1968 Topps Venezuelan Baseball #5, NL HR Leaders (Hank Aaron, Jimmy Wynn, Ron Santo, Willie McCovey)

Hank Aaron, Jim "Toy Cannon" Wynn, Ron Santo, and Willie McCovey? This who's-who of late-60s power hitters holds a special place in my heart as the last vintage Venezuelan on my #5 wantlist. It's got tape stains, missing paper, and creases, but you can't tell me it ain't beautiful.

It was such a pitching-friendly era, these guys were the only four to hit 30+ homers in the National League that year. Most credit tall pitcher's mounds with those late-60s depressed power numbers, enough that 1969 saw a lowering of the mound to 10", the height still used today. More details on the mound's history at "Why are pitcher's mounds higher than the rest of the baseball field?"

Most surprising player in a high spot on that HR leaders list? HOF speedster Lou Brock, who managed a career-best 21 big flies that year, even as he led the NL with 52 steals.

Venezuelan backs don't scan well, so here's a closer look at the printing credit, "Hecho en Venezuela, C.A. Lithoven."

Topps executives kept tabs on the Central & South American baseball market throughout the 50s and 60s, so I assume their periodic licensing to local printers like Lithoven made financial sense, especially as more native sons entered the MLB, spurring more national interest. Their 1962 set, for example, included Venezuelan-only cards for Elio Chacon (see my 1962 set profile) and Luis Aparicio (below).

The 1968 Venezuelan set tops out at 370 cards, a few hundred less than America's version, with Mickey Mantle, Nolan Ryan (RC), and Johnny Bench (RC) being the biggest names.

The Topps Archives article El Fin de Invierno includes more scans and info about this final Topps parallel, but the short story is that no Venezuelan set attempted the match USA's card size and presentation after 1968. A few 1970s sets copied American player fronts, but as knock-offs rather than the real thing.

One question never answered about Topps Venezuelan sets is why they skipped years through the 1960s. Rumors persist--with me as a willing participant--that many Topps unsold packs found their way to Caracas, Venezuela candy stores in the years between their licensed printings of 1960-62-64-66-68. Reselling leftovers to a baseball-hungry country seems a lot more likely than dumping stock into a nearby waterway, as the story of 1952's high numbers goes (here's a version with Sy Berger commentary). We might never know for sure, as few Venezuelan collections survived to the present day.

Value: After failing to win an earlier #5 at auction for $120, I pulled the trigger on a Buy It Now listing for the same price. That seems high in retrospect for its low grade, but anything in nice shape would sell for many times that.

Fakes / reprints: Venezuelan are in demand from speciality collectors and used lower-quality materials, so are at higher risk of counterfeiting than USA-made cards. Try to buy type cards from experienced foreign collectors or dealers and get to know the different back colors and other printing peccadilloes so you're adding the right thing to your collection.

1968 Venezuelan Baseball #5, NL Home Run Leaders (Hank Aaron, Jim Wynn,Ron Santo, Willie McCovey)

A while back, I broke down the 1950-70s Venezuelan sets that started as Topps partnerships and evolved into local knockoffs of American issues (full list of set profiles). After years of hunting, my collection includes all those 1959-77 types except this white whale, a 1968 league leaders card starring 3 HOFers and the Toy Cannon in a black hat.

Jim Wynn's airbrushed portrait encapsulates multiple elements of the 1968 zeitgeist. First, Topps ran into union issues with the new MLBPA, denying access to new uniform photos usually taken in spring training. On the other side of the boardroom table, the revenue heyday of America's Space Race purportedly led the owner of the Astros to ask too high a price for his franchise name and logos. Those business snafus wouldn't have made sense to candy store collectors, so Topps did their best to retouch old pictures and went with "Houston" for a couple of years. All four photos on this #5, in fact, are cropped from earlier 60s Topps sets.

The white Spanish footer text identifies this as printed in Venezuela and those familiar with 1968 backs can tell the set uses darker yellow ink than American cards.

"Hecho en Venezuela, C.A. Litoven" is courtesy of the Caracas-based publisher that printed these cards. All Venezuelan-made sets are much rarer than real Topps, but some still turn up in large lots of 1960s vintage. I've found a half-dozen singles in low-grade show boxes over the last decade and you can generally flip quickly through backs looking for the darker ink.

Value: An eBay seller listed this for over $300, hoping to net a big fish. I'd probably buy one for $50 or under.

Fakes / reprints: This whole set is sort of a reprint and can be mistaken as American-made. It's more important not to overpay for real Topps as if they were Venezuelan.

1976 Hostess Cakes Baseball #5, Bob Watson

While alive and aware of baseball when this set came out, my post-hippie parents never bought me Hostess snacks in those salad days. Naturally, they claimed the high sugar content would rot my teeth and head. Hostess panels still could've ended up in my hands, as we shopped at plenty of bargain bakeries with leftover products, but it never quite happened. If I'd seen this awesome shot of Bob, though, my card collection might've started a little earlier.

Yellow sweatbands and rainbow stripes are just the start on this standout card.

1. Uniform of many colors: They’re not quite Tucson's Toros, but this Astro look was the brightest MLB had to offer in 1976.
   
2. Astroturf: The eponymous artificial surface dominates our background, evergreen and triple-seamed.
   
3. Red, white, and blue banner: USA’s bicentennial loomed over everything that year.
   
4. Aviator sunglasses: Playing on Astroturf doesn't mean a man can't look cool.
   
5. Questionable border trimming: Each Hostess box included a panel of three cards for kids to cut out. This one sorta followed the dotted line, a bit of which is still visible at left.
   

This card's essential to my collection in an Abba's Greatest Hits kind of way. Naturally, I also voted for this #5 in Dinged Corners's "guy wearing glasses" survey.

Hostess printed most of their baseball set as 3-card strips on snack cake boxes. Watson shares the #4-5-6 panel with Gaylord Perry and Bill Freehan.

1976 Hostess Baseball panel, #4-6

Hostess also printed this gatefold All-Star Team "album" for kids to display their favorite Hostess players as 9-position lineups. Being disposable paper giveaways from the 1970s, they're hard to find in good shape today.

Click through the image for more detail, including a bunch of trivia questions on this back page.

I've seen a lot of esoteric trivia, but didn't understand this one at first. "Q: Who is the all-time strike out per at bat leader? A: Woody [sic] Held with an average of .235."

Woodie Held slugged well for a 1960s shortstop, but he struck out like a 21st century first baseman. The trivia question reads oddly because its 3-digit "rate" resembles a batting average. Stat trackers today would say that his AB/SO ratio was 4.2574 (career stats).

So is the answer correct? Not quite. At the end of 1975, when Hostess prepped their set, Woodie almost "held" this record. Tommie Agee had retired in 1973 with 4.2614 AB/SO (career stats), just a notch better in context. The most recent Hostess album question is dated 1966, so I assume card editors copied its trivia from a 1960s source, before Agee was in the picture.

Value: Hostess type cards are plentiful and cost a dollar or two in low grade.

Fakes / reprints: It'd be hard to make money faking cards this cheap and I haven't heard of any in the market.

Baseball's Top 5 Non-All-Stars (Pitching Edition)

How many trips to the mound must a man walk before you call him an All-Star? Some do it a hundred thousand times without ever getting in. Others suit up for the Rays, do not-so-bad for a year, and nab that one-player-per-team selection.

Your 2003 Tampa Bay All-Star, Lance Carter

There's no magic solution to getting chosen at the midyear break, but steady performance, peer recognition, and a little "Frankie Zak" all help. Today's post salutes the hurlers who stretched, warmed up, and threw the pill, year after year, without coalescing the intangibles into an All-Star berth. I took the All-Star ERA (1933-present), queried for pitchers who'd never been selected, and sorted by a common equalizing measure, WAR. Here are the top 5; full results at B-R.

1. Tom Candiotti (42.6 career WAR)

1984 Topps #262, Tom "Candy Man" Candiotti

Wins Above Replacement (WAR), what is it good for? It's good for Tom Candiotti, who ranks highest in career total for pitchers without an All-Star resume. Critics would say most of it (30 WAR from 1988-93) came from franchises who needed more help, but few pitchers had better stuff than Tom Candiotti's knuckler in its prime. (And few collectors have better cards: check out his prewar collection in Tom's "Best of the Best" at PSA.)

These days, Candiotti does commentary for the Diamondbacks, telling stories between game action. One curiosity is whether Ramon Martinez plunked Jeff Kent for Tom's rotisserie league, cited as a reason the Candy Man stopped playing fantasy sports. Is it true? Did Ramon send New York's red-hot second-baseman to the infirmary to improve his teammate's chances at pretend baseball? No, not exactly.

Tom said this story happened in an early 90s New York road game and LA pitcher Ramon Martinez did hit Kent in the second inning on April 30, 1994 (box score). That's still his first at-bat, so we can forgive Tom's "first inning" muff, but our real question is whether Ramon heard a bullpen conversation and decided to knock Jeff out. Unfortunately (for the story), Ramon hit Jeff on on the 5th pitch, hardly a sign of killer intent, and the at-bat followed a Bobby Bonilla homer, itself a more likely brushback trigger. Kent went on to finish the game without apparent ill effects and there's nothing to imply Ramon's countrymen went on a spree of targeting him thereafter.

But speaking of hit batsmen, who did plunk Jeff Kent with pitches more often than anyone else? Yup, it was yarn-spinner Tom Candiotti.

2. Danny Darwin (40.6 career WAR)

1991 O-Pee-Chee #666, Danny Darwin

Guys with high WAR totals but no All-Star appearances tend to be above-average, well-traveled, and durable, which fits Darwin to the letter. I even see it in his face: "Oh, I'm with the Red Sox now? OK, let's go."

Danny turned great 1990 numbers with Houston (5.3 WAR & NL ERA title) into a 4-year, $10 million free agent contract with Boston, where he managed one more excellent year in 1993, posting 5.7 WAR. Perhaps those peak seasons came late enough in Darwin's career (age 34 and 37 respectively) that they didn't stand out to managers when filling out their All-Star rotations.

3. Fritz Ostermueller (34.5 career WAR)

1934 Goudey Big League Gum #93, Fred (Fritz) Ostermueller

This lunchpail 1930s & 40s pitcher might ring a bell because his name resurfaced in the Jackie Robinson biopic 42. Near the end, Jackie pays back Ostermueller's racist beaning with a dramatic homer, the essence of skill trumping discrimination that's both satisfying and very Hollywood.

Fritz's daughter protests today that "[i]t didn't happen that way," as her father expected to pitch inside on May 17, 1947 (box score), despite Jackie's own habit of crowding the plate, and brought no racial animosity to the mound. Robinson's mid-September homer off Ostermueller (box score) came well after Brooklyn wrapped up the pennant, so it's a stretch to connect both moments without artificially linking them to some larger issue, something movies have a deserved reputation for doing.

Making Fritz an on-screen goat is a cheap choice, but the writers might've lacked options once they decided to stick with 1947 as Jackie's only celluloid season. (As an inherited Dodgers fan, I was hankering for a stretch into 1955, when Brooklyn won its only title.)

The real Ostermueller's career peaked early (11.6 WAR from age 26-28) and late (14.9 WAR from 36-40). Fritz changed teams and pitching roles several times, which would've reduced visibility at All-Star time and explains his third spot here.

4. John Tudor (34.3 career WAR)

1985 Topps Traded #124, John Tudor

In 1985, Tudor led the NL in shutouts (10), posted career-highs with 185 ERA+ and 8.1 WAR, and in any other year would've carried home the NL Cy Young (career stats). Unfortunately for John, his best efforts coincided with this guy.

1985 Topps #620, Dwight Gooden

Doc was 1985's unanimous NL Cy Young award winner, posting a 12.1 (!) WAR and foiling John Tudor's best shot at the lasting notoriety and higher profile that helps in future All-Star selection. For his career, I suspect Tudor was OK with winning a ring (1988 Dodgers), earning several million dollars throwing baseballs, and not riding Gooden's cocaine roller coaster across the sports pages.

5. Charlie Leibrandt (34.3 career WAR)

1987 Topps #223, Charlie Leibrandt

Leibrandt faded into my mental background after Kansas City won their 1985 title. He became one of those guys you think will always stick around, always pitch, always fill out the back end of a staff. Then, one day, he's on the list of first-year HOF eligibles, and then he gets no votes, and that's about it for baseball pitchers like Charlie Leibrandt. Work hard for a couple decades, get your MLBPA union pension, and pick out some post-career interests.

Charlie didn't possess the shutout threat of John Tudor or longevity of Danny Darwin and his best awards finish, #5 on the 1985 AL Cy Young ballot, trailed two guys on the same KC staff. Consider his footnote a nutshell version of today's list, as last in a line of pitchers who were good enough for long enough that being 25th-best Royal of All-Time is the suit that fits best.

1976 Caruso Spokane Indians Baseball #5, Ron Jacobs

The first time I bought today's #5, it seemed like one of those minor league type cards that turns out to be unnumbered and gets filed in the trade box. Ron looks like a nice 1970s guy, but my type collection does adhere to one standard. It needs the number.

Card front (blank back)

Sometime later, I (accidentally) bought a second, lighter-inked Jacobs card.

Oh, there it is. Subtle.

Ron Jacobs might have the #5, but probably confused young collectors by never appearing for Spokane. My hunch is that Milwaukee thought about sending Ron to AAA after the 1976 collegiate draft and ultimately farmed him to single-A Newark and AA Berkshire for the summer. He reached AAA by 1979 with Vancouver without quite making the final step to the bigs (career stats).

Caruso created numbered team sets for most of the Pacific Coast League in 1975 and I assume they covered the league again in 1976, but this is the first set I've seen in person. The bunting around Ron's picture is a nod to America's bicentennial, much like Hostess went red, white, and blue.

1976 Hostess #5, Bob Watson

Caruso's Spokane set covered 21 players, many who reached the majors and several well-known to 70s-80s Topps card collectors (in bold).

1. Bobby Sheldon
2. Jimmy Rosario
3. Sam Ceci
4. Tom Widmar
5. Ron Jacobs
6. Bob Ellis
7. Juan Lopez
8. Kevin Kobel
9. Bob Strampe
10. Moose Haas
11. Perry Danforth
12. Art Kusnyer
13. Frank Howard, Manager
14. Gary Beare
15. Kurt Bevacqua
16. Tommie Reynolds
17. Bob Hansen
18. Steve Bowling
19. Len Sakata
20. Toby Bianco
21. Rick Austin

That's the same Kurt Bevacqua Topps immortalized for his off-field skills.

1976 Topps #564, Bubble Gum Blowing Champ

And lest you think Bevacqua shies away from his 1975 celebrity moment, check out Cardboard Gods' Books, Bubbles, and Bevacqua.

Value: This #5 cost $2 at MinorLeagueSingles.com, typical for non-star type cards. Team sets remain affordable at $15-30, given Spokane's lack of big names. (Manager Frank Howard's arguably the best-known player.)

Fakes / reprints: Haven't seen any in the marketplace.

2013 National Wrap-Up Part 3 (and Vintage Giveaway): Type Cards

Part of the magic of big card shows like this year's National Sports Collectors Convention is knowing that unexpected treasures abound. Despite becoming a quite difficult wantlist to hit, friends and dealers added three cards to the type collection and I only had to pay $1 for all of 'em!

It's been too long since we've done a giveaway, so look for your chance to win a rare vintage #5 after the roll call.

1969 Topps Baseball #5: AL Home Run Leaders

I recently sold my 1969 baseball set (*cough* eBay ID late_innings *cough*), which meant the #5 needed replacing. This EX version starring three fan favorites (because who doesn't dig the long ball?) popped up in a $1 box and fit the bill nicely.

Wow, there was a big drop from the top 3! Even 4th place Reggie's 29 homers trailed Frank Howard by 15, a huge gap in the pitching-dominant 1960s.

Jim Northrup's grand slams include two in one game (June 24 box score), when he also became the second player to hit them in consecutive at-bats. Jim hit another in game 6 of the World Series, making 5 for 1968, regular and post-season combined.

1976 Twinkie Panel #5, Bob Watson

The uniform, the sunglasses, the Astroturf. Bob Watson is still cooler than school.

Hostess put together a nice run of 1970s sets attached to snack boxes, including this red-white-blue design on America's bicentennial. This single-player panel supported a pair of Twinkie cakes that left telltale staining and still emits a faint chemical scent. Mmm, preservatives!

Some collectors try to build both Hostess (printed on snack boxes) and Twinkie (one per panel) sets. If you find them trimmed down to card size, those vertical black bars delineate Twinkies from "regular" Hostess cards.

My longtime collecting friend Steve (fellow member of OBC) gave me both this and the next #5, so it cost $0, my favorite price!

1933 World Wide Gum #5, Babe Herman

Slugger Babe Herman played the key role in Brooklyn's infamous "three men on third," as a head-down runner too committed to advancing to let something like a base coach tell him what to do.

While a great card to have, this #5 is special for what's on the back.

Prior to this year, I'd owned several Canadian-made World Wide Gum cards, but all with bilingual English-French back text. Steve gave me this rare permutation on an already scarce set, the "English-only" back that fills a previously-unknown slot in the type collection, which now includes both back variations. A+!

VINTAGE GIVEAWAY: 1934 World Wide Gum #5, Flint Rhem

Drunk with the possibilities of capturing both World Wide Gum back variations at this year's National, I also bought this 1934 #5 of Flint Rhem, gambling it was the one I didn't already own. Wrong for me, as it's a duplicate of the English-French back text, but good for you as it's now free to give away.

Even in low-grade, these World Wide Gum cards don't pop up often, and you'll learn a little French on the side. (I enjoy that "has plenty of smoke" translates to "est très agressif.")

HOW TO ENTER: Add a comment naming your favorite baseball card variation from any player, team, or year. To collectors, that usually means an error that the card company later corrected, but surprise me if "variation" says something else to you. (OBC members, for example, might call a crossed-out player--see my National upgrades post for examples--a "new name variation." :-)

I'll leave entries open through Sunday night and pick a winner early next week!

Top 5 Hitters, "Other" Edition

After three decades poring over card backs and statistical records, it's exciting to discover novel wrinkles or nuances that, in turn, point to unusual players and achievements. While researching my recent Pinch-hitting's Sad Lexicon post, I discovered the defensive position other, a record-keeping designation for pinch-hitters (or pinch-runners) who come to the plate again in the same inning. They're not batting for anyone else that second time, so aren't pinch-hitters, but haven't taken an assigned defensive position.

This scoring oddity crops up about ten times per year and three times so far in 2013. Today's post looks at five notable "others," either as career achievers, one-inning wonders, or both.

5. Eric Young, Jr., April 11, 2012 (5th inning)

Coors Field played to run-scoring stereotype as the Rockies hung 6 on Tim Lincecum in 2+ innings, then gave 7 back to the Giants in the 4th. Nursing a 9-7 lead, Eric Young pinch-hit for reliever Matt Reynolds to start the 5th and bunt singled past the pitcher. He stole second and scored easily on a Marco Scutaro double.

In most cases, "one AB, one hit, one run" marks a successful pinch-hitting day, but Colorado turned five more hits and a walk into Eric's second chance. By the time he pulled up at third with a triple, the Rockies led 16-7 and went on to thump San Francisco 18-7. His line: 1B, 3B, R, RBI, SB.

4. Al Zarilla, June 10, 1952 (4th inning)

Zarilla pinch-ran for cleanup hitter Eddie Robinson with the Chisox leading 6-0, but that was just the beginning. Two batters later, Hector Rodriguez's inside-the-park homer brought Al home, and they piled on run after run until he came around again.

The A's started that 4th inning down just 3-0 and struck out pitcher Billy Pierce to lead off, leaving good odds of minimal damage. But by the time Zarilla capped its scoring with his own 2-run homer off Ed Wright (their third pitcher), Chicago led 15-0. Al went on to finish the game in right field, but is one of baseball's few to turn pinch-running into an "other" at-bat...and then homer doing it. His line: 2R, HR, 2RBI.

3. Willie McGee, May 9, 1996 (8th inning)

McGee wasn't the burning speedster of old in 1996, but could still hit and play outfield, so platoon master Tony LaRussa found a way to get Willie into 123 games that year. He entered this game with St. Louis down 8-5 and two men on. Willie promptly singled in fellow LaRussa specialist John Mabry and came around on Luis Alicea's single two batters later, knotting the game at 8.

Willie watched as everyone following him reached base, save an Ozzie Smith bunt sacrifice, giving McGee a second shot, this time with the bases loaded. He went over left-center to unload them, becoming one of only 5 players to grand-slam in their "other" at-bat. His line: 2-for-2, 2R, HR, 5RBI.

2. Bill Robinson (August 12, 1969 & August 14, 1982)

Robinson is one of only two "others" to drive in multiple runs twice and both stand out as highlights in otherwise lackluster years. On August 12, 1969, the Yankees blew open a close game against the Twins with 8 runs in the 8th inning, including Robinson's two-run single that brought home Ron Woods and rookie Thurman Munson. Bill entered the game as a pitcher's pinch-hitter (since 1969 was before DHs), a frequent need during the Yankees' lean years in the late 60s. His line: H, R, 2RBI.

13 years later, Philadelphia acquired Robinson from Pittsburgh mid-season to bolster their outfield. Philly stood neck-and-neck with St. Louis by mid-August and Bill hit the biggest blast in their highest scoring game of the year, an 8th-inning comeback over Montreal on August 14.

Down 8-4, Robinson entered the 8th inning as pinch-hitter for George Vukovich, singled to center, and scored on Bob Dernier's sac fly. Expos pitchers failed to record an out for eight straight batters, bringing Robinson back to the plate with the bases loaded. His grand slam gave Philly a 5-run cushion, en route to their 15-11 win. A ho-hum 4-2 contest after 6 innings, the Phillies and Expos combined to score 20 runs in the last 3. Bill's line: 2-for-2, 2R, HR, 4RBI.

TRIVIA: Jeff Stone is the "other" guy to twice drive in multiple runs from the "other" slot, doing it on July 6, 1986 (2B & HR) and September 16, 1987 (BB & 2B), also for Philadelphia.

1. John Cangelosi (1987-95)

If the "other" slot has royalty, Cangelosi is its king, having taken six bites at that rare fruit. It even happened three times in one year, thanks to Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonilla priming Pittsburgh's lineup to bat around frequently. Here's his first five "other" batting lines, all as a Pirate.

• 8th inning, June 28, 1987: 2BB, R
• 8th inning, June 7, 1987: H, R
• 8th inning, June 28, 1987: BB, SB, R, H, RBI
• 12th inning, April 25, 1990: H, SB, R
• 9th inning, May 20, 1990: 2K (including game-ender with bases loaded; no one's perfect)

Five years later, the 32 year-old Cangelosi posted career-best numbers in 90 games for Houston, who fell one game short of the playoffs, losing the NL wild card to third-year wonder Colorado. John saved his best "other" at-bat for last, helping turn another average outcome (4-2 after 5 innings) into a 19-6 pasting of Chicago.

June 25, 1995: John pinch-hit in the 8th inning and, as in multiple games before, walked, stole second, and scored. In this game, the Astros followed with six 2-out runs off reliever Bryan Hickerson, bringing back Cangelosi, who clubbed a 2-2 pitch over the fence in left. Houston couldn't blame their playoff failings on his line of BB, SB, 2R, HR, 3RBI.

Seen any other pinch-hit wonders I should know about? Let me know in the comments. They seem to happen a lot in Pennsylvania...

Top 5 Carlos Peña Impersonators

I have a soft spot in my heart for Carlos Peña, who turns 35 today. Houston's slugging first baseman doesn't club them into the seats at the same pace he used to, but his 5 years in Tampa Bay were so good, he comfortably holds the Rays franchise HR record at 163.

Peña's similarity scores from B-R.com turn up more of the same, big first basemen and designated hitters who regularly posted 120 OPS+ thanks to their power stroke. His top five cover a nice range of years and players, where "nice range" means "after the DH's installation in 1973."

1. Gorman Thomas (1984 Donruss Champions #5)

If that uniform looks odd, it's because the Brewers traded Gorman, a fan favorite, to Cleveland in mid-1983. I happened to attend one of his "Milwaukee return games" on June 26 (box score), the first time I can remember home fans cheering when a visiting player homered. (Thomas went deep off reliever Tom Tellmann in the 8th.)

2. Tony Clark (1998 Pinnacle Performers Swing For The Fences #5)

Soon after my move to Boston, the Red Sox signed Tony Clark to a $5M contract, fresh off his 2001 All-Star season in Detroit. Clark proceeded to post a 47 OPS+ and everyone in the seats hated him, hated the team, and hated the owners. He followed that folly with a handful of decent years elsewhere, so I assume Tony never felt comfortable with Boston itself, his teammates, or contract.

3. Jason Thompson (1985 Fleer, what a color combo)

Thompson made 3 career All-Star games and struck out nowhere near the totals posted by free-swinging power guys today. Given his 120 career OPS+, I'm surprised he didn't get more opportunities after age 30. Montreal cut ties with Jason after two bad months in 1986 and that was it for his career.

4. John Mayberry, Sr. (1978 Topps #550)

Houston drafted Mayberry with high expectations, but he never hit well in spot-duty and they unloaded him to Kansas City for Lance Clemons and Jim York, two pitchers who combined to win 9 games for the Astros. Six years, two All-Star appearances, and 143 HRs later, it's fair to say the Royals got the better end of that trade (career stats).

5. Jesse Barfield (1989 Score NatWest Banks Yankees #5)

This is one of the first cards to show Jesse Barfield as a Yankee, after Toronto swapped him early in 1989 for a youthful Al Leiter. Jesse could still reach the seats in New York, but without the consistency shown earlier in Toronto. Like Jason Thompson, Barfield was finished by his early 30s, but might've stuck around longer with the surfeit of teams playing today.

1980 TCMA Columbus Clippers Baseball #5, Garry Smith

Hey, another oddball minor league photo in a long line of them. Convincing 6'2" guys to bend double is the textbook look for "gangly." Did the photographer really catch Columbus outfielders during grounder practice?

Columbus looks like a Cubs affiliate with those hats and pinstripes, but were the Yankees AAA farm club for almost 3 decades, 1979-2006. Garry Smith bounced around New York's system for seven years, suiting up for as many as three teams annually (career stats).

Garry's frequent A-AA-AAA movement reminded me of another peripatetic player (recently mentioned by an OBC trading friend), Wally Wolf.

Wally got the Rookie Stars treatment twice, but seven years apart, the longest such gap I've seen.

Why, Wally hasn't aged a day! Oh, they just airbrushed his Colt .45s cap. (Read the Hope Springs Eternal posts at 1207 Consecutive Games for more of Topps "rookie mistakes" from the 60s and 70s.)

Unlike Garry Smith, Wolf got two cups of coffee in the majors, but his minor league travels look very similar.

This TCMA set's rich with future Yankees and past big-leaguers as coaches.

1. Tim Lollar
2. Roger Slagle
3. Chris Welsh
4. Wayne Harer
5. Garry Smith
6. Brad Gulden
7. Roger Holt
8. Joe Altobelli MG
9. Roy Staiger
10. Bob Kammeyer
11. Jim McDonald
12. Jim Nettles
13. Brian Doyle
14. Sammy Ellis CO
15. Bruce Robinson
16. Jim Lewis
17. Dave Righetti
18. Mark Letendre
19. Dave Coleman
20. Marshall Brant
21. Greg Cochran
22. Jerry McNertney CO
23. Dennis Sherrill
24. Marv Thompson
25. Dave Wehrmeister
26. Joe Lefebvre
27. George Sisler Jr. GM
28. Juan Espino

Value: This #5 cost $2 as part of my TCMA haul from MinorLeagueSingles.com. Some sellers ask as much as $50 for the team, but $20 seems more reasonable to me. (A team set with 5 autographs recently sold on eBay for $15 with shipping.)

Fakes / reprints: TCMA reprinted several 1980 teams for "collectors kits" in the late 1980s. Those reprints use black ink; originals have blue backs.

Top 5 Seasons To Forget, Baserunning Edition

Happy 2013 to all and welcome back to my off-season look at less-than-awesome years on the diamond. A personal caution that this Top 5 Seasons To Forget for stealing (and getting caught) took extra sifting compared to earlier stabs at hitting, pitching, and managing, as that august trio seems somehow more elemental to the game. Sure, footwork's a nice bonus skill for the multi-tool player, but occasional extra bases play subordinate to baseball's 21st-century focus on the Three True Outcomes.

Furthermore, bad running doesn't stand out on card backs like a 4-16 pitcher or .180 hitter. Someone who leads the league in caught stealing (CS) might also lead it in stolen bases (SB), given the quantity of attempts, and be hailed as the team's rally starter. That pushed my version of "forgettable season" into more esoteric terrain, where the most chiding that player might receive is his appearance in this post.

1. Jose Offerman (2000, 0 SB, 8 CS)

2002 Topps #624, Jose Offerman

See Jose. See Jose run. See Jose get caught running. See Jose try again. And again. And again. That 2000 season set the mark for most caught stealing without a success at 8. (To his credit, Jose swiped as many as 45 in other years.)

2. Luis Castillo, 2000 (22 CS, 17 RBI)

1996 Bowman #189, Luis Castillo

The same year Jose kept getting nabbed in the AL, Castillo led the NL in both stolen bases and caught stealing. As noted above, those stats can be a speedster's lot in life. However, Luis also notched the rarer feat of getting caught 5 more times than he knocked in runs.

That odd combo says a lot about Florida's ability to put guys on base in front of Luis, who hit .334 and set an OPS+ career high (111). Their 7-8-9 hitters must've been uncommonly awful at getting into scoring position (2000 team stats).

3. Vince Coleman ("for career achievements")

1986 Topps #201, Vince Coleman (Most SB by Rookie)

Vince's most regrettable moment will forever be tossing fireworks into a crowd of autograph seekers at Dodger Stadium, but his speed in St. Louis outpaced just about everything from 1985 to 1990. Coleman's career steals (752) are more than twice his career RBI (346). He stole more bases than runs scored 4 times, more bases than his OPS+ rating 3 times, and more bases than his stolen base percentage 3 times. I bestow one career No-Prize for those steals overshadowing, well, everything.

Still a dick move throwing the fireworks, Vince.

4. Matt Alexander (103 SB, 1 Run Created)

1978 Topps #102, Matt Alexander

Matt "Two First Names" Alexander holds the ignominious career accomplishment of stealing 103 career bases, but creating just a single run during his 9 MLB seasons. Bill James developed Runs Created to evaluate a player's combined batting and running contributions. Per Wikipedia:

"Runs created is believed to be an accurate measure of an individual's offensive contribution because when used on whole teams, the formula normally closely approximates how many runs the team actually scores."

How just 1 RC in 9 seasons? The fact that fellow Oakland alum Larry Lintz is "runner-up" with 128 steals and 31 Runs Created hints that their shared time as Athletics had something to do with it. Those mid-70s World Series championships featured not just the AL's new Designated Hitter (1973), but also experiments with sprinter Herb Washington and other situational speedsters like Lintz and Alexander.

Alexander's career stats border on the bizarre, with just 4 RBI in 374 games and an otherworldly 1.5:1 AB-to-Runs ratio. (Matt's batting nadir came in 1976 with a -80 OPS+, thanks to 1 hit in 30 at-bats, offsetting 20 steals as a pinch-runner.) Oakland's dedication to pinch-running might push Runs Created to the edge of utility for individuals, while remaining accurate for the team as a whole.

Don't cry for me, Herb Washington: Like Herb (Oakland, 1974), Matt Alexander's running skills earned him a World Series ring (Pittsburgh, 1979).

5. Most caught stealing in consecutive games (5 CS, 5 times)

1993 Topps #680, Craig Biggio

I admit we're pushing the bounds of #5-philia with this one: 5 players have been caught stealing 5 times in consecutive games. At least this list spans multiple eras and includes a future Hall-of-Famer in Biggio.

• Eddie Mulligan, 1921 (5 CS in 4 straight games)
• Harry Rice, 1928 (5 CS in 4 straight games)
• Delino DeShields, 1990 (5 CS in 4 straight games)
• Craig Biggio, 1993 (5 CS in 5 straight games)
• Scott Podsednik, 2005 (5 CS in 5 straight games)

Eddie Mulligan is this group's odd duck, a poor hitter who filled a lineup spot for Chicago's post-Black Sox White Sox (1921-22). He lead the AL with 18 caught stealing in 1921, thanks in part to just three days in July (one of which had a doubleheader, so four games total). 7 hits in 18 at-bats looks good until you're thrown out 5 of those times on base and getting caught twice in a 1-0 loss must've stung.

Honorable Mention: Fred Merkle (New York Giants, 1908)

1909-11 T206, Fred Merkle

Merkle's boner remains one of the most notorious running blunders, due as much to Chicago's strategic use of the run-canceling force rule as to Merkle's "censurable stupidity" (to quote the New York Times). His out did mean the Giants had to replay (and lose) their 1908 pennant-winning game, but it's hard to contextualize that moment for the modern game. Tossing a live baseball to a fan, perhaps.

Any other stolen seasons or running gaffes you'd like to forget?