PLAY BALL: Game 1, fourth inning

Happy Thanksgiving!

GAME 1

New York Knights lead 5-4

TOP OF THE FOURTH INNING
Mudville Nine at bat

#42 Jorge Orta: BB (runner on first, no outs)
#43 Bill Atkinson: single (runners on first and second, no outs)
#44 Toby Harrah: foul out (runners on first and second, one out)
#45 Mark Fidrych: fly out (runners on first and second, two outs)
#46 Al Cowens: ground out (three outs)

0 runs on 1 hit and 1 walk. New York Knights lead 5-4

BOTTOM OF THE FOURTH INNING
New York Knights at bat

#47 Jack Billingham: single (runner on first, no outs)
#48 Don Baylor: K (runner on first, one out)
#49 Ed Kranepool: fly out (runner on first, two outs)
#50 Rick Reuschel: double (runners on second and third, two outs)
#51 Charlie Moore: BB (bases loaded, two outs)
#52 Jim Lonborg: ground out (three outs)

0 runs on 2 hits and 1 walk. New York Knights lead 5-4

Happy Thanksgiving

I'll be taking a break on the blog for several days for the holiday. There will be some PLAY BALL posts at least but probably no new cards until Monday. But maybe not. We'll see :)

1978 Topps Cards #79 through #84

THE PLAYERS

#79 Darrell Johnson manager
#80 Ken Griffey
#81 Pete Redfern
#82 San Francisco Giants
#83 Bob Montgomery
#84 Kent Tekulve



I didn't mess up the scan. I purposely scanned the back of the SF Giants team card first so that it would be facing the right way.

THE DESIGN

Good: Holy crap--the back of Griffey's card mentions the number of infield hits he had in 1976. That's a stat I wish were readily available for all players and years. I also like that Carlton Fisk finds his way onto yet another card, mention on the back of Montgomery's.

Bad: Griff's card is also the lowlight, with the miscapitalized ugly slang term "Grand Slammers."


THE PHOTOS

Good: Well, darn it, that Giants team card totally takes the cake. Somehow they got a cable car into Candlestick Park and half the team's on it. And the scoreboard has the name of the team. Very cool.

Oh, and there's our third sighting of the Marlboro billboard in Candlestick.

Griffey's card is very nice too, displaying the fantastic family smile that his son made even more famous.

Montgomery's got a good pose going, too.

Bad: You know I love Kent Tekulve, and he made it really far in the 88 Topps Cards best card poll. But that card is just awful. The Pirates uni is terrible, and the background behind Teke matches the ugly uniform, making him just blend in. The Pirates cards are among the worst of this set.

Redfern's face is really in the shadows. You can't see his eyes at all. Awful.



THE STATS

In his playing career, Darrell Johnson had just 2 homers, but he hit them off two damn good pitchers.

From 1977 to 1987, Griffey tied for the lead for most seasons between 10 and 15 homers. Interestingly, one of his co-leaders is Jose Cruz, also the father of a future major leaguer.

Of all the HOFers Redfern faced, he came up against two Brewers the most: Robin Yount and Paul Molitor.

Montgomery had 2 HR off Doug Bird in the same game. One in the 7th, and a walkoff winner in the 10th.

THE COUNTERS

Hall of Famers: 12
(none)

Deceased: 4
(+1 for Johnson)

Future managers: 7
(none)

Fathers and sons of major leaguers: 7
(+1 for Ken Griffey Jr)

Loyalty counter: 10
(+1 for Redfern, +1 for Montgomery)

Rookies of the Year: 8
(none)

Total all-star appearances: 224
(+3 for Griffey, +1 for Tekulve)

Total MVP awards: 9
(none)

Total Cy Young awards: 4
(none)

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PLAY BALL: Game 1, third inning

GAME 1

New York Knights lead 5-4

TOP OF THE THIRD INNING
Mudville Nine at bat

#34 Willie McCovey: ground out (one out)
#35 Sparky Lyle: single (runner on first, one out)
#36 Eddie Murray: K (runner on first, two outs)
#37 Rick Waits: Foul out (three outs)

0 runs on 1 hit and 0 walks. New York Knights lead 5-4

BOTTOM OF THE THIRD INNING
New York Knights at bat

#38 Willie Montanez: rules card (no play)
#39 Floyd Bannister: single (runner on first, no outs)
#40 Carl Yastrzemski: ground out (GIDP, two outs)
#41 Burt Hooton: fly out (three outs)

0 runs on 1 hit and 0 walks. New York Knights lead 5-4

Giveaway winner: Cards 1 through 72

I've tallied all the points and here are the final standings for the first giveaway:

Winner:

jacobmrley with 23 points

Runners-up are:

night owl with 21 points
Timberhill with 21 points
mmayes with 20 points
kevin with 18 points
gcrl with 16 points

followed by 20 other people with fewer points.

A new contest has already started with the post for cards 73 through 78, so start with a comment there. I'm tending to give more points for comments that answer questions I ask in my posts or that reveal interesting information about the careers, stats, or lives of the people featured on the cards.

Thanks, everybody, for participating!

jacobmrley--email me at 78topps at gmail dot com so we can arrange to get you your prize.

1978 Topps Cards #73 through #78

THE PLAYERS

#73 Andy Hassler
#74 Checklist Topps '78 Baseball Cards 1-121
#75 Dick Ruthven
#76 Steve Ontiveros
#76 Ed Kirkpatrick
#77 Pablo Torrealba



THE DESIGN

Let's focus on the checklist card since it's the first one we've seen so far in this set.

Good: I was pleasantly shocked to see the abbreviation '78 on the card instead of 1978 spelled out. Plus it actually notes that it's the baseball checklist, not football, basketball, or hockey, back at a time when people actually cared about cards from those sports. You also know how I love recursive cards, and there is the checklist #74 mentioned right on the back of the checklist #74.

Bad: The card number sure is weird, floating out there in a circle on the back of the card. They squeezed it in there next to a few short names. I'm wondering how it was done on other checklist cards. Guess we'll have to wait to find out.

I also note the red and blue color scheme on this card. It's quite nice. Why did they reserve it for a checklist? How about repalcing one of those hot pink and green color schemes with this one?


THE PHOTOS

Good: Slim pickings in this set for a decent photo. Kirkpatrick is continuing the streak of nice Brewers cards, with a good photo and nice pose. I also love when the uniform numbers are easily visible.

Bad: With the exception of Andy Hassler, every other photograph is slanted in some way. The Ontiveros card has slanted stands in the background as does the Torrealba card. This makes no sense to me--weren't these guys standing straight up? The backgrounds of both the Ruthven and Kirkpatrick cards are also weirdly slanted. And, geez, is that Candlestick again on Ruthven's card? And Hassler has a seriously pointed knee. At least I hope that's his knee.



THE STATS

Andy Hassler was robbed. He finished his career with just about a league average ERA. However, his W/L record was 44-71 (.383.) When neutralizing, though, which can be done on his B-R.com page if you follow the link from his name at the top of this post, on average teams in average ballparks he would have had a 61-59 (.508) record, including an 11-win season in 1974. Like I said, he was robbed.

Ruthven was the very definition of a fairly effective but somewhat below-average pitcher. Over his career from 1973 to 1986, he tied for the most seasons with at least 120 IP but an ERA+ between 85 and 99.

Steve Ontiveros, not to be confused with a pitcher with the same exact name, once had 7 total bases in a game. That wasn't just any game, either.

Kirkpatrick is the 80th most-recent player to get exactly 100 hits in a season.

Torrealba gave up multiple homers to just one guy: Jim Rice. Both gave Boston the lead. He also gave up an inside-the-park homer to Lou Whitaker.

THE COUNTERS

Hall of Famers: 12
(none)

Deceased: 3
(none)

Future managers: 7
(none)

Fathers and sons of major leaguers: 6
(+1 for Steve Torrealba, son of Pablo, who appeared in 15 games in 2001-2002.)

Loyalty counter: 8
(none)

Rookies of the Year: 8
(none)

Total all-star appearances: 220
(+2 for Ruthven)

Total MVP awards: 9
(none)

Total Cy Young awards: 4
(none)

Guess what? This poll site doesn't allow me to use the word "dick". Can you believe that? That's why I had to put his name in quotes in the poll. Don't let that discourage you from voting for him if you want, though!

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Autos and Goudey relics

This is a bit off-topic, but here are a few autographed cards and a few Goudey jersey cards.

The autographed cards came from reader Timberhill as part of his trade for the book deal from 88 Topps Cards. He said right up front that he has no idea of their origins or authenticity as they were found stuck in a non-baseball-card-related purchase. I was wondering if anybody out there has an opinion on whether they are real or fake?

Also here are a few Goudey relic cards that I pulled form packs. Mostly I'm showing these as trade bait for 71 and/or 73 Topps cards. If you're interested in any of the stuff, email me at 78topps at gmail dot com.

(click on the image for much bigger versions)

1978 Topps Cards #67 through #72

THE PLAYERS

#67 Claudell Washington
#68 Steve Foucault
#69 Mike Vail
#70 Rich Gossage
#71 Terry Humphrey
#72 Andre Dawson All Star-Rookie



THE DESIGN

Good: There are a few interesting/funny comments on the backs of these cards. Firstly, apparently Goose Gossage "throws very hard." And Steve Foucault ranked 11th in the American League Fireman Derby...do they still track that these days? Has that morphed into the Rolaids Relief Award? Foucault's card also refers to the Tigers as the "Bengals", a nickname you don't hear much anymore. It's also interesting to note that Washington's card talks a lot about his stolen base totals since that stat isn't reported in this set.

Bad: You may have noticed that the font size used for the player's name on the front varies depending on the length of the player's name. Although I understand the need to use a small font to fit "CLAUDELL WASHINGTON" on there, they used an awfully small font needlessly.


THE PHOTOS

Firstly, I've just noticed that the same sign saying "375" is visible behind Rich Gossage as was visible behind Jim Barr in the previous card post. Who knows what stadium that is? I assume it's an NL park since Gossage's photo was certainly taken when he was playing for the Pirates. (See below for more on that.)

Good: I love how easily we can see the patch on Washington's shoulder. I love the posed Foucault shot. And, hot damn, The Hawk looks like he's about to swat that Topps All-Star Rookie cup. Nice to see Dawson pulling out his distinctive glare on such an early card.

Incidentally, Dawson appeared with 3 other players on a 1977 Topps card. The 1978 card is not his rookie card although it's the first card he has all to himself.

Bad: And so it begins. The Gossage card is the first of a whole bunch of wacky airbrush jobs in the 1978 Topps set. If you look carefully, you can see that his entire uniform is painted on, to reflect the fact that he was certainly wearing a Pirates uniform when the photo was taken but joined the Yankees as a free agent during the offseason.

The Humphrey photo is neither good nor bad, just odd. How often do you see a guy photographed without his cap, with with a cap sitting right next to him in the photo? At least we can see his awesome 70s hair. Oh and did you notice Humphrey's knee in full frame there? At least I hope that's his knee.



THE STATS

The back of Vail's card notes his team record-tying hit streak of 23 games. Here is a list of all-time hit streak for the Mets as of now. Vail has been tied with Cleon Jones and they were later tied by John Olerud. Four other guys, however, have since passed their streak of 23 games. The current record is 30, set by Moises Alou in 2007.

Steve Foucault gave up 41 homers in his career, including 3 to Larry Hisle. (Who can tell me how "Hisle" is pronounced?) Three of those were game-ending, including 1 to somebody named Henry Aaron.

Terry Humphrey had just one career game with more than 1 extra-base hit. At least the Angels won that game.

THE COUNTERS

Hall of Famers: 12
(+1 for Gossage)

Deceased: 3
(none)

Future managers: 7
(none)

Fathers and sons of major leaguers: 5
(none)

Loyalty counter: 8
(none)

Rookies of the Year: 8
(+1 for Dawson)

Total all-star appearances: 218
(+2 for Washington, +9 for Gossage, +8 for Dawson)

Total MVP awards: 9
(+1 for Dawson)

Total Cy Young awards: 4
(none)

Online Surveys & Market Research

Various

• When I posted cards #61-66, I forgot the poll. If you've already read that post, head back for a second and vote for the best card of that group.
• The first giveaway will be cards 1 through 72, which includes some awesome cards including Eddie Murray, Andre Dawson, and all the Record Breakers.
• If you haven't already read it, see this post to learn how your comments can result in getting free cards.
  
• I have a ton of stuff to trade, especially 2008 Goudey. If you need anything, let me know. I'm trying to get some 1971 and 1973 Topps cards these days (any at all.)
  

PLAY BALL: Game 1, second inning

GAME 1

Mudville Nine lead 4-1

TOP OF THE SECOND INNING
Mudville Nine at bat

#23 Bump Wills: single (runner on first, no outs)
#24 Don Money: fly out (runner on first, one out)
#25 Jon Matlack: K (runner on first, two outs)
#26 Rich Hebner: foul out (three outs)

0 runs on 1 hit and 0 walks. Mudville Nine lead 4-1

BOTTOM OF THE SECOND INNING
New York Knights at bat

#27 Geoff Zahn: single (runner on 1st, no outs)
#28 Ed Ott: BB (runners on 1st and 2nd, no outs)
#29 Bob Lacey: ground out (runner on 3rd, two outs)

(Note: I've elected to have a ground out with a runner on first and less than 2 outs result in a GIDP, and also elected to have such a GIDP advance any runner on 2B or 3B one base.)

#30 George Hendrick: BB (runners on 1st and 3rd, two outs)
#31 Glenn Abbott: single (one run scores, runners on 1st and 2nd, two outs)

(Note: here is another discretionary rule. Some would play that a single would load the bases. If there had been runners on 1st and 2nd, I would say a single results in bases loaded. With a runner on third, however, I will have that guy score.)

#32 Garry Templeton: HR (three runs score, bases empty, two outs)
#33 Dave Lemanczyc: fly out (three outs)

4 runs on 3 hit and 2 walks. New York Knights lead 5-4