MFC ATMS #2- Gil Hodges

MFC ATMS #2- Gil Hodges

Please sign the petition

Petition to get Gil Hodges Into the Baseball Hall of Fame

I think this is a good time to release the Gil Hodges Mets Fantazy Card for 2014, from the All-Time Mets Fantazy Card Set. If you're following the blog you'll know that a number of cards from this set have already surfaced here ( 7 IIRC). There are currently 20 cards completed. Eventually it will be a complete set of the most important, best and favorite Mets players and representatives in the teams history. Some cards will deal with that history. No idea yet how many cards there will be in the set. Card backs are part of the plan.

Follow this link to a Gil Hodges MFC page.

This ties in well with the petition to get Gil into the Hall Of Fame, which I hope all of you have signed. 

We can make this happen.

Please sign the petition

Petition to get Gil Hodges Into the Baseball Hall of Fame

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Credits:
Bruce Stark- The classic drawing of Mr. Hodges.

The drawing has been colorized
for use here.


If you don't know who Bruce Stark is, shame on you!
The Art Of Bruce Stark

1972 METS LEADERS

 I almost forgot about making these for 1972.

 I did not like the 1973 Topps leader cards. They copped out and put both leagues on one card. Weak.

Was there a cardboard shortage or something?

They started doing that in '73 and continued this practice until 1976 when they went back to separate cards for each league.

 Then in 1977 they switched back.

Who made these decisions at Topps? Sometimes they made you wonder.

It did make for some cool cards, like this one with Seaver and Ryan. It irked me then (it just reminded me that Ryan was no longer a Met) but now I realize how special both those pitchers were for baseball, never mind the Mets. It's a treat seeing them share a card. 

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 I don't like the way these custom cards came out. I don't think Topps would have done a lay-out like this on the pitchers cards, but I want all that info on there, so that's the way it ends up. If I included a card back I'd change around the pitching leaders design. There's too much going on in the circles.

This batting leaders card is close to what Topps might have done, but still does not look right. I tried various lay-outs for both cards and these are the final cuts. I'll be cheap like Topps and put the batting leader and the homerun leader on the same card. Weak.

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Rest in peace Don Zimmer, a true character of the game.

He will be missed.

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I'M BACK BAABY!!

COMING NEXT: 

The 1974 Mets Opening Day Line-up

Talking Shop: Project Colorizations / Part 2 -Al Jackson-1962.

Colorizing Al Jacksons 1962 Polo Grounds action shot.
Or when colorization goes bad. And then good :)

I screwed this one up because I was in a rush. The original digital photo was a decent size and of good quality. I applied the color additions directly to the base image.

At some point I got a blotchy look from an effect and kept going. I should have backtracked there but the faces in the crowd looked to be the correct color.

^Using a freehand lasso ( sometimes you can save time by using the "magic wand" to select the area to be colored ) I went to work on Jackson.

^Then I got into each individual in the stands and colorized their clothing, the rails and bunting. Jackson's coming out good. The rails and bunting look very good. The crowd is okay, but not good enough. It looks like it was colorized as opposed to looking "in color".

I turned to the 'ol Blur The Backround Trick.
I cut out the image of Jackson (including the mound & rails to the stands) and made it it's own layer, placing it above the original work.

Now I could do things to the base layer with the crowd that would not effect how Al Jackson looked. To this basic layer I applied a color adjustment (automatic color balance set to BLUE-cooler)and a blur effect (a guassian blur setting). This brought together the disjointed elements of the crowd in the back of Jackson and blended them together, making the background look more realistically "in color".

I merged the layers so the in-focus cut-out layer of Jackson appeared in front of a now blurry crowd. Many times you come up with tricks in graphics out of necessity. I was very happy with how this turned out. Done.

Because of the newly blurred backround this image is now kinda unique unto itself. But that blurry background was not part of my plan.

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CREDITS: Al Jackson picture courtesy of ESPN
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Stay tuned for more in this series on Project Colorizations. Coming up: 1964 All Star Game.

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Coming up next ( I hope because it's going rather slow ) will be the 1973 Mets Fantazy cards ( if not ready in a few days I'll throw something else up while I stall ).
This will include some cards right outta fantazyland.

1969 Mets Team Leaders / 1970 Fantazy Cards

This was a tough year to pick leaders for. It shouldn't be. There should be solid qualifications. But certain contributions deserve to be recognized.

For instance, both Boswell and Shamsky were important ingredients in the awesome sauce that Gil Hodges was cooking up. But they both played in just only over 100 games, at 100 (Art with 303 at bats) & 102 (Ken with 362 at bats) in 1969.

I initially thought only Agee & Jones should be on the card. But then I had a little debate with myself as to why Bozz and Art should be included.

Great thing about this hobby is I really don't have to agonize over such things. I'll make em' both. You decide.

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Tommie with 26 whack-a-molies. Thats respectable. Shamsky, regardless of games played, would have to make this card since he was 2nd on the team in HRs (this is what started the BATTING LEADERS debate). So in a way, Art speaks for himself gets Boswell and himself just due on the batting leaders card.

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Pitching, again a tough gig. We have Seaver & Koosman, no problem. Gentry belongs there. He was erratic but pitched great down the stretch in some big games, including the clincher. After that it gets difficult. But look at what Tugger did in '69. Tack on 12 saves and 4 starts among 42 appearances.

There are only 3 players on the pitching leader cards so I give that third spot to Tug, one of my all-time favorite Mets. Wish there were room for more...

WOOT!_____________________________________

The card above is an actual Topps AL Pitching Leaders card. I collected cards this year. I have seen soooo many baseball cards over the years while attending card shows and then on-line. I had never seen this card before! Not until I was working on this post. I love when that happens! Very kool card.

When I first saw it as a search result I thought: oh, nice, which of us card-makers out there made this one?- because I figured right off the bat that this was not a real card. But it is! Topps did do that in '70. This layout is more appropriate for the 1969 Mets Team Pitching leaders so threw one together last minute.

Still, a tough card to do up right.
There's 79 of the '69 Mets 100 wins right there^.
Nolan Ryans inclusion is debatable. A few of New York's other pitchers contributed as much if not more than Ryan.

Don Cardwell should be up there. He ate up a lot of innings and every win added up to Koosman in Grotes arms. But he had a losing record at 8-10. Jim McAndrew, 6-7. Cal Koonce (6-3) was big in spots.

As a card collector I have to consider the fact that if Ryans on the card, it's worth more. Yep, that even applies in my fantazees.

Ryan doesn't look too happy about making the cut.
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R.I.P. Jim Fregosi. There will be more about Fregosi, the ex Met third baseman, when we get to the 1972 Mets Fantazy Cards.

               My sympathies go out to his family and friends.
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1969 Mets Fantazy Card Opening Day Line-up

______Welcome to the 1969 Mets Opening Day Line-up page.______

At this point "Met magic" is not a phrase yet uttered by man. And after this opening day it's a wonder that it ever was.

The Mets took on a brand new team as a result of league expansion in 69 and that team was the Montreal Expos. The Expos, with their odd logo and powder blue away uni's were expected to be like the '62 Mets, also a team born of expansion. They had some old veteran stars and kids coming up. But no team was as bad as the '62 Mets this decade. On this April 8th at Shea Stadium a topsy turvey, up and downy, wacky and wild game took place. When the dust settled and the game was over the Mets had lost 11-10.

Pitcher Dan McGinn must have become an instant star in Montreal. He got the win in relief and had the distinction of hitting the first home run in Monteal Expos history.

More on that logo. Being a Met fan and having the best baseball team logo in the game (don't question it!) I have to touch on the Expos logo.
Back then I thought it was an e, l, & b. I figured maybe that's how the French would spell Expos or something. I dunno, I didn't question it. I didn't realize til years later that it was an M for Montreal. Very artsy for its time.

The Expos did spank the Mets on this day, their first game ever. Thirty-five years later New York would play Montreal in their very last game before moving to Washington and becoming the Nationals. The Mets would beat 'em by a score of 8-1.

Opening Day Attendance: 44,541
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Leading off the season for the New York Mets will be Tommie Lee Agee. Tommie was now healthy and fully recovered from the Gibby concussion in the spring '68. He was ready to play and wanted to show Gil Hodges that he appreciated the support Gil gave him since becoming a Met. Hodges was convinced Agee would be a major addition to the team and had the ability to get things started.

Tommie did just that this opening day. In his first three at bats Agee singled twice and scorched a bases loaded double that drove in all three base runners.

He would have a real fine season leading the team in games (149), at bats (565), H.R.s (26), runs scored (97), and RBIs (76).

Batting second and playing right field is Rod Gaspar._______
"Bring on Ron Gaspar, whoever the hell he is!"
Frank Robinson didn't have his name right, but he would find out who Rod Gaspar was by game five of the World Series.

Before one of the NLCS games in Atlanta Gaspar borrowed an unattended NBC golf cart and used it to shag flies in the outfield. So much for post season pressure.

Today Gaspar would start the season on a good note with two singles, a run scored and an RBI.

Batting third and manning second base is Ken Boswell.______
Ken was considered a candidate for Rookie Of The Year in 1968 before being sidelined for two months on June 24th with a broken finger on his throwing hand. He had only struck out 27 times in 284 at bats.

Boswell had a decent opening day at the plate lining two singles and driving in a run, but in the field he would commit three errors that would figure in 2 unearned runs.

Hitting in the clean up spot is the left fielder, Cleon Jones.____
Cleon was not a typical clean up batter but Gil Hodges was playing the cards in his deck as wisely as possible. He had no real clean-up slugger. The season before Ed Charles led the team with 15 homers. Ron Swoboda led the team in RBIs with 59 in '68. Jones followed them both, smacking 14 HR and driving in 55.
The clean up position was something Gil wanted to fill with more pop, and he would get that from Donn Clendenon when the Mets traded for him mid season.
Cleon would thrive batting 3rd later in the season and had his best season at the plate. He came in 3rd in batting for the National League with a .340 avg. He was right behind his childhood chum Tommie Agee in RBIs with 75.

Veteran third baseman Ed Charles bats fifth.______
35 year old Charles reported to the Mets in 1968 as an invitee to spring training. He had a torrid pre-season and made the big club a week before the season started.

He would lead the team in home runs with 15, but more impressive is that 3 of them were pinch hit homers, and Charles led the N.L. in that department, setting a new club record. Just against lefties "The Glider" batted .350, also hitting ten of his long balls verse southpaws.

Steady Eddie Kranepool will open the season batting sixth and playing first base.___
I wish I could say Ed had a bounce back year after his atrocious '68 campaign. I can't. He raised his batting average 7 points (.231 in '68) to hit .238.

He did produce, however, as he drove in 49 runs with 11 gopher balls. Later in the season he would platoon with Donn Clendenon, who launched 12 long balls. That's at least 23 homers from the first base position. Nice.

Met catcher Jerry Grote bats seventh.___________
Grote had by now established himself as an all star caliber catcher. Behind the plate he was one of the best in the game at the time. Never a great hitter but very clutch at times.
In 1969 he would drive in 40 runs. This, as well as his 6 homers, were career highs. Jerry played in 113 games for the Mets in '69, which was a drop from his surrounding seasons in which he averaged about 122 games.

Playing shortstop and hitting 8th is Bud Harrelson._______
Derrel was born in California, and in high school he was the captain on his baseball team, a halfback on the football team, and also ran the boards with the basketball team. The feisty shortstop would be the only player on the field for both the World Championships of 1969 and 1986 (as a coach).

Mets pitching ace Tom Seaver will start his second opening day game for the Mets.____
"The Franchise" would throw a record 11 opening day starts in his time with New York. Would that record ever be broken?

I try to avoid peeking far into the future in these posts but I will tell you that Dwight Gooden is second in Metropolitan history with 8. Tom Glavine follows him with 4.

I could tell you about the kind of year Tom Seaver had in 1969 but I'm betting you already know.

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CREDITS:
Peter Max for doing what he does and allowing me to do this to that.
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Alternate version:

63 Mets Leaders / 64 Fantazy Cards

Still filling in 1960's stuff while I prepare other pages. The Mets leaders for 1963 on '64t style borders, as you would expect.

I mentioned before I can't help but laugh at some of these numbers the team leaders have but these, folks, are the facts.

It certainly wasn't winning that made the New York Mets popular and drew fans in the early 60's.

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Hunt's .272 was a good sign of things to come from him. Mets catcher Jesse Gondor batted a respectable .302 but only played in 42 games with 126 at bats.
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Quite a dip from the 34 dingers that Thomas led the team with in '62. Hickman with a very early appearance at The Sadecki Spot.
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No words for this card except maybe I would love to have seen Al Jackson pitch for the Mets. He was a workhorse.

Oh, there is this: Though Al Jackson had more wins (13-17, 3.96), Carl Willey had a better ERA (9-14, 3.10) and 4 shutouts in 1963. Carl was the first Mets Pitcher to ever hit a grand slam. During spring training in 1964, Willey's jaw was broken when he was hit by a line drive off Detroit Tiger's Gates Brown. He was out until June. Though he continued to pitch in 58 innings, he was never the same. He retired in 1965 from the NY Mets and went on to become a scout for the Philadelphia Phillies. He scouted for them for 9 years.
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CREDITS:
Carl Willey info from: NYFS (nyfuturestars.com)