1976 ASG +40: Bake McBride 1975 Topps #174 rCup

The Phillies are on a hot streak as the head out to St Louis to face the always tough Cardinals.

It is hard to imagine but in 1976 the Cardinals only had one All-Star Representative. 

That representative was Bake McBride.

1975 Topps #174 Bake McBride 

It was the only time that McBride made the All-Star team, unfortunately He was dealing with a knee injury and didn't get to play. 

Only Cardinal doesn't even get into the game, Twitter would be ablaze if this happened today.

aWARds - 1974 RoY
As you can see Bake McBride picked up a Rookie Cup in 1975T, He did even better than that as he was also named Rookie of the Year. McBride beat out his Future 1980 World Series Teammate Greg Gross for the award. From an aWARds perspective Gross (+4.7 WAR) would have been a slightly better pick then McBride (+4.3).

Their traditional stats are comparable with McBride putting up a a slash line of .309/.369/.394 while Gross posted .314/.393/.377. The light hitting Gross drove in 36 runs without a dinger, while McBride plated 56 on a Half Dozen Home Runs. McBride also stole 30 bags, significantly better than Gross' twelve.

The only other NL player to get a vote for 1974 Rookie of the Year was Bill Madlock who probalby had a better career than either McBride or Gross.

Flip

1975 Topps #174 Bake McBride (b-side)


When his 1975T Card was issued Bake McBride had 30 career steals, yet a Topps writer felt compelled to compare him to Lou Brock. 

Sources and Links
1976 ASG +40 

1975 Topps Rookie Cup Index
aWARds
Baseball-Ref
Chicago Tribune 1976 0707

Little League World Series: Go Red Land PA!

Every Year I catch a few innings of the Little League World Series, On Saturday I will be looking on with added interest as a team from near where I was raised is involved in the US bracket championship - Red Land PA.

1981 Topps #459 Greg Gross

I have no idea if he was part of their little league but Greg Gross is an Alum of Red Land High School. He was also a member of the 1980 World Champion Phillies.

I remember Gross primarily as a no-pop pinch-hitter and fourth outfielder, but he was good enough at both those skills to stick in the Majors for 14 years including ten in Philadelphia.

Flip

1981 Topps #459 Greg Gross (b-side)

There are a number of things I like about the back of the 1981T Greg Gross card. First off the Bio info points out that he was born in the same county I spent my formative years, latter cards would ID his hometown as places I have enjoyed as an adult.

Secondly I like the informative cartoons especially the latter one that mentions Gross' contributions during the 1980 NLCS. The 1974 Rookie of The Year award mentioned in the first -toon went to another player that was on the 1980 World Champs, Bake McBride. Gross had the Higher WAR of the two (4.7 - 4.3) However McBride won the oWAR battle (4.0 - 3.1) likely due to his HR (6-0) and Stolen Base Advantages (30-12)

Sources and Links
(h/t @JeffBristol for reminding me Greg Gross was from Red Land HS)

PennLive
Baseball-ref 
Topps Card DB

1980 Topps - TCH 69 Robinson Cano

It's a mystery card - Check out insert TCH 69, it's missing both the players name and also the facsimile autograph. Another great job by the topps crew - although this gives me the opportunity to post this excellent 1980 card of the Phillies fine right fielder Bake McBride.