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.

1965 Topps Cardinals Rookie Stars: Fritz Ackley, Steve Carlton

It's been nearly 5 months since the random number generator has given us a genuine Hall of Famer. But here we are again with "Lefty" himself and some other guy.

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That other guy was Fritz Ackley who rocked a uni-brow that rivaled Wally Moon's forehead bush. Although this is without a doubt Ackley's most famous card, it is not his first rookie card. The man with one eyebrow also appeared on a 1964 White Sox Rookie Stars card with Don Buford.  Fritz pitched less than 20 innings over the 1963 and 1964 season with the White Sox before being picked up by the Cardinals. In 1965 he played the entire season for the Jacksonville Suns, never actually logging any time for St. Louis. In all, Ackley played 13 seasons of pro-ball, compiling a 95-94 record in the minors and a 1-0 MLB record.

He already had rookie cards in the 1964 and 1965 sets but never played past the 1964 season. So I decided to give him a Card That Never Was for the season in which he made his MLB debut, 1963. A few posts back I said that I would try to make team rookie cards for the years in which the rookie cards were by position (1962,1963 and 1973-1978). 

So here is my version of a 1963 Rookie Stars card. I paired him up with Dick Kenworthy. Kenworthy was a  September call up for the Sox in 1962. He played a total of 125 MLB games all for the White Sox over parts of 6 seasons. Yet his only card is a 1968 Topps card of him on the Mets. He had been conditionally sold to the Mets in October of 1967, then returned prior to the start of the 1968 season.

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Steve Carlton's first major league appearance was against the Cubs on opening day 1965. He came in in the bottom of the 11th inning. The game was tied 10-10 with one out, He faced left fielder George Altman and walked him. He was replaced by Bob Purkey, who retired the side and the game ended in a tie.  That's right, the game was called due to darkness. Remember this was Wrigley Field a full 23 years before lights were installed. But still a full 17 years after the latest hold-out for night games, the Detroit Tigers installed lights. 

It's not surprising that on my other blog, I already have a couple Steve Carlton Cards That Never Were. The first is from a group of cards I made using the Fleers football card format. I had decided to use Cy Young Award winners as my subjects. So this is a 1977 Fleer card of Carlton. Carlton won his second of four Cy Youngs in 1977. The others were in 1972, 1980 and 1982.

The other card is from the 1973 All Star Cards That Never Were. Carlton was a ten time All Star, starting in 1969 and 1979. In 1972 he pitched a scoreless and hitless 6th inning. He gave up a leadoff walk to Rod Carew. After that Carew was doubled up on a grounder by Bobby Murcer. Reggie Jackson grounded out to second to end the inning. While Carlton was not the starting pitcher, he was the Phillies sole All Star representative in 1972.

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While I don't think this will contribute much to the college fund, It is a valuable card. A PSA graded 10 from Dimitri Young's collection fetched $12,756.00 in auction.  On the other hand a Beckett graded 4.5 is selling right now on COMC.com for $85. Most graded cards are in the $150-$250 range.

But the only grade that counts here is mine. I give it a solid 9. Go ahead and spring for the grading service. Wrap this baby in a hermetically sealed, UV protected slab for future generations to look at. But not touch.

1978 Topps Rookie Outfielders: Dell Alston, Rick Bosetti, Mike Easler, Keith Smith

For the 34th installment of Rating the Rookies, the random number generator has given us the first card from the 1978 set. That means now I have graded at least one rookie card each year from 1959-1980.  And this one brought several challenges for me in the Cards That Never Were department. As a result there are some kinda unique cards.

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Dell Alston made his debut for the Yankees in May of 1977. He saw action in just 22 games that season but batted .325. In 1978 he was traded mid season to the A's and batted a meager .205.  Topps still included him in the 1979 set wearing the A's colors despite being dropped by the A's before the start of the 1979 season.

 He was signed weeks later by the Indians and spent the 1979 and 1980 seasons with Cleveland. He hit .290 and .222 respectively, splitting time in the minors. He was released by the Indians prior to the 1981 season. He played 1981 and 82 in the Mexican League. Topps made a card for Alston in 1980 showing him on the the Indians. In 1981 he was included in Donruss's debut set but was left out of the Topps and Fleer sets. For his Card That Never Was, I decided to make a 1981 Topps card.



This presented the first of my many challenges.  I could not find a good photo of him in an Indians uniform. So this is actually a heavily photo-shopped card of him in an A's uniform. Here is the original photo.

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Despite being depicted as a Cardinal on the 1978 rookie card, Rick Bosetti was dealt to the Blue Jays before the start of the 1978 season. He played for Toronto until June of 1981 when he was purchased by the A's. He was cut by Oakland after the 1982 season at which point he returned to his hometown of Redding, California and served as Mayor for three years.

He was well represented on cardboard by all the major card companies. He had Topps cards from 1978-82 including a 1981 Topps Traded card showing him on the A's. He also had Donruss and Fleer cards in 1981 and 82.  Although his rookie card shows him with St. Louis, his MLB career actually started for the Phillies in 1976. That is why for his Card That Never Was, I made this 1977 Rookie Stars card.

A few posts back, I got a comment from a team-collector who expressed his dislike of the position specific, multi-team rookie cards that Topps put out from 1973-1978 (and 1962-1963). With few exceptions, all other years had team specific "Rookie Stars" cards. It made me wonder what cards might have looked like during that time if  Topps had continued that practice. So look for me to create similar "Rookie Stars" Cards That Never Were in the future.

On this card I teamed Bosetti up with Warren Brusstar. Brusstar made his debut in May of 1977 with the Phillies. He went on to have a solid 9 year career as a reliever for the Phillies, White Sox, and Cubs. He had an overall record of  28-16 with 14 saves and a 3.51 ERA. His first card was a solo 1978 Topps card so he fit nicely into this 1977 rookie card.

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By the time Mike Easler made his cardboard debut as a Pirate in 1978, he had already played in parts of  5 MLB seasons. He played 26 games for the Astros spread over the 1973, 74 and 75 seasons. He played 21 games in an Angels uniform in 1976 and 10 in a Pirates uniform in 1977. In the year of this, his rookie card, he didn't play a single inning. He returned to the Pirates in 1979 and represented Pittsburgh in the 1981 All Star game.

In all, the "Hit Man" played parts of 14 MLB seasons from 1973-1987. In addition to missing his first 5 years Topps also passed on making a 1979 card for Easler. This is understandable as he spent all of 1978 playing minor league ball. So in creating a Card That Never Was, there were several options. Over at When Topps Had (Base) Balls, Gio created this nice 1977 pre-rookie Card That Never Was of him on the Angels.

Instead I opted for a post MLB card. After being release by the Yankees following the 1987 season, Easler played 2 years in Japan for the Nippon-Ham Fighters. He hit .302 with 19 homers for the Fighters in 1988. In 1989 his playing time was cut in half and he hit only 7 dingers but maintained a solid .296 average. 

After that season he headed back to the states to play in the senior circuit. Make that the Senior-Citizen Circuit. He played on the West Palm Beach Tropics in the ill-fated Senior Professional Baseball Association. The SPBA drew less than 1000 on average to their games which were all played in Florida during the winter. Here is his 1989 SPBA card from Topps.

Since there already were several Senior League cards of him, I went with this 1989 Fleer card depicting Easler on the Fighters. I chose 1989 because he had 1988 cards by Topps, Fleer and Score showing him with the Yankees. I chose Fleer because trying to duplicate the Topps Script design on the 1989 cards was too daunting. Upper deck was also an option because it had a nice layout which included a place to incorporate the team logo. But since they were known for their high quality photos and I was working with a picture less so, I went with Fleer.  I could still include the quirky little Fighters logo (I still don't know what the heck that thing is.)  **********************************************************

Keith Smith made his MLB debut for the Rangers on August 2nd 1977. He played a total of 23 games for Texas in 1977. Like his card-mate Easler, he spent the entire 1978 season in the minors. He was traded to the Cardinals before the start of the 1979 season. He played 30 games for St. Louis over 1979 and 80. He had a total of 7 hits for the Cards those years.

As far as Topps was concerned, Smith was one and done. Oddly both of the new card companies chose to include him in their 1981 sets. So just to sum this up. Keith Smith played in parts of 3 seasons, 1977, 1979 and 1980. He had 3 cards, all of which were issued in seasons he never played an inning in the majors. One in 1978 and two in 1981.

For his Card That Never Was, I went North of the border.  Once again, I was unable to find a suitable picture of him in the uniform I wanted. In this case a Cardinals uniform.  Instead, I opted for the typical 1979 O Pee Chee card in which the player appears in the former team's uniform but on his current team's card. OPC also had a habit of noting the trade info right onto the picture. I always thought these made for interesting cards. I never decided if it was interesting in a good way or not. I feel the same way about the typical Topps airbrush habit. Interesting.

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Two of the four players on this card didn't even play in 1978. Another was playing for a different team than what was depicted on the card. Easler and Bosetti achieved some success in the Majors but Smith and Alston were career minor leaguers. Overall the best grade I could give this one is a 2. That is enough to save it from the spokes but not good enough to save it from being flipped.

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.

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.

1964 Topps Reds Rookie Stars: Sammy Ellis, Mel Queen

This 1964 Rookie Stars card was not Sammy Ellis's first card. He was signed as a free agent in 1961 by the Reds and made his first MLB start in early 1962.  After a shaky start he was sent down to the minors only to be called up again that September. With a 2-2 record, Topps included him in the 1963 set. He shared a card with Reds catcher Jesse Gonder and Phillies Pitchers Ray Culp and John Boozer. As luck would have it, he then spent the entire 1963 season in the minors.

When he returned to the Reds in 1964 he went 10-3 with 14 saves and even got a few MVP votes. In 1965 he was selected to the All Star team and went 22-10 for the season. In the 1966 and 1967 seasons he led the NL in earned runs. In 1968 he was dealt to the Angels, then in 1969 to the White Sox where his big league journey ended.

Despite only 7 Major League seasons, Ellis was well represented on cardboard. In addition to his 2 rookie cards, he had cards on the Reds in 1965-67 then on the Angels in 1968 and '69. For his Card That Never Was I made a 1970 Topps card with him on his final team, the Chicago White Sox.

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Mel Queen began his Major League career in 1964 as an outfielder for the Reds. His Father was a pitcher for the Yankees and Pirates from 1942-1952. After struggling to get playing time on the big league roster and spending most of the 1965 season in the minors, he converted to pitching. In 1966 he played 32 games in the outfield and pitched 7 innings, all in relief. His 1967 Topps card had his position listed as Pitcher/Outfielder.

By 1967 he was a full time pitcher. He went 14-8 with a 2.76 ERA.  In 1968 his shoulder injury limited his playing time and in 1969 he spent most of the season in the minors. After the 1969 season he was bought by the California Angels and operated mainly out of the bullpen. He would still get the opportunity to pinch hit every now and then, even after being dealt to the Angels.In all Queen spent parts of 9 seasons in the Majors, compiling a 3.14 ERA and a .179 batting average. 

After his playing days were over, Queen worked as a pitching coach in several different organization, both major and minor. He even served as interim manager of the Blue Jay for the final 5 games of the 1997 season after Cito Gaston was fired . 

I noticed a couple of gaps when looking at Mel Queen's baseball cards. He had Topps cards from 1964-1972 but was missing in the 1965 and 1970 sets. For his Card That Never Was, I made this 1970 Topps card showing him in his first season in California.

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I rate this card a solid 4. Set filler. Even though it was his second rookie card, Ellis had a good year on the mound in 1964. And while Queen's year was not as good, it was interesting to see him listed as an outfielder even though he spent most of his career pitching and even went on to be a pitching coach.

1967 Topps Yankees Rookie Stars: Stan Bahnsen, Bobby Murcer

It had to happen sooner or later. Finally a rookie card with 2 actual stars on it. Oddly, neither of these "1967 Rookie Stars" played a single out in the Major Leagues in 1967, but for different reasons. Additionally, each player appeared separately on another Rookie Stars card.

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 For Stan Bahnsen, it was his first Topps Rookie Stars card.  In 1966 he had a 10-7 record with 151 strikeouts in 170 innings for the Toledo Mud Hens. That was good enough to earn him a September call-up. In his first outing he pitched 2 innings in relief and earned the save. In his next outing he got the start and the complete game win. Despite the fast start, he would spend the entire 1967 season back in the minors.

He would appear on another rookie stars card (using the exact same picture) again in 1968 along with catcher Frank Fernandez. In 1968 he went 17-10 and won the AL Rookie of the Year award. He would go in to pitch in 16 MLB seasons with the Yankees, White Sox, A's, Expos, Angels and Phillies.

I had already created 3 Cards That Never Were for Bahnsen on my other blog. You can see them here, here and here. One of my running themes was to create a Rookie if the Year card similar to the 1975 MVP cards. That usually required me to create an individual rookie card for the players. I would usually follow up with a Card That Never Was from later in their career. For Bahnsen, this was exactly the case. I created a solo card for him from 1968. 

I then paired it with a solo card I created for the NL Rookie of the Year, Johnny Bench in a 1975 ROY card.

I created this 1982 Topps card of him on his final MLB team, the Philadelphia Phillies. Bahnsen pitched in only 13.1 innings for the Phillies, all in relief and never factored in a decision.

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The other rookie on this card, Bobby Murcer also appeared on Topps Rookie Stars cards in 2 consecutive years. For Murcer the 1967 was his second. He originally appeared on this 1966 Topps card with Dooley Womack. Murcer was a teenage bonus baby signed by the same scout that recruited fellow Oklahoman, Mickey Mantle. He was called up in lat 1965 and appeared to be the Yankees future shortstop with Tony Kubek retiring at the end of the 1965 season. Instead he spent most of 1966 in the minors. 

In 1967 and 1968 Murcer reported for duty in the US Army. He miss both seasons in their entirety. When he returned in 1969, the Yankees made him an outfielder, drawing more comparisons to Mantle. Murcer thrived in the outfield, earning All Star appearances from 1971-1975 and winning a Gold Glove in 1972. After the 1974 season he was traded to San Francisco for Bobby Bonds. He spent 2 seasons with the Giants before being traded to the Cubs for the reigning batting champion Bill Madlock. In 1979 he returned to the Yankees where he retired in 1983. 

Like Bahnsen, Murcer was part of an ongoing them on my other blog and I already had Cards That Never Were made for him here and here. These were both All Star cards from the years when Topps didn't include them in the set. 

Here is one from the 1972 All Star Cards That Never Were. He shared centerfield (and this card) with the immortal Willie Mays in the 1971 All Star Game.

This one is from the 1973 Topps All Star Cards That Never Were.  In 1972 Murcer made his 2nd of 4 consecutive All Star starts.

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Despite the fact that neither of these "1967 Rookie Stars" played at all during the 1967 season and they both appeared on other rookie cards, I have to give this card a 7. It is certainly Binder Worthy.