Canada Day - TASR: 1970 OPC #238 Jose Laboy

Happy Canada Day folks. To honor the occasion we are featuring the first All-Star Rookie Cup awarded to the Montreal Expos. 

1970 OPC #238 Jose Laboy (image stolen from tcdb)

Jose "Coco" Laboy had a shared Rookie card in 1969, The 1970 shown here is his first solo. I have always wanted to cover this card - There is just something cool about bat rack cards.  This one is particularly interesting as Laboy is in motion, he is picking out a bat trying to find the one that with a Hit in it no doubt.  None of the bats have numbered knobs, but we can clearly see Laboy's #39 on his jersey. 

In addition to Rookie Cup honors Laboy was also named the Sporting News NL Rookie Player of the Year. This is a different award than the more widely recognized BBWAA ROY which went to the Dodgers Ted Sizemore. The BBWAA vote was not even that close. Sizemore tallied 14 of the 24 votes, while Laboy garned only 3. This is despite the fact that Laboy, a third baseman hit 18 HR and a rookie leading 83 RBI while second baseman Sizemore's hit a more pedestrian 4 HR and 46 RBI. Ted Sizemore did lead rookies with a 4.2 WAR - of course this was unknown to 1969 era scribes, but apparently he passed the eye test. 

1970+

Coco Laboy played four additional seasons in the majors but never matched the success of his Rookie campaign. He retired as a career Expo with 420 games played 28 home runs and a -0.9 WAR. 

His decline may have been due to his advanced age for a MLB rookie, he was well past his 28th birthday. Laboy's Minor League career was spent in the Giants and Cardinals organization where he racked up 138 Home Runs and a career .294 average in well over a 1000 games. Despite these impressive numbers he never got a Major League opportunity until...

 

Bat Rack Connection

1970 OPC #324 Tony Taylor (tcdb)

In 1969 Coco Laboy was selected in the expansion draft by the Montreal Expos. Manager Gene Mauch picked Laboy largely due to the recommendation of Puerto Rican League teammate Tony Taylor (who played for Mauch with the Phillies) 

In a trading card coincidence Tony Taylor is also a member of the 1970 Topps/OPC bat rack club. 

Flip

Noticed since this is a Canada column we are using an OPC card - or course since it's 1970 we won't see much difference from Topps until we flip the card over. 

1970 OPC #238 Jose Laboy (flip/tcdb)

Checking the text of the card we quickly spot the French language translations that are present on OPC. We also see Coco's long minor League career which dates back to the 1950s including a couple of 20 Home Run seasons. 

Comic: Unfortunately we were unable to find any record of Laboy pitching for Springfield in Baseball-Ref.

Topps

1970 Topps #238 Jose Laboy (flip/tcdb)

Here is the standard Topps card. Beyond the language difference we can also see that the text on Topps is completely contained in the blue box, while OPC put this below the demographics section. 

Peanut Gallery

For more on this card check Jim's column over at 1970 Topps Baseball. 

Sources and Links

1970 TASR Index

Coco Laboy SABR Bio (Brian Joseph)

retrosimba (Mark Tomasik)

1970 Topps Baseball

tcdb

baseball-ref

1970 Topps Rookie Cup Team

This is an index to postings related to the 1970 Topps All-Star Rookie Team which honored rookies from the 1969 season. 

166	AL OLIVER	Pirates	1B
174	TED SIZEMORE	Dodgers	2B
238	JOSE LABOY	Expos	3B
645	DON MONEY	Phillies	SS
288	LARRY HISLE	Phillies	OF
321	LOU PINIELLA	Royals	OF
18	Carlos May (no cup)	White Sox	OF
232	BOB DIDIER	Braves	C
39	MIKE NAGY	Red Sox	RHP
377	BILL BUTLER	Royals	LHP

Sources and Links

All-Star Rookie Index

Baseball-Ref

Topps.com

 

Reggie Jackson HoF Index

This is an index of our posts related to Reggie Jackson

1970 Topps #459 Reggie Jackson All-Star

1977 Hostess Twinkies #9 (SP on Uncut Sheet)
1978 Topps #7 Record Breaker (5 HR Series / Kieth Jackson Memorial)
2002 UD Piece of History 500 HR Club Jersey #HR-RJ Reggie Jackson and b-side
2013 Allen & Ginter Across the Years #ATY-RJ Reggie Jackson

Swag from Night Owl Cards

Recently I received a nice package of cards from Night Owl Cards, Here are some of the Highlights:

1972 Topps #453 Barry Lersch
1970 Topps #324 Tony Taylor

NOC was able to knock a couple of cards off my vintage checker. I don't really have a current list posted but I do have a checklist that I do take to shows. Both of these early 70s cards are in great condition and are welcome additions to the collection.

Night Owl recently his best vintage discover of 2015 was the Bat Rack photos scattered throughout 1970 Topps. The Tony Taylor card is one of four cards that NOC featured in this post - you have to scroll down pretty far to get to the relevant text, but as always the remainder of the column is pretty interesting.

2011 Topps #219 Carlos Ruiz (Cognac Parallel)

There was a team bag full of cards which consisted of many recent Phillies, however so many players have been traded recently many of those players are no longer with the club. Among the players remaining on the current roster Chooch and Ryan Howard were the biggest names.

In 2011 Topps celebrated their Diamond Anniversary (60th) and had a couple of Diamond Parallels. The Cognacs are a variation on the Diamonds, they sort of look like they took a Diamond card and dipped it in Coca Cola. 

2010 Topps #MTOG Tales of the Game Roy Halladay

This card notes a series where the Phillies at Blue Jays series was moved to Philadelphia. Roy Halladay pitched game 1 of the series. I love cards that can be tied to specific games and we may take a longer look at this one in the future.

Chase

2009 UD O-Pee-Chee #OPC-10 Chase Utley

Yes I have a Chase Utley Player Collection. I have no formal "Have/Need" list for the collection - I am guessing it is less than a hundred cards.  This UD 1975 Topps knock off is a fine addition to the collection.

2015 Topps Stadium Club #99 Chase Utley


The more I see of 2015 Stadium Club the more I am impressed. Love this shot and glad to add it to the Phungo Collection.

Sources and Links
Night Owl Cards

Baseball-ref

MLB Debut on Opening Day as Phillies Centerfielder: Larry Hisle

This week Odubel Herrera became the first Phillies Centerfielder to make his Major League Debut on Opening day in over 40 years.

1970 Topps #288 Larry Hisle (rookie cup)

The last man to do it was Larry Hisle on April 10 1968. As can be seen by the Rookie Cup on his card Larry Hisle had a pretty good rookie campaign. Of course since the Cup is on a 1970T card it honors his performance during the 1969 campaign,  not the 1968 season when he debuted with the Phillies.

Larry Hisle was the first Draft Pick the Phillies ever signed - He was taken in the 2nd round of the MLB Inaugural 1965 draft. The team failed to sign first round pick Mike Adamson.

Among all outfielders drafted in 1965 Hisle ranks 2nd in career WAR(24.9) behind only Rick Monday, although at least Two players who became outfielders were drafted at other positions, Amos Otis and Hal McRae (both at SS).

It should be noted that Larry Hisle had his best seasons for the Twins after being traded away from Philadelphia. He played 300 games with just short of 1100 PAs for the Phils and racked up 1.2 WAR. His five seasons in Minnesota resulted in 17.2 WAR.


Obdubel Herrera
If  Odubel Herrera manages to have a Rookie Cup caliber season either this year or next I would be pretty happy.

Odubel Herrera in a Spring Training Game on 2015 03 06

I don't think I have a Herrera card in the phungo collection yet, so I will take this moment to put together some WAR projections for the Rule 5 Outfielder.  I see some commonalities between Herrera and 2011 Ben Revere. That is the 23 year old season for each, both had partial seasons in AA where they recorded comparable .300+ BA/.370+ OBP numbers with no pop.

In 2011 Ben Revere posted a 0.9 WAR, which would have been better if Revere wasn't such a poor fielder. I know that Herrera is new to the outfield, but I can't help but believe that he will be better fielder than Revere. I am going to go 1.3 WAR for Herrera, which was Revere's 2011 oWAR

1970 Topps
One of the things I have in the someday file is working up some postings related to the Phillies Rookie Cup winners. Don Money (shortstop) also represented the Phils on the 1970 Topps Rookie Cup Team. The other two outfielders to letter were Carlos May and Lou Piniella.   

Peanut Gallery
For some great rookie cup coverage check in with the Rockies Cards from the Quarry Blog. They appear to be on hiatus right now but they ran a nice series on on rookie cup cards that would be nice to see someone else continue.  

Sources and Links
2015 Phillies WAR Projections
SABR Bio by David E Skelton
Baseball-ref

1970 Topps #403 Jim Bunning says Vote

Tomorrow is election day. It isn't a Presidential election but there are various other local and statewide positions that are being contested. Back in 1979 Phillies Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Bunning won one of those elections - for Kentucky State Senate.

1970 Topps #403 Jim Bunning

Eventually Bunning was elected to the US House of Representatives and in 1998 he arrived in the US Senate. A position he held until 2010.

I am not sure how other states work but in PA one advantage to voting in the mid-term election is that it registers you to vote for the next 2 years which guarantees you won't have to re-register for the 2016 Presidential elections.

Regardless all those political ads that you were annoyed by during the playoffs and World Series should come to an end tomorrow. 

HoF Golden Era Committee
I am sure as a good citizen Jim Bunning will cast his vote on Tuesday, In addition to the mid-term election Bunning is also in the process of filling out a ballot for the MLBs Golden Era Committee. Bunning is one of a dozen voters who will examine 10 candidates on the Golden Era Ballot including his 1964 Phillies teammate Dick Allen.  

For the Collector
Picked this card up at a show for $1 in 2011.

For more Jim Bunning check:
Phungo Jim Bunning HoF Index

Sources & Links
SABR Bio by Ralph Berger
Philadelphia Inquirer Philly.com

In Memoriam: Mike Hegan 1970 Topps #111

Today I awoke to the sad news that Mike Hegan died.

1970 Topps #111 Mike Hegan

This is one of two cards of Mike Hegan as a Pilot. He is also listed with Seattle on a capless 1969T card. This is also the only one of  Mike Hegan's ten solo Topps cards where he is listed strictly as an outfielder. On his remaining base cards he is listed as a first baseman or 1B-OF.

When this card was issued in 1970 Hegan was coming off of his only All-Star season. He batted .292 with a .427 OBP. Had Hegan had enough AB to qualify he would have finished 2nd to Harmon Killebrew by only fractions of a point for the OBP lead.  In 1972 Hegan collected a World Series ring as a member of the Oakland A's. 

Mike Hegan was a second generation player, His father Jim Hegan played for the Cleveland Indians during the 1940s and 50s making several all-star teams. The senior Hegan spent part of the 1959 season with the Phillies.

Sources
Baseball-ref.com
Baseball Card Database 

Reading the Competition: 1970 Topps Scratch-off Tom Seaver

The Phillies are in New York to visit the Mets and that gives us one last opportunity for an All-Star Game related post. It was great to see the Mets bring out Tom Seaver on Tuesday night. Despite being a Phillies fan I was always in awe of Seaver as a kid. His driving delivery and all those Ks really grabbed hold of my 10 year old imagination.  

1970 Topps Scratch Off Tom Seaver

Seaver's Hall of Fame career really doesn't need redocumented by me - but I will quick-hit some highlights, 3 Cy Young Awards, 1969 World Champion, 1967 Rookie of the Year, 12 time All-Star, 311 Wins (100+ games over .500), 3,640 career Ks, 5 time strikeout champ. His Career pitching WAR of 106.3 is 7th all-time and still the all-time leader among folks that pitched during my lifetime in the non-steroid division - which means he is behind Roger Clemens.

Seaver was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1992, receiving close to 99% of the BBWAA vote, Which remains the record. He got the thumbs up on 425 of 430 ballots.

Scratch Off
In 1969 and 70 Topps released a subset of scratch off cards. The set was limited in size (24 cards?) so it is all pretty much superstars. At a show I will pick up any HoF or name player scratch off card that is a buck or less.

1970 Topps Scratch Off Tom Seaver (inside)


The scratch offs can be used to be pay a baseball game, fortunately this one is untouched.  I have flirted with the idea of using one of these for an online game, but have never been that ambitious.     

Rookie Card
Seaver's RC is 1967 Topps #581 has a low recent auction of $156 in good but certainly not mint condition.  Ungraded cards appear to be running just over $200 with a half dozen auctions ending between $200 and $210.

On the high end the card went for between $839 and $1,034 for PSA8 NM-MT.
 
Sources
Old Cardboard - HoF Rookie Cards
baseball-ref.com
ebay.com
wikipedia.com

Reading the Competition - 1970 Topps #510 Tony Oliva

This week the Phillies are in the Twin Cities and tonight we are taking a look at the career of Hall of Very Good contender Tony Oliva. 

1970 Topps #510 Tony Oliva

I liked Tony Oliva when I was a kid.  No idea why - cool sounding name, older guy had a .300 average are among my guesses. Probably read a gushing article in Baseball Digest somewhere along the line.

One has to wonder how close Oliva's career was to never happening.  I don't know a lot about the Cuban revolution, but I would have to think that Tony Oliva had to be among the last players to come out of Cuba in the era - According to Baseball-ref he has minor league experience dating back to 1961.  Following a  couple of cups of coffee in 62 and 63 Tony Oliva began playing regularly in 1964 when he earned Rookie of the Year honors.  In his debut he led the league in Batting Avg (.323) , Runs 109 , Hits 217  Doubles (43) and Total Bases (374). Those numbers were also good enough for 4th in the MVP voting, an award which he would finish runner up for in both 1965 (teammate Zoilo Versailes) and 1970 (Boog Powell).

Oliva played his entire 15 year career with the Twins. He represented the team in 8 consecutive All-Star games, starting with his rookie campaign. He led the league in Batting 3 times and hits 5.  In 1971 He led the AL in both AVG and slugging. For his career Oliva batted .304 good enough for 154th all time - much of his career was played during a pitching heavy era.  He finished just short of some milestone numbers, 1917 Hits and 947 RBIs with 220 Home Runs.

Oliva helped the Minnesota reach the playoffs in 3 different seasons, 1965, 69 and 70 But the Twins lost all 3 series. The 1965 World Series the Twins and Dodgers battled 7 games with the Dodgers taking the finale behind a Sandy Koufax 3 Hitter.  Oliva did have a Home Run off of Don Drysdale in game 4 of the series.  

Post playing career Tony Oliva has been involved with the Minnesota Twins in varying roles and still maintains ties to the community. 

For The Collector 
1970 Topps commons can sometimes be had for a dime, but for a semi-star like Oliva one would likely have to look for the card in a quarter or 3/buck bin.

His rookie card is 1963 Topps #228 and Identifies Tony as "Pedro Oliva".  The card is shared with Ed Kranepool and two other players.  Low eBay for an off condition of this card was $4.04.  $8.50 will get you the card in a bit nicer condition.

For those of you with a little extra cash laying around a PSA 9 MINT version of this card finished at $1699.00.  Yes a buck shy of  Seventeen Hundred Dollars!!! PSA 7 NM cards went far cheaper with five auctions ending between $60 and $85 and one being under $50. 

Topps had Tony Oliva on a slow progression.  His 2nd yr card is also a shared card #116.  Finally on 1965 #340 Topps granted Oliva a solo card - which is also a rookie cup card. Although Oliva is present in the Topps Super set at card #44.  His last Topps Card is 1976 Topps #35  

Sources
Baseball-ref
wikipedia
SABR Bio
Baseball Card Database 

1970 Topps #450 Willie McCovey All-Star

How many other baseball players have a body of water named for them?

1970 Topps #450 Willie McCovey

For me 1970 Topps ranks close to the bottom of the Topps canon.  I just can't deal with the grey border.  However I do like the All-Star cards.  I am a sucker for any newsprint related design and the bursting through the paper is always a bonus. I am really lazy or else I would have a checklist for this subset for my collecting needs - will add that to the never ending list of card tasks.

I am not sure where I picked up the McCovey card above, It may be a legacy from my childhood collection, I am not sure.  I suspect this card can be found in reasonable condition for under $2. 

Hall of Fame Resume

Willie McCovey was a first ballot Hall of Famer in the 1986 voting, which is a curious ballot that also has candidates Ron Santo and Dick Allen with similar WAR numbers but not only were both not first ballot guys neiether was ever elected via the conventional BBWAA process.  Willie McCovey had one distinquishing number that those two players do not, 521 career Home Runs - back when 500 home runs meant something - He still ranks 18th all-time. Beyond that his numbers are also impressive but that is the one that jumps out. He was a unanimous Rookie of the Year selection in 1959 (.354 BA and 13 HR in 52 Games).  A decade later he was the 1969 MVP, leading the league in Home Runs and RBIS (45,126). From 1968-1970 he led the league Slugging PCT, OPS, and OPS+.

McCovey was a member of the 1962 Giants NL Pennant team who lost to the Yankees in 7 games - McCovey was the final out of the series, Hitting a smash liner to Bobby Richardsion with 2 men on in a 1-0 ball game.

Willie McCovey was also a four decade man (1959-1980) and homered in all four decades.            

Rookie Card
McCovey had two cards in the 1960 Topps Set #316 which is part of the All-Star Rookie Subset (first Topps set to feature the Rookie Cup Trophy).  Lo-Bay among recent auctions for the RC was $16. 2 other auctions finished near the $20 mark. Among graded slabs the card went for 26.50 (BVG 4 VG-EX), $27 PSA 3 VG. The card topped at $602 PSA 8 NM-MT.    

He also has #554 which is part of the Hi-Numbered All-Star Subset.  Which makes McCovey a bit of an oddity for the era as his first Base Card isn't until 1961 #517

Phillies
The Phillies are in a bit of a slump - hopefully they can change that out on the west coast.  Ryan Howard your assignment is to hit a few balls into McCovey Cove.

Willie McCovey HOF Index
1960 Topps #316 (rc)  - Topps Inaugural Rookie Cup Team
1967 Topps #480 - Card Show Swag
1969 Topps #6 - LL HR NL with Ernie Banks & Dick Allen
1969 Topps #440 - Card Show Swag
1980 Topps #335 - Card Show Swag

References
Baseball-Reference
Old Cardboard HoF RCs
Baseball-Card Database
Wikipedia
ebay

Sunday Night Baseball Post: 1970 Topps Super #7 Bill Freehan

Tonight the Tigers host the Braves on Sunday Night Baseball. Lets face it no sport is probably more parochial than baseball - If your team ain't playing, chances are your not watching.  Typically I do try and check in with the Sunday Night game for an inning or two - I enjoy that the focus of the baseball world is on just two teams for a moment.

This season I am going to try and run a series focused on the Sunday Night game - This will give me a chance to check out some teams other than the Phillies.

Our first Subject is long time Tigers Catcher Bill Freehan

1970 Topps Super #7 Bill Freehan

I like the use of Jumbo or Super when discussing oversized Topps Cards.  If you look up Topps Giant you get a bunch of Willie Mays McCovey and Tim Lincecum cards.  

Topps Super and Jumbo are a good bit larger than their base set partners, but have a similar back.  The Supers are a bit more landscape in dimension so some of the demographic info on the flip is a bit different   

1970 Topps Super #7 Bill Freehan (b-side)


The Bio information on the Freehan Base 1970 Topps #335 (click link then click photo to see flip) is composed over 2 lines on the Super rather than 3 on the base.

Hall of Fame??    

Bill Freehan was an eleven time all-star for the Tigers with whom he spent all 16 years of his career.  His was the starting catcher for the 1968 World Championship squad that defeated Bob Gibson and the St Louis Cardinals in seven games. That was likely also Freehan's best season - he finished 2nd in the MVP voting to teammate Denny McLain (31 Wins).  Freehan's numbers that year included 25 Homers and 84 RBI.

For his career Freehan tallied 200 Home Runs and 1591 Hits.  I am not sure if those are Hall of Fame Numbers but if a man was an all-star 11 times at catcher he had to be solid.

For the Collector

I picked up the above Bill Freehan card for a dollar at the Granite Run Mall show this past weekend. 

1970 Topps #380 Hall of Famer Tony Perez

The Phillies are in Cincinnati to face the Reds this week and today I would like to take a look at Hall of Famer Tony Perez.  Perez was a member of the Big Red Machine teams of the 1970s as well as the Phillies Wheeze Kids squad.

1970 Topps #380 Tony Perez

The "Wheeze Kids" were the 1983 Philadelphia Phillies - the monicker was a play on "The Whiz Kids" who were the much younger 1950 Phillies. Despite the differences in player ages the two teams had some things in common, most notably representing the National League in the World Series.

The Wheeze Kids had several former Big Red Machine stars on the squad including Future Hall of Famer Joe Mogan and current baseball exile Pete Rose. The other notable Red and Future HoF was Tony Perez

Perez's Hall of Fame resume includes 2 World Championships(75-76) with the Reds. In addition to those World Series squads and the Phils 83 team Perez was also a member of 2 other Reds NLCS teams.  Tony Perez made a total of 6 trips to the postseason - amassing 189 Plate appearance which is pretty good for the era. He has 6 post season Home Runs including 3 in the 1975 World Series v Boston.

His regular seaon career numbers include 379 Home Runs, 1652 RBIs and 2732 Hits. 

Wiki

Tony Perez was born in Cuba and was signed by the Reds in 1960.  Apparently he was able to get out of the country prior to the aftermath of the Cuban Revolution and severing of ties with the US. Perez has been allowed to return to Cuba a couple of times, His son Eduardo played for the Reds and has been a commentator for ESPN. 

1970 Topps #380

This card has some new information to me.  To me Perez was always a first baseman.  The Reds Thirdbaseman of the 1970s was always Pete Rose.  This of course is not true if you go back a few years.  In the early 70s Perez was the 3B and Rose was playing Right Field - one of many positions the gambler would play.

For the Collector

. 

I picked up the 1970 Perez card above in March of 2010 from a 3 for a buck bin.  1970 Topps is one of my least favorite of the vintage sets, but I would still got a $1 on any HoF even a lower tier one like Tony Perez. 

Phungo Tony Perez HoF Index
1984 Topps #385