Technically (well, sort of) the first ever set to have "extra players" was the 1968 season which was released in 1969 which had an additional 80 players available as an expansion set for the 4 new expansion teams Royals, Pilots, Padres and Expos. This was the first year there were more than 400 players (480). I was not aware that this set existed until in the early 2000s when I sold most of my stuff then a year or 2 later rebought everything and the expansion players (and the rare original expansion roster sheet) were included in a complete 1968 set I purchased.
The 1969 season set that was released in 1970 came with now 480 players for the base set (due to MLB expanding from 20 to 24 teams) and 96 more players which could be purchased separately as an "additional players" set for a total of 576 cards which was a whopping 44% increase over the 400 card sets previously available. It was noted that a few named additional players as well as all additional players should be used in "secondary roles". Jim Bouton was not included for either Seattle, Houston or as a traded card (see 1970) despite pitching in 73 combined games and having 122 combined IP
One odd thing I noticed over the years, quite often the additional players seemed to be a different printing from the base teams and would be quite noticeable - do not understand why they were not printed at the same time with the same quality.
In 1971, the 1970 set was released and for the first time, "traded" players were included that had no team name on their card. The 4 cards made that set 580 cards. In the first of a series of odd choices, Rod Carew (.366 in 204 PA) was made an XP for the Twins while Rich Renick (.229 in 204 PA) was made part of the base 20 main team. Of course this was not know to you until you received the cards and roster sheet. Tony Gonzalez was included as XP with the Angels (92 AB) but not at all with the Braves (430 AB). Weird, I believe this was corrected with the 1970 recreated set.
The 1971 set had the 576 players but in 1972 there were 2 traded and players and I believe for the first time, one player (Duke Sims) had 2 cards, one for each league, not listed as either a base team member or an additional player so both Cleveland and the Dodgers would have 25 players. The other 2 traded cards Matty Alou and Dal Maxvill became late season members of the world champion A's. Maxvill had 8 AB in the ALCS vs Detroit and Matty Alou had significant playing time subbing for an injured Reggie Jackson in the world series.
1973 was weird in a couple of ways. First, 2 NY Yankee outfielders were traded late in the season and were left off the base Yankee team, (Matty and Felipe Alou) and if you did not buy the additional players your Yankee team was really short of outfielders. Instead of Matty (538 PA for NYY) and Felipe (293 PA for NYY as OF/1B) you had the likes of Celerino Sanchez (67 total PA) and Otto Velez (92 total PA) and Mike Hegan (143 PA for NYY as a 1B) making the BASE team for NYY. Second, Jim Kaat was traded from the Twins to the White Sox and he had a combined 224 IP but was not included in the base teams or as a traded player but an additional player for the White Sox which made no sense at all. He had over 180 IP for the Twins and 41 for the ChiSox but was made an XP for the White Sox??? He should not have been an XP (again a lot of us back then did not buy the additional players) so a key pitcher in the AL with 28 decisions and 224 IP would not be in our sets. Oh by the way, XP is short for "extra players".
But we are not done for 1973, Bob Didier a reserve catcher who hit .455 in about 22 AB was included in the main set of 20 players for Detroit, but instead of using his 1973 stats and issuing him a card, they substituted his 1971 card (where he hit .219). You always see eBay listing for the 1973 Tigers that list 19 of 20 cards or 23 of 24 cards as the Didier card has "1971" listed as the year on his card and many assume that the card was accidentally placed in the wrong year. Weird on SOM to do this.
1974 had 4 traded cards available with the Additional players set, again it was weird to have Frank Robinson with 579 PA and traded within league to only be available as an XP (you usually don't see someone with 22 HR, tied for 6th in the league, as an XP). Same for Alex Johnson who had 514 PA who was also traded in league. Also there was a sentence or 2 saying Herb Washington may be added to Oakland's roster as a pinch runner with a stealing rating of A and running rating of 1-17. Also, like Didier in 1973, Philadelphia's Terry Harmon's card was based on his 1973 stats (he had just 15 AB in 1974). This card would result in the same confusion for eBay auctions that would list the Phillies with 19 of 20 cards or 23 of 24 cards.
1975 had just one traded player - Deron Johnson.
1976 had no traded cards - but had this time two A's pinch runners (Matt Alexander and Larry Lintz) who could be A 1-17 base runners. Plus there was available separately a 40 player expansion set for Toronto and Seattle.
1977 had 5 traded players and Lintz and Alexander again could be added as pinch runners etc. 3 players were advised to be used in secondary roles as their over use would change the team's results and it was noted that "due to the fact that Oakland sold or traded most of their pitchers, Dave Giusti is being included as an extra player (for Oakland) even though he finished the season with Chicago. Baltimore, Texas, Toronto, St. Louis and the Dodgers all had 5 XP vs the usual 4. Another odd choice for XP was Dwight Evans who hit 14 home runs and slugged .526 in 265 PA for the Red Sox while light hitting Rick Miller who had 220 PA and slugged .333 was on the base team. There was also Bernie Carbo who hit 15 HR and slugged .522 in 276 PA but for the group of 3, they took the 2 LH hitters (to go with Lynn and Yaz - plus Rice) giving them 4 out of 5 LH OF, Evans would have been a very worthwhile choice.
1978 had no traded cards and all teams had 4 XP.
For 1979, the Yankees, Tigers and Mets had 5 XP while the Cubs had six(!) due in part to three players having cards in both leagues - plus there were three traded (no team) cards.
I guess I will stop here.
Looking forward to comments on the 80s. Thanks!
ReplyDelete