Can You Name These Players Featured on Kellogg's Baseball Cards?

The MLB playoffs are starting soon.  Some teams are already in and others are fighting for spots.  I'm looking for a list of the five position players who've played in the most MLB playoff games and appeared on a Kellogg's card (1970 - 1983 only).  I'm counting career playoff games, not just games from 1970 - 1983.  

How about the five pitchers with the most playoff games too?

I'd be impressed if you got three position players and two pitchers.

Sadly, not Ernie.  Guess again.

How Do You Play Baseball With Five Players?

We always tried to play nine-on-nine as kids but it was more common to have 10-12 kids show up at the park to play.  How did we do it?  The normal rule was right-field-out.  Any ball hit to that side of second base was an automatic out.

Really?  Could that work?  We always played slow-pitch to keep the action going, so it wasn't a problem pulling the ball.  Two rare occurrence in our game were (1) someone hitting to right field and (2) someone striking out.  There were no walks either.

We only needed five per side to play this way.  If we had five per team, another common rule came into play.  It was called pitcher's-hand-out.  Some of the biggest arguments involved this rule since it was difficult to watch both the runner heading to first and the pitcher's mound.  

The five would play pitcher, shortstop, third base, left field and center field (really left-center).  The pitcher was responsible for covering home plate.  In emergencies (four players, bathroom break, a mom yelling at one of her kids, etc.) the team batting could supply the pitcher.  

Why I am rambling about the good old days?  I've only got five players with Kellogg's cards whose last names start with the letter "E".

Dwight Evans will play third base.

Mike Epstein will play third base.

Mike Easler will play left field.

Dennis Eckersley will pitch.  

Dock Ellis will play center field.  That might not be the best move, but this team is certainly not going to be getting gold gloves at these positions.  This team probably only has a chance playing a different version of baseball that we played with 2-3 on a team.  It was similar to home run derby, so only a few fielders were necessary.

Which Players With Last Names Beginning with "I", "U" or "X' Could Have Gotten a Kellogg's Baseball Card?

There are no players with last names beginning with "I", "U" or "X" on a Kellogg's baseball card.  Were there any possible choices?

Tadahito Iguchi appeared in a Japanese set, but I'm not including those yet since I don't have all of the checklists.

Garth Iorg would have gotten another Blue Jay into a Kellogg's set.  His brother Dane never really played as a regular so that would rule him out.  Dane did best his brother by winning two World Series rings and having a memorable hit in the Series after a famous missed called in the 1985 Series.

I would love to have a Bob Uecker Kellogg's card.  Once I get into making my own he will have one.

Chase Utley might be in some of the Kellogg's Japanese sets.

There haven't been any players with a last name beginning with "X".

I will try a combined team with "Y" and "V" last names next time.  There are not a lot of players, but it will work out.

Letters "Q" and "Z" Can't Really Field a Team of Kellogg's Cards, or Can They?

There are only three players  with Kellogg's baseball cards whose last names begin with "Z".  Adding Dan Quisenberry still only gives a team of four players.

That doesn't seem to be enough to field a team, but there is/was a barnstorming team that began in 1946 that only used four players.  Do you know who that is?

I only saw The King and His Court on television, but they provided an outstanding show during fast-pitch softball exhibitions.  They used a pitcher, catcher, shortstop and first basemen to beat all sorts teams for years.  Check out some of the King (Eddie Feigner) and His Court information and videos that can be found online.

They started out in Walla Walla, Washington, a town I heard of early on from the song before Cub games ("It's a beautiful day for a ball game...from Walla Walla, Washington to Kalamazoo").

This group will need to play out of positions since there are three pitchers, one who is lefty, and a player who only played the outfield or DH in his career.

Pitcher - Dan Quisenberry

First Base - Geoff Zahn

Shortstop - Pat Zachry

Catcher - Richie Zisk

They'd better be like the King and His Court who relied on lots of strikeouts.


FYI

There have been four major league players from Walla Walla and 10 from Kalamazoo.

Yesterday Was Fun So How About a Team With The Letter "B"

There are probably more players with Kellogg's Baseball cards whose last names begin with "B" than those I found with "A".  I found 38 names to choose from so here goes.

Lou Brock will lead off and play center field.

George Brett will play third base.

Ernie Banks will play shortstop.

Johnny Bench will be the catcher.

Bobby Bonds will play right field.

Dusty Baker and Don Baylor will share first base since neither played there much and I used to always get them confused when I was a kid.

A young Bill Buckner will play left field.

Glenn Beckert will be at second base.  I am definitely taking this Cub.

Bert Blyleven will be the pitcher.

I could have probably created a team with first and last names beginning with "B'.  Maybe next time.

Heading to Chillicothe IL Tomorrow - Don't Pity Me

Tomorrow morning I will be driving through, and possible stopping, in Chillicothe, Illinois.

The town has had two MLB players - Bill Krieg (1884-1887) and Zach McAllister (2011-20116).  How's that for a time between having major leaguers?

Someone from Chillicothe is more known that both of those two guys.  Lance Legault was best known for his role as Colonel Decker who kept trying to capture the A-team.  I liked him more as Colonel Greene on one of my favorite shows - Magnum P.I.

Back to the A-team.  Let's see who are the best players on a Kellogg's card with a last name beginning with the letter 'A'.

Hank Aaron
Tommie Agee
Dick Allen
Neil Allen
Bill Almon
Matty Alou
Felipe Alou
Joaquin Andujar
Luis Aparicio
Tony Armas

We've got ten players, so fielding a team might be a challenge.

Let Aparicio lead off and play shortstop.

Tommie Agee needs to be in the outfield since he never played a game in the infield.  I will put him in center field.

Hank Aaron will bat third and play second base.  What?  He did play 43 games there, which is better than putting Agee or a lefty like Matty Alou there.

Dick Allen will be at third base.  Hopefully Aaron could keep Allen in control.

Tony Armas will play first base.

Matty Alou will play left field.

Felipe Alou will play right field.

Billy Almon played one game at catcher.  I'm sure he is qualified because he's played all infield and outfield positions and he was a number one draft pick.

Joaquin Andujar will start at pitcher.  Neil Allen will be in the bullpen.

I didn't think that would work but it did.

Happy Birthday to Someone Whose Career Began Before I Was Born and Ended When I Was in College

Gaylord Perry turned 78 today.  He began his career before I was born.  By the time he'd played his last game I was more than halfway done with college.

Baseball-reference.com compares him most to Don Sutton, Bert Blyleven and Phi Niekro.  That seems about right to me.

Perry and his brother Jim both appeared in both the 1970 and 1971 sets.  Gaylord showed up in four more sets but Jim didn't get into another Kellogg's set.

Did any other brothers get into the same Kellogg's set even once?