40th Anniversary: Rennie Stennett 7 Hit Game

Rennie Stennett recorded 176 Hits during the 1975 season. He collected SEVEN of those hits in a single game, a 22-0 Pirates rout of the Cubs at Wrigley

1976 Topps #6 Record Breaker Rennie Stennett 7 Hits in one game

Topps noted the accomplishment with card #6 in their 1976 Record Breaker Set.

Rennie is one of only two players to pick up 7 hits in a nine inning game, the other is Hall of Fame manager Wilbert Robinson.

Flip

1976 Topps #6 Record Breaker Rennie Stennett 7 Hits in one game (b-side)

Interesting graphic on the RB card. All of Stennet's ABs are listed along with his scoring result. Notice he had not one but TWO multi-hit innings, the first and the 8th. Stennet's 7 hits got him the first 3 hits of a cycle. He scored five of the 7 times he reached - Rookie Willie Randolph pinch ran for Stennett in the 8th. The first and last hits were off of different Reuschel brothers, Starter Rick first and Finisher Paul Last.

As a team the Pirates collected 24 hits that day. Every starter including pitcher John Candelaria picked up a hit AND scored a run. In addition to Stennett six other Pirates had multi-hit games.

Sources and Links
1976 Topps Record Breakers Index
2015 Playoff Contenders Index 
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Dejan Kovacevic
Cup o Joe - Joe Klimchak
Baseball-ref

ANNIVERSARY: 40 Years ago Davey Lopes Steals 38 consecutive Bases

Forty Years Ago Davey Lopes was in the middles of Consecutive Successful Bases Stolen Streak that Reached a total of 38.

1976 topps #4 Dave Lopes Most Consecutice Successful Stolen Base Attempts

Lopes first tied and than broke the record or 31 (previously held by Hall of Famer Max Carey) on a pair of steals during a Dodgers 2-0 Victory against the Mets on August 9th.  The latter of the two stolen bases was a steal of third which led to a run as Lopes scored later via a Wild Pitch. Both Stolen Bases were recorded off the battery of Jerry Koosman and Jerry Grote.

1976 topps #4 Dave Lopes Most Consecutice Successful Stolen Base Attempts (b-side - click to make more readable)

The flip side of the 1975T Lopes Record Breaker has a nice detailed listing of the stolen bases during Lopes' streak, although there is a discrepancy between Topps and Baseball-ref. According to Topps the Record Breaking Steal (The latter of the two August 9th Steals versus the Mets/Koosman) the base listed is 2nd - Baseball-ref had the base as 3rd, after advancing on a sacrifice bunt by Lee Lacy.

The Catcher that finally gunned down Davey Lopes was Future Hall of Famer Gary Carter in the 12th inning of a 14 inning 5-3 Expos Victory over the Dodgers. Of course this came after Lopes had already stolen 3 bases off of Carter (who was a Rookie at the time) earlier in the game. The Pitcher on the mound when Lopes was caught was Dale Murray, the tag was applied by current Phillies Manager Pete Mackanin.

40 Years Ago Today
On August 22nd 1975 Lopes recorded steal #35 in a 3-1 Loss to the Expos. It was a steal of 3rd base off of Pitcher Dan Warthen and Catcher Barry Foote - Two Expos who were traded to the Phillies in 1977 for Wayne Twitchell and Tim Blackwell.

Consecutive Stolen Base Record
Lopes held the record for close to 14 years until it was broken by Vince Coleman on June 24 1989.

Coleman extended the record to 50 prior to being caught on July 28 1989. His streak was also ended by the Expos, This time the Montreal Battery consisted of Pascual Perez and Nelson Santovenia.

Sources and Links
1976 Topps Record Breaker Index
Baseball Almanac
Cardinals Journal - John Snyder 
Baseball-ref

40 Years Ago: Lolich Sets Lefty Strikeout Mark - 1976 Topps #3

On June 6th 1975 Mickey Lolich set the strikeout mark for Lefthanded Pitchers

1976 Topps #3 Mickey Lolich Most Strikeouts, Lifetime, Lefthander

Topps honored the accomplishment with the #3 card in their 1976 set.

The Tigers Southpaw accomplished the feat during an 11-2 victory over the Oakland A's. The record tying and breaking strikeouts were both recorded versus Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson. Of course it should be noted that Reggie is the all-time leader in Ks among batters.  Lolich logged a total of four Ks on the day including one other Hall Of Famer, Billy Williams.

Mickey Lolich finished his career in 1979 at 2832 strikeouts. He would hold the Lefthanded K record for five seasons prior to being eclipsed by the Phillies Steve Carlton in 1980.

Career Ks by Lefthaders in 1976

1976 Topps #3 Mickey Lolich Most Strikeouts, Lifetime, Lefthander (b-side)

After passing Warren Spahn Lolich struck out just a shade under 100 additional batters during the remaining portion of the 1975 season. As you can see Steve Carlton ranked 11th at the time.

Carlton was eventually surpassed by Randy Johnson who is the current all-time MLB Record for career Ks among southpaws with 4875. The Big Unit was 12 when the Lolich Record Breaker card was issued.

Today Mickey Lolich still ranks #3 behind Carlton and Johnson. All 2832 of Lolich's Ks were in the AL which ranks first in the history of the junior circuit.

Lolich ranks 18th among All Pitchers for career Ks. The only pitchers in front of Lolich not in the Hall are Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling.

Sources and Links
1976 Topps Record Breakers Index
Topps Cards
Baseball Alamanc
Baseball-ref

40 Years Ago: Hank Aaron Sets new RBI Mark - 1976 Topps #1 Record Breaker

May 1st marks the 40th anniversary of the day that Hank Aaron passed Babe Ruth on the All-Time RBI List. 1976 Topps commemorated the event by awarding card #1 in their 1976 to Aaron

1976 Topps #1 Hank Aaron Record Breaker Lifetime RBI (image swiped from baseball simulator)

The record breaking RBI occurred during a Brewers 17-3 thrashing of the Detroit Tigers. Hank Aaron drove in Sixto Lezcano on a third inning single off of Verne Ruhle. 

Of course history sometimes changes. Apparently since 1975 Babe Ruth, who died in 1948, has collected five RBIs.

SABR researcher Herm Krabbenhoft has gone through SIGNIFICANT research and established that Babe Ruth had 2214 RBI, or five more than was thought in 1975.

This means that Hank Aaron did not pass Ruth until a May 15th game versus the Texas Rangers. Aaron drove in Bill Sharp with a Sacrifice Fly. If you want a more thrilling story, later in the day Aaron hit a 3 Run homer, all four RBIs came off of Rangers starting pitcher Steve Hargan 

1976 Topps #1 Hank Aaron Record Breaker Lifetime RBI (b-side)

It is interesting to note that despite the inflation of run scoring in the 1990s-20002 Hank Aaron remains the leader in career RBI. Not so much for Mickey Mantle, his 1509 RBI now places him 53rd overall.

Hank Aaron played one more season after the 1976T #1 card was produced and finished his career with 2297 RBI. 

Today the RBI leaders appear as follows (2015 April 21) 

Mickey Mantle's 33 spot fall is not all due to PED era players, 19th century players such as Cap Anson are now on the list. Lou Gehrig and Ty Cobb both lost RBIs. The Most significant Phillis player on the list is Jim Thome.

1976 Topps Record Breaker Subset
The 1976 Topps Record Breaker subber honors baseball events that happened the previous year. I wasn't planning on formally reviewing this set, but it is a small (6 cards) and I may post on these as the Anniversaries pop in 2015.

I did have this card when I was a kid, but it is gone now. It is the only one of the six  cards that is not in the present Phungo Collection.

#3 Mickey Lolich (Most Lifetime Ks Southpaw)
#4 Davey Lopes (38 Consecutive Successful Steals)
#6 Rennie Stennett (7 Hit Game)


Sources and Links
Topps #1 Club
Phungo Hank Aaron HoF Index
Topps Baseball Card Database
SABR - Herm Krabbenhoft
Baseball-ref