Hostess Card Of The Week: 1975 Larry Hisle

Today is Larry Hisle’s birthday! Let’s celebrate with a number of fun Hisle facts!

Larry Hisle played for the Phillies, Twins and Brewers from 1968 to 1982, but he was also in the Dodgers organization in 1972 (as reflected on his ’72 Topps card) and late in 1972 he was the property of the Cardinals for just over a month before being traded to Minnesota … Was named as an outfielder on the Topps Rookie All-Star team in 1969 … Had two seasons with 100+ RBI … Was an All-Star in 1977 and 1978 … Hit for the cycle on June 4th, 1976 against Doyle Alexander and Mike Flanagan of the Orioles; in that game Hisle went 4 for 5 with 2 runs and 4 RBI, and hit a 2-run homer in the top of the 10th as the Twins won 8-6 in 10 innings.

Hostess Card Of The Week: 1975 Dave McNally

Seeing Dave McNally airbrushed into an Expos uniform makes me think one thing:  Boy, did the Expos screw up.

Sure, in his time with the Orioles, McNally won at least 20 games in 4 straight seasons, was a 3-time All-Star, once shared an A.L. record with 17 consecutive wins, and finished a pretty close second to Jim Perry in the 1970 Cy Young voting.

After the 1974 season he and Rich Coggins were traded from the Orioles to the Expos for Mike Torrez and Ken Singleton.  McNally would go 3-6, 5.24 before retiring during the 1975 season.

Meanwhile, Mike Torrez would win 20 games for the O’s before becoming a free agent, and Kenny Singleton would play 10 years with the Orioles, be named to 3 All-Star teams and ultimately be named to the Orioles Hall Of Fame.

Whoopsie.

Some other fun Dave McNally facts:

He hit a grand slam in game 3 of the 1970 World Series against the Reds, the only pitcher to do that in World Series history.

McNally is the first of 4 Orioles to be born in Montana. The others were John Lowenstein, Jeff Ballard and Kam Mickolio.

Hostess Card Of The Week: 1975 Rod Carew

1975 would see Rod Carew lead the league in batting (.359), on-base percentage (.421) and Intentional Walks (18).  He would be named an All-Star for the 9th consecutive year;  in fact, the only season in his 19 year career that he wasn’t named to an All-Star team was his last season, in 1985 with the Angels.

Rod Carew was the 1967 AL Rookie Of The Year, the 1977 AL MVP, a 7-time batting leader, 3-time hits leader, 2-time triples leader, and is,  of course, in the Hall Of Fame.

Hostess Card Of The Week: 1975 Jim Barr, Plus An Extra-Special Guest Star 1975 “Faux-stess” Custom

Jim Barr might be best known for the record that he’d held for 35 years; he retired 41 batters in a row in August, 1972.

On 8/23/72, he pitched a two-hit shutout against the Pirates and retired the last 21 batters. On 8/29/72, he retired the first 20 Cardinals he faced en route to a 3-hit shutout. This record was tied by Bobby Jenks in 2007 and broken by Mark Buehrle in 2009.

Some other facts about Jim Barr:

He went to USC and his teammates included Dave “Kong” Kingman and Bill “Spaceman” Lee.

He was drafted 5 times (Angels, Phillies, Yankees, Pirates, Twins) before signing with the Giants.

Jim Barr went to Lynwood High School in Lynwood, CA.

You know who else went to Lynwood High School?

THIS GUY!

Sure, there was a dozen or so years between them, but hey… Weird Freakin’ Al!

Nobody as interesting as Jim Barr or Weird Al went to my high school.

Hostess Card Of The Week: 1975 Bake McBride

Today is Bake McBride’s 63rd birthday.  Arnold Ray “Bake” McBride was the 1974 Rookie Of the Year after batting .309 with 30 stolen bases in 150 games for the Cardinals. He was an All-Star in 1976, played in the 1980 World Series with the Phillies and finished his career with a .299 average.  He ranks 24th among the Phillies all-time batting average leaders (.292).

The photo on the card is obviously a Spring Training shot, and I’m guessing the building in the background is a hotel (my hunch says Hilton).  At first I thought the guys doing something on the ground were from the grounds crew, but it looks like they’re wearing Cardinal uniforms so I have no idea what they’re doing.

I featured Bake McBride’s rookie card in the Hostess Card Of The Week post from two weeks ago, only in that post I was focusing in part on one of his card mates, Rich Bladt, who had been traded along with Elliott Maddox, who was the subject of that week’s card:

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My prediction for the Super Bowl (Not that I’ll be watching…):
Niners 24, Ravens 21.
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At this point I’m going to revive a “feature” that may not be thrilling to many (or any) of you, but when my great uncle Beauregard was on his deathbed, I promised him that I would carry on with this….

Yes, it’s time for Weigh-in #45, this time we’re tracking my progress since 12/2/12.  I find that it making my progress a matter of public record helps to motivate (or shame) me, even if nobody reads them.  This time around, I feel good about what’s going on.

Net change in the collection: -1,311 (since 12/2: 557 added, 1585 purged)

Net change to the # of cards in the house: -8,904 (since 12/2: 530 in, 66 out)

Total # of cards which have left the house: 13,688

Number of cards tracked in my Access database: 20,418 (up from 4,740… I’m very happy with the organization that accompanies this surge)

Hostess Card Of The Week: 1975 Elliott Maddox

On this date in 1977, Elliott Maddox and Rick Bladt were traded to the Orioles for Paul Blair; all of the players involved were center fielders.

I didn’t remember Elliott Maddox playing with the O’s, and I found out that it’s because his stint lasted just half a season.

More to the point, he never appeared on a card as an Oriole… Therefore, it never happened.

After the 1977 season, Maddox became a free agent and signed with the Mets, and it was as a Met that he appeared on his 1978 card.

Aside from the Yankees, Orioles and Mets, Maddox also played for the Tigers and Senators/Rangers. His best season was probably 1974 when he batted .303, hit 26 doubles, scored 75 runs, drove in 46 runs and lead all Major League center fielders with 18 assists.

As for Rick Bladt, I believe that this is the extent of his cardboard immortality:

(Wow, I didn’t remember this card was in such poor condition until I scanned it…)

If Bladt had come along 15-20 years later, he’d have at least a dozen rookie cards.

Rick Bladt played in 10 games with the 1969 Cubs, and 52 games with the 1975 Yankees… Those 52 games came as a result of an injury to starting center fielder Elliott Maddox. He played 9 seasons in AAA, including 7 for the Yankees AAA team in Syracuse. You’d have to think he became a fan-favorite in Syracuse.

Hostess Card Of The Week: 1975 Milt (Lee) May

There were a number of errors in the 1975 Hostess set, but one of the more notable ones was this card:

The card ostensibly pictures catcher Milt May, but instead shows 1st baseman Lee May.

Hey, it’s an honest mistake. Check it out, here’s Milt May:

…and here’s Lee May:

You know, they’re both… Astros.

…Named May.

It’s a wonder their manager could keep them straight.

Lee May probably said “Man, after all those years of being confused with Lee Maye, now I get confused with this guy?”

Interestingly enough, Lee May had his own card in the 1975 Hostess set, but with an airbrushed Orioles cap (he’d been traded over the winter). I don’t own that card yet, otherwise I’d share it with you.

Milt May was a second-generation Major Leaguer; his father, Pinky May, played 3rd for the Phillies from 1939 – 1943. Milt played for the Giants, Pirates, Astros, Tigers and White Sox over his 15-year career.

Lee May was a 3-time All-Star and in 1976 lead the AL with 109 RBI.

Hostess Card Of The Week: 1975 Don Gullett

Today is Don Gullett’s birthday.  Gullett was a very good pitcher in the 1970’s who – and there’s no insult intended here – wasn’t quite as good as I’d remembered.

Gullett pitched for the “Big Red Machine” Reds and the Yankees from 1970 to 1978, twice lead the league in winning percentage, pitched in three World Series, got Cy Young votes in two seasons, signed a 6-year contract with the Yankees late in 1976, had 100 career wins & a .686 career winning percentage, had a winning record in 8 of his 9 seasons and – because I know most of you will appreciate this – every one of his Topps cards from 1973 to 1980 had a number which ended in either 5 or 0.

Given all that, when I started researching his career I was surprised to find that he’d never won 20 games, had never been named to an All-Star team, never lead the league in anything other than winning percentage, and only pitched 9 Major League seasons because shoulder injuries resulted in his never pitching past the age of 27.

At any rate, his career is nothing to scoff at.  He finished his career with a 109-50 record, a 3.11 ERA, and in 1971 he no-hit the Cubs for 7.1 innings.

…and he got two million of George Steinbrenner’s dollars.

1975 Hostess Doug Rader

“The Red Rooster” was a passionate, good-fielding third baseman with decent power.  He won the Gold Glove 5 straight years from 1970 to 1974  (all with the Astros).  He also played for the Padres and Blue Jays, and later managed the Rangers, Angels and (for two games) the White Sox.

This particular card has his last name misspelled;  this was corrected, but I don’t know for sure whether either the error or corrected versions are more rare than the other.

Hostess Card Of The Week: 1975 Rico Petrocelli

Rico Petrocelli was a shortstop/third baseman who spent his entire career (1963-1976) with the Red Sox.

His best season was 1969, when he batted .297 with 40 homers, 97 RBI, 32 doubles, 92 runs and a .589 slugging percentage (second only to Reggie Jackson in the AL). Keep in mind that he did this as a shortstop in an era when offense was not expected of shortstops. His 40 homers was the AL record for a shortstop (since broken by a steroid-laden jerk). For you Sabermetricians, Rico lead the AL in Wins Above Replacement (WAR) with 9.5; second place was Reggie Jackson with 8.8.

Among Rico’s achievements included being named to the 1965 Topps All-Star Rookie Team, the 1967 & 1969 All-Star teams, and induction into the Red Sox Hall Of Fame.

He had two home runs in one game in the 1967 World Series against the Cardinals, and batted .308 in the 1975 World Series against the Reds.