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.

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.

1970 Topps Senators Rookie Stars: Jim Miles, Jan Dukes

Our random number generator brought us another card from 1970. This time it is #154, Senators Rookie Stars.

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For Jim Miles, this would not be his first rookie card.  He was included on a high number multi-team rookie stars card in 1969. It would be his last card however. He was a September call-up in 1968. He pitched in 3 games for a total of 4.1 innings giving up 6 runs. His 1969 campaign wasn't much better. He threw in 10 games for a total of 20.1 innings giving up 14 runs.

 Although he would never return to the Majors, he remained in the Senator/Rangers organization through 1972. Since he already had one card that was issued after his MLB career was over, I went the other direction. For his Card That Never Was, I made a 1968 Topps card from his 1968 call-up.

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Jan Dukes pitched a total of 20 innings over his short MLB career. He had short stints in 1969 and 1970 with the Senators and again in 1972 with the Rangers. This was Jan Dukes one and only baseball card. For his Card That Never Was, I made a 1971 Topps card for him.

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Two pitchers accounting for a total of 2 cards in the Topps catalog. Both rookie cards. 44.2 innings between the 2 of them, 26 earned runs, 3 losses and zero wins. I think we can call this card a total bust. Put it in your spokes.

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".

1962 Topps Howie Koplitz

Howie Koplitz looks every bit the part of the Postal Clerk he would become after blowing out his shoulder in 1966.  But in 1962 expectations were high. You may have noticed the pinstripes on his "Tigers" jersey and the unusually large Old English "D" on his cap. That is because it is actually a Birmingham Barons jersey.

This is a picture of him after throwing a No-Hitter for the Barons in 1961. He had an incredible season going 23-3 with a 2.11 ERA, 166 K's and 18 complete games. He was the MVP of the Southern Association and The Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year. When the Tigers called him up late in 1961 he won 2 games with an ERA of 2.25. 

While researching Koplitz, I came accross this on MiLB.com:

"Heart is what Koplitz has got," Birminham Manager Frank Skaff told The Morgantown Post after the no-hitter. "He hit a popup to short at one point. He knew he had a no-hitter going with a seven-run lead. He was tired because it was very hot. How many guys would have run the ball out? But he did. He ran like a champion and he made it to second when the ball fell out of the shortstop's hand."

In 1962 he pitched in only 10 games for the Tigers but still went 3-0. In 1963 the Tigers sent him back down to the minors where he was picked up by the Senators in the Rule 5 draft. He spent 1964-66 in Washington until his career-ending injury. He then spent another 38 years with the Post Office.

In addition to his rookie card, Koplitz had Topps cards in 1963, 1964 and 1966. But was skipped over in 1965 which turned out to be the MLB season where he saw the most action, pitching 33 of his 54 big league games. So here is his missing 1965 Topps Card That Never Was:

And of course we still need to grade that rookie card. This is a tough one, I want to give a higher grade based on his 1961 season. But the fact is, he never achieved that potential. Add to that the airbrushed "D" on the cap plus a pinstriped "Tigers" uni and the grade drops from a 4, "set filler", to a 3, "hide it in a box".