This is the latest in my Topps Minus 50 series which addresses transactions and other developments in Major League baseball which might have had an affect on Topps checklists and the like.
In this post we’re looking at the roster shuffling in the week of Opening Day, 1974… not to mention a couple of home runs which have recently been mentioned in terms of the 50th anniversary.
April 1, 1974
The Montreal Expos traded John Boccabella to the San Francisco Giants for Don Carrithers.
The Expos didn’t need Boccabella as they had some young catchers coming up through the system (Barry Foote and Gary Carter), and they obliged Boccabella’s request by trading him to his hometown Giants. He’d play in 29 games as a backup before retiring due to his knees. Even though he didn’t end up playing in 1975, he had a card in 1975 Topps.
Carrithers pitched for the Expos for three seasons
The Chicago Cubs traded Paul Popovich to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Tom Dettore and cash.
The Pirates would use Popovich primarily as a pinch hitter, with some appearances at 2nd and Short.
Dettore spent much of the 1974 season in Triple-A before getting the call at the beginning of August. Apparently that wasn’t enough time to get a photo of Dettore in a Cubs uniform. This is his RC, BTW
April 3, 1974
The Philadelphia Phillies signed Jay Johnstone as a free agent.
Johnstone, whose career would last for 20 seasons, had split 1973 between Oakland and their Triple-A affiliate in Tucson. The Cardinals had purchased his contract in January 1974 but released him towards the end of Spring Training. The Phils picked him up and he’d spend four and a half seasons with the Phils, including some postseason games in 1976 and 1977.
1975 Topps would be Johnstone’s first baseball card since 1972.
DID YOU KNOW: Johnstone appears as a player for the Mariners in the film “The Naked Gun”
April 4, 1974
Opening Day
In the top of the first against the Reds, Hank Aaron hits home run #714 off of Jack Billingham, a homer which ties Babe Ruth for the all-time record.
Topps was prepared with a commemorative card in the already-issued 1974 Topps set. The photo shows Aaron in Kansas City for the 1973 All-Star Game.
Aaron would break the record four days later (which is, of course, covered later in this post). I do wonder if Topps designed the card in 1973 thinking that he’d break the record before that season was over, or maybe just figured that it wouldn’t take him very long into the 1974 season before he’d set the mark.
Also on opening day…
The California Angels purchased Bill Stoneman from the Montreal Expos.
Stoneman was one of the star players on the early Expos teams, throwing two no-hitters, setting a team strikeout record which would stand for over 25 years, and being an All-Star in 1972. He fell victim to arm injuries, pitched poorly in 1973 and went 1-8, 6.14 with the Angels before before retiring.
Because he had been one of the better pitchers of the early 1970s but never appeared on a baseball card with the Angels, I figure that he warranted the 1974 Topps HyperExtended custom treatment (and to be honest, even though I borrowed the cap logo from the airbrushed 1975 Skip Lockwood card, this custom looks a little *too* good)
April 8, 1974
Henry Aaron hit a homer off of the Dodgers’ Al Downing and with that homer he moved ahead of Babe Ruth on the all-time home run list. Naturally, Topps would include a Highlights card in the 1975 set.
The highlights card also served as Aaron’s All-Star card because on his base card he was neither in the N.L. nor an outfielder.
April 11, 1974
The Oakland Athletics purchased Lew Krausse from the Atlanta Braves.
This isn’t a particularly notable transaction on the surface except that it caught my attention because the A’s obtained him FROM the Braves, but he’d appear in 1975 Topps WITH the Braves (after not having a card in 1974).
Krausse pitched for the A’s through much of the 1960s and then pitched for the Brewers, Red Sox and Cardinals (just one game at the end of 1973). After the 1973 season, he was released by the Cards and signed with the Braves.
Krausse spent spring training with the Braves, which brings us to the transaction I mentioned above which sent him to Oakland. He didn’t play for Oakland and a bit over a month later the Braves purchased him back. He pitched enough with the Braves in 1974 that he got a 1975 Topps card, but then the Braves cut him loose in December 1974. He’d go back to the A’s for 1975 but didn’t make the team and spent the whole season with Triple-A Tucson before retiring.
Lew Krausse’s father, also named Lew Krausse, pitched two seasons in the 1930s for the Philadelphia Athletics. Meanwhile Krausse the younger (It doesn’t seem like he’s technically a Junior) pitched for the A’s in both Kansas City and Oakland. If only we had another Lew Krausse to pitch in Sacramento and Las Vegas.
The Shlabotnik Report 