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. 

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.

1967 Topps Indians Rookie Stars: Bill Davis, Gus Gil

On my very first "Rating the Rookies" post, back when it was a running theme on my other blog, Cards That Never Were, I received a comment from Greg F. - "Check out a player named Bill Davis. He appeared on no less than FIVE rookie cards in consecutive years from 1965 to 1969.  If there is one vintage player who could use his own Card That Never Was - it's him." 

 I think it should be obvious by the mere fact that I have not generated a rookie card of a single superstar, much less a Hall of Famer, that these selections are almost cruelly random.  I knew the random number generator would eventually ring up one of his many rookie cards, but I didn't think it would be so soon after receiving the comment. In case you were wondering, here are Bill Davis's other 4 rookie cards:

You might have noticed that Topps re-used his 1967 photo in 1968 and re-used his 1966 photo in 1969.  Nicknamed the "Jolly Green Giant", Bill Davis is listed at 6' 7" on Baseball-Reference.com. Topps made note of his size on both his 1967 and 1969 card, although he seemed to have shrunk an inch in 1969. Topps also noted the 33 homers he hit in Portland in 1965 on the back every card from 1966-1969. Needless to say, he never came close to repeating those numbers.

As for Bill's 1967 season, there wasn't one. He spent the entire season on the DL. After his 1968 season in the minors, he was traded to the Padres for former MVP Zoilo Versalles, who the Padres had picked up in the expansion draft. Unfortunately, Davis' career in San Diego was short-lived. His final MLB game was on May 21, 1969.  Even though he never played an out in 1970, I have to agree with Greg F. - after 5 rookie cards he deserves a card of his own. So here is his Card That Never Was from 1970:

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Gus Gil was also a member of an expansion team in 1969. He was purchased by the Pilots and played on their unofficial minor league team in 1968, the Seattle Angels. He was a utility infielder who saw most of his work at 2nd base other than his one year on the Pilots. A career .186 hitter, Gus hit above .200 in only one season, 1969. His final MLB game was for the Brewers in June of 1971.

Aside from this 1967 rookie card, his only other card was a high number card in 1969 and one of the few non-airbrushed Pilots cards in the set. For his Card That Never Was, I used the 1971 format so that I could show him in a Brewers uniform.

All in all, this card is a bust. 2 players who hit in the .180's and between the 2 only had one solo card. Both were fortunate enough to get a second look by expansion teams in 1969 but neither went anywhere with it. In the year the card was issued, Gil hit .115 for the Tribe and Davis spend the year on the disabled list. Go ahead and put this one in your spokes, I grade it a 1.

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.