"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: ORLANDO CEPEDA

Today on the blog, we add the "Baby Bull" Orlando Cepeda to my long-running custom WTHBALLS "Classic Baseball" set, celebrating the great game and it's Golden Era:

While Cepeda's career was productive enough to get into Cooperstown, it's well known that if not for his bad knees, his final statistics could have been mind blowing.
Nevertheless, by the time he retired, he posted final numbers of: 379 homers, 1365 runs batted in, 2351 hits and a .297 average, with a Rookie of the Year (1958) and M.V.P. award (1967) thrown in.
It took a little while, but he was finally inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999 after being selected by the Veteran's Committee.
What a power trio San Francisco had in Cepeda, Willie Mays and Willie McCovey! Power to the ultimate degree!”

 

STARS RETIRE: 1975 AL KALINE & ORLANDO CEPEDA

Up on the blog today, another “Stars Retire” card in my new thread celebrating greats of the game with one final card, this one a 1975 edition celebrating Al Kaline and Orlando Cepeda, who hung up the cleats in 1974 before rightfully ending up in the Hall of Fame:

 

We begin with “Mr. Tiger”, Al Kaline.

What a player!

Kaline spent his entire career in the "Motor City", and went on to collect over 3000 hits, 399 home runs, 1583 runs batted in and 1622 runs scored.

Though he never took home a Most Valuable Player Award, he did finish in the top-10 in voting nine times, including a second-place finish in 1955 when he won the American League batting title at the age of 20!

As if that all wasn't enough, he also took home ten Gold Gloves and was named to 15 all-star teams!

Needless to say, as soon as he was eligible for the Hall of Fame in 1980, he was voted in, getting named on 340 of 385 ballots, capping off one of the greatest Detroit Tiger careers in the history of the storied franchise.

Next up, the great Orlando Cepeda, who wrapped up a wonderful Big League career with a 1974 season spent with the Kansas City Royals.

Cepeda was a much-heralded prospect coming up in the Minors before making his Big League debut in 1958, and of course, he would not disappoint, as he would take home the Rookie of the Year that season, hitting .312 with 188 hits, 25 homers, 96 RBIs and a league-leading 38 doubles, in what was to become a "typical" season for the future Hall of Famer.

While Cepeda's career was productive enough to get into Cooperstown, it's well known that if not for his bad knees, his final statistics could have been mind-blowing. 
Nevertheless, by the time he retired, he posted final numbers of: 379 homers, 1365 runs batted in, 2351 hits and a .297 average, with a Rookie of the Year (1958) and M.V.P. award (1967) thrown in.
It took a little while, but he was finally inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999 after being selected by the Veteran's Committee. 
What a power trio San Francisco had in Cepeda, Willie Mays and Willie McCovey! Power to the ultimate degree!”

Fun thread to work on, so keep an eye out for more of these over the next few months.

1970 "IN-GAME ACTION": ORLANDO CEPEDA

On the blog today, we add the great Orlando Cepeda to my 1970 "In-Game Action" thread, showing off the cards that were part of my two-part custom set released over the past few months:

 

Cepeda was a much heralded prospect coming up in the Minors before making his Big League debut in 1958, and of course, he would not disappoint, as he would take home the Rookie of the Year that season, hitting .312 with 188 hits, 25 homers, 96 RBIs and a league-leading 38 doubles, in what was to become a "typical" season for the future Hall of Famer.

While Cepeda's career was productive enough to get into Cooperstown, it's well known that if not for his bad knees, his final statistics could have been mind blowing.
Nevertheless, by the time he retired, he posted final numbers of: 379 homers, 1365 runs batted in, 2351 hits and a .297 average, with a Rookie of the Year (1958) and M.V.P. award (1967) thrown in.
It took a little while, but he was finally inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999 after being selected by the Veteran's Committee.
What a power trio San Francisco had in Cepeda, Willie Mays and Willie McCovey! Power to the ultimate degree!”

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS- ORLANDO CEPEDA

This week we add the "Baby Bull" Orlando Cepeda to my ongoing 1971 "Minor League Days" thread, shown here as an 18-year-old with the St. Cloud Rox in his first season of professional ball in 1956:

Cepeda did nothing but destroy opposing pitching in the Minors, as was the case in 1956 when he hit .355 with 26 homers and 177 hits in 125 games for St. Cloud.

The following year he'd move on to the Minneapolis Millers, where he would hit .309 with 25 homers, 108 runs batted in and 91 runs before getting the call to start the 1958 season in the Big Leagues at the age of 20.

Of course, he would not disappoint, as he would take home the Rookie of the Year that season, hitting .312 with 188 hits, 25 homers, 96 RBIs and a league-leading 38 doubles, in what was to become a "typical" season for the future Hall of Famer.

While Cepeda's career was productive enough to get into Cooperstown, it's well known that if not for his bad knees, his final statistics could have been mind blowing.
Nevertheless, by the time he retired, he posted final numbers of: 379 homers, 1365 runs batted in, 2351 hits and a .297 average, with a Rookie of the Year (1958) and M.V.P. award (1967) thrown in.
It took a little while, but he was finally inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999 after being selected by the Veteran's Committee.
What a power trio San Francisco had in Cepeda, Willie Mays and Willie McCovey! Power to the ultimate degree!”

 

A RE-DO OF ONE OF MY OWN: 1975 ORLANDO CEPEDA CAREER-CAPPER

Been meaning to re-do this card for a long while, my 1975 “Career-Capper” for Hall of Fame slugger Orlando Cepeda, who finished up his stellar career with the Kansas City Royals in 1974:

Re-done/ 2018

For those who never knew, my original mock up of the card was actually a Photoshop job way back when with a KC cap worked onto Cepeda’s image.
Not the worst job in the world, but it did always irk me that I released that version years ago on the blog.
I did finally find an excellent image of Cepeda during his days in KC, so here we go with the much better version you see above.
Here’s the original “write-up” I had posted with the first version back in October, 2013:

“Today I want to cap off the career of Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda, the "Baby Bull".
His last "official" card has him in a Boston Red Sox uniform in the 1974 set (#83). However by the time the season opened up Cepeda was released and didn't sign with another team until August, when he hooked up with Kansas City.

Original from 2013

He only appeared in 33 games for the Royals, hitting .215 with a homer and 18 runs batted in before finally retiring for good. So I went and designed a "final" card for him in a Royals uniform, "photoshopped" from a shot of him in '73 with Boston.
Would have been nice to have a card for Cepeda in that awesome 1975 set (I'm a sucker for the 1975 & 76 sets)!
Anyway, hope you enjoy it.
While Cepeda's career was productive enough to get into Cooperstown, it's well known that if not for his bad knees, his final statistics could have been mind blowing.
Nevertheless, by the time he retired, he posted final numbers of: 379 homers, 1365 runs batted in, 2351 hits and a .297 average, with a Rookie of the Year (1958) and M.V.P. award (1967) thrown in.
It took a little while, but he was finally inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999 after being selected by the Veteran's Committee.
What a power trio San Francisco had in Cepeda, Willie Mays and Willie McCovey! Power to the ultimate degree!”

NICKNAMES OF THE '70'S #39: "BABY BULL" ORLANDO CEPEDA

Time to go and give Hall of Fame star Orlando “Baby Bull” Cepeda a “nickname” card in my ongoing “Nicknames of the ‘70’s” thread.
Check out the card:

I used the 1970 template since he had his last great year that year, slamming 34 homers for the Atlanta Braves with 111 runs batted in and a .305 batting average.
Cepeda’s dad was a star player in Puerto Rico, and had the nickname “Perucho”, or “Bull”, thus when Orlando came along he naturally was tagged with “Baby Bull”, and the nickname was born.
Even though Cepeda would put together a Hall of Fame worthy career, one has to wonder what numbers he could have really put up had his legs not curtailed the momentum he had in the 1960’s.
Nevertheless, the “Baby Bull” eventually found his place in Cooperstown, alongside former teammates like Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Juan Marichal.

MISSING IN ACTION-"IN ACTION" #24: 1972 ORLANDO CEPEDA

Let's go and give another future Hall of Fame player a "missing" In Action card in the 1972 set: the "Baby Bull" Orlando Cepeda.

Check it out:

Cepeda wasn't quite finished with his excellent 17-year career by 1972, as he'd have a nice comeback year as a full-time designated hitter for the Red Sox in 1973, but his all-star days were behind him by this point.

Between 1972 and 1974 he'd play for four organizations (Braves, A's, Red Sox and Royals), but nevertheless he'd retire with over 2300 hits, 1100 runs scored, 375 home runs, 1300 runs batted in and a nice .297 batting average.

A seven time all-star, he was both a Rookie of the Year in 1958 and a Most valuable Player in 1967.

He had to wait a while for Cooperstown to let him into their hallowed doors, as he wasn't elected by the BBWA during his 15 years of eligibility.

It wasn't until the Veteran's Committee elected him in 1999 that he would join former Giants teammates Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Juan Marichal (among others) in upstate New York as a certified baseball "legend".

THEN AND NOW #18: ORLANDO CEPEDA 1974

Next up for my "Then and Now" series is a 1974 version celebrating Orlando Cepeda, who was wrapping up a 17-year Hall of Fame career.

Check it out:

Granted, the man was actually a Kansas City Royals player that year, but for the sub-set here I've been following whatever team Topps had the "super veteran" on.

Cepeda just came off an excellent season for the Boston Red Sox as their first designated hitter in 1973, hitting .289 with 20 home runs and 86 runs batted in, so you would have thought he had a few decent years ahead of him, even at the age of 36.

However, after a scant 33 games with the Royals, his career came to a close, but not before posting some excellent numbers: 2351 hits, 417 doubles, 379 homers, 1365 runs batted in and a .297 average.

Throw in an M.V.P. Award in 1967 with the Cardinals, a Rookie of the Year Award in 1958 with the Giants, and seven all-star games, and you can see why the "Baby Bull" was finally called to Cooperstown in 1999 by the Veteran's Committee.

As I've mentioned before, what a line-up the Giants had with Cepeda, Willie McCovey and Willie Mays supplying the power!

Three future Hall of Famers who all won a Rookie of the Year and at least one Most Valuable Player Award during their careers. Wow…

NOT QUITE A "DO-OVER"-BUT YOU GET THE IDEA...ORLANDO CEPEDA AND HIS 1973 CARD

Today's post deals with not so much as a "do-over" as it does with a "fix".

I've always found it funny that Orlando Cepeda's 1973 Topps card (#545) had him as an Oakland A's player.

I mean sure, he was traded to the A's in June of 1972 for Denny McLain from the Atlanta Braves.

But when you go and check out his stats for the season, you see that he had a whopping THREE at-bats for the A's in 1972 before being signed as a free agent by the Boston Red Sox in January of '73.

I'm all for having cards showing the player based on what he did the previous year. But those three at-bats just don't seem to make it right to have him as an A's player in the 1973 set.

Besides, and I know this doesn't really make it "right", Cepeda went on to have a very good season in 1973 as Boston's first designated hitter, hitting .289 with 20 homers and 86 runs batted in.

Not too shabby for a 35 year old with severely bum knees which curtailed what seemed to be a record breaking career when he was tearing up the National League throughout the 1960's.

So, for the sake of a quick "fix", I've gone and designed a 1973 Topps card of Cepeda in a Red Sox uniform, while also including his regular-issued #545 as an Oakland A's player.

Enjoy…

As-issued Cepeda card #545

A more "accurate" card by my own design.

ACCIDENTAL PHOTO BOMBING: PART VIII

It's been a long while since I've had a "photo bombing" post, as it's getting tougher to spot the stars in the background of other cards.

Nevertheless, today we'll take a look at two managerial cards from the 1970 Topps set: Yankees manager Ralph Houk (#273) and Braves manager Lum Harris (#86).

First up, I was pleasantly surprised to notice that standing in the background behind the "Major" was none other than former Yankee star and coach in 1969, Elston Howard. He's on the right of the photo, wearing the #32 uniform number.

After a nice 14-year career as a player where he even garnered an M.V.P. Award in 1963 for the Yanks, he returned to the Bronx as a coach, a position he would hold for the next ten years until his untimely death from heart disease in 1980.

Four years later the Yankees would retire Howard's #32 in 1984, and I was actually at that ceremony as a young teenaged kid of 15.

 

We have the 1963 A.L. M.V.P. on the right in the background here...

 

Next up we have the Atlanta Braves manager, Lum Harris, and his card in the 1970 set. 

If you look to the right of the card, standing behind Harris at the batting cages is former M.V.P. And future Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda during his relatively short tenure in a Braves uniform (he'd only play for Atlanta between 1969 and 1972 with injuries claiming a chunk of the last two years).

However his two full seasons for the Braves were very good, averaging 28 homers and just under 100 runs batted in.

A nice little "bump" of Hall of Fame class for those of us who care about these little things…

 

 

...and the 1967 N.L. M.V.P. on the right in the background here.

 

"CAREER CAPPER" # 14: 1975 ORLANDO CEPEDA

Today I want to cap off the career of Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda, the "Baby Bull".
His last "official" card has him in a Boston Red Sox uniform in the 1974 set (#83). However by the time the season opened up Cepeda was released and didn't sign with another team until August, when he hooked up with Kansas City.
He only appeared in 33 games for the Royals, hitting .215 with a homer and 18 runs batted in before finally retiring for good. So I went and designed a "final" card for him in a Royals uniform, "photoshopped" from a shot of him in '73 with Boston.
Would have been nice to have a card for Cepeda in that awesome 1975 set (I'm a sucker for the 1975 & 76 sets)!
Anyway, hope you enjoy it.

One last card for the "Baby Bull".

While Cepeda's career was productive enough to get into Cooperstown, it's well known that if not for his bad knees, his final statistics could have been mind blowing.
Nevertheless, by the time he retired, he posted final numbers of: 379 homers, 1365 runs batted in, 2351 hits and a .297 average, with a Rookie of the Year (1958) and M.V.P. award (1967) thrown in.
It took a little while, but he was finally inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999 after being selected by the Veteran's Committee.
What a power trio San Francisco had in Cepeda, Willie Mays and Willie McCovey! Power to the ultimate degree!