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Thursday, July 6, 2017

1974 Kellogg's Baseball Card Backs #52 - 54

Time to check out the write-ups on the back of the 1974 Kellogg's baseball cards.  The writing style changes a lot from year to year so I don't know what to expect with this set.

#54 - Ron Blomberg



On the back of the card Blomberg is listed as 1B and DH.  How many players in 1974 had DH on their card?  I will need to check that out.  

"The Boomer" can't seem to hit left-handed pitchers.  The Yankees don't play him against lefties.  

"Never touted as a candidate for a Gold Glove".  That's not a surprise for a guy who has one of his positions as DH, especially since the DH just began in 1973 with his first at-bat.  

The card mentions his fielding problems and poor hitting against lefties again!  He's also prone to getting injured. 

He was batting over .400 against righties for most of the 1973 season.  Hit hit .329 for the season.  

Not on the card - he hit .338 vs. righties and he only came up to the plate 23 times against lefties.  

I was surprised to see that he only played in 461 career games.  I wasn't surprised that he started at DH in 165 of those games.  That is really only three full seasons.   Barely 10% of his career at-bats came against lefties.  His career average against righties - .304.   


#53 - Felix Millan



I like the first line as it really disses the Mets - "Felix's 1973 output proves all the Mets deals aren't bad."  He led the Mets in multiple batting categories.   He was praised multiple times on the card for his play at second base.   

Not on the card - he won his second Gold Glove in 1972.




#52 - Tom Seaver



Seaver became the first non-twenty game winner to earn a Cy Young Award.  I didn't believe that so I did some research.  That was correct.  Dodger Mike Marshall (1974) and Yankee Sparky Lyle (1977) followed soon after as Cy Young winners without 20 wins, but they were both relief pitchers.  

Ron Bryant of the Giants went 24-12 during 1973 but he finished a distant third in the voting. 

Seaver did lead the league in strikeouts and ERA.  That's quite a good ERA for a 19-10 record.  In six of Seaver's 10 losses the Mets scored a total of 10 runs.  The card mentions that Cy Young voters must have taken that into account.    






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