting average, 534 homers, 1922 RBIs, 1751 runs scored, 2646 hits, and a career .609 slugging percentage.

Just incredible.

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS: LEGENDS EDITION- HONUS WAGNER

The next baseball legend to get a card in my long running "Minor League Days: Legends Edition" set is the "Flying Dutchman", Honus Wagner:

Here we have him suited up with the Paterson Silk Weavers of the Atlantic League, for whom he played in 1896 and 1897, his last Minor League stop before embarking on his all-time Major League career later in the 1897 season.

As far as records show Wagner hit .313 and .375 for Paterson in that time, with a combined 176 runs scored  and 64 stolen bases.

Once he made his Big League debut, Wagner was a lock as the all-time best at his position in the first half of the 20th Century, as he put together one of the greatest careers of any ballplayer to this day, amassing 3420 hits, 1739 runs, 252 triples and 643 doubles, and…oh yeah, EIGHT batting titles and 723 stolen bases as he guided the Pirates eighteen years after three years in Louisville between 1897-1899.

Wagner was a monster. Not only did he lead the league in batting those eight times, but he also led the N.L. in doubles seven times, triples three times, runs batted in five times, stolen bases five times, on-base pct three times, slugging six times, and total bases six times!

He did it all, and was duly selected to be one of the charter members of the Hall of Fame in 1936 alongside Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson and Christy Mathewson.

Just incredible.

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS LEGENDS EDITION: WARREN SPAHN

Up on the blog today, adding one of my all-time favorite players, Warren Spahn, to my on-going "Minor League Days: Legends Edition" set, celebrating his time in the Minors before moving on to greatness on the Major League diamond:

Spahn is shown here suited up for the Hartford Bees of the Eastern League in 1942 at the age of 21.

It was his only season with the team and he did not disappoint, going 17-12 over 33 games with a brilliant 1.96 earned run average over 248 innings of work.

This earned him his promotion to the Majors later in the year, appearing in four games for the Boston Braves, getting hit hard to the tune of a 5.74 ERA over 15.2 innings.

Sadly, with the onset of World War II, Spahn, as well as so many others, found themselves trading baseball cleats for army boots, serving his country for the next three years before returning in 1946, now 25 years old.

Anyone who has followed this blog long enough knows by now that any time I can create a card for the mighty lefty, I will take it!

The man was amazing, flat out, and by the time he retired in 1965 he posted a 363-245 record, with a 3.09 ERA, 63 shutouts, 28 saves and 2583 strikeouts over 750 appearances, 665 of which were starts.

Oh yeah, he also hit 35 career home runs along with 189 runs batted in with (coincidentally) 363 hits!

And again, remember he didn’t win his first game until he was 25 years of age, as he served in the military from 1943 to 1945.

His first 20-game season was 1947 (at the age of 26), and he kept right on rolling until his final 20-game season in 1963!

In between, he ended up posting 13 such campaigns, leading the league eight times (with five of those coming consecutively from 1957 to 1961).

Just an incredible career for the lefty from Buffalo, New York, who would have easily posted over 400 wins had it not been for a World War.

 

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS: LEGENDS EDITION- GEORGE SISLER

Today on the blog we have all-time great George Sisler added to my long-running 1971 "Minor League Days: Legends Edition" thread, in this case a baseball legend who put time in the Minors at the end of his career rather than the beginning:

Here we see Sisler during his year with the Rochester Red Wings in 1931, one year removed from his last Major League season.

In that year at Rochester, Sisler just continued doing what he did best, hit, to the tune of a .309 average with 186 hits over 613 at-bats at the age of 38.

The man was a hitting machine, twice topping .400 and finishing up his 15-year career with a .340 average, with 2812 hits in 8267 at-bats.

Somewhat forgotten was that the man also possessed some speed on the base-paths, as evidenced by his 375 career steals, leading the league four times with a high of 51 in 1922, the year he took home league MVP honors when he collected 246 hits and a batting titles, one of two, hitting an incredible .420 while scoring 134 runs and driving in 105.

Incredibly, at the height of his career, he lost an entire season (1923) due to vision problems, something that definitely kept him from reaching 3000 hits.

But he did return in 1924 and kept on hitting, reaching 200+ hits three more times, six such seasons total, and reaching .300+ six of his final seven seasons.

About as easy a Hall of Fame pick as they came, he was selected for the Hall in 1939, one of the all-time greatest hitters the game has ever seen.

 

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS: LEGENDS EDITION- CHARLIE GEHRINGER

Today on the blog we add the "Mechanical man" Charlie Gehringer, one of the most overlooked all-time greats of the game, to my "Minor League Days: Legends Edition" thread:

I have him shown here as a member of his first minor league team, the London Tecumsehs, for whom he suited up in 1924 at the age of 21.

During his time there he hit .292 before a late-season call-up to the Majors for a five-game stint where he hit a blistering .462 with six hits in 13 at-bats.

The following year he began the season with Toronto in the International league, where all he did was collect over 200 hits while on his way to a .325 average before yet another Big League call-up, the last of its kind since he was a Major leaguer for good from here on out.

Gehringer would go on to one of the greatest careers an infielder would have in the Major Leagues, all with the Detroit Tigers, where he would take home the MVP Award in 1937, with another nine top-10 MVP finishes thrown in.

Along the way the man collected seven seasons of 200+ hits, seven 100+ RBI campaigns, 12 100+ runs scored, seven 40+ doubles with a high of 60 in 1936, while making the first six All-Star games between 1933 and 1938.

By the time he retired after the 1942 season, he racked up 2839 hits and a .320 average over 2323 games, with 1775 runs scored and 1427 RBIs, walking 1186 times with only 372 strikeouts!

Remember, this guy was a second baseman!

It is criminal how overlooked he is when the discussion for greatest second baseman of all-time comes up.

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS: LEGENDS EDITION- WHITEY FORD

Up on the blog today, we go and add New York Yankees great Whitey Ford to my long-running "Minor League Days: Legends Edition" set, one that I have hopes of printing up later this year:

Here we see Ford suited up with the Binghamton Triplets in A-Ball as a nineteen-year-old, a brilliant season which will see him go 16-5 over 26 games, sporting a microscopic 1.61 earned run average over 168 innings.

The following year he'll jump all the way to Triple-A for half the year, before making the Big Leagues, where he would stay through the 1967 season before retiring at the age of 38.

What else needs to be said about quite possibly the greatest Yankee pitcher of all?

Cy Young winner in 1961, winner of 236 games against only 106 losses (a nifty .690 winning percentage), a 2.75 career earned run average, and a member of six world championship clubs.

He led the league in wins three times, winning percentage three times, ERA twice, shutouts twice, and was named to eight all-star teams during his 16-year career.

His 10 World Series wins (along with his eight losses) are Major League high marks to this day, and who knows how much more he could have padded all of his numbers had he not lost two seasons to the military in 1951 and 1952!

When the Hall of Fame came calling he was inducted on his first try, getting named to 284 of 365 ballots in 1974.

Obviously there's so much more to get into with Whitey, but I could end up writing a book here if I did, so I'll leave it up to the Wikipedia's out there to fill anyone in who wants to learn more.

I only wish Ford didn't try to hang on those last couple of years in 1966 and 1967, when he went a combined 4-9, thus eliminating the chance of him being only the second pitcher to this day to retire with 200+ wins and LESS than 100 losses (the other being 19th-century pitcher Bob Caruthers, who finished at 218-99 between 1884-1893).

Oh well, I know I'm nitpicking here…It's the nerd in me I guess.

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS: LEGENDS EDITION- TY COBB

The next baseball legend to get a card in my "Minor League Days: Legends Edition" set, the "Georgia Peach, Ty Cobb, arguably the greatest hitter of them all:

Here we see a young Cobb as a member of the Augusta Tourists of the South Atlantic League in either 1904 or 1905, just a teenager ready to set the baseball world on fire before he was through.

Records are sparse, but it seems he hit .237 and .326 in his two partial seasons playing there before making the jump to the Majors in 1905.

Basically all the man did between the foul lines one he did hit the Big Leagues was win 12 batting titles, reach 200 hits in a season nine times, hit .366 for his entire career, a triple crown in 1909, score over 2200 runs, hit over 720 doubles, just under 300 triples, and even drove in 1938 runs during the dead-ball era! Oh, and let's not forget the 897 stolen bases!
It's even funny to think that it's so easy to overlook the fact that Cobb also led the league in slugging eight times!
It's Ty Cobb for pete's sake!
The man was incredible, and it is somewhat understandable that he became bitter when Babe Ruth came along and put the offensive focus on power as opposed to "small ball", almost erasing all appreciation for those "intangibles" that Cobb was famous for.

But it is also tragic that he was portrayed in such a negative light by Al Stump, and believed by so many years later, unjustly so, as we are learning more and more that he was NOT the beast he was said to have been when he was alive.

Rest in Peace Ty Cobb!

 

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS: LEGENDS EDITION- LOU GEHRIG

Good day all!

On the blog today, we add the great, if not greatest, first baseman of them all, Lou Gehrig, to my on-going "Minor League Days: Legends Edition" set, which I hope to print up as a custom release later in the year:

We see the young future legend suited up with the Hartford Senators of the Eastern League, for whom he played parts of three seasons with between 1921 and 1924.

Of the stats available from that tenure, we see Gehrig already showing signs of what he would do once he made it to a Big League field, as he hit .369 with 37 homers and 186 hits in 1924 over 134 games at the age of 21.

Of course, once he DID make it up to the Majors for good in 1925, he was there to stay, putting together one of the greatest careers a ballplayer would have.

His statistics are mind-blowing, as he would drive in 100+ runs 13 straight seasons, with a high of 185 in 1931 which is still the American League record.

He would score 100+ runs 13 straight seasons with a high of 167 in 1936 when he took home an MVP Award.

He would top 200+ hits eight times over his 14 full seasons, with 40+ doubles seven times, 10+ triples nine times, a .350+ batting average six times, 400+ total bases a ridiculous five times, and a Triple Crown in 1934 when he hit .363 with 49 homers and 166 RBIs.

Again, just ridiculous numbers, and especially so remembering that Babe Ruth batted AHEAD of him for most of his career!

Certainly MY favorite player of all-time.

If only we could have had him play out his career naturally, and not lose him to ALS at the young age of 37 in 1941.

 

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS: LEGENDS EDITION: STAN MUSIAL

Good day everyone!

On the blog today, we add the greatest overlooked player in the history of the game, Stan "The Man" Musial to my ongoing "Minor League Days: Legends Edition" set:

We see Musial here as a 20-year-old in 1941 when he put in 54 games with the Rochester Red Wings, his only time with the team before moving up to the Majors, where he'd dominate over the next 22 seasons, becoming one of the greatest players ever to take the field.

In his time with the Red Wings, Musial did what he would do at any level of pro ball, HIT, as evidenced by his .326 batting average, along with 43 runs, 10 doubles, four triples and three homers to go with 21 runs batted in.

By the end of the year he was in St. Louis, hitting a blistering .426 over 12 games, giving everyone an idea of what to expect.

His MLB numbers are just absurd: seven batting titles, two R.B.I. titles, five triples titles and eight doubles titles, with career numbers of 475 home runs, 1951 runs batted in and a .331 career average. Throw in his 725 doubles, 177 triples and 3630 hits along with 1949 runs scored and the numbers are staggering. 

And don't forget that Musial also lost a year to military duty, easily putting him over 500 homers, close to 3900 hits and around 2100 runs batted in if he played in 1945.

Along with the great Frank Robinson I always felt Stan Musial was often overlooked in the decades since his playing days ended.

When talk of "Greatest Living Player" came up it was always Williams, DiMaggio, Mays or even Aaron that would come up. But Stan Musial would always kind of be that after-thought.

Criminal.

Three Most Valuable Player Awards, FOUR second-place finishes, including three in a row between 1949-1951, and twenty consecutive all-star appearances, Musial definitely is a member of that rarified stratosphere of baseball royalty along with the likes of Ruth, Cobb, Mays and Wagner, among others.

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS: LEGENDS EDITION- RUBE WADDELL

Really fun card to create for the blog posted today, my "Minor League Days: Legends Edition" card for that clown-prince of baseball, Hall of Fame pitcher Rube Waddell, a man whose stories off the field rival his accomplishments on it:

Shown here as a member of Los Angeles of the Independent League in 1902, he was already a Major League veteran of five years when he found himself out West playing in California, going 11-8 with a 2.42 earned run average over 19 starts.

Not yet the pitcher that he would go down in history as, that would begin the very next season, his first with the Philadelphia Athletics, as he would post the first of his four straight 20-win seasons, going 24-7 with a 2.05 ERA over 33 games, striking out 210 batters, which was good for the top mark in the American League, his first of six straight strikeout titles, topped by his staggering 349 K's in 1904.

In 1905 he'd have his Triple Crown year, leading the A.L. with 27 wins, a ridiculous 1.48 ERA and 287 strikeouts over 46 appearances, tossing seven shutouts while completing 27 of his 34 starts.

Of course, what made the legend of Waddell even more unforgettable were his shenanigans off the field: chasing fire engines, leading random parades, disappearing for stretches with no notice, and so much more.

It's obvious today that there was something more to the man, perhaps autism, perhaps mental challenges either dismissed or just laughed at in that era.

However his legacy as one of the true eccentric ballplayers in the long history of the game, along with a Hall of Fame career that saw him post 193 Major League victories along with 65 documented non-league wins between the Minors and Independent ball, along with a fantastic 2.16 ERA in the Big Leagues over his 13 seasons, leaves no argument that he is a true legend of the game some 100 years later.

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS: LEGENDS EDITION: ROY CAMPANELLA

The next baseball legend to be featured in my on-going "Minor League Days: Legends Edition" thread is perhaps the greatest catcher of them all, at least in my top-3, Roy Campanella of the Brooklyn Dodgers:

"Campy" put in a season with the Montreal Royals in 1947 after about ten years in the Negro Leagues, where he made his debut at the incredible age of only 15 in 1937!

In his season playing North of the border, Campanella hit .273 over 135 games, hitting 13 homers with 75 runs batted in.

The following year he'd start the season with St. Paul in Triple-A, playing for 35 games, before he'd make his debut with the Dodgers, and the rest as they say, is history.

Once Campanella began his Major League career, he would certainly NOT disappoint the Brooklyn faithful: three times he was M.V.P. (1951, 1953, 1955) and an important part of the strong Dodger teams of the decade along with Duke Snider, Jackie Robinson, and Gil Hodges.

Though unable to play Major League ball until the age of 26 because of segregation, he still managed to hit 242 lifetime homers, with a high of 41 in 1953, as well as drive in 856 runs in his short ten-year career.

During his second M.V.P. season, Campy led the Brooklyn offense by driving in a league-leading 142 runs while hitting .312 and scoring 103 runs. One of the top-offensive catcher seasons in baseball history.

Tragically, as he was getting prepared to move to Los Angeles with the rest of the Dodgers over the Winter of 1957-58, Campanella was driving home to Long Island and hit a patch of ice near his home, flipping his car over and breaking his neck in the process, rendering him paralyzed from the shoulders down.

The L.A. Fans would never get to see the future Hall of Famer play in Chavez Ravine.

In my opinion, considering his delayed MLB action, "Campy" would be my pick as the greatest catcher in MLB history, even in front of Johnny Bench, though Josh Gibson would top them all.

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS: LEGENDS EDITION: PAUL WANER

Chugging along with my 1971 "Minor League Days: Legends Edition" thread today, we add Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Famer Paul Waner, who had himself both and amazing Major and Minor League career that led him straight to Cooperstown some 30 years later:

The man could just flat-out hit!

During his three-year Minor League stint with the San Francisco Seals before tearing up National League pitching, he hit .369, .356 and .401 between 1923 and 1925, collecting as much as 280 hits (1925) with a ridiculous 75 doubles and 402 total bases.

Quite clearly stating that he was indeed ready for Major League play, the Pirates signed the 22 year-old and all he did was go on to hits .333 over the next 20 seasons under the Major League Sun, winning three batting titles, topping 200-hits eight times, 100+ runs nine times, 10+ triples ten times and 300+ total bases seven times.

In his second season, 1927, the 24-year-old led the N.L. with a .380 average, 237 hits, 18 triples, 131 RBIs and 342 total bases.

The following year he'd lead with 142 runs scored, 50 doubles while "dropping" to a .370 average with "only" 86 RBIs.

Over his 15 years with the Pirates he finished with a .340 career average before playing the last five years with the Boston Braves, Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees, hitting .290 thus dropping his career number to .333.

After one game in 1945 he called it a career, finishing with 3152 hits, 1627 runs, 605 triples, 191 triples and 1309 RBIs, making the first three All-Star games between 1933 and 1935.

Just an incredible player who anchored the Pirates for so many seasons, while playing alongside his younger brother Lloyd, who was NO slouch himself, totaling 2459 hits with a .316 career average over 18 seasons!

Incredible!

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS: LEGENDS EDITION: YOGI BERRA

Today we add the great Yogi Berra to my on-going 1971 "Minor League Days: Legends Edition" sub-set, celebrating all-time greats and their time toiling in the Minors:

Yogi spent one season with the Norfolk Tars in 1943 as an 18-year-old, "making his bones" so to speak before losing a couple of seasons serving in the military between 1944 and 1945.

In that one season he hit .253 over 111 games, with 56 runs batted in and 53 runs scored with seven homers.

After the war he came back to the Minors, playing for the Newark Bears before a call-up to the New York Yankees in 1946, where he came to stay.

Well, we all know what he would do once in the Majors...

Besides being a three-time American League Most Valuable Player, he was a FIFTEEN-TIME all-star, and received Most Valuable Player votes every single year between 1947 and 1961. As a matter of fact, between 1950 and 1956 he never finished lower than fourth for the MVP, with three wins, and two second place finishes!

That's seven top-4 finishes in seven years! Just awesome.

Except for four scant games in 1965 with the New York Mets, Berra played the rest of his 19-year career with the Bronx Bombers, amassing 358 homers, 1430 runs batted in and a .285 average.

One other note about his amazing career: the man only struck out 414 times over 8359 at-bats!

YOGI!!! I loved that man!

A true baseball treasure…

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS-LEGENDS EDITION: MICKEY MANTLE

Up on the blog today, we add the great Mickey mantle to my on-going 1971 "Minor League Days: Legends Edition", celebrating all-time greats before they made the "Big Show":

Mantle was an 18-year-old when he suited up for the Joplin Miners in 1950, absolutely tearing the cover off the ball to the tune of a .383 batting average, with 199 hits, 30 of those doubles, 12 triples and 26 homers.

The following season he moved on to the Kansas City Blues in Triple-A, where he put in 40 games and was hitting .361 before getting the call up to the Major Leagues.

As far as his Big League accomplishments?

Well, Mantle is one of those guys I really don't think we need to get into as far as his tenure on the baseball diamond. It'd be kind of a joke to start writing about his career since it would take up a book's worth.

But alas, 500+ homers, a bushel of World Championships, three Most Valuable Player Awards, and the hearts of more fans than we can even imagine to this day.

"The Mick" in all his glory, enshrined in his rightful place in Cooperstown, along with his longtime buddy Whitey Ford in the same HOF class.

One of the great icons of the sport over its 150+ year history.

Not too bad a Hollywood script...

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS: LEGENDS EDITION: TED WILLIAMS

As promised yesterday, completing the "Ted Williams Weekend" here on the blog, today I present to you my 1971 "Minor League Days Legends Edition", showing perhaps the greatest hitter the game has ever seen before his remarkable Big League career while still toiling in the Minors:

Williams put in two years with the San Diego Padres, playing as a 17 and 18 year old in 1936/1937.

He performed admirably considering his age, hitting .271 and .291 before making the jump to Minneapolis in 1938.

His season with Minneapolis was killer, as he hit .366 with 43 homers and 142 runs batted in over 148 games for the Millers, giving everyone a glimpse as to what to expect from the lanky hitting prodigy once he hit the Majors.

“The Splendid Splinter” was just incredible as a hitter. The last .400 hitter, 521 home runs, a .344 lifetime average with SIX batting titles, and the man missed MULTIPLE years in his prime due to war and his service in the military.
I remember as a kid (nerd alert) I used to love averaging out the three seasons before and after his missed seasons and then factoring them into his final career numbers, and they were insane!
If I remember correctly he would have had somewhere in the neighborhood of 700 home runs, 3500 hits, 2000+ runs scored and runs batted in along with the slugging and on-base percentages that would have made his already monster career just other-worldly!

The man was truly a “hitting-machine”, perhaps the greatest pure hitter ever (or the Babe? Or Cobb? Musial?).

By the way, by today’s rules, Williams should have won SEVEN batting titles, but in 1954 he lost out to the Cleveland Indians Bobby Avila, who hit .341 with the THEN required official at-bats instead of 501 plate appearances.
Williams hit .345 with 526 plate appearances based on his 386 at-bats and 136 walks, but under the rules of the day was denied that seventh title.

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS: LEGENDS EDITION- LEFTY GROVE

On the blog today, we add the great Lefty Grove to my on-going 1971 "Minor League Days: Legends Edition", celebrating his time with the Baltimore Orioles before dominating the Major Leagues:

Take into account those "lost" years pitching for the Baltimore Orioles Minor League franchise in the early 1920's, when the team owner refused to sell him to a Major League franchise.

Those were some of the all-time best Minor League clubs, and all Grove did in his five years there was go 111-39!

That's a .740 winning percentage. Imagine some of those wins tacked on to his Major League totals. Just awesome.

In his five years in the Minors, his win totals were: 15, 25, 18, 27 and 26!

So he started out in the Big Leagues at the age of 25 because his Minor League team refused to sell him earlier in his career, and all Grove did was go on to win 300 games against only 141 losses, good for the best winning percentage among all 300-game winners at .680.
He won nine E.R.A. titles, four games won titles, and seven strikeout titles in his 17 year career.
In 1931 he won the first BBWA American league M.V.P. award when he went 31-4 with a 2.06 E.R.A. and 175 strikeouts, all league leading numbers. That would also be his second straight pitching triple-crown, as he lead the league in the same categories in 1930 as well.
His .886 winning percentage that year is second all-time among 20+ game winning seasons, behind Ron Guidry's .893 winning percentage when he went 25-3 in 1978.
How about this for a cool performance: in 1930, as Grove went 28-5 with a 2.54 E.R.A. and 209 strikeouts for his first pitching triple-crown, he also lead the league in saves with nine.
By the time Grove retired after the 1941 season playing for the Red Sox, he was a sure fire Hall of Famer, and was inducted his first year of eligibility in 1947, getting named on 123 of 161 ballots cast.

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS: LEGENDS EDITION: JOE JACKSON

On the blog today, a really fun card to create, a 1971 "Minor League Days legends Edition for the great Joe Jackson:

Found this really nice image of him suited up with the Savannah Indians, for whom he played part of the 1909 season before taking his talents to the Major Leagues the following year.

Jackson hit .358 with the Indians over 118 games that season, collecting 161 hits in 450 at-bats, and pretty much giving us an idea as to what to expect once he arrived to the Majors in 1910.

Of course, if not for the alleged complicity in throwing the 1919 World Series along with teammates, Jackson would have had his rightful spot in the Hall of Fame years later, something I feel he should have anyway based on his performance between the lines.

Though he never won a batting title, even with a .400+ season under his belt in 1911, Jackson put together the third-highest career average (.356) the game has ever seen, topping .350+ seven times in 13 seasons, including a .382 average in 1920, his final year in the Majors before getting banished because of the 1919 fixing allegation.

Over his incredible career Jackson led the league in hits twice, doubles once, triples three times. on-base-percentage once and slugging once, and total bases twice, finishing top-5 in MVP voting three times, including a runner-up finish in 1913.

One of the most talked about historical baseball players of the Dead Ball era, who knows what Jackson could have finished with had he not been banned for life at the age of only 32.

Take into account his last season went as follows: .382 average, 218 hits, 105 runs scored, 42 doubles, 20 triples, 121 RBIs and a .589 slugging pct.

The man was clearly in the middle of his peak performance and the live ball era was just beginning.