This Week In 1974 Topps: October 22 – 31, 1973

Posted on October 26, 2023 by The Shlabotnik Report

This series touches on those events of 50 years ago to which would directly or indirectly affect 1974 Topps Baseball.

Monday October 22, 1973
On the day after the World Series ended, A’s manager Dick Williams announces his resignation; The A’s managerial situation will not get resolved for several months and there is no A’s manager card in 1974 Topps.

The California Angels traded Steve Barber, Ken Berry, Art Kusnyer (not in 74T), Clyde Wright and cash to the Milwaukee Brewers for Ollie Brown, Joe Lahoud, Skip Lockwood, Ellie Rodriguez and Gary Ryerson (not in 74T).

Barber would not play for the Brewers; he’d get released at the end of spring training, hook up with the Giants and make 13 relief appearances for them.

Brown was sold to the Astros at the end of spring training, so he never played for the Angels.

Tuesday October 23, 1973
The Boston Red Sox traded Ben Oglivie to the Detroit Tigers for Dick McAuliffe. Oglivie had appeared in 1973 Topps and would appear in 1975 Topps, but not in 1974.

Wednesday October 24, 1973
The Boston Red Sox traded Marty Pattin to the Kansas City Royals for Dick Drago.

Thursday October 25, 1973

The Chicago Cubs traded Fergie Jenkins to the Texas Rangers for Vic Harris and Bill Madlock.

The San Diego Padres traded Mike Caldwell to the San Francisco Giants for Willie McCovey and Bernie Williams (not in 74T).

The San Diego Padres purchased Matty Alou from the St. Louis Cardinals. Alou is shown in pinstripes because the Cards had purchased him from the Yankees on September 6th. (I’ve always liked this card for reasons I can’t fully explain)

Friday October 26, 1973
The Boston Red Sox traded Reggie Smith and Ken Tatum (not in 74T) to the St. Louis Cardinals for Bernie Carbo and Rick Wise.

The St. Louis Cardinals traded Tommy Cruz (not in 74T) and cash to the Texas Rangers for Sonny Siebert.

Saturday October 27, 1973
The Los Angeles Dodgers purchased Rick Auerbach from the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brew Crew had worn pullover jerseys in 1972 and 1973, so this might be an older photo.

This post, as originally written, went from Monday, October 22nd to Sunday, October 28th. The week that follows, Monday, October 29th to Sunday, November 4th has only one event of significance happening, so I decided to extend this week by a few days.

Wednesday, October 31, 1973

The Houston Astros traded Jerry Reuss to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Milt May.

Both players are wearing jerseys which are distinctive in their own subtle way. Reuss’ modestly airbrushed Astros jersey has a zipper-front which few 1970s teams had (Phillies were the other one that I can think of). May’s jersey is a pullover with a crewneck collar that was was used by just the Pirates and Cardinals. By the end of the decade, all pullover jerseys would have V-neck collars.

My Oldest Cards For Each Team: Part 1 – National League West

Posted on October 23, 2023 by The Shlabotnik Report

I borrowed part of a post idea from Night Owl… A fairly recent post of his featured cards, info and thoughts on the various playoff teams, but I’ll admit the part that intrigued me the most was “What would be the oldest cards for each team in *my* collection?”

For the purpose of this post and the ones to follow, I will also include first cards of relocations and rebrandings… So in addition to the first card for a franchise, I’ll also include my oldest Oakland Athletics card and my oldest Houston Astros card.

Rather than throw 30+ cards at you all at once, I’m going to break this down by current divisions and, as a tip of the hat to the person who inspired this short series, I will start with the Dodgers and the NL West.

Brooklyn Dodgers – 1954 Topps Rube Walker

Rube is here as part of my “New York Mets coaches from my childhood” collection.

Los Angeles Dodgers – 1958 Topps Joe Pignatano

Joe is part of the same Mets coaches collection as Rube Walker.

New York Giants – 1951 Bowman Wes Westrum

Wes Westrum was the Mets’ second manager, taking over after Casey Stengel retired. This is also the oldest baseball card in my collection… I’ve never felt much desire to get anything older than the 1950s.

San Francisco Giants – 1959 Topps Bill White

Another childhood throwback, but this time it’s because Bill White was a third of my first Yankees broadcast team (back when I was really young and liked both the Mets and the Yankees). Phil Rizzuto and Frank Messer rounded out the broadcasters on Channel 11 WPIX.

San Diego Padres – 1969 Topps Al McBean

I’ve got three 1st Series 1969 Topps Padres, all of which could claim the title of “Oldest Padre card”… and this seems as good a point as any to say that I don’t consider card #14 from 1969 Topps to be older than card #74 just because the card number is lower. They’re both from the 1st series, they were both issued at the same time, neither is older than the other. I will consider series 1 cards to be older than series 2 cards because they are, of course, older.

Anyway, two of the Padres players from the 1st series – Zoilo Versalles and Dave Giusti – were flipped to other teams before putting on a Padres uniform, so I went with Al McBean who pitched one solitary game for the Padres before being traded to the Dodgers.

This card is also one of the first 1969 Topps cards I ever got… Don’t remember how I got it, but I just remember it being one of the first “old” cards I owned.

And just to make things absolutely clear, there’s also a 1st series card of Padres manager Preston Gomez, but I don’t own that card yet.

Colorado Rockies – 1993 Topps Team Stadium Club Rockies Daryl Boston

During the 1993 expansion season I was in the height of the “Disposable info and no life” stage of my life, so I have a ton of cards from the Rockies’ first season. Thirty years later I have little idea of which sets came out before other sets, so I’m going with the an oddball small set and picking out my favorite player from that set. That year Topps issued a bunch of team sets branded as “Team Stadium Club” having a unique design and issued in hard plastic clamshells. The fact that the cards were issued late enough to show Rockies and Marlins in their new uniforms implies that they are newer than something like 1993 Fleer which shows Rockies and Marlins players in their 1992 uniforms are older, but tough toenails, I’m going with these.

Since not everybody is familiar with these cards, I’ll share the back. Not a great design, but there were far worse in the 1990s.

Arizona Diamondbacks – 1996 Upper Deck Buck Showalter

If you’re thinking “Wait… 1996? Didn’t the Diamondbacks first take the field in 1998?” you are not mistaken. Buck Showalter was hired by the D-Backs well before they took the field, he had some input into designing the uniforms and modeled them in 1996. 1996 Upper Deck featured a few managers on their checklists cards and this is one of them.

There are two other 1996 cards which show Buck modeling the upcoming D-Backs uniforms, another UD checklist featuring a different D-Backs uniform and the other is a base card from 1996 Stadium Club. I might have to pick up the other two, I’ve grown fond of Buck after his stints managing the Orioles and Mets.

This Week In 1974 Topps: October 15 – 21, 1973

Posted on October 19, 2023 by The Shlabotnik Report

This series touches on those events of 50 years ago to which would directly or indirectly affect 1974 Topps Baseball.

Monday, October 15th

A’s manager Dick Williams, tired of Charlie Finley’s interference, tells his team he will resign after the World Series. The A’s will not get a new manager in place in time for Topps, and there is no A’s manager card in 1974 Topps.

Tuesday, October 16th

Game #3 of the World Series started out as a matchup between two future Hall-of-Famers, Tom Seaver and Catfish Hunter. The Mets scored 2 in the first on a Wayne Garrett leadoff home run followed by two singles and a run-scoring wild pitch. The A’s would score runs in the 6th and 8th to tie the game and the A’s would win in the 11th when second baseman Ted Kubiak, who came into the game in the 7th, took first base on a walk, moved to second on a passed ball and scored on a Bert Campaneris single. The A’s were leading the series 2 games to 1.

The photo on the card appears to show Campaneris stealing second in the 8th inning. At first I thought it might be the second half of the play where Kubiak scored in the 11th as Campy tried to advance to second but was thrown out 8-5-4 to end the inning. Since the umpire is clearly signalling “safe”, it must be the stolen base.

Wednesday, October 17th

The Mets evened up the series at two games apiece behind Jon Matlack’s pitching and Rusty Staub’s hitting… Staub hit a 3-run homer in the 1st and finished with 4 hits, a walk and 5 RBI.

This card shows A’s catcher Ray Fosse and Rusty Staub.

Thursday, October 18th

Jerry Koosman and Tug McGraw shut down the A’s, the Mets score single runs in the 2nd and 6th innings and win 2-0 to take a 3 games to 2 lead in the series.

This card shows Cleon Jones scoring the first run of the game; he doubled off Vida Blue to lead off the 2nd inning and scored on John Milner’s single. Jerry Grote, #15 for the Mets, was on deck. The catcher is Ray Fosse.

Transactions announced during the World Series have traditionally been frowned upon, but on this day the Philadelphia Phillies traded Ken Brett to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Dave Cash.

[I should upgrade my Ken Brett, but no way am I getting rid of that miscut which shows part of Hank Aaron’s #1 card!]

Saturday, October 20th

A’s beat the Mets 3-1 to force a game 7. The game was another matchup of Tom Seaver and Catfish Hunter with Reggie Jackson hitting two doubles to each drive in a run, and then scored the third A’s run in the bottom of the 8th. This card shows Reggie.

Sunday, October 21st

In Game 7 the A’s scored 4 runs in the 3rd inning and never looked back, beating the Mets 5-2 to win their second consecutive World Series.

Bert Campaneris hitting his solo home run to put the A’s ahead 1-0? One of Campy’s two singles? Campy grounding out? At any rate, the catcher is Jerry Grote.

This card shows catcher Ray Fosse (#10), reliever Darold Knowles (who got the save) and a third player – Sal Bando maybe? – celebrating the final out.

…and with that the off-season officially begins!

Giving Away Cards At Halloween: 2023 Edition

Posted on October 17, 2023 by The Shlabotnik Report

This is a post I originally published in 2012 and revised a couple of times since then; I think about re-running it each year before Halloween, but usually I don’t remember it until November, when I say “Oh, crap, I should’ve run that Halloween post”.

Since around 2007 or 2008 we’ve given out baseball cards along with the candy at Halloween. It’s become a fun tradition, and I thought I’d share it with everybody just in case I can inspire someone else to spread the hobby a tiny little bit.

I can’t take credit for this idea; I originally got the idea from an article in Sports Collectors Digest years ago, and it pretty much covered the same things I’m going to show you here. I think I may have saved the article, but who knows where it is.

The general gist of this is that I take unwanted recent cards – usually doubles from busting packs – break them down into stacks of 20-30 cards each, put them into snack-size resealable plastic bags and put them in our Halloween bowl along with the usual candy.

We make sure that we tell the kids that they can take both cards and candy, because some of them are too quiet or polite to take more than one thing.

This has worked out really well over the years. The kids get excited about it, they enjoy getting something different, they get some pretty decent cards, and we’ve found that the kids do remember us from year to year.

…and I get unwanted cards out of the house and into more interested hands. Last year we gave out 850 cards (34 “packs” of 25 cards each)

Here’s how I go about making my homemade “repacks”…

Every time I get recent base cards and low-end inserts which I don’t want, I put them into a “Halloween box”, and in late October I go to this box to make my packs. Since I’ve been doing this for a while, i usually have “carryover” cards from previous years, but I always pull out the cards that are more than a few years old. The main thing I want to emphasize is that I’m not using this as a way to unleash 1988 Donruss cards on unsuspecting children.

My general objective in putting these together is to get something good in every pack, and to spread cards out evenly among packs, so that we don’t get one kid who gets a pack full of Marlins from 2019 Donruss while another kid gets a pack full of stars.

I like to think the selection of cards is pretty good… Nobody’s going to run home and sell their cards on eBay, but If you bought one of my packs at a dollar store, you wouldn’t be unhappy.

So, my first step is to sort the cards into stacks by set sets… (The photos below are from 2021, just to be clear)

…this allows me to distribute the cards more evenly between packs. While I’m sorting cards into sets, I pull out the cards that I don’t think would interest the kids. This used to be managers and team cards, but now it’s mainly the retired players in certain sets. Your average Trick-Or-Treater is not going to care about players from before their parents were born.

Another kind of card I pull out of the initial sort is the big names that any casual baseball fan is going to recognize… Aaron Judge, Clayton Kershaw, Shohei Ohtani, and so on. I pull these out so that I can make sure that each repack has at least one superstar.

Now that I’ve got all these stacks, I make a rough guess as to how many packs we’ll need – this year it’ll be 40 packs – and start dividing each stack of cards from a particular set into 40 smaller stacks. This is done so that cards from each year/brand (i.e. 2020 Topps, 2021 Heritage, etc.) are fairly equally distributed between packs.

After I’ve made 40 stacks of commons, I go back to those star players and evenly distribute them among the stacks.

Just to make sure I’m not inadvertently “Bipping” some 6 year old, I’ll quickly thumb through each stack, looking for excessive duplicates of particular players or teams. Here are the cards which was in one of my packs:

Next, I’ll take each stack, put the best cards on the top and bottom, and insert it into a snack-sized resealable bag, like so.

Team bags could also be used; I think about doing that each year but I never think ahead to buy new team bags and the ones I do have are generally well-used and often have something like “10 OPC WHA Cards – $5” written on them in Sharpie. At any rate, the snack bags work just fine.

Sometimes we get a kid who asks if we have any cards of a certain team, so I started keeping a handful of loose cards for the more popular teams where I live.

I’ll also sometimes make a pack or two of other sports, if I have enough of those cards.

So, there you go… It’s a “win” for everybody… I get cards out of my house, I enjoy seeing the kids who get excited about it, and the kids get something fun along with the candy… and maybe, just maybe I’ll get someone interested in collecting cards.

The 1970’s, A To Z: Robin Yount to Richie Zisk

Posted on October 13, 2023 by The Shlabotnik Report

Recap: I’m going through all of the notable and somewhat notable players and managers of the 1970’s and I’m basically making like it’s an all-encompassing 1970’s throwback baseball card set. For the “card front”, I’m sharing my favorite 1970’s card of that guy. I’m also including a card back’s worth of information and thoughts about him and his cardboard.

ROBIN YOUNT

1979 Hostess #55

Played 1974 – 1993
1970’s Teams: Brewers

1970’s Highlights:
Yount was the 3rd overall pick in 1973, just ahead of #4 Dave Winfield and behind #1 David Clyde and #2 John Stearns; Yount played just a half-season in the minors before Brewers manager Del Crandall named him the opening day shortstop in 1974; At the time he was 18 years old and the youngest player in the American League; Was named the shortstop on the 1974 Baseball Digest Rookie All-Star team, although Topps went with Bucky Dent as their Rookie SS

Career Highlights:
Inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999; Also in the Brewers Walk of Fame and Wall of Honor; His #19 was retired by the Brewers; Won the 1982 AL MVP award as a shortstop and the 1989 AL MVP award as a center fielder; Was the third-youngest player to reach 3000 hits, getting there shortly before his 37th birthday; Holds the Brewers career record with 123 sacrifice flies; Batted .414 in the 1982 World Series but the Brewers lost to the Cardinals

Fun Stuff:
Despite being a HOFer and a two-time MVP, Yount was an All-Star just three times in the early 1980s… in his 1989 MVP season he was not an All-Star; Robin’s older brother Larry appeared in one Major League game as a pitcher, but was injured during warmups and didn’t actually face a batter

Card Stuff:
Appeared in all five 1970s Hostess sets

PAT ZACHRY

1979 Kellogg’s #8

Played 1976 – 1985
1970’s Teams: Reds, Mets

1970’s Highlights:
As a rookie with the 1976 Reds, Zachry went 14-7 with a 2.74 ERA and 143 strikeouts in 204 innings. He and pitcher Butch Metzger would end up tied in NL Rookie of the Year voting with 11 votes each (2 votes went to Hector Cruz); He’d pitch in the 1976 postseason, winning a start against the Phillies in the NLCS and a start against the Yankees in the World Series; In July 1977 he was traded to the Mets as part of the package for Tom Seaver and while he pitched well for some bad Mets teams, he never panned out to be the elite pitcher some had anticipated; Was an All-Star in 1978 in a season where he went 10-6 for a 96-loss Mets team

DON ZIMMER

1978 Topps #63

Played 1954- 1965
Managed 1972 – 1991
1970’s Teams: Padres, Red Sox

1970’s Highlights:
Was an Expos coach in 1971 and a Padres coach in 1972, but after San Diego manager Preston Gomez was fired 11 games into the 1972 season, Zimmer got his first Major League managing job; In 1974 he became a coach with the Red Sox and got promoted to mananger for the 1976 season; Won 90+ games three times with the Red Sox, and would be one of the winningest managers in Red Sox history… but the closest Zimmer’s Bosox came to winning the division was in 1977 when the AL East was decided by the infamous playoff game where Bucky Dent hit a homer to put the Yankees ahead to stay

Career Highlights:
As a player he was an All-Star in 1961; Was selected by the Mets in their expansion draft and on opening day would be the franchise’s first 3rd baseman, but a month into the season the Mets traded him to Cincinnati; Played in Japan in 1966 for the Toei Flyers

Managed the Rangers and Cubs and was NL Manager of the Year in 1989, when the Cubs won the division.

Overall he spent 57 years in baseball, and the Tampa Bay Rays have retired #66 in his honor

Card Stuff:
His 1962 Topps card shows him with the Mets but lists him with the Reds (which, I’d discovered, is easy to overlook because of the wood grain design of 1962)

RICHIE ZISK

1974 Topps #317

Played 1971 – 1983
1970’s Teams: Pirates, White Sox, Rangers

1970’s Highlights:
Started the 1977 and 1978 All-Star games while representing two different teams (ChiSox and Rangers)… interestingly those were his only All-Star appearances; Was traded to the White Sox for two relievers, Rich Gossage and Terry Forster; Signed a 10-year contract with the Rangers in fall of 1977; Had 100 RBIs in 1974 and 101 in 1977; Batted .400 (8 for 20) over NLCS’s in 1974 and 1975; Hit for the cycle against the Giants, 6/9/74

Career Highlights:
Hit 207 career homers; Was named the 1981 American League Comeback Player of the Year

Fun Stuff:
Hit the first American League home run in Canada, a 1st inning shot in Toronto on Opening Day 1977

Card Stuff:
Although his 1977 Topps card shows him with the Pirates, his 1977 O-Pee-Chee and 1977 Topps Cloth Stickers cards show him airbrushed into a White Sox uniform

1977 Topps #483 and 1977 O-Pee-Chee #152

…AND THAT’S A WRAP!

I started this series nearly four years ago – the first post was on January 8, 2020 – and in my excitement I had clearly not thought things through. I had originally imagined it going on for a year, maybe two… in fact, in the first post I pointedly make a comment that I didn’t want “to bite off more than I could chew”. As it turns out, it involved a whole lot of chewing.

I’m happy I did this – and I hope that all of you are happy I did it – but I’m also really happy that it’s over.

A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYBODY WHO READ THIS SERIES OVER THE PAST FOUR YEARS!

This Week In 1974 Topps: October 8-14, 1973

Posted on October 11, 2023 by The Shlabotnik Report

This series touches on those events of 50 years ago to which would directly or indirectly affect 1974 Topps Baseball.

…Except when it isn’t. I’m continuing to get into the League Championship Series and the custom cards I made for each game.

Tuesday, October 9th

In game 3 of the ALCS, the A’s beat the Orioles in 11 innings, 2-1. Starting pitchers Ken Holtzman and Mike Cuellar both went the distance, and the game ended with Bert Campaneris leading off the bottom of the 11th with a walk-off homer. The win put the A’s up 2 games to 1 in the best of five series.

This photo of Ken Holtzman probably isn’t from Game 3… Truth be told, I don’t even know if it’s from 1973.

In game 3 the Mets took an early 6-0 lead and Jerry Koosman went the distance, allowing 2 runs while striking out 9 and walking none. The Mets would win 9-2 but what might be the best remembered part of the game is the 5th inning brawl that broke out after Pete Rose slid hard into 2nd trying to break up the 3-6-3 double play that Bud Harrelson was turning. Topps would never show a card with a brawl on it, but I’m not Topps.

This photo is from Game 3 of the NLCS; there is no shortage of images of the fight between the Mets and Reds.

A transaction from 10/9 sent me down a rabbit hole that I thought was worth sharing… On this day in 1973, the San Francisco Giants released pitcher Don McMahon. McMahon still shows up in 1974 Topps as a coach for Giants manager Charlie Fox (that’s his floaty head on the far right).

Going into the 1972 season, McMahon became the Giants pitching coach while also continuing as an active pitcher (and he appeared in 1972 Topps with no mention of his being a coach – the back of his card is filled with his stats from 1957 to 1971). He retired as a pitcher after the 1972 season and shows up as a coach in 1973 Topps, but he got re-activated in 1973 due to a depleted Giants bullpen. The transaction from 10/9/73 was intended to be McMahon’s second retirement… but history repeated itself in 1974, McMahon got activated during the season and appeared in 9 games at the age of 44. This card would be his last Topps appearance, bringing an end to his 17 consecutive years of appearing in a Topps set.

Wednesday, October 10th

In Game 4 of the ALCS the Orioles had been down 4-0 late in the game and facing elimination. The O’s tied it up in the 7th on an RBI single by Brooks Robinson and a 3-run homer by Andy Etchebarren, and then a Bobby Grich homer in the 8th put them on top to stay.

Concerned about the empty seats behind Brooks Robinson? Don’t be, the photo’s not from the ALCS. It got to the point where my search for images came up empty so many times that I just made note of which Orioles played in Game 4 and went looking for 1970s photos of that player in a road uniform. Cheats galore.

Tony Perez hit a solo homer to tie the Mets/Reds game up 1-1 in the 7th and the game would remained tied until the 12th when Pete Rose hit a homer for what would be the game-winning run.

Again, just Tony Perez at Shea, not an NLCS picture.

Thursday, October 11th
Like in Game 4, the O’s were down a few runs going into the late innings. Unlike Game 4, they wouldn’t score, the A’s won the game 3-0 and the series 3-2.

As you can tell, this is from the postgame celebration.

Here’s the real Topps card to wrap up the series (mine needs an upgrade). The card shows Reggie Jackson swinging, which could be from any of a number of moments from the ALCS.

Over in the National League, the Mets broke things open with a 4-run 5th inning, including a 2-run Cleon Jones double, and the Mets would hold on to beat the Reds 7-2 and take the series.

Cleon Jones batting, yet another cheat… and that’s the last cheat, because I’ve finished with the LCS customs.

Here’s the actual Series card, which shows Jerry Koosman pitching in Game 3:

In non-postseason baseball news, the Tigers hired Ralph Houk as their new manager, replacing Joe Schultz who was acting as the interim manager after Billy Martin got fired. Here’s Houk shown in Yankee Stadium wearing those famous Tigers pinstripes (jk). He’s also notably shown without coaches, one would guess that the coaching staff had not been determined at this time (a couple of the Tigers coaches from 1973 would follow Martin to Texas).

Saturday, October 13th

In Game 1 of the World Series the A’s would score a couple of unearned runs in the 2nd and not look back, winning the game 2-1. The card shows Darold Knowles getting the save. For years I thought it was Rollie Fingers but at some point I looked closer and realized it wasn’t quite right. I did some research and it does seem to be Knowles.

Sunday, October 7th

In game 2 of the World Series the Mets and A’s were tied at 6 and went into extras. The Mets scored 4 runs in the 12th, the A’s answered with 1 in the bottom of the 12th and the series was tied at 1 game apiece.

Willie Mays retired after the 1973 World Series, so this was the last Topps card he’d have as an “active” player. Mays came in to the game in the 9th as a pinch-runner for Rusty Staub, and would also pop out in the 11th. In the 12th he had an RBI single – the last hit of his Major League career – advanced on a Cleon Jones single and scored on an error by 2B Mike Andrews.

The 2023 National By Proxy, Part 2

Posted on October 9, 2023 by The Shlabotnik Report

It took me a while to get my act together and my cards scanned but I’m happy to share the second half of the delightful oddballs that Dimebox Nick got for me at The National (See Part One here).

First we’ve got the Mets… Nick keeps sending me these 2004 Upper Deck Legends Timeless Teams Mets, and I keep saying “I need to chase these” and then I forget about them until he sends me another. But I do need to chase these (along with a couple of hundred other mini goals)

A Darryl insert from four years ago. I’ve temporarily (?) given up on chasing current inserts, but I welcome them when they show up on my doorstep.

2021 Topps had these “70 Years” inserts that I’ve forgotten what they’re about, but gotta love The Kid.

Brett Baty, one of the Mets of the future (or next year, depending on how the team moves this offseason). His last name is pronounced “BAIT-y”, not “Batty”… pity.

Reference what I said about current inserts above. Alvarez looked good this year.

Bartolo Colon, a career .084 batter, hit his first Major League homer at the age of 43. All hail Big Sexy!

This is an insert set I’ve never seen from the 2001 Topps American Pie set. I love this design, maybe it’s all the primary colors.

2012 Sega CardGEN are always welcome even if it’s a “One Star” player. I remember Bergesen being a *little* better than that, but that could very well be about my crappy memory.

An addition to my Cal Ripken Jr. binder. A few months ago I’d counted up my Cal cards, but I’ve forgotten where I made note of it. Few hundred, anyway.

Another Cal, this one from the 1996 Panini Album Sticker set. I don’t pay a lot of attention to stickers, but this one is nice.

One last Cal, this one from 1998 Studio. If I were Panini, I’d look into a 2024 Studio set full of non-40-man minor league prospects (which was the interesting part of 2023 Donruss)

OK, that covers the rest of Nick’s National Haul. Thank you again, Nick!!!

The 1970’s, A To Z: Butch Wynegar to Steve Yeager

Posted on October 6, 2023 by The Shlabotnik Report

BUTCH WYNEGAR

1978 Topps #555

Played 1976 – 1988
1970’s Teams: Twins

1970’s Highlights:
As a 20-year-old rookie he became one of the youngest postion players to be selected to the All-Star Game in 1976; Was also named the 1976 Sporting News AL Rookie of the Year and was the catcher on the 1976 Topps All-Star Rookie Team; Was an All-Star again in 1977, but didn’t blossom into the superstar catcher that some saw as his ceiling

Career Highlights:
Caught Dave Righetti’s 7/4/83 no-hitter against the Red Sox

Fun Stuff:
His full name is Harold Delano Wynegar

Card Stuff:
Has rookie year cards from Hostess, Kellogg’s and MSA

JIM WYNN

1977 Burger King Yankees #20

Played 1963 – 1977
1970’s Teams: Astros, Dodgers, Braves, Yankees, Brewers

1970’s Highlights:
Was the NL’s starting center fielder in the 1974 and 1975 All-Star Games; In 1974 Was awarded the 1974 NL Comeback Player of the Year for a season where he hit 32 homers with 108 RBI, 104 runs and a .271 average; Although teammate Steve Garvey won the MVP award that year, Wynn had a higher on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS+; Wynn broke his own Astros team record in runs scored with 117 in 1972, which would stand until Craig Biggio’s 123 in 1995; Hit a homer, a double and walked four times in the 1974 World Series with the Dodgers; In 1970 he became the first player to hit a homer into the Astrodome’s upper deck during a regular season game

Career Highlights:
His #24 was retired by the Astros in 2005 and he was part of the inaugural class of the Astros Hall of Fame; His 148 walks in 1969 tied the NL record held by Eddie Stanky (1945 with Brooklyn) and stood until a guy named Barry Bonds exceeded and then decimated the record; His 37 home runs and 107 RBI in 1967 had both been Astros team records… The HR record stood for nearly 30 years until it was broken by Jeff Bagwell in 1994 while the RBI record only lasted for 10 (Bob Watson, 110 RBI in 1977); Wynn’s 223 home runs as an Astro stood until Jeff Bagwell passed him in 1999; Was the first player to hit three home runs in the Astrodome

Fun Stuff:
The 5’9″ Wynn’s nickname was “The Toy Cannon”; On September 27, 1963 the Houston Colt .45’s had a starting lineup made up entirely of rookies, including Wynn, Joe Morgan, Rusty Staub, Sonny Jackson and Jerry Grote

CARL YASTRZEMSKI

1976 Topps #230

Played 1961 – 1983
1970’s Teams: Red Sox

1970’s Highlights:
In 1970 he lead the league with 125 runs and narrowly lost the batting title to Alex Johnson; Started the All-Star Game in 1970, 1971, 1972, 1977 ad 1979; Was the MVP of the 1970 All-Star Game; Lead the AL in runs scored in 1970 and 1974; Was involved in turning a triple play vs. the Angels 7/23/79; Passed Ted Williams for most games played for the Red Sox on 5/19/76; Won Gold Gloves in 1971 and 1977

Career Highlights:
Was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989 and had his #8 retired by the Red Sox; Was an 18-times All-Star, 7-times Gold Glove winner and won three batting titles; In 1967 he was the league MVP and got a Triple Crown, batting .326 with 44 homers and 121 RBI; Has the American League records with 3,308 games (2nd in the Majors) and 11,988 At-Bats (3rd in the Majors); Holds Red Sox career records with 1,816 runs, 3,419 hits, 646 doubles, 1,844 RBI and 105 sacrifice flies; Yaz and Brooks Robinson are tied for the longest career with the same team (23 years); Was the first American League player to have 3000 hits and 400 homeruns

Fun Stuff:
His grandson Mike Yastrzemski plays for the San Francisco Giants

Card Stuff:
Was in every flagship Topps set of the 1970s

STEVE YEAGER

1976 SSPC #83

Played 1972 – 1986
1970’s Teams: Dodgers

1970’s Highlights:
Was the Dodgers starting catcher for the second half of the decade and played in the NLCS and World Series in 1974, 1977 and 1978; The 1974 Dodgers had a 24-game winning streak in games where Yeager caught; Lead the league with a 47% caught stealing percentage in 1978; Was in the top five in the league for assists by a catcher from 1975 to 1978, leading the league in 1976 with 77

Career Highlights:
Was the co-MVP of the 1981 World Series (along with Ron Cey and Pedro Guerrero) after hitting .286 with two homers and 4 RBI; Invented the throat protector that hangs down from catcher’s masks

Fun Stuff:
Played “Duke Temple” in the “Major League” films; As part of the “Big Blue Wrecking Crew” (along with Jerry Reuss, Rick Monday and Jay Johnstone) they recorded a version of “We Are The Champions” after the 1981 World Series; The Yeager family appeared on Family Feud in 1979; Played himself on an episode of 1970s kids show “Wonderbug”; His cousin is famous test pilot Chuck Yeager who was the first to break the speed of sound

ONE MORE “1970’s: A-Z” POST REMAINING!!!!

This Week In 1974 Topps: October 1 – 7, 1973

Posted on October 4, 2023 by The Shlabotnik Report

This series touches on those events of 50 years ago to which would directly or indirectly affect 1974 Topps Baseball.

…Except when it isn’t. I stray from that in this post because I got caught up in researching the NL East and such.

Monday, October 1st
The day after the regular season was scheduled to end, the Mets and Cubs had a make-up doubleheader at Wrigley Field while the Pirates hosted a make-up game with the Padres. The Mets needed one win and their in. If the Mets were to get swept they would be tied with the Cardinals and possibly also the Pirates, if Pittsburgh won their game.

The Mets won their first game 6-1 to give them their 82nd win and clinch the division with an 82-79 record. The second game, no longer necessary, was not played. The Pirates lost their game and finished in 3rd behind the Cardinals.

The Mets had been 11.5 games back on August 5th and in last place at the end of August, but nobody in this division would take charge.

The Cardinals had won their last 5 games of the season… “But it was too late” (imagine this said like Ray Stevens in “The Streak” which would hit #1 the following spring).

OK, enough of that.

Astros manager Leo Durocher announced he was retiring. The Astros named coach Preston Gomez as their manager, as the team had played well for him during stints in the 1973 season where Durocher had been ill.

The Padres and their manager Don Zimmer part ways; Zimmer would be the third base coach with the Red Sox in 1974 and appeared on Darrell Johnson’s card as a floaty head with an airbrushed Red Sox cap.

Friday, October 5th
With the San Diego Padres proposed move to Washington looking questionable given the looming lawsuits and opposition from some of the other NL owners, it was announced that a new group had stepped up with a $10 million offer and a promise to keep the Padres in San Diego. This group was not without it’s own controversy and this would not be the final resolution to the Padres ownership crisis.

Saturday, October 6th
Quick note: I couldn’t resist making customs for each LCS game to complement the single “Playoffs” card Topps used to summarize each series. I came to regret this decision very much.

In Game 1 of the NLCS Tom Seaver shut the Reds down for 7 innings but gave up solo homers to Pete Rose in the 8th and Johnny Bench in the 9th as the Reds walked it off 2-1.

I had to cheat with this card. I couldn’t find any usable images from game 1 so this is just a “Johnny Bench batting in Riverfront Stadium” image… I don’t even know that it’s from 1973. I had a rough time finding images of both 1973 League Championship Series, so this will not be the last cheat.

The Orioles beat the A’s 6-0 in Game 1 of the ALCS. Jim Palmer would go the distance, allowing no runs, 5 hits and 5 walks while striking out 12.

Sunday, October 7th
In game 2 of the NLCS Jon Matlack pitched a 2-hit shutout with 9 strikeouts as the Mets beat the Reds 5-0 to even up the NLCS at 1 game apiece

The downside of this photo: it’s a black and white conference on the mound (and I never learned how to colorize photos). The upside: it *IS* actually from game 2 of the 1973 NLCS.

The A’s beat the O’s 6-3 to even up the ALCS at 1 game apiece. Sal Bando hit two home runs to drive in 3 while Bert Campaneris would hit a homer and 2 singles, steal two bases, batted in two runs and scored two as well.

This photo appears to show Campaneris stealing second in either the 8th or 9th innings with Bobby Grich focused on the incoming throw. If it’s the 8th, then Campy would score on one of Bando’s homers. If it’s the 9th then he’d be left on base.

2023 Shmeritage: Postseason Managers

Posted on October 2, 2023 by The Shlabotnik Report

Topps Heritage hasn’t included managers since 2016 (if I remember correctly) and that’s a damn shame. In an effort to rectify this somewhat, I present the managers of all the postseason teams in Shmeritage form, presented with no additional comment… other than “Sorry, no coaches”.