1974 All Star Project: AL Bench

Continuing on with this project... here are the non-starting position players from the 1974 American League All Star Squad.

	Sal Bando. As you expect from a dynasty, the Oakland A's are well represented on the AL squad. Bando was the captain of the three time world champions. 1974 would be the final of his 4 career All Star selections. He was injured and did not play in the game.
	Dave Chalk. A former first round draft pick, 1974 was Dave Chalk's first full season in the majors. Looking at his stats, I have no idea how or why he made the AL All Star roster in both 1974 & 1975. In 1976 he became the last major leaguer to play a full season (at least 500 PA) and hit 0 home runs and steal 0 bases. He played third in the bottom of the eight and struck out in the top of ninth inning.
	Bobby Grich. This was Bobby's second of six total All Star game appearances. He also won four gold gloves at second of the Orioles. He replaced Rod Carew in the bottom of the third and delivered one of the four AL hits.
	George Hendrick. A member of Dick William's 1972 World Champion Oakland A's... Hendrick was appearing in his first of four career All Star games. He replaced Bobby Murcer in centerfield in the bottom of the fifth inning and singled to lead off the sixth inning.
	Ed Herrmann. 1974 was the only All Star game Ed Herrmann was ever selected for. He did not play.
	Al Kaline. Appearing in the final of his 18 career All Star games, Kaline would collect his 3000th hit and retire from the big leagues at the end of the season. He pinch hit for Gaylord Perry in the top of the fourth inning and fouled out to the catcher.
	John Mayberry. A member of both the 1973 and 1974 AL All Star teams. In 1973 he led the American League in on-base-percentage. He grounded out to first base as a pinch hitter.
	Don Money. This was the first midsummer classic appearance for Money. He would make the game three more times in the 1970s, starting at second base in the 1978 game in San Diego. He did not play.
	Darrell Porter. Like his teammate Don Money, this was the first All Star appearance for Porter. Like Money he would make three other games in his 17 year career. Also, like Money, he did not play.
	Frank Robinson. Frank made 14 different All Star rosters in the Hall of Fame career. 1974 would be his last as a player. He grounded into a fielders choice as a sixth inning pinch hitter.
	Cookie Rojas. Appearing in his fifth and final All Star game of his 16 year career. He holds the distinction as the first player born outside the United States to hit a home run for the AL in an All-Star Game in 1972. He did not play.
	Joe Rudi. A popular member to the powerful A's team, Rudi made three career All Star games, starting in the AL outfield in 1975. He replaced Jeff Burroughs in left and went hitless in two at bats.
	Jim Sundberg. This was the first of three All Star games for the six time gold glove winner. For some reason, not counting the injured Carlton Fisk, manager Dick Williams selected four different catchers for his '74 AL roster and only played one of them. Sundberg wasn't it. He did not play.
	Carl Yastrzemski. Yaz appeared in 19 different All Star games over the span of three different decades. He won the MVP of the game in 1970. In 1974 he replaced Dick Allen at first in the bottom of third inning. He collected a walk in the bottom of the eighth.

Familiar Faces / Strange Places: Jimmy Wynn 1977 Brewers

I've always been a Jimmy Wynn fan. There is no doubt he would have gotten a lot more love and attention if he had played the majority of his games anywhere else but Houston. Of the 291 home runs the man hit... 97 of them where in the cavernous Astrodome.

After spending 1976 and hitting only .208 in Atlanta, he signed with the New York Yankees. The deal was done the day after they signed Reggie Jackson, and went off without much fanfare. The plan for the 1977 Yankees was to put Wynn at designated hitter. He smacked a home run in his Yankee debut, but that turned out to be his final career home run. After falling into a terrible slump (including an 0 for 32 stretch) he lost his job and his stay in the Bronx lasted just 30 games before getting released.

A few days later he signed as a free agent with Milwaukee and finished out the season and his career as a Brewer.

There have been attempts by others to create this 1977 Jimmy Wynn Brewers card, but without a good image... the best photo-chopping in the world doesn't work for me. I have been searching for months for a decent image of the Toy Cannon in a Brewers uniform with no luck, until I ran into this rare gem on eBay.

DAHOF Top 100 -- #61 George Scott

Like Dick Allen, George Scott wore a batting helmet when he took his defensive position. The only difference was "Boomer" wore his helmet to protect his noggin against opposing fans and Allen had to wear his to protect his head from "hometown" fans.

At 6'2" well over 200 pounds, George Scott was an intimidating sight, all the way down to the exotic tribal necklace he wore made of (as he described it) "the second baseman's teeth". If you don't believe me, ask Denny Martinez.

He hit over 20 home runs six times in his career and was a three-time AL All-Star, including getting the start at first during his rookie season (1966). In 1975 he had his best statistical season while playing alongside Hank Aaron, he tied Reggie Jackson for the American League HR crown with a career-high 36 while leading the league in RBIs with 109.

Atypical for someone with his size, George Scott was also first class defensive 1st baseman. Armed with his glove he named "black beauty" he won an amazing eight "Gold Glove" Awards during his 14 year career. In almost 2000 career American League games, only 40 times did he get penciled in as the Designated Hitter.

My most vivid memory of Scott comes from the 1977 All Star Game played at Yankee Stadium. Playing for the Red Sox, Boomer entered the game at 1B in the seventh inning, replacing starter Rod Carew. With the American League down 7-3 in the bottom of the ninth, he blasted a two run "tater" (as he used to call home runs) deep into left-center field off of Goose Gossage to pull the AL within striking distance.

1975 Topps Redux: Hank Aaron

Recently, I've been working on some 1975 Topps Traded Project submissions. While doing the research,  I was reminded of the strange manner in which Topps handled the newly crowned HR King, Hank Aaron with this set.

Early in the 1974 season, Hank Aaron hit his 715th HR and broke baseball's all-time home run record as a member of the Atlanta Braves. He was the toast of baseball and the rest of the '74 season was simply a victory lap for baseball's latest super-hero. Not surprisingly, he was elected as a NL starter in the 1974 All Star Game in Pittsburgh.

I'm not sure any noticed -- but once the record was broken, Hank's power production dropped off considerably. When the season was done, he had delivered "only" 20 HRs and 69 RBIs, a big drop from previous seasons. It was clear that time was catching up to the future hall of famer.

In November, after the conclusion of the 1974 season the Braves traded the now 40-year-old slugger to the Milwaukee Brewers. It was a nice fit because the still very popular Aaron was returning to the city where is his big league career had started and Milwaukee was (at the time) an American League town, where the newly adopted designated hitter rule was being used. In exchange Atlanta got outfielder Dave May and a minor league pitcher. Becoming a full-time DH enabled Aaron to extend his career long enough to break Babe Ruth's career RBI mark (2,217) and play two more seasons before retiring at the end of the 1976 campaign.

The 1975 Topps set actually has two Hank Aaron cards. One is an awful looking airbrushed Brewers card the other shows him in a Braves uniform. This "HR record highlight" card carries the NL all-star designation, which makes no sense to me at all.  I decided to fix this error in judgement and give Hank Aaron a decent looking 1975 card with his correct team and a proper all star designation.

The Matt Stairs Project

When Matt Stairs retired from baseball in August, I posted this in recognition of his contribution to the 2008 Phillies World Series win. As I was looking up his career stats for the post, I realized that he might have the longest display of uniform numbers of any player on BaseballReference.com. All told Stairs played for 12 different teams -- 13 if want to separate the Expos franchise he debuted for from the Nationals that he finished with. According to the fine folks a BR.com, Stairs wore 19 different uniform/number combinations during his career.

Former players Mike Morgan, Ron Villone, Deacon McGuire each played for 12 different teams. Morgan's uni/number combo count finished at 17, Villone got 14, and McGuire retired in 1912, several years before a major league team even issued uniform numbers. The only active player that is even close to Stairs is Miguel Cairo, his 2011 season with the Reds put him up to 14.

I thought it might be fun to create a set of Matt Stairs cards - showing him with every major league team he played for. Rather than drive myself crazy attempting to create new templates for each year, I decided to simply go with a 1968 Topps design. Matt Stairs was born in 1968.

	1992 - 1993: Montreal Expos Stairs makes his big league debut on May 29th, 1992 with the Expos in Cincinnatti. Appropriately he enters his first game as a pinch hitter.
	1995: Boston Red Sox After spending some time in Japan, Stairs is purchased by the Red Sox. He spends all of 1994 in the minors and returns to the big leagues in June. Hits his first ML Home Run off of the Royals Tom 'Flash' Gordon on July 5th, 1995. He gets one AB in the Red Sox 1995 ALDS loss to the Indians.
	1996 - 2000: Oakland A's Signs as a Free Agent with the A's following the 1995 season. It is in Oakland that Stairs establishes himself as a real live professional hitter. It is also the first place he finds regular playing time and he produces 122 HRs & 385 RBIs over his 5 seasons wearing the green and gold.
	2001: Chicago Cubs Following the A's bitter 2001 ALDS loss to the Yankees, Stairs is traded to the Chicago Cubs for a minor league pitcher named Eric Ireland. He spends one season on Chicago's North Side, delivering 85 hits in 128 games.
	2002: Milwaukee Brewers Once again a Free Agent, Matt signs with the Brewers for the 2002 season. Nothing spectacular happened for him while suffering through 106 losses playing for a last place team.
	2003: Pittsburgh Pirates Another season, another team. Now 35 years old, Matt signs with the Pirates as a Free Agent in December 2002. He had the best batting average of his career, hitting .292 in 128 games playing as a first baseman and outfielder. He also tops the 20 HR mark for the 5th time in his career.
	2004 - 2006: Kansas City Royals Matt continues his tour of the Major Leagues when he signs as a free agent with the Royals. He practically puts down roots and stays in KC for two and a half seasons. On June 2nd, 2005 -- against the Yankees he leads off the bottom of the sixth inning and sends a Carl Pavano pitch deep into the night for his 200th career HR.
	2006: Texas Rangers In July of the 2006 season, for the first time in his career, Matt Stairs joins a new team in the middle of the season. The Royals made a deadline deal with Texas, who had hoped Stairs could provide some veteran leadership on their young club. He just played in 26 games and hit only .210 before getting waived in September.
	2006: Detroit Tigers Claimed off the waiver wire by Detroit, Stairs joins his 3rd team of the 2006 season. The Tigers grabbed him in hopes he could help them hold their division lead. He appears in 14 games and the Tigers lost their division lead on the final day of the season, but still clinched the Wild Card. Since he was acquired after August 31st deadline, he was unable to play for the Tigers during the playoffs or World Series.
	2007 - 2008: Toronto Blue Jays After the 2006 season, the 39 year old Stairs once again found himself on the market as a free agent. In December he signed with the Blue Jays, returning to his native Canada. During the season and a half he spent in Toronto he found regular playing time, delivering 21 HRs in 2007 with an impressive .921 OPS. Following his strong 2007 season the Jays gave him a 2 year deal, but it didn't work out as he was released in August.
	2008 - 2009: Philadelphia Phillies Looking to add depth to their bench, the Phillies picked up the suddenly available Stairs in late August of 2008. He appeared in 16 games as the Phils won the NL East. Playing in his first playoffs since 2001, Stairs created a lasting memory with his first career postseason home run in Game 4 of the NLCS. His monster blast allowed the Phillies to take the lead over the Dodgers and win the game. That season he won the only World Series ring of his 16-year career. He returned in 2009 as a hero. On April 12th he hit a game-winning home run against the Rockies. It was the last home run called by Harry Kalas.
	2010: San Diego Padres In January, Stairs agreed to a minor league contract with the San Diego Padres with an invite to spring training hoping to crack their 25-man roster. He made the club out of spring training as a left-handed bat off the bench. On August 21st, Stairs hit his 21st career home run as a pinch hitter, breaking a tie with Cliff Johnson and setting a new Major League record.
	2011: Washington Nationals In December, Stairs signed a non-guaranteed minor league contract with the Washington Nationals. He made the club in spring training and went north with the team. Mostly used as a pinch-hitter, with four appearances at first base, in 65 at-bats he had 10 hits and two RBIs. He was designated for assignment on July 27, 2011 and released on August 1st. Two days later he announced his retirement.

Happy Rollie Fingers Day

Rollie Fingers turns 65 today. Best known for his signature handlebar mustache (which he first grew to collect a $300 bonus from Charlie Finley) he also had the opportunity to wear some of the best uniform color combinations in MLB history. Happy Birthday Rollie!

Minor stars: John Buck and Prince Fielder

I have decided to create a new custom card template to show off some of my minor league images. I have been photographing minor league baseball since 2002 and have captured many current big leaguers. The template is based loosely on the 1983 Topps design. I am a big fan of logo artwork, so wanted to include the logo of the minor league team. Let me know what you think.

The first two submissions: John Buck and Prince Fielder:

Familiar Faces / Strange Places: Dave Parker / Brewers

As a kid growing up in the 1970's - Dave Parker was an imposing figure and an incredible ballplayer. He was the NL MVP in 1978, a perennial all star, and a key member of the 1979 Pirate World Series Championship team. He was the first ballplayer in history to sign a contract for more than $1 million per year. Just as it appeared he would go down as one of the all-time greats -- injuries and off-field drug issues slowed him down. He left Pittsburgh to play a couple years with the Cincinnati Reds where he made two more all-star appearances and finished 2nd in the 1983 MVP voting. He was also a member of the Oakland Athletics Bash-Brothers 1989 Championship team. He spent one year (1990) in Milwaukee and played 153 games as the Brewers DH. He finished his career the next season as a member of the California Angels and the Toronto Blue Jays and retired.

Despite posting comparable statistics to Hall of Fame members Tony Perez and Andre Dawson -- Dave Parker has never received more than 24% of the vote from the Hall of Fame voters.