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.

1961 Topps Ron Perranoski

Ron Perranoski was one of the top relievers of his era. Most of it was before the save was recognized as an official stat. The only start of his career came in his rookie season. He pitched the first four innings of a 10 inning 12-11 win over the Pirates. He gave up three runs before being pinch hit for by Frank Howard.  Over the next five innings, Roger Craig, Turk Farrell and Jim Golden combined to give up 8 runs.  In the 10th Johnny Podres pitched a scoreless frame and got the win on a John Roseboro walk-off RBI triple. So in the famous closer's only start, the final inning was pitched by an All Star starter.

If you follow my other blog, you have seen that I have a few Cards That Never Were featuring Ron Perranoski already. He has been a repeat subject on my Leaders series. Perranoski made an appearance on the 1963 and 1964 cards and was awarded the Sporting News Fireman of the Year in 1969 and 1970 giving him top billing on the 1970 and 1971 AL Leading Firemen cards.

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This is the rookie card of one of the top relievers of his era. He was never selected to the All Star game but received MVP votes in 1962, 1969 and 1970. In 1970 he also received Cy Young votes. I would consider this card "Binder Worthy". I give it a solid 7.

1965 Topps Phillies Rookie Stars: Dave Bennett, Morrie Steevens

The first rookie card of the new year is from 1965 thanks to the random number generator. This card features two rookie pitcher for the Phillies. For Dave Bennett, this isn't his first rookie card. Topps recycled the same photo from his 1964 rookie card with Rick Wise, shown to the right. The 1964 card features one of my all-time favorite errors on the back. In Bennett's bio, Topps writes "The nineteen-year-old righthanded curveballer is just 18 years old!"  Classic.

Although Bennett would have a long minor league career, he was literally one and done in the majors. Just to clarify, at the time of his 1964 rookie card and his one-and-only MLB appearance, he was actually 18 years old. He came into the ninth inning of a game started by his older brother Dennis Bennett. The game was a 11-3 rout at the hands of the New York Mets. In all, the Phillies put 7 different pitchers on the mound including Bennett's 1964 rookie card-mate, Rick Wise. Bennett gave up one run on a wild pitch to Roy McMillan.

Normally two rookie cards are more than enough for a player who has only one MLB inning. But that's just not how I roll. So here is a 1964 Topps Giant Card That Never Was for Dennis Bennett's kid brother.

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Morrie Steevens (not a typo) made his MLB debut in 1962 with the Cubs. The year of  this rookie card (his only baseball card), 1965, was also the year he made his final MLB appearance. Like his card-mate Bennett, Steevens had a long minor-league career but saw limited MLB action. He was 0-2 in just over 20 innings of play. He was, however, 86-80 as a minor leaguer from 1958-1967.  For his Card That Never Was, I made this 1962 Topps individual rookie card from his first MLB season.

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Not much redeeming value to this card. The 2 pitchers on this card pitched a total of 3.2 innings in 1964. Dave Bennett didn't pitch at all in 1965 and Morrie Steevens pitch 2.2 innings. Really the only thing keeping it out of my bicycle spokes is Bennett's comical bio. And that isn't even on this card. It's on his 1964 rookie card. Topps couldn't even find a new picture of him for the 1965 card. I give it a 2, good for flipping.

1967 Topps White Sox Rookie Stars: Lee Elia, Dennis Higgins, Bill Voss

Lee Elia played a total of 95 big league games. 80 on the South side of Chicago in 1966 and 15 on the North side in 1968. He hit a meager .203 lifetime, yet he appeared on Topps cards in 1966, 67, 68 and 69. 

He likewise had a couple of short stints as a manager. He was the Cubs skipper in 1982 and the first part of the 1983 season. In 1987 he replaced John Felske as the Phillies manager 61 games into the season. In 1988 he was similarly dismissed just before the end of the season. Although his managerial career was just as dismal as his playing career, he still appeared on 3 more Topps. Oddly the only season he managed all 162 games was 1982 a year in which Topps didn't make manager's cards.

For Lee Elia's Card That Never Was I chose a 1982 Donruss design. Donruss was the only one of the big three that included manager cards at all in 1982, but they did not include one for the Cubs.

He had a record of 238-300 in parts of 4 seasons and never finished higher than 4th place in the division. He was best known for one of the greatest, profanity-laden rants ever recorded. A local DJ used to open his show every morning with the bleeped-version of this tirade. And every time I heard it, I couldn't help but laugh. Below I posted a YouTube video of his infamous rant. The publisher of this video even included his baseball cards, so I felt it was perfect for this site. Just a heads-up, this is not the bleeped version, it is loaded with F-bombs. Very NSFW.

In 1966 the White Sox pitching staff led the American League in ERA with a team ERA of 2.68. The next best were the Twins with 3.13. As a rookie on that staff, Dennis Higgins had a 2.52 ERA and struck out 86 batters over 93 innings, mostly in relief. After a 1967 season plagued with eye injuries he was dealt to the Senators in a six-player trade. During the 1969 season for the Senators, Higgins won a career high 10 games and had 19 saves. It was his 13th saves in 1968 that landed him on this Card That Never Was. I created this one for my other blog and have included it here:

Bill Voss was a September call-up in 1965. Although the outfielder had only 6 hits in 33 at bats one of them was a homer off Denny McLain. Voss spent most of 1966 and 1967 in the White Sox farm system. When he returned in 1968 he didn't even hit his weight but was given a second rookie card.

After the season he was dealt to the Angels. He fared better in California, hitting .255 over the next 2 seasons.  After being traded to the Brewers for the 1971 season he played on 3 different teams in 1972, the Milwaukee, Oakland and St. Louis. For his Card That Never Was I created a 1972 Topps Traded card of him with on the A's.

Although his career ended in a Cardinals uniform in 1972, he did appear on a 1973 card. It was the infamous Joe Rudi card that features 3 Oakland A's players, none of them Rudi. It shows Gene Tenace crossing the plate and being greeted by Voss and Marty Martinez  

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Once again this card appeals to me for no good reason. It could be Voss's inclusion on an infamous card of my childhood. It could be the inexplicable fact that Topps put 3 players on this rookie card while the others from 1966 only had 2.  It could be because the Sox are my team. Who am I kidding? It is Elia's rant. To this day, it makes me smile. I give it a 6 for "Guilty Pleasure".

1973 Topps Rookie First Basemen: Enos Cabell, Pat Bourque, Gonzalo Marquez

After breaking "Rookie Stars" down by team from 1964-1972 (with a few exceptions), Topps returned to multi-team rookie cards in 1973. Another unique feature of the 1973 rookie cards was that the infielders were broken down by position. More often then not Topps would just designate the card as "Rookie Infielders". 

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Enos Cabell is better known as Houston's 3rd baseman than a 1st baseman in Baltimore. He spent 7 1/2 of his 15 MLB seasons in an Astros "Tequila Sunrise" jersey. He is still affiliated with the Astros. He is listed on their MLB.com page as "Special Assistant to the General Manager".

Cabell is also remembered as part of the infamous Pittsburgh Drug Trials. Unlike the steroid era hearings 2 decades later, these hearings were about cocaine. Cabell and 6 others were initially suspended for the 1986 season for allegedly being long-time users and for facilitating distribution of drugs to other players. The suspension was ultimately lifted in exchange for community service, donations to substance abuse charities and voluntary drug testing.  

As long as we're on the subject of drug use in baseball (of the non-performance-enhancing variety), I would be remiss if I didn't mention "No No: A Dockumentary". It is the story of Dock Ellis which includes interviews of several players including Enos Cabell. If you are geeky enough to have read this far into this post, I guaranty you will enjoy this film.

Back to Enos, he was a September call-up in 1972. Although he went 0-5 with the Orioles, Topps thought enough of him to give him top billing on this rookie card in 1973. However in 1974 he had no card at all. So for his Card That Never Was, the choice was easy. 

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In an odd coincidence, Pat Bourque and the player to the right of him on this card, Gonzalo Marquez were traded for each other. Yup the Cubs and the A's traded left-handed, back-up first basemen for each other. Straight up, not part of some crazy 6 player trade with players to be named later or any other nonsense. The winner in that trade was Bourque. He ended up with a World Series ring.

In August of 1974 he would be traded to the Twins straight-up for another left-handed hitting back-up first baseman, Jim Holt. He was traded back to the A's at the end of the season for 2 minor leaguers. Unfortunately, Bourque never made the 1975 team and spent the next 4 seasons in the Mexican League.

For his Card That Never Was I considered making a 1974 Topps Traded card depicting him on the Twins but decided instead to make it a 1975 card. Bourque actually has a 1975 card showing him back on the A's. I just have to wonder, if he hadn't been traded back to the A's what would his 1975 card look like?  

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Gonzalo Marquez made his MLB debut as Oakland was in the home stretch for the division title in 1972. During that stretch he was primarily used as a pinch hitter and batted .381. In the post-season Marquez really shined. He appeared in 8 games as a pinch hitter collecting 5 hits for a .625 batting average. By the time he was traded in 1973 his batting average for the A's was .240.  His numbers with the Cubs were even worse. He hit .224 for the remainder of the 1973 season. In 1974 he went 0 for 11 and spent most of the season in the minors.

His 1974 numbers didn't merit a 1975 card and Topps rightly didn't include him in that set. That being said, I found a nice photo of him and made a card for him anyway. It's what I do.

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This card is slightly more interesting than I thought at first glance. Even so, it doesn't merit any more than a second glance, then put it back in the box. I give it a 3 and I kinda feel that was generous. 

1964 Topps Colts Rookie Stars: Steve Hertz, Joe Hoerner

Steve Hertz was signed as an 18 year old by the Houston Colt .45s in 1963. He labored in the farm system from 1964-1969 but did come up for cup of coffee with the Colts in early 1964. Hertz remain involved with the sport well after his playing days were over. He managed at the high school level then junior college level in Miami amassing 778 JUCO victories. He even coached the Tel Aviv Lightning in the Israel Baseball League.

Impressive as all that is, the thing that fascinated me while researching Steve Hertz is that he had only 4 plate appearances in 5 games. He had 3 strikeouts, no hits, no walks, was not hit by a pitch, never stole a base, yet he scored twice. His first run came against the Cubs. He popped up to Lou Brock in left field. When Brock dropped the ball Hertz ended up on 2nd base. He scored on another error. Ernie Banks mishandled a Rusty Staub grounder to first base. His second run came as a pinch-runner against the Phillies. He filled in after Al Spangler drew a base on balls. A passed ball, 2 walks and a single later, Hertz was crossing the plate for the second and last time in his short career.

Year   Age  Tm Lg G PA AB R H RBI SB BB SO   BA HBP IBB
1964    19 HOU NL 5  4  4 2 0   0  0  0  3 .000   0   0

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/8/2015

Although his MLB career was anything but giant, I created this 1964 Topps Giant Card That Never Was to honor a player with some of the strangest MLB stats I have come across.

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Joe Hoerner was originally signed by the White Sox in 1957 before being taken by the Colts in the 1961 minor league draft. He remained primarily a minor league pitcher with the exception of 1 game in 1963 and 7 in 1964 for Houston. The Cardinals picked him up via the Rule 5 Draft in 1966. He immediately assumed the role of closer, finishing 39 games and  earning 13 saves. He would help the Cardinals to the World Championship in 1967. In 1968 he would have his best year going 8-2 with a 1.47 ERA. He would also have 17 save, the 2nd most in the NL.

He was traded to the Phillies after the 1969 season as part of the infamous Curt Flood for Dick Allen trade in which Flood refused to report which ultimately led to free agency. He was the Phillies sole representative at the 1970 All Star game but never left the bull-pen. He continued pitching through the 1977 season with the Phillies, Braves, Royals, Rangers and Reds. He would finish his career with a record of 39-34 with 98 saves and an ERA of 2.99.

For his Card That Never Was I am going to re-use a 1969 Topps League Leader card I made for Cards That Never Were in recognition of his statistically best MLB season.

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As usual, I found the stories behind these players more interesting than the card itself. But for that same reason I have to give it a 4 "Set Filler".

1963 Topps Rookie Stars: Bill Faul, Ron Hunt, Bob Lipski, Al Moran

Here is another randomly selected 4 player rookie card. These always make for nice, long posts. This one is from 1963 and includes 2 players from the Mets.

The first player is Tigers pitcher Bill Faul. Bill  was named to the Baseball Digest All-Flake team in 1985. He was rumored to have bitten the heads off live parakeets and eaten toads to put some "hop" into his pitches. He wore the number 13 for the Tigers and the Cubs and hypnotized himself before games. Don't just take my word for it.  Look at the cartoon from the back of his 1966 Topps card. 

Aside from alleged flakery, Bill was an All-American pitcher in college in 1961. He was drafted by the Tigers in 1962 and made his first appearance on the Big-League club that year. In 1963 he went 5-6, and spent most of 1964 in the minors before being sold to the Cubs. Although he had Topps cards in 1964 and 1966, he was skipped over in 1965. So here is a 1965 Topps Bill Faul Card That Never Was: 

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Ron Hunt was the Rookie of the Year runner up to Pete Rose in 1963. In all fairness, Rose got 85% of the vote to Hunt's 10%. But Hunt put up decent numbers his rookie year and in 1964 was the starting 2nd baseman in the All Star game. Hunt is best known for his willingness to take one for the team. He led the league in Hit-By-Pitches 7 consecutive years. In 1971 he was hit 50 times, just 1 shy of Hughie Jennings all-time record while playing for the Baltimore Orioles in 1896. 

Ron hunt played for the Mets, Dodgers, Giants, Expos and Cardinals from 1963-1974. Topps managed to include him in every set, so I had to stretch things a bit for his Card That Never Was. Hunt was claimed off waivers from the Expos by the Cards in September of 1974. Obviously Topps would not have made 1974 Traded card for a September transaction. But I would. Topps did make a 1975 card of Hunt in a Cardinals uniform, but he retired during spring training when St. Louis wanted to cut his pay.

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Bob Lipski's entire MLB career consisted of 2 innings and 1 at-bat. He struck out. He was signed by the Indians as part of a rule 5 draft in 1963. Since he wasn't used he had to be returned to the Phillies. Even though he was quite literally one and done, I created a second rookie card for him for his Card That Never Was. 

 I teamed him up with a player who made his MLB debut in 1964 and a childhood favorite of mine. Walt "No Neck" Williams. I chose "No Neck" for two reasons. First, that sweet Colt .45's uni and second the great nickname. Harry Caray once refered to the outfield of Walt Williams, Pat Kelly and Carlos May as "No Neck, No Arm and No Thumb." Carlos May had his thumb blown of as an Marine Reserve.

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Another Mets middle-infielder, Al Moran also graces this card. Moran was "the player to be named later" in the 1962 trade that sent the Red Sox's first black player, Pumpsie Green, to the Mets for Felix Mantilla.  In his rookie year, Moran hit .193 for the Mets as their primary shortstop. In 1964 he was replaced by Roy McMillan, a former gold glover who was 9 years older and batted a mere .211. Moran played only 16 games for the Mets in 1964 then spent the next 2 years in the minors.

Al Moran's entire two-year MLB career is fully documented by Topps with cards of him in both the 1963 and 1964 sets. So for his Card That Never Was, I created a 1963 Fleer card of him.

And now to grade the card.  Bob Lipski never even had a full "cup of coffee" in the Majors and Al Moran batted under the Mendoza Line in his only full season. But Bill Faul was a bonus-baby back in the day and was immortalized in Baseball Digest as a member of the "All-Flake Team". And then there is Ron Hunt. The first Met to start in an All Star Game and is still a fan favorite in NY. The fact that there are 2 Mets from their 2nd year in existence including a genuine All Star and I have to grade it a 5: "Trade Bait". And I'm looking at you, Warren.

1974 Topps Rookie Pitchers: Wayne Garland, Fred Holdsworth, Mark Littell, Dick Pole

For the first time the random number generator has picked a 4 player card for me. Specifically this 1974 Topps Rookie Pitchers card, so this will be a lengthy post.

Wayne Garland went 5-5 in 20 starts in 1974 but that was still not enough for Topps to give him a card in 1975. In 1976 he was back in good graces with Topps. He got his own card and 20 wins and even a Cy Young award vote (just one). After the 1976 season, he got 3 things: a nice big free agent contract with the Indians, a Sporting News cover story, and a sweet fro:

He promptly lost 19 games in 1977 to lead the league in futility. Despite his fat contract, he never had another winning season and retired in 1981. For his Card That Never Was, here is his missing 1975 Topps card:

Fred Holdsworth pitched in only 8 games for the Tigers in 1974. He lost all 3 of his decisions. This was enough for Topps to grant him a card in the 1975 set. He spent the entire 1975 season in the minors and was traded mid-season to the Orioles. In 1976 Topps gave up on him but the Orioles didn't. He was 4-1 with 2 saves in relief and was back on cardboard in 1977. He continued to bounce between the majors and minors until 1981. Overall he was 7-10 in parts of 7 Major League seasons with a 4.40 ERA. Here is his missing card from the 1976 Topps set:

Despite going 1-3 in 8 games (or perhaps because of it) in 1973, Mark Littell didn't pitch a single inning at the big league level in 1974. He would come up again for the Royals in 1975 and have a similar 1-2 record in 7 games and Topps would again feature him on a rookie card in 1976:

1976 would be his career year, coming out of the bullpen with 8 wins and 16 saves. He also garnered a few MVP votes. He would go on to have a respectable career as a solid relief pitcher for the Royals and Cardinals. He went 32-31 with 56 saves over 9 seasons. But it was his post-career that I found interesting while researching him. First I found this card of questionable judgement from 1990:

Apparently Swell has a fairly liberal definition of "Great".

Mark Littell is also a renown inventor.  He invented and sells the Nutty Buddy. No, not the cookies, but rather a high-tech personal protective device for your "boys".  It comes in 5 sizes (and I am not joking): the hammer, the boss, the hog, the trophy, and mongo!

Rather than fill in a missing 1975 card between his 2 rookie cards, I made a 1978 Hostess card depicting him on the Cardinals. His 1978 Topps card still had him on the Royals. He was traded in December of 1977 for the "Mad Hungarian", Al Hrabosky.

On the heels of  Littell's Nutty Buddy, I am doing my best to stifle my inner 9-year-old's snickers at the name of the next guy.  In 1974 Dick Pole was 1-1 with a save in 12 games. From 1973-76 he pitched for the Red Sox compiling a record of 14-14. He was picked up by the Seattle Mariners in the expansion draft and was 11-23 over the 1977 and 1978 seasons. He was released by the Mariners in the spring of 1979.  

But it was his career as a coach that was more impressive. In 1983 he began as a minor league coach for the Cubs. Greg Maddux credits Dick Pole with helping him develop his style. He spent time as a pitching coach with the Cubs, Reds, Giants, Expos, Indians, Red Sox and Angels. Here is a Card That Never Was of him on his second tour of duty with the Cubs in 2003:

And now for the important part. The 4 pitchers on this card were a combined 6-9 with 1 save in 1974. Not a single one of them ever made an All Star team, but they all had serviceable careers. A couple had even better careers after their playing days were over. Overall not a great card but still it gets my highest grade yet.