1970 Topps: #12 John Hiller

(because of Opening Night and Opening Day, I have been remiss in posting my card by card chronicle of the 1970 set, but now that the season is in "full" swing, I am going to resume and try to get caught up again)

John Frederick Hiller, a 15 year veteran pitcher who spent his entire career with the Detroit Tigers. His career began in September of 1965, though he only pitched in six innings that year and 2 IP in 1966; but saw considerable action as a relief pitcher in years to follow. In 1968, he had a 9 - 6 record with 2 saves and a 2.39 ERA for the World Series Champs earning Hiller a ring.

In January of 1971, Hiller suffered a heart attack which would sideline him for the entire '71 season. His recovery was long (remember it was 1971 and medical rehab was much much different) but the Tigers did invite him to spring training for 1972. He was left off the roster and asked to remain as the batting practice pitcher "coach". He did that and eventually in July of '72 was to rejoin the 25 man roster and remain on it for nine more years.

In 1973, marking Hillers full recovery and return to the Tigers, he lead the league in games (65) and broke the AL record for saves with 38. 1973 would award Hiller with the Hutch award and AL Comeback Player of the Year.

John Hiller currently holds the Tiger franchise record for games appeared in with 545; a Tiger for "life", for his career in Detroit and his toughness to comeback.

Opening Day

April 6, 2009, (yesterday) marked the day that "real" baseball started and as usual there was a mixed bag of everything.

There was a snow-out, cold, rain, empty seats, errors, strikeouts, poor individual performances and teams that have disappointed their fans already BUT . . . there was also a lead off first inning homerun, many pitching gems, shadows (from the sun) creeping onto fields, a first-at-bat HR and plenty of teams that have showed early (albeit one game) promise.

While weather always is an issue for the midwest and northeast, April games usually provide a good look into what we have in store for many months to come. Playoff contending teams can not win the pennant in April, nor can a struggling team count themselves out too early. The season is long for a reason . . .for all of us to enjoy our favorite team or player and "fantasize" and dream of games in October that matter.

For me . . . the Cubs won ! I am happy ! I will be very happy if they are the last team to lose a game (just for kicks, who do you think will go undefeated the longest ?), stay in first place throughout the year, win 100 + games and break all of the "curses" of 101 years.

But today is another day, as tomorrow and the next will bring . . . daily wins or losses create hope that the season continues again for another day . . . win or lose "real" baseball is here . . . for six more months !

On a different yet equally upbeat note; yesterday also brought the mailman to my home . . . a most generous 400 count box of cards straight from my "want" list and a few surprises all from Dodger Jim gcrl who lives in Minnesota. It may take me a few posts to share all that Jim has sent so please stay tuned.

Thanks to the Cubs and to Jim . . . Opening Day 2009 was a double winner !

more from the show

this being my second (and last) post "showing off" my finds at the card show this past Saturday I want to remind everyone that I did remember my promise to stick to my budget etc . . . and most of my "to do" promises for the wife . . .

For starters, I did pick up several 1970 Topps cards (mostly mid-high numbers) in addition to the ever elusive Al Oliver # 166 (gold trophy topps all-star rookie card). Since I am chronicling this set card by card I will not post any scans . . . yet. I am now at 683 of 720 or 95 % complete; soon I will have to splurge on the Reggie Jackson (#140), Henry Aaron (#500) and the Nolan Ryan (#712). Those are my only missing big ticket cards. Getting closer I am . . .

At the last show I went to I was introduced to the 1995 Flair set with my the one only card, Sammy Sosa #334 - I really like this card / set and added them to my "look for" list. I found a small handful, actually 13 of these heavy card stock cards, in a bargain basket.

These three show off the fronts of my new favorite "modern" set. I really like the horizontal look, double photo, and scripted initials of the players (the scans may not be so clear for that ). Finding a future HOF'er (possibly two in Larkin and Johnson) as well as a Mark Grace was nice.

I also scanned a back for you to see. The backs show a third (different) photo of each player, is the traditional up/down orientation but only shows five or six years of stats (the only down side to these cards). I liked this Ryan Klesko photo . . . each hand holding a batting glove as he seems to be leading off of first base.

I also could not pass up on a few (actually found five) Ken Griffey Jr cards . . .

including two 1991's for my daughters binder and one for me with Griffey Sr and his two sons.

My real "splurge" came from the 1976 Topps set . . . The Sporting News All-Time All Stars !

This small (10 card) sub-set is a real classic. I added these three cards to bring me only one short of completion (missing Babe Ruth # 345). Who can resist these classic black and white photos of when baseball was so different.

I also picked up a few random Cubs cards to fill some gaps; including these two; a 1968 Lee Elia # 561, though more famous for his managerial days / tirade he did appear as a pinch hitting infielder for the Cubs (though appeared in only 15 games) and a 1968 NL Pitching Leaders #5 with Fergie Jenkins.

And I could not pass up three great mustache cards !

So, all in all, I kept all (most) of my promises, had a blast looking around, added cards to several parts of my collection and now Opening Day is here !

Thanks for allowing me to share my limited yet fun additions.

Opening Night

Baseball has officially started !

Last years World Champions, the Philadelphia Phillies lose to the Atlanta Braves 4 to 1 !

The Braves pitching shut down the powerful Phillie lineup allowing only four hits and one meaningless run in the ninth. Last year the Braves ranked 14th out of 16 NL teams in homeruns - tonight they hit three within two innings.

So what does this all mean ? Not much excpet that BASEBALL has started ! !

The Phillies will bounce back and be a force to be reckoned with, the Braves may outperform their expectations. Tomorrow is another day . . . that is why each team plays 162 games.

Opening Day is tomorrow across our country and games will be won or lost . . . dont get too excited about the W or the L . . . they will all play 162 games and come October we will know who is best.

We do have 2429 more games to enjoy . . . Baseball has officially started !

Just a quick tease

I kept all of my promises . . . in regards to the card show I attended earlier today; most importantly the budget side of things. While the show was a bit of a disappointment, with only ten dealers, and way too many basketball, football, hockey and golf cards to go along with the usual over priced fake walnut framed cards; I was able to find some goodies and here is just a sample.

To satisfy my Chicago Cub sweet tooth:

three Mark Graces': swinging, squatting and snipping (the leather with his teeth I presume)

and a couple of Andre Dawson's: his sweet swing and one in an Expo uniform but it is Wrigley Field in the background right ? !

and from my "want" list three 1969 Topps All-Star Rookies (I like those gold trophies) ; there are two World Series champions (Koosman 1969 Mets and Unser with the 1980 Phillies) to go along with the "error" gold trophy printed on Boswell's card.

So there you go . . just a bit of a tease from my card show adventure today. More later . . . I have a wifeless Saturday night to enjoy . . .

I promise . . .

. . . to stick to my budget, to only buy what I "need", to not be influenced by the "new", to be a prudent shopper, be friendly to all and look around first, but most of all have fun.

Yes I am attending a card show this afternoon in Osprey Florida (about ten minutes from my home in Sarasota) and will try to keep all of my promises. I will shake hands on that.

I am equipped with my updated "wants" list, my limited budget and will promise to "show off"my findings later.

My wife has gone to Ft Lauderdale to visit some girl friends so time is not an issue . . . I have promised her many things also (ie the "to do" list while she is away) . . . and will do my best to keep those as well.

Wish me luck . . .

Reds' Heavy Artillery

In my last post I mentioned that the Cincinnati Red played their last spring training game in Sarasota and for those of us living in Sarasota it is front page news.

Now I really need to confess that while it upsets me that the Reds are leaving to go to Arizona and Sarasota will be void of spring baseball for the first time since 1924, I have never really been a fan of the Reds or attended enough games to complain. It is just a sad commentary of the times.

That being said, I went looking through my binders for a Cincinnati Red card that would make me happy and I found this one: this 1961 Topps # 25 titled "Reds' Heavy Artillery" !

Vada Pinson, Gus Bell and Frank Robinson; showing off their lumber, each with smiles on their faces. For the record, the combined numbers for these three "stars" were rather modest in 1960 but did produce excitement for the Reds for many years.

1960 numbers were:
Pinson (a hitting machine) batted .287 with 20 Hr's and 187 hits (sandwiched between his rookie year in 1959 where he had 205 hits and 1961 with his career high of 208)
Bell (the oldest of the three) batted .262 with 12 Hr's and 135 hits (though in 1959 had 115 RBI's) and then there is . . .
Robinson (the future HOF'er) who led the team in BA and HR with .297 / 31 while scattering 138 hits (and in 1961 would win the MVP)

Even though neither of these players ever hit a spring-time ball in Sarasota, their combined career numbers made me smile; collecting 7523 hits, 3924 RBI's and blasting 1048 homeruns; certainly heavy artillery back in the day.