Well,
here we are, the last installment of my “Awards” special sub-set
through the 1970’s, and it is a 1979 card celebrating the 1978 Rookies
of the Year: Bob Horner in the National League and Lou Whitaker in the
American League:
Bob Horner made a huge splash in the Majors in 1978, going straight from
being the #1 overall pick in the amateur draft that June to a Major
League field for the Atlanta Braves, and he didn’t disappoint, slamming
23 homers while driving in 63 runs in only 89 games.
Though he only played slightly more than half a season, he beat out
second-place finisher Ozzie Smith of the Padres for the National
Leagues’ top rookie honor.
Over in the American League, Detroit’s Lou Whitaker took home the rookie
honors, almost winning the award unanimously over the rest of the field
as he went on to hit .285 with71 runs scored and 58 runs batted in
while manning second base.
Both would go on to have nice Major League career, though Whitaker would
go on to play 19 years for the Tigers and become a fan favorite
alongside his teammate Alan Trammell, a double-play combination that
would set the record for longest running 2B/SS combo in MLB history.
Nevertheless, two impressive debut seasons for Horner and Whitaker, and
thus closing out this fun thread after 30 entries, covering Cy Youngs,
MVP’s and Rookies of the year!
Moving
on to the Most Valuable Players of the 1978 season, here’s the 1979
card reflecting the top players as voted by the BBWAA:
In the National League you had the (should be) Hall of Famer in my book,
Pittsburgh Pirates slugger Dave Parker, who pun in a second straight
batting title in 1978, along with 30 homers and 117 runs batted in,
while also pacing the Senior Circuit in slugging and total bases.
The man was a beast, yet also stole a career-high 20 bases, which he
would match in 1979, while also slapping a career-high 12 triples.
Really, there was nothing he couldn’t do when you also take into account
his rifle of an arm in right field, which was put on display for all to
see in the 1979 All-Star game.
By the time he retired, he put up similar numbers to his 1978 MVP cohort
Jim Rice, though Rice finally got the support needed to get into
Cooperstown years later.
Parker finished with 339 homers, two batting titles, an MVP, over 2700 hits, just under 1500 RBIs and a .290 batting average.
In the American League, we come to Jim Rice, who won the award over the
New York Yankees Ron Guidry when he led the Junior Circuit in hits,
triples, homers, runs batted in slugging and total bases.
He hit an incredible 15 triples while slamming 46 homers to go along
with 25 doubles, making him one of the few players to top 400 total
bases in the period between World War II and the “steroid era” with 406.
By the time Rice finished up his excellent MLB career, he hit 382
homers, batted .298 and collected 2452 hits along with 1451 RBIs.
Though it did take a while, as I stated earlier, he finally made the
Hall on his 15th and final eligible year on the ballot, garnering 76.4%
of the vote.
Two absolute thumpers at the plate and legitimate superstars for the era.
We’ve
made it to the last season of the decade in my Awards thread, and today
we have the Cy Young winners of 1978 for the 1st card in the 1979
sub-set:
In the National League, we had a 39-year old Gaylord Perry of the San
Diego Padres showing that he certainly was not done as a pitcher,
posting a record of 21-6 with a 2.73 earned run average, taking home his
second such award while becoming the first to win one in each league
after also winning in 1972 while with the Indians.
It’s especially interesting to note that the Texas Rangers felt Perry was “over-the-hill” when they traded him to San Diego for Dave
Tomlin and $125,000.
He’d go on to pitch another five years, until his age-44 season, before
retiring with 314 wins, 3534 strikeouts and an excellent 3.11 ERA over
22 seasons and 777 appearances, on his way to a Hall of Fame induction
in 1991.
Over in the American League, we had the New York Yankees “Louisiana
Lightning” Ron Guidry putting in a season for the ages, going 25-3,
setting the record that still stands for winning percentage among
20-game winners with a brilliant .893, while also setting team records
for shutouts with nine and strikeouts with 248, while leading the Majors
with his microscopic 1.74 earned run average.
It’s easy to forget how Guidry was already 27 years of age then, only
his second full season in the Majors, which would explain why he’d only
pitch 14 seasons yet retire at the age of 37 in 1988.
Nevertheless, Guidry would go on to post three 20-win seasons, take home
two ERA crowns, and two World Championships while forever being a fan
favorite in the Bronx to this day.
I personally never got over him getting ripped off the MVP in 1978,
losing out to an equally deserving Jim Rice. But then in 1986 the tables
were turned, once again against the Yankees favor when Don Mattingly
was ripped off MVP when it was given this time to a pitcher, the Red Sox
Roger Clemens.
Some things never die with me...
Talk
about a powerhouse rookie class! Today I post up a 1978 “Rookies of the
Year” card for the 1977 winners of the award, both future Hall of Fame
members Andre Dawson of the Montreal Expos and Eddie Murray of the
Baltimore Orioles:
Has to be one of the best rookie years, up there with 1967 (Seaver & Carew) and 2001 (Pujols and Ichiro)!
In the National League Dawson was yet another good-looking prospect with
Montreal at the time, joining guys like Ellis Valentine, Gary Carter
and Warren Cromartie, yet ending up as the only one to win the Rookie of
the Year Award.
Dawson edged out New York Mets prospect Steve Henderson by hitting 19
home runs with 65 runs batted in and 21 stolen bases, along with a .282
batting average.
In the American League you had future RBI-machine Eddie Murray, who just
set the table for what was to become an incredible 21-year career by
hitting 27 homers, with 88 RBIs and a .283 batting average. Basically,
you could pencil that average in over the rest of his career as he’d go
on to knock in 1917 RBIs and hit 504 homers, while collecting 3255 hits
with a .287 average the rest of the way.
The man was a model of consistency, knocking in over 90 RBIs twelve
times, including six 100+ seasons, along with 20+ homers 16 times!
Two absolute studs of the game who happened to come up at the same time,
and both ending up as members of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The
next post in my “Awards” sub-sets through the 1970’s is a power-house
of an MVP class, George Foster and Rod Carew, who both put together two
of the great seasons of the decade in 1977 to take home their respective
league awards:
In the National League, all you had was the Cincinnati Reds’ George
Foster demolish the league’s pitching by leading in runs (124), home
runs (52), runs batted in (149), slugging (.631) and total bases (388)
while also collecting 197 hits and posting a .320 batting average.
The man was an absolute beast! So much so that it actually makes people
forget he was runner up to the league’s MVP Award the previous season,
losing out to teammate Joe Morgan.
In the American League, Rod Carew won his sixth batting title in supreme
fashion, flirting with the magical .400 mark, ending up at .388 with a
whopping 239 hits while also leading the league with 128 runs scored, a
.449 on-base-percentage and 16 triples.
On top of all that he also drove in 100 runs, the only time he’d do so
in his Hall of Fame career, while matching a career-high 14 home runs,
not a small feat considering he won the batting title in 1972 while not
hitting a single-round tripper.
He’d go on to win his seventh, and final batting title the following
season, before heading out West to the California Angels where he’d play
the final seven seasons of his 19-year career.
A fun card to produce because of such legendary years by these two all-stars!
We
move on to the 1978 set and an imagined 1977 Cy Young Winners card in
my running series of award-winners through the 1970’s, with Steve
Carlton and Sparky Lyle:
In the National League, Carlton was once again on top of the NL pitching
world, winning his second Cy Young with a brilliant 1977 campaign,
leading the league with 23 wins while posting a 2.64 earned run average
and 198 strikeouts over his 36 starts and 283 innings pitched.
Of course, he would go on to win two more awards, becoming the first
pitcher ever to do so since the award was established in 1956, on his
way to becoming one of the greatest lefty-pitchers of all-time with 329
wins and 4136 strikeouts over 24 seasons of Big League ball.
Needless to say Cooperstown was a lock by the time he was eligible,
getting picked on 436 of 456 ballots in 1994, ensuring his place in
baseball immortality.
Over in the American League, it was a bit of a “first”, as Sparky Lyle
of the New York Yankees became the first relief pitcher in that league’s
history to win the award, edging out two-time reigning king Jim Palmer
of the Baltimore Orioles.
Lyle had an amazing season for the eventual World Champs, posting a
record of 13-5 with a 2.17 earned run average and 26 saves over 72 games
and 137 innings pitched, all out of the bullpen of course.
As a matter of fact all of his 899 Major League appearances over his
16-year career would be out of the ‘pen, as he’d finish his career with a
record of 99-76, with a very nice 2.88 ERA and 238 saves between 1967
and 1982.
It was a bit of a bittersweet award win for Lyle however, as the Yankees
would soon acquire another all-star reliever, Rich Gossage.
This would lead to one of the great baseball quotes of the decade when
third baseman Graig Nettles said to Lyle: “You went from Cy Young to
Cy-onara”.
Classic, and true, as Lyle was shipped off to the Texas Rangers after
the 1978 season in a trade that would net them, among others, a young
pitcher named Dave Righetti, ironically enough the arm that would take
over for Rich Gossage out of the bullpen years later.
Next
in the fun on-going 1970’s sub-set Awards series are the 1976 rookies
of the year for the 1977 set, featuring three players since the National
league had a tie:
In the N.L., two pitchers topped the voting for the rookie award, the
Reds’ Pat Zachry and the Padres’ Butch Metzger, a starter and a
reliever.
Beginning with the starter Zachry, how sweet it must have been to come
up with the “Big Red Machine” Cincinnati Reds in 1976, post a record of
14-7 with a sweet 2.74 earned run average, while your team was
steamrolling to their second straight championship with a sweep of the
New York Yankees in the World Series.
Zachry appeared in 38 games, 28 of which were starts, and put in 204
innings of work for the champs, with 143 strikeouts and a shutout along
with six complete games.
For Metzger, (who I admittedly had to use his actual 1977 card image since there was no other usable shot to use), he had an equally impressive debut season, appearing in 77
games for the Padres, posting 16 saves while going 11-4 with a 2.92
E.R.A.
Typical of the era, even though all of his appearances were out of the
bullpen, he still logged 123.1 innings of work, striking out 89 batters
while finishing a league-leading 62 games.
In the American League, we all know who took home the award, an icon of
1970’s baseball, Detroit Tigers’ pitcher Mark “The Bird” Fidrych, who
became a cultural phenomenon on his way to a freshman record of 19-9
with a league=leading 2.34 E.R.A. and completing an astounding 24 of 29
starts!
Those numbers not only got him the rookie award, but also had him start
the 1976 All-Star game for the A.L., while also finishing runner-up to
Jim Palmer for the Cy Young Award.
Sadly for him (and Detroit), Fidrych developed arm troubles and could
never reach that level of success in the Majors again, pitching parts of
the following four seasons, winning only 10 more games before calling
it a career.
Nevertheless, the mark he left on the game will never be forgotten,
joining a select few who would become a symbol of an era beyond the
scope of sports.
Time
for the next entry in my long-running “Awards” thread with the 1976
MVPs on a 1977 card, two heavy-weights of 1970’s baseball, Joe Morgan
and Thurman Munson:
In the National league, Morgan took home his second consecutive MVP with
another incredible season that saw him hit .320 with 27 homers and 111
runs batted in, those last two numbers being career highs for the future
Hall of Fame member.
As if that wasn’t already enough, he also stole 60 bases while scoring
113 runs for the “Big Red Machine”, who went on to win their second
straight World Series, this time against the New York Yankees and THEIR
MVP, catcher Thurman Munson.
For Munson, who also won the A.L. Rookie of the Year in 1970, he had
what anyone would consider a “typical” Munson year, as he once again hit
over .300 (.302), with a career-high 105 runs batted in and 17 homers
while collecting 186 hits and scoring 79 runs.
Surprisingly, he also swiped 14 bases while only striking out 38 times
over 616 at-bats while getting named to his fifth all-star team.
Of course, we know hat tragically, just less than three years later,
Munson would die in a plane crash August of 1979, leaving many to
wonder if he would have made the Hall of Fame like his 1976 MVP mate Joe
Morgan.
We’re
moving on to 1977 for my on-going “Awards” sub-set through the 1970’s,
starting off with the 1976 Cy Young winners: Randy Jones in the National
league and once again Jim Palmer in the American League:
In the N.L., Randy Jones took home the award after finishing as runner-up to Tom Seaver for the 1975 award.
Jones’ season in 1976 was brilliant, as he cruised to a record of 22-14,
with an ERA of 2.74, leading the league in wins, starts with a whopping
40, complete games with 25 and innings pitched with 315.1.
Along the way he also tossed five shutouts, starting the All-Star game
for the N.L., and ending up 10th in MVP voting at the end of the year.
Though he’d play through the 1982 season, he’d never again taste success
in the Majors, never winning more than 13 games in any season between
1977 and 1982.
Over in the American League, once again we have the Orioles Jim Palmer,
who took home his third Cy Young Award in four seasons, leading the
league in wins (22), starts (40) and innings pitched (315), while
tossing six shutouts and posting an ERA of 2.51.
Palmer wasn’t done yet as we all know, posting two more 20-win seasons
while going on to win 268 games in the Major Leagues, eventually heading
straight for the Hall of Fame with his induction in 1990.
Arguably (without much argument from me) the American League’s best pitcher in the wild decade of the 1970’s.
Next up in my on-going “1970’s Awards” thread are the 1975 Rookies of the Year, celebrated on the following 1976 card:
In the National League we have pitcher John “The Count” Montefusco of
the San Francisco Giants, who cruised to the rookie-award by posting a
record of 15-9 with a 2.88 earned run average and a very impressive 215
strikeouts.
He also chipped in four shutouts over his 34 starts, completing 10 of
them while throwing 243.2 innings, even finishing fourth in the league
Cy Young race.
In the American League, of course it was all about “Mr. World” that
year, rookie superstar Fred Lynn, who also took home the MVP Award, thus
becoming the first player ever to pull that off.
In his monstrous rookie season, Lynn helped the Red Sox to a World
Series berth by hitting .331 with 21 homers and 105 runs batted in along
with a league-leading 103 runs scored and 47 doubles.
The man was a beast!
On top of all that he even took home a Gold Glove, something he’d do
three more times in his 17-year career that spanned 1974 to 1990.
Of the two, Lynn definitely had the star-power throughout his career,
but Montefusco also put in some time as a Major Leaguer, finishing up
his Big League tenure in 1986 after a few seasons with the Yankees.
Today we celebrate the 1975 Most Valuable Players, Joe Morgan and Fred Lynn, in my ongoing “Awards Sub-Set” through the 1970s:
In the National league, Morgan brought the MVP back to Cincinnati,
following in the footsteps of teammates Pete Rose and Johnny Bench.
Morgan had a killer season for the “Big Red Machine”, as they were on their way to the first of two straight championships.
Really putting it all together that season after a great career already
that had him get ripped off a Rookie of the Year in 1965, and getting
named to five all-star teams, Morgan went on to bat a career high .327
with 107 runs scored, 17 homers, 94 runs batted in and a Major League
leading 132 walks.
Oh yeah, he also “chipped in” 52 steals as well!
In the American League, it was something never seen before in the
Majors, as the Boston Red Sox Fred Lynn BURST onto the big league stage
in the biggest way possible, taking home both the Rookie of the Year
Award as well as the MVP award, becoming the first player ever to do so.
That performance helped the Red Sox get to the World Series for the
first time since 1967, facing off against the Joe Morgan led Reds.
Lynn’s season was awesome, as he batted .331 with a league-leading 103
runs scored and 47 doubles, along with 105 runs batted in and 21 homers.
Paired up with another rookie that season, Jim Rice, and it was easy to see why the Red Sox were such a powerhouse that season.
Two great players of the era taking home the hardware.
Today
we move on to the 1976 with my “Awards” sub-set, starting off with the
1975 Cy Young winners, two stalwarts of the era, Tom Seaver and Jim
Palmer:
In the National league, Seaver took home what would be his third and
final Cy, though he got ripped off in 1971 in my eyes, as well as in
1981 while with the Cincinnati Reds.
Anyway, Seaver put in what was a typical Seaver season in 1975, posting a
record of 22-9 with a 2.38 earned run average and 243 strikeouts along
with five shutouts.
The man was a pitching machine! It was the eight of nine straight 200+
strikeouts campaigns for “Tom Terrific”, on his way to a career 3640 K’s
for the future Hall of Famer.
Over in the American League, Palmer had arguably the best season of HIS
Hall of Fame career when he posted a record of 23-11, a career high in
wins, while also posting an earned run average of 2.09 with 10 shutouts,
the only pitcher to post double-digit shutouts in the decade.
He also chipped in 193 strikeouts while completing 25 of 38 starts for
the Orioles, even picking up one of his career four saves as well.
Two Hall of Fame legends in the prime of their career. What luck I got
to see them, as well as guys like Nolan Ryan, Fergie jenkins, Steve
Carlton and Phil Niekro take a Major League mound.
What an era.
Next
up in my ongoing awards sub-set through the 1970’s is a 1975 Rookie of
the Year card for the 1974 winners, Bake McBride and Mike Hargrove, two
players who went on to nice Major League careers:
In the National League, McBride played centerfield for the St. Louis
Cardinals, and proceeded to bat .309 in his first big league season with
173 hits and 81 runs scored, 30 stolen bases and 56 runs batted in.
He would go on to bat a career .299 over his 11-year career playing with
the Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies and Cleveland Indians before
retiring after the 1983 season.
In the American League, Hargrove played in 131 games in his first taste
of the Majors, ending up with a .323 batting average based on his 134
hits in 415 at-bats.
He also collected 49 walks, giving him an on-base=percentage of .395
which would be a familiar theme for his 12-year career, as the “Human
Rain Delay” would retire with a very nice career OBP of .396, topping
100 walks four times.
Of course later on he would go into managing, leading the powerhouse
Cleveland Indian teams of the 1990’s, winning two American League
pennants before moving on to the Baltimore Orioles and Seattle Mariners
through the 2007 season.
Next
up in my ongoing awards sub-series through the 1970’s is a 1975 card
celebrating the MVPs of the previous season, Steve Garvey of the Los
Angeles Dodgers and Jeff Burroughs of the Texas Rangers:
In the National league, Steve Garvey had his breakout season, getting
written-in to start the All-Star game that Summer, on his way to a
season that saw him collect 200 hits, 21 homers and 111 runs batted in
for the eventual N.L. Champs.
He would go on to log 200 or more hits in six of seven seasons between
1974 and 1980, while driving in 100 or more runs five times, while
collecting five Gold Gloves.
A perennial all-star for the era, it still amazes me that he is not in
the Hall of Fame. Sometimes it’s more than just numbers or the modern
Sabermetrics.
Sometimes it should also include players who came to almost represent
his era by his play, his stature, etc. And guys like Garvey, Dave Parker
and Jack Morris fit the bill for me.
But hey, "I ain't votin'", so it's all for naught.
In the American League, former 1969 overall #1 pick Jeff Burroughs
followed up a very nice 1973 season with an even better one in ‘74,
leading the league with 118 runs batted in while hitting 25 homers and
batting a career-high .301 while leading the team to a second place
finish in the A.L. West.
He would go on to put together a solid 16-year career, even hitting a
career-high 44 home runs in 1977, though overshadowed by the exploits of
George Foster.
Nevertheless, Burroughs finished his career with 240 homers and a .261 batting average while driving in 882 over 1689 games.
Next
up in the Awards thread is a 1975 card for the 1974 Cy Young winners,
Mike Marshall and Jim “Catfish” Hunter, who put together a couple of
monster seasons in 1974:
Starting off with Marshall, he put in a season for the ages coming out
of the bullpen for the Los Angeles Dodgers on their way to the National
League Pennant, appeared in a (still) Major League record 106 games,
posting a record of 15-12 with a 2.42 earned run average along with a
league-leading 21 saves.
The man pitched an incredible 208.1 innings out of the bullpen, striking out 143 batters while closing out 83 games for L.A.
His performance even got him a third place finish in the league Most
Valuable Player race, finishing behind winner (and teammate) Steve
Garvey and stolen base guru Lou Brock.
Over in the American League, Catfish Hunter edged out the Texas Rangers’
Fergie Jenkins, taking home the Award based on his league-leading 25
wins and 2.49 earned run average, along with six shutouts over his 41
starts and 23 complete games as he anchored an Oakland staff that led
the team to their third straight World Series win.
It was his fourth straight 20-win season, to which he’d add the
following season as a New York Yankee after becoming the first big-time
Free Agent in baseball’s new age.
It’s still amazing to remember that Hunter’s career was over by the time
he was 33, even though he already had 224 wins under his belt.
Wonder just how many wins he could have racked up had he been able to stick around to his late-30’s.
Next
up in the “Awards” thread I’ve been running for a while is a 1974
“Rookie of the Year” card for the 1973 winners, Gary Mathews and Al
Bumbry, two guys who’d go on to have long productive careers in the
Major Leagues:
In the National League, Mathews would have a really solid year for the
San Francisco Giants, batting an even .300 with 22 doubles, 10 triples
and 12 home runs with 74 runs scored and 58 runs batted in.
He played in 148 games and collected 162 hits over 540 at-bats, and even
had 17 stolen bases thrown into the mix. Very nice first full season
that led to an award.
He would go on to play 16 seasons in the Majors, retiring after 1987
with over 2000 hits with a very nice .281 batting average and 234 home
runs
Over in the American League, Alonzo (Al) Bumbry only played in 110 games
for the Baltimore Orioles, but he made the most of the opportunity as
he led the American League with 11 triples while batting a hefty .337
with 120 hits over 356 at-bats.
He would go on to have a very nice 14-year career in the Big Leagues,
all but his final season (with the San Diego Padres) spent in Baltimore,
even becoming the first Orioles player to collect 200 or more hits in a
season during the 1980 campaign when he collected 205 hits on his way
to his only All-Star game nod.
By the time he hung them up after the 1985 season, he too retired with a
batting average of .281, with 1422 hits over 5053 at-bats along with
254 stolen bases and 778 runs scored.
Two very good players who definitely left their mark on the game.
Today
we celebrate two of the decades greatest players, who both happened to
have won their only MVP Award in 1973, Pete Rose and Reggie Jackson:
In the long-running “Awards Sub-Set”, I imagine what it would have
looked like had Topps included such a set every year in their basic
sets, and today’s two cards are doozies, with Rose and Jackson leading
two juggernauts in baseball history.
Rose put in one of the finest seasons of his incredible 24-year career,
leading the National League in batting at .338 , his third batting
title, while also leading the league with a career-high 230 hits, the
sixth of his ten career 200-hit seasons.
Over in the American League, Jackson led the Oakland A’s to the second
of three straight World Series titles by leading the league in homers
(32), RBIs (117 and runs scored (99) while also hitting (at the time) a
career-high .293.
While Rose’s Reds fell short in the NL playoffs to the Mets, denying a
rematch of the 1972 World Series, they would soon take over the mantle
of “Team of the Decade” from Oakland when the “Big Red Machine” took two
straight championships of their own in 1975 & 1976.
But they’d have to wait as the A’s would beat the Mets for the title in
1973, then go on to win it again in 1974 by beating the Los Angeles
Dodgers.
Two al-time baseball super-stars right here in the prime of their career.
We
move on to the 1974 set today in my ongoing awards sub-set, and today
we begin with the 1973 Cy Young Award winners, to juggernauts of 1970’s
ball, Tom Seaver and Jim Palmer:
For Seaver, it was his second Cy Young Award after posting a record of
19-10 with a league-leading 2.08 earned run average and 251 strikeouts.
Leading the way for the Mets to reach the World Series for the second
time in franchise history, Seaver anchored a staff that also had Jerry
Koosman, Jon Matlack and a surprising George Stone, though they’d fall
to the budding dynasty Oakland A’s in the series in seven games.
In the American League, it was another future Hall of Famer Jim Palmer,
who was taking home the first of what would be (like Seaver) three Cy
Young Awards during his incredible career that saw him post EIGHT 20-win
seasons in nine years!
For the 1973 season, Palmer won 22 games against only nine losses, with
a league-leading 2.40 E.R.A., along with six shutouts and 158
strikeouts.
He would go on to win the award two more times in the next three years,
solidifying his stature in Major League history as one of the greats of
the game.
Two all-time greats representing the 1970’s in full force: six Cy Young
Awards between them, with 579 wins and almost 6,000 strikeouts between
them!
The
final 1972 award we celebrate with a 1973 sub-set card is Rookie of the
Year, won by a solid starter over the next decade, Jon Matlack, and
future Hall of Famer catcher Carlton Fisk:
In the National League, Matlack joined an already solid New York Mets
staff and proceeded to post a 15-10 record, with a very nice 2.32 earned
run average over 32 starts, including four shutouts.
It would pretty much be the prototypical Matlack season as he’d go on to
lead the league in shutouts twice, and average about 15 wins over the
next seven years.
He’d split his time as a big league pitcher evenly between the Mets and
Texas Rangers, and retire with an excellent 3.18 E.R.A., along with a
final record of 125-126 and 30 shutouts in 361 appearances, 318 of them
starts.
In the American League, Carlton Fisk of the Boston Red Sox immediately
made his impact on the game, unanimously winning the award by hitting
.293 and leading the league with nine triples along with 22 homers and
61 runs batted in.
Of course, we all know he’d go on to star for both the Red Sox and then
the Chicago White Sox over the next 21 seasosn, 24 overall, becoming one
of the greatest catchers in the history of the game.
He be named to eleven all-star games, collect 2356 Major League hits,
and slam 376 home runs with 1330 runs batted in and 1276 runs scored.
Of course, he’d also give us one of baseball’s all-time moments, hitting
the game-winning home run in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series versus the
“Big Red Machine” Cincinnati Reds, the image of him waving the ball
fair a part of Major League history.
After eleven years in Boston, he would go on to play 13 more with the
White Sox, playing until the age of 45! A tank of a man, and continue to
put in solid season after season.
In 1985 at the age of 37, he set career highs in home runs (37) and Runs
batted in (107), while tying his career high in stolen bases (17) while
catching 130 games. Just amazing.
After missing out on a Hall of Fame selection in 1999 (how the Hell did
that happen?), he made it in the following year when he was named on
79.6% of ballots, joining other all-time catchers like Campanella, Berra
and Bench in baseball immortality.
Today
we move on to the 1972 Most Valuable Players in my “Awards” sub-set
running through the decade, imagining if Topps would have had such a
theme in their sets during the 1970’s:
Of course, in the National league we had Johnny Bench pretty much taking over the baseball world with his second MVP Award in three years,
and STILL only 24 years of age, when he slammed a league-leading 40
home runs with 125 runs batted in while taking the Cincinnati Reds back
to the World Series.
It was the beginning of the monster we’d get to know as the “Big Red
Machine”, with other future Hall of Fame members like Tony Perez and Joe
Morgan, along with Pete Rose. But it was Bench that was the on-field
general leading the way for one of the all-time great runs by an
organization.
He wasn’t all offense mind you, as evidenced by his fifth straight Gold
Glove. His fifth, and again I have to mention he was only 24! Incredible
talent.
Over in the American League, we had another former Rookie of the Year
winner in Chicago White Sox “thumper”, or should I say “Walloper”, in
Dick Allen, who came ever so close to taking home the Triple Crown with
his fantastic season.
All Allen did that year was lead the American League in homers (37),
runs batted in (113), walks (99), OBP (.420) and slugging (.603) while
missing out on the batting title by hitting .308 to Rod Carew’s .318.
Yep, that close to immortality in the baseball achievement category for
Allen.
Two great players from the decade taking home baseball’s biggest prize
as far as personal awards go, a great season all around for fans.
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