1965 Topps Indians Rookie Stars: George Culver, Tommie Agee

For the second post in a row we have rookie cards of players who would become Rookie Of the Year. Here is a 1965 Rookie Stars card that was ahead of its time. Although both went on to have solid MLB careers, neither played for the Indians in the 1965 season as projected on this card.

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George Culver didn't play in the big leagues at all in 1965. He finally got called up in September of 1966. At that point Topps gave him a do-over and included him on this 1967 Indians Rookie Stars card along with Jose Vidal. 

Culver played from 1966 until 1974 with the Indians, Reds, Cardinals, Astros, Dodgers and Phillies, After he was released by the Phillies he signed with the Nippon Ham Fighters of the Japan Pacific League. He saw very little action there and made an unsuccessful attempted return to the MLB. Instead he spent over 30 years as a coach, manager and pitching coordinator in the Phillies and Dodgers organizations. 

His best year was 1968 with Cincinnati. He was used primarily as a starter and had career bests in most pitching categories, both good and not so good. He had highs in wins with 11 and strikeouts with 114. He also had career highs in losses with 16, walks with 84 and led the league in hit batsmen. On July 29th he no-hit the Phillies 6-1. He gave up the only unearned run when Dick Allen reached first and was granted second on a throwing error by future Hall of Famer, Tony Perez at third. Allen made third base on a ground out to first then scored on a sac fly by Cookie Rojas.

For his Card That Never Was, I could have gone in many different directions. First there was no card from 1966 but with two other rookie cards, I decided against a third. Other candidates for a remake were his 1968 card on the Reds and his 1970 card on the Cardinals. Both used the same hatless photo of him in an Indians uniform.

Instead I settled on remaking his 1973 Topps card to show him as a Dodger.  He began the 1973 season in L.A. and it is his only team not represented on cardboard. The Phillies picked him up off waivers in August of 1973 and he spent the rest of the season and began 1974 season there before being released in June. He had a 1973 card showing him in an Astros uniform and a 1974 card showing him as a Phillie.

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After playing in 31 MLB games for the Cleveland Indians from 1962-1964 Tommie Agee was given a spot on this 1965 Rookie Stars card. And in January of  1965 he was part of a three-team, eight-player deal that landed him on the White Sox. He played only 10 games for the Sox in 1965 and was given another Rookie Stars card in 1966 along with Marv Staehle.

 1966 would turn into a Rookie of the Year campaign for Agee. He hit .273 with 22 homers 86 RBIs and 44 stolen bases. He earned a Gold Glove and made his first All Star appearance in 1966. He got 80% of the Rookie of the Year votes and even received several MVP votes landing him eighth in the AL. 

I have made several Cards That Never Were of Agee for my other blog. He was included in my Rookie of the Year project so I made a solo 1966 Topps card of him which was then included on the 1975 cards I made that were in the same vein as the MVP cards Topps made.

He was also included on a couple of League Leader Cards That Never Were. Topps didn't begin including stolen base leader cards in their sets until 1973. But if they had he would have occupied the third spot in both 1967 and 1968. Oddly the stolen base top three leaders were identical in 1966 and 1967. Bert Campaneris, Don Buford and Tommie Agee took first, second and third respectively both years. 

Even though I've created several Tommie Agee Cards That Never Were already, There is one more that I thought needed to be made.  If you are a baseball card geek like me (and let's face it, if you read this far, you are) the you are familiar with this card:

It shows an Tommie Agee airbrushed into a Houston Astros uniform. It also shows Bud Harrelson and Rusty Staub similarly airbrushed.  Staub was famously not otherwise included in the 1973 Topps set (nor the 1972 set for that matter). That wrong was corrected by me on my other blog here. 

But this was not a bad looking card overall. However it might have been better as a 1972 Topps "In Action" card. So for a bonus Card that Never Was, I re-airbrushed them all back into Mets uniforms and created this 1972 Topps Tommie Agee In Action card.

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This was a first for me. I like this card because I like Tommy Agee. And even though 1966 was his Rookie of the Year season, this was his true rookie card. It falls a bit short of the "Binder Worthy" mark. Unfortunately, the next category I created was "Guilty Pleasure" and I don't feel guilty at all about liking this card. So I compromised and gave it a 6.5. 

1961 Topps Jim Woods

This was Jim Woods' first Topps card but it is not his first card by a major card company. His first card was a Leaf card.  In 1960 Leaf put out a set of black and white baseball cards. Unlike Topps, Leaf included a marble with its cards instead of gum. The Leaf set was missing many of the big stars of the day. It was not widely distributed and the black and white format just could not compete with Topps. The Leaf name would not appear on baseball cards until 1985 as the Canadian version of Donruss.

Jim Woods made his MLB debut in 1957 for the Cubs. Just 10 days after his 18th birthday, manager Bob Scheffing put Woods in to pinch run for catcher, Gordon Massa. Wood was thrown out at home trying to score on a strikeout by pitcher Jim Brosnan. The next day Woods would get pinch running duty again for Massa. This time he would score the go-ahead run against the Cardinals on a single by Bob Will. In both games, Woods was used only as a pinch runner. He had no plate appearances and didn't play the field.  He was traded by the Cubs along with Al Dark and John Buzhardt for Hall of Famer Richie Ashburn. He played a total of 34 games for the Phillies in 1960 and 1961.  

For Topps, Jim Woods was one and done with this 1961 card, but I borrowed an idea from the 1975 Topps card of  Herb Washington. I made this 1957 Topps card of him on the Cubs for his Card That Never Was.  In Honor of his actual rookie debut, I designated his position as "Pinch Runner".

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 Jim graduated high school in 1957 from Lane Tech, a school that is walking distance to Wrigley Field on Addison. He ended up being used as a pinch runner for the Cubs in the final games of the 1957 season. The same season that he probably skipped school in order to catch the opening day game.

Overall he had an eight year minor league career with a couple tastes of the big leagues. But he was living the dream. Playing even briefly for the hometown team, he was also involved in a blockbuster trade. He even had a couple of baseball cards to immortalize his efforts. What more can a kid ask for? None the less, I can't grade this particular card any better than a 3 and put it back in its box.

1969 Topps Athletics Rookie Stars: George Lauzerique, Roberto Rodriguez

The ebb and flow of the random number generator has once again gone from a rookie card of a Hall of Famer to a couple of pitchers that have a total of 91 Major League appearances between them. And just look at this card. Topps wasn't even trying with their crappy air brushing on this one. Why didn't they just use a crayon to scribble out the K.C. logo on their caps?

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George Lauzerique made his debut in 1967 for the Kansas City A's. He was the starting pitcher and gave up 3 runs in 7 innings. All 3 runs in the loss to the Angels came on a three run homer by Bobby Knoop. In all he played in 23 games for the A's from 1967-69 before being traded to the Pilots after the 1969 season. He was part of a 4 player trade the sent him and Ted Kubiak to Seattle for Ray Oyler and Diego Segui.

He never actually played for the Pilots. By the time the 1970 season started, the Pilots had become the Brewers.  But I found this nice shot of him in a Pilots uniform from the Topps Vault and absolutely needed to use it for his Card That Never Was. His only other Topps card was also a 1970 card. It had him still as a member of the Oakland A's.

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For Roberto Rodriguez this 1969 Rookie Stars card was not his first card. He also appeared on this 1968 A's Rookie Stars card with Darrell Osteen. Both players were hatless on this card so we were spared the awful airbrushing but Osteen is still in his Reds uniform. Don't worry Topps, I'm sure nobody noticed. Must have been nice having no competition.

After rookie cards in 1968 and 1969, the next Topps card of Roberto Rodriguez was in 1971 in a Cubs uniform. Rodriguez played for three teams in 1970. He began the season with the A's. He then went to San Diego for about a month before being dealt to the Cubs. After the 1970 season he was back playing minor league ball until 1974.

For his Card That Never Was, I filled in the vacant spot in his portfolio with this 1970 Topps card of him on the team he began the 1970 season with.

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I'm trying to find some redeeming quality to save this card from the spokes, but I'm coming up empty. The picture quality is poor. The airbrushing is atrocious. And ultimately, the players were not, by any definition, "Rookie Stars".  They were both solid minor league pitchers with winning records. Both players had brief major league careers. But the best I can say about this card is that it made your Schwinn Sting-Ray sound like a motorcycle. I give it a 1. Put it in your spokes.

1970 Topps Royals Rookie Stars: Al Fitzmorris, Scott Northey

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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.

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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.

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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".

1966 Topps Athletics Rookie Stars: Paul Lindblad, Ron Stone

On this episode of Rating the Rookies we are looking at a 1966 Topps Rookie Stars card featuring Paul Lindblad and Ron Stone of the Kansas City Athletics. 

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After 3 solid minor league seasons in A, AA, and AAA, Kansas City called up Paul Lindblad in September of 1965 and he never looked back. Initially a starter, Lindblad found a home in the bullpen. He pitched at the Major League level from 1965-1978. He was with the Kansas City A's which moved to Oakland. In 1971 he was dealt to the Washington Senators which moved to Texas. He was traded back to the A's then was signed again by the Rangers and eventually finished his career with the Yankees.

He was the Game 3 winner of the 1973 World Series.  He came in the 9th inning of a 2-2 game. When the A's went up 3-2 in the 11th, Rollie Fingers came in to close it out. He also was one of 4 pitcher to combine for a no-hitter in 1975. It was the final game of the 1975 season and the A's had long since clinched a playoff spot. Manager, Al Dark had his ace, Vida Blue on a short leash. Vida pitched 5 no-hit innings and got the hook. The Oakland bullpen followed up with a perfect 6th inning by Glenn Abbott, a perfect 7th by Lindblad and a perfect 8th and 9th by Fingers. The A's beat the last place Angels by a score of 5-0.

Paul Lindblad had Topps cards every year from 1966-1979 and represented every city he played in except Washington. His 1971 card showed him in Oakland and his 1972 card was an air-brushed Rangers card. So for his Card That Never Was, I created this 1971 card of him on the Senators. 

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Ron Stone had a solid 1965 season hitting 16 homers and 67 RBIs playing for the Orioles minor league clubs. The A's took a chance on him and picked him up in the Rule 5 Draft. This required them to play him at the big league level or return him to Baltimore.  After 26 games and only 22 plate appearances, he was returned to the Orioles.

 He put together a few more solid seasons in the minors before being traded to the Phillies in 1969.  During this time Topps include him on 2 more Rookie Stars cards. One along with Frank Peters on the Orioles in 1968 and for the Phillies in 1969 with Bill Wilson. On both cards Topps used the same air-brushed image of him in an A's uniform.

He was picked up by the Phillies in 1969 for veteran catcher Clay Dalrymple. There he became a cautionary tale about reading too much into spring training performance.  He was labeled "Palm Tree Stone" by teammate, Larry Bowa. "He'd hit about .600 every spring then disappear on opening day. You didn't see him again until the next February."  

The Phillies used him mostly as a utility outfielder and pinch hitter. He played this role until 1972 when he spent July and August back in the minors. He was called up again in September but didn't get a single hit in 8 opportunities and began the 1973 back in the Phillies minor league system.  For his Card That Never Was, I created this 1973 Topps card to capture "Palm Tree" Stone's last spring training with the Phillies. 

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This rookie card produced a solid relief pitcher who played in 2 World Series and pitched a perfect inning as part of a 4-man no-hitter. It also was the first (and only air-brush-free) of 3 rookie cards for "Palm Tree" Stone. While this is by no measure an essential card, I'm going to label it "Set Filler" and give it a 4.

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. 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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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.

1980 Topps Brewers Future Stars: Danny Boitano, Willie Mueller, Lenn Sakata

I haven't posted in quite some time, but I still have a backlog of cards that I have created. So I haven't given up yet. I plan to continue this blog along with my other blog, Cards That Never Were. Probably less frequently as demands of everyday life dictate.

This time the random number generator has given me the most recent year to date. And given that I am only going after 1959-1980 rookie cards, there will be nothing newer.

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Dan Boitano was a middle reliever that pitched 71.1 Major League innings over 5 years with the Phillies, Brewers, Mets and Rangers from 1978-1982. This 1980 rookie card represents his entire big league catalog. With so many options to choose from, I went with 1982 Donruss for his Card That Never Was. Not only was 1982 his final year but it was also the year in which he had his most big-league exposure. He pitched 30.1 innings in 19 appearances.

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Once again we have a middle reliever for whom this is his only MLB card. Willie Mueller pitched 12.2 innings for the Brewers in 1978 then 2 more in 1981. But he was best known as the Yankees closer "Duke" in the 1989 movie "Major League". In 2014, Topps created a subset of cards from the movie with the 1989 design. For Willie Mueller's Card That Never Was, I included him in the subset.

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Lenn Sakata was a light hitting utility infielder for the Brewers, Orioles, A's and Yankees. He hit .230 and scattered 25 homers over 11 seasons. Primarily a middle infielder, Sakata was given the opportunity(?) to fill in at catcher for an inning in 1983. Sakata was brought into the game as a defensive replacement in the 8th inning, playing 2nd base. In the 10th inning he was moved behind the plate after a few pinch hitters moves left Baltimore without a catcher. Seeing Sakata behind the plate proved too tempting for the Blue Jays baserunners. Pitcher Tippy Martinez picked off 3 consecutive runners at first to end the rally. Sakata put the finishing touch on that game by hitting one of his 25 career homers in walk-off style.

Sakata was featured on Topps cards from 1980-1988 with the exception of 1987. For his Card That Never Was, I filled in that gap.

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I'm getting rusty, I almost forgot to "Rate" this rookie card. (After all that is only the name of this blog.)  This card's only saving grace is Mueller's cameo in "Major League" and Sakata's contribution to Tippy Martinez's incredible feat.  I will give this card a 2 "Good for Flipping".

1963 Topps Rookie Stars: Rogelio Alvarez, Dave Roberts, Bob Saverine, Tommy Harper

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In 1963, Rogelio Alvarez was a recent acquisition of the Washington Senators and was expected to be the everyday first baseman. Unfortunately, Alvarez had returned to his home in Cuba during the off season. With tensions between the US and Cuba at their peak, Alvarez was unable to obtain an exit visa from Cuba, A process that had begun in February, took until May when a plea was made directly to Fidel Castro. During that time the Senators sent Alvarez transportation funds 3 different times which somehow "disappeared" in Cuba. The Senators, having traded away their 1962 first baseman Harry Bright for the rookie prospect, traded for Tigers back up first bagger, Bobo Osborne. 

Rogelio Alvarez finally made it to the US in mid-May. Although he was expected to be the everyday first baseman for the Senators, he was returned to the Reds organization. He played until 1973 in the minors never making it back up to the big leagues.

Alvarez is often cited as the fist Cuban defector in baseball but his only trips to the big leagues came before his "defection". In honor of his first call up in 1960, I created this 1960 Topps Card That Never Was.

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When this card was made, Dave Roberts was already a 10 year minor league veteran. In 1962 he hit .322 with 15 homers for the AAA Oklahoma City 89ers. He also hit .245 for the Colts in 16 games as a September call-up. He played his entire 1963 season back down in the minors before getting another chance with the Colts in 1964 then again with the Pirates in 1966. He finally achieved success in Japan. He averaged .275 from 1967-1973. He hit 40 homers in 1968 and over 20 homers 5 of his 7 seasons there. He retired at the age of 40.

His only Topps cards were this rookie card and a 1966 card of him on the Pirates. For his Card That Never Was, I created this 1964 card for him. It was the only season that he spent the majority in the Majors.

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Bob Saverine made his MLB debut as a pinch runner in 1959. He scored the only run for the Orioles in a 6-1 loss to the White Sox. He was the youngest player in the AL that season at 18 years old and he wouldn't be called up again until 1962. After playing for the O's from 1962-1964 he was dealt to Houston for Don Larsen. He spent the entire 1965 season in the minors and was picked up by the Senators in 1966 rule 5 draft. He saw most of his action in Washington in 1966 and 1967 as a utility man. 

In 1966 he went 0-12 in a double header against his former teammates as the Senators lost 2 close ones to the Orioles. Losing 5-6 in 14 innings in game 1 then losing 7-8 in game 2. For his Card That Never Was, I made a 1965 traded card of Bob and Don Larsen. This is actually a design that I've been playing around with for a while and I wanted an excuse to use it.

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Tommy Harper was a well traveled MLB player. He came up with Cincinnati in 1962. Then trough trades, expansion drafts, franchise relocations, purchases and free agency move, landed in Cleveland, Seattle, Milwaukee, Boston, California, Oakland and Baltimore. He was the first batter ever for both the Pilots and the Brewers. He was the Brewers first representative in an All Star game.  He led the AL in stolen bases for the Pilots in 1969 and the Red Sox in 1973.

I had already created 2 Cards That Never Were for my other blog here and here, The first is an All Star card commemorating his appearance in the 1970 All Star game as a pinch runner.

The second is also a Card That Never Was from 1970. This one is a stolen base leaders card. Topps didn't make leader cards for stolen bases until 1973.

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Since my friend Warren said I'm a tough grader, I'm gonna go a little easier on this one. Tommy Harper alone makes this card worth it for me. But he is the only legit All Star on the card. The card does include Rogelio Alvaraz, the first MLB player to defect from Cuba and who's career was derailed due to political unrest. It also includes Dave L. Roberts who never made it in the US but was a star in Japan. This might be a swing too far in the other direction, but I'd put it in my binder. I give it a 7 - Binder Worthy.