Topps Cards That Never Were: 1976 Bob Gibson

Well, it's been awhile since I spotlighted a pitcher, so who best to follow up Mr. October than another intimidator from the 60s and 70s than Bob Gibson. I do not know much about Gibby, as he retired the year I was born, but I do know he was a strikeout machine in Sports Illustrated Superstar Baseball.

As mentioned in a previous post, I watched an interview with Gibson and Reggie Jackson on PBS a few weeks back. Even at the age of 74, Gibson is still incredibly intimidating. He also looked like he had the fire to go out and pitch a few innings.

During the interview, he recounted an incident he had with his battery mate, Tim McCarver during a mound conference. I do not recall the exact conversation, but McCarver was trying to give Gibby some advice and Gibson's retort was "The only thing you know about pitching is you can't hit it." Love it.

Also, there was an "incident" during the 1993 Old Timers Game between Jackson and Gibson. The story goes: "In 1992, an Old-Timers' game was played at Jack Murhpy Stadium in San Diego as part of the All Star Game festivities, and Reggie Jackson hit a home run off Gibson. When the Old-Timers' Day game was played in 1993, the 57-year-old Gibson threw the 47-year-old Jackson a brushback pitch. The pitch was not especially fast and did not hit Jackson, but the message was delivered, and Jackson did not get a hit."

That incident makes the PBS interview that much more special. Anyways, Gibby or Hoot was only the second pitcher to record 3,000 strikeouts at the time. Cool!

Also, I just read he was born Pack Gibson after his father, and changed his name to Robert when he was 18.

Alas, here is my homage to a great pitcher's final season...

The Dominator.

Here are Gibson's stats from 1975 at the age of 39:

Year	Club	G	IP	W	L	R	ER	SO	BB	ERA
1975	Cards	22	109	3	10	66	61	60	62	5.04

Topps Cards That Never Were: 1976 and 1977 Frank Robinson

Life is yet again making a major intrusion into such frivolities and luxuries like baseball cards and breathing. As a consequence, my participation in the card world suffers mightily. That's about all you'll get out of me because I do not like mixing professional me with the 12 year old lurking inside of me who is waiting for a pack of 87 Topps.

So, I'll have to return to the old standby of cards that never were. I have a semi backlog now, and it seems to be sufficient blog fodder. Moving on, today's candidate is the great Frank Robinson. Frank has one of the few distinct honors of being dissed in not one, but two sets of Topps cards. Apparently Topps thought a tiny head shot of him on the team cards was sufficient for a Hall of Famer, but I disagree. Mr. Robinson was one of the best to ever play the game, and he would second that comment in a heartbeat.

Always overshadowed by Aaron, Mays and Mantle, Robinson never really got his due. Sure, he was (in my opinion) the Barry Bonds of the 50s, 60s and 70s. Not because of ROIDS, but because Frank does have a rather acerbic personality.

Alas, the end of Frank's playing career was coupled with the beginning of his managerial career. It took until 1975 for Frank to be named the first black manager in MLB history, but he had to be a player manager first. I guess he had to "prove" himself as a player/manager before becoming a full manager. I always wondered if it was because he was an awesome player, or because he was black that he had to be a player/manager first...

He looks so non-Frank Robinson in this picture...

And here's to you Mr. Robinson

Here are Frank's stats from 1975 and 1976:

YEAR	CLUB	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG
1975	Indians	49	118	19	28	5	0	9	24	.237

1976	Indians	36	67	5	15	0	0	3	10	.224

Topps Cards That Never Were: 1976 Harmon Killebrew

Well, it looks like the Aaron cards were a hit, and I must admit that I love making these custom "Topps" cards. I had some good feedback from followers, including one who thinks Topps should do inserts or a subset to honor those HOFers who got the boot from the set in their final season.

Another thing I thought of, is I wonder how many kids missed out on the final stats for these HOFers? Nowadays we have Baseball Reference and encyclopedias to tell us their final stats, but back then, I would imagine that baseball cards were the "Baseball Reference" of their day. I don't doubt almanacs existed, but I wouldn't think many kids would have access to those.

For me, Harmon Killebrew was always a guy in my Sports Illustrated Superstar Baseball game that struck out a lot and hit a lot of dingers. I think his average in our league was below the Mendoza line. Imagine my surprise when I landed a 75 Topps card of him and saw he had well over 550 homers! Truly awesome considering his era. He's 9th on the HR list with 573 (6th if you go by the asterisk list).

So, without further ado, here is another 500 HR club member Topps disgracefully cast aside in his final season. The Killer! I think it would have been awesome to have a Harmon Killebrew card in a Royals uniform. He will always be known as a Senator/Twin, but his Royal's card seems to fit him. By all accounts, The Killer is a standup man, so I wish Topps gave him his final due.

This card was really hard to make, not because of the template, but because I could only find two shots of Killer in a Royals uniform. One shot was from an existing card (which excludes it from consideration), and the other photo reminds me of the 1972 Topps with his gaze into the distant horizon...

Akin to a 72 Nostril Shot

Here is Killer’s line from 1975 in 76 Topps format:

YEAR	CLUB	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG
1975	Royals	106	312	25	62	13	0	14	44	.199

Little doubt that .199 average led to the end of Killer's career at the age of 39. I wonder if he had hit a little better, if we'd have another 600 club member. I wish it was so.
NOTE: After reading a Punk Rock Paint comment in a Bad Wax blog, I will now give reference to where the pictures came from. This photo is from Sports Memorabilia.