1970 Topps Royals Rookie Stars: Al Fitzmorris, Scott Northey

*******************************************

While researching Al Fitzmorris, I have found a few interesting facts. First he was originally signed by the White Sox in 1965 as an outfielder. Batting only .227 as a minor leaguer, he decided to covert to pitcher.

Second, although he led the Carolina League with 214 strikeouts in 1968, he was not a strikeout pitcher in the majors. He averaged just 3.2 strikeouts per 9 innings over his career. In 1974 he pitched a complete game shutout without a single strikeout or walk. He gave up just 3 hits, all singles, one each in the 1st, the 5th and the 8th.

Third he was selected twice in an expansion draft. In 1968 he was left unprotected by the White Sox and picked by the Royals. In 1976 he was drafted again. This time by the Toronto Blue Jays only to be traded to the Indians for catcher, Alan Ashby and first baseman, Doug Howard.

For his Card That Never Was, I chose a 1975 Hostess design. In 1975 Fitzmorris had a number of career highs including 16 wins and 11 complete games.

********************************************

For Scott Northey this was his first of 2 rookie cards. The second was this 1971 American League Rookie Stars card with A's outfielder Bobby Brooks and Brewers Outfielder Pete Koegel.

Northey was the son of MLB journeyman Ron Northey. Ron played on the Phillies, Cardinals, Cubs, Reds and White Sox from 1942-1957 and later a coach for the Pirates from 1960-1963.

Like his 1970 Topps card-mate Fitzmorris, Scott Northey was originally signed by the White Sox as an outfielder in 1965 and also picked by the Royals in the 1968 expansion draft. Also like Fitzmorris, he was called up from the Royals' AAA Omaha team in September.  That is where the similarity ends. After Northey's "cup of coffee" in September of 1969, he never made the show again. He played minor league ball until 1972 despite being depicted on rookie stars cards in bot 1970 and 1971.

For his Card That Never Was, I chose to give him his own 1969 Topps card to commemorate this original Royals only MLB season.

********************************************

This card contains two September Call-ups from the Royals inaugural season. Fitzmorris was a solid pitcher for parts of 10 seasons. Northey on the other hand just struck out too much. He had 19 strikeouts in just 20 games including one 4 strikeout game. I may have graded a bit on the generous side but I gave this card a 4 because it contains 2 original Royals so for someone somewhere, this would qualify as a "set filler".

1975 Topps Rookie Catchers-Outfielders: Gary Carter, Marc Hill, Danny Meyer, Leon Roberts

For the 25th post on this blog, the random number generator has finally brought us a genuine Hall of Fame rookie card. It is also this blog's first rookie card from the 1975 set. It has a somewhat odd combination of 2 catchers and 2 outfielders. I think that adds to its uniqueness and makes for a nice long post. 

**********

Although Gary Carter is depicted on this card as a catcher, "The Kid" was used primarily as an outfielder by the Expos in 1975. Barry Foote was the Expos everyday catcher, but Carter's .270 batting average and 17 homers was too much to prevent Montreal from playing him on a daily basis. He was even selected to the All Star roster in 1975 and played 1 inning in defense. Not behind the plate but in left field. That is why when I made this 1975 Hostess Card That Never Was for my other blog, I chose to list him as an outfielder.

**********

Here Marc Hill is depicted in a typical Topps airbrushed Giants cap. He had actually made brief appearances in 1973 and 1974 for the St. Louis Cardinals before being traded to the Giants for Ken Rudolph and Elias Sosa. Over on one of my favorite blogs, Johngy's Beat, John created a nice individual 1975 Topps card of Marc Hill on the Cardinals. I've included that over to the right.

Hill had a long career mainly as a back-up catcher. He did have 2 years in which he played the majority of games behind the plate for the Giants in 1977 and 1978. But for the rest of his 14 big league seasons, he played a supporting role. And Topps has had a card for him every year from 1975-1986. Fleer and Donruss were spotty at best. For his Card That Never Was, I chose to make the missing Fleer card from the White Sox's "Winning Ugly" 1983 season.

**********

After spending the 1975 and 1976 seasons as a first baseman/outfielder for the Tigers, Dan Meyer was selected by the Seattle Mariners in the expansion draft. In Seattle he became the everyday first baseman. 1977 was a career season for Meyer. He hit 22 homers with 90 RBIs. Overall Meyer spent parts of 12 seasons in the majors. In 1985 the A's took one last chance on Meyer, but he went hitless in 14 games and was released in May. For his Card That Never Was, I gave him a final 1985 Topps card.

**********

Leon Roberts played big league ball from 1974-1984. After being called up in September 1974, Roberts became Detroit's everyday right fielder. Following the 1975 season he was part of a 7 player trade with the Astros. After the 1977 season the Astros gave up on Roberts and traded him to the Mariners. Topps gave up on him as well. There was no 1978 card of him despite that being his career season, hitting .301 with 22 homers.

Leon Roberts went on to play until 1984 with the Rangers, Blue Jays and Royals. He even pitched one mop-up inning for the Royals in 1984. Kansas City was down to Bert Blyleven and the Cleveland Indians in the 9th inning. Roberts faced 8 batters in the 9th giving up 3 runs on 4 hits and 1 walk. He did manage to strike out Mel Hall. 

For Roberts' Card That Never Was I made the 1978 card that Topps skipped over. 

**********

This card has earned my highest grade to date. Hall of Famer, Gary Carter, carries the load but all three of the other players on this card had MLB careers lasting over 10 years each. That is more than respectable. If you have this card, display it proudly. I give it a solid 8.