Who are the Magnificent Seven Members?

So I recently got in an Andrew McCutchen 2021 Stadium Club Members Only card which has an estimated print run of 30 copies.

The design this year follows expectations for what you'd expect from Stadium Club.  Full bleed photos ✔

Players name in small print ✔

Team name or city in smaller print ✔

The back follows the model that we have come to expect from Stadium Club as well.

It gives a brief look at the player (birth date, bats/throws, height/weight, and how they became a member of the team)

It also has the standard "counting stats" for both the most recent year and career stats.

What I found most interesting was the writeup on the back.  

With a HR on Sept 26, 2020 Cutch joined only 7 other National League players IN THE HISTORY OF THE GAME to have double digit homerun totals in each year since they debuted.  The list of players to play in the National League to begin their careers and be thought of as power hitters is an impressive bunch.  

Hall of Famers like Hank Aaron, Billy Williams, Willie Mays, Mike Schmidt, Andre Dawson, Chipper Jones, Willie Stargell all came to mind first.

I immediately wanted to know who the other 7 players were.

It would have to be someone to play a long time in the National League and they would have to begin their career in the NL.

Let's start with the NL East

Braves

The Braves have had a lot of power hitters over their cross country travels from Boston to Milwaukee to Atlanta.  

The most notable of course is the former HR King

Hank Aaron ✔

Hammerin' Hank began his career with 21 straight seasons in the National League hitting 10+ HR in a season

Aaron's long time protection at the plate was Eddie Matthew's who clubbed 493 homers for the Braves to begin his career over 15 seasons.

Eddie Matthews ✔

So here we are on the first team and already have 2 of the 7 established just by thinking of Braves All Time Greats.

Speaking of All Time Greats, how about Dale Murphy?  Well he unfortunately fell short in collecting 12 seasons to begin his career with 10+HR as he came up as a catcher and smacked only 2 homers in 37 games as a backstop.

Many people forget that before Chipper Jones was the runner up for Rookie of Year in 1995 he made his debut in 1993 before an ACL tear ruined his next 2 seasons.

Andruw Jones, who broke into the majors as a 19 year old only played in less than a quarter season which didn't lend him to enough at bats to start his career with 10+ HR per season.

Marlins

The Marlins aren't known for keeping their players for 12+ years, but they certainly have had some notable power sluggers play in their franchise history.  Gary Sheffield and Giancarlo Stanton both stand out and both failed to 1)even play 12 consecutive seasons for a National League team to start their career and 2)collect 10+HR in each season to begin their career

Mets

Darry Strawberry and David Wright only had 9 seasons of 10+HR to begin their careers before substance abuse and injuries derailed their careers.

Mike Piazza, another famous Mets slugger, debuted in 1992 with only 1 HR in 21 games.  He would win Rookie of Year award the following season as a member of the Dodgers.

Phillies

Michael Jack Schmidt, Ryan Howard, Dick Allen all went on to have impressive power numbers over their careers, but none of them hit 10+HR in their debut season.

Nationals

Ryan Zimmerman was the Nationals first draft pick, but didn't hit his first homerun until his second season.  He rattled off 8 consecutive seasons beginning in his sophmore season. 

Bryce Harper, another famous player for the Nationals and current teammate of Cutch, has only played for 10 seasons thus far.

So off the top of my head for the NL East I have

Hank Aaron ✔

Eddie Matthews ✔

Moving to the current NL Central teams

Brewers

The Brewers used to be an American League team so I am only looking at the NL versions of the franchise.  There were 2 guys that hit a lot of HR for the team in the mid 2000s.  Prince Fielder I knew left for an American League team (Tigers) following his free agency so I'd not have to waste time researching him.  The other guy came up around the same time as Prince and won Rookie of Year and MVP votes his first season, Ryan Braun.  I knew Braun got caught up in the Biogenesis scandal, but wasn't sure if he collected enough HR in 2013 before being suspended the remainder of the season.  He didn't.  Braun hit only 9 HR before serving a suspension for the rest of the year.  That left him with only a stretch of 6 straight seasons to start a career of 10+HR.

Cubs

Billy Williams played in only 30 games over his first two seasons collecting only 2 HR

Ernie Banks collected only 2HR in his 10 game "cup of coffee" stint in 1953.

Ron Santo got close in his debut season by clubbing 9 HRs and would continue 10+HR the rest of his career, but it was his 95 game debut season that prevented him from double digit homers.

Don't forget that before Ryne Sandberg became a "lifelong" Cub, he was actually a member of the Phillies and got only 6 plate appearances in the 1981 season.  It would be difficult to get 10HR in 6 at bats. 

Reds

The Reds were a powerhouse in the 70s and were known as the Big Red Machine.

Tony Perez and Johnny Bench didn't become regulars until their fourth and second seasons respectively.

Frank Robinson collected 11 National League seasons of 10+HR, but they weren't in consecutive years as Frank had gone from the Reds to the American League's Orioles before rejoining the National League with the Dodgers.

The more recent Reds teams like Joey Votto and Jay Bruce also failed to collect 12 straight seasons of 10 or more homeruns.

Cardinals

Can you believe that Albert Pujols spent nearly the same amount of time in LA as he did in St. Louis?  The 3 time MVP did hit 445 career homeruns in the Arch City, but that was only over 11 seasons, not 12.

Johnny Mize spent 3 years of his prime serving the military, but was still able to collect 12 straight seasons playing in the NL from his MLB debut of 10+HR.

Mize ✔

Stan Musial hit a lot of homeruns, but not in his first season.

Jack Clark was the big bopper of the "Whitey ball era", but his career didn't start off with 12 National League seasons of 10+ HR.

Matt Holliday began his MLB career in Colorado and collected a surprising 11 straight seasons of 10+ HR before an All Star campaign in 2015 cut him short for the rest of the season and ending his streak.

Pirates

Willie Stargell, the franchise leader in HR didnt get his 1st homer until his second season after a 10 game debut season

Dave Parker, much like Stargell didn't get started in the power department until his sophomore season.

Ralph Kiner who was one of the premier power hitters in the late 40s and won SEVEN STRAIGHT Homerun titles, unfortunately retired after only 10 seasons in the league.

We know that Andrew McCutchen made the list and stayed in the National League after his trade from the Pirates to the Giants, but what about another guy who left the Steel City to the bay?

The Home Run King * makes the list too.

Barry Bonds ✔

Ok so off the top of my head I have only 4 of the 7 

Hank Aaron

Eddie Matthews

Barry Bonds

Johnny Mize

Who are the other 3?  They must be known for their time in the NL West.

Let's take a look at the NL West

Diamondbacks

Paul Goldschmidt, Luis Gonzalez, and Justin Upton are all guys that are most often thought of as the pop in Arizona's playoff teams, but all of them didn't begin their careers with 10+HR from their debut seasons.

Dodgers

As discussed Piazza didnt collect 10+HR in his debut season.  Eric Karros who won the Rookie of Year the Year after Piazza suffered the "cup of coffee" problem too.

Steve Garvey didn't get 10 on the board until his 5th season.

What about some other guys to collect a lot of homeruns over their Dodgers career?  Were any of these incredible athletes able to hit 10 or more HR to begin their career in the National League?

Duke Snider 👎

Matt Kemp 👎

Jackie Robinson 👎

Ron Cey 👎

Gil Hodges 👎

No no no! 

Padres

When I think of power hitters in San Diego, there are only a few names that come to mind: Ken Caminiti (who I know struggled early in his career), Adrian Gonzalez (who made his debut as a Ranger), Gary Sheffield (who debuted in the American League as a Brewer, Dave Winfield (who I know didn't play in the NL long enough to qualify), and Willie McCovey who is more well known for his time in San Francisco.

A quick search proves that McCovey did in fact begin his career with enough HR in 12+ consecutive National League seasons to qualify.

Giants

We already know of two names

Willie McCovey ✔

Barry Bonds ✔

Willie Mays began his career with 20HR then connected for only 4 in 1952 before serving the military the following year. 

Will Clark began his career with 8 seasons in San Francisco before heading to an American League team, thus ending the streak.

Orlando Cepeda began his career with a hot streak, but ultimately in 1965 only played in 33 games, collecting only 1 HR ending his 7 year stretch.

Rockies

Todd Helton and Troy Tulowitzki are the first guys to come to mind.  Helton didn't get more than 5 HR until his second season and only had 10 consecutive years.  Troy didn't play 12 years in the National League, much to my surprise.

So that makes 5 of the 7 and we went through all of the current National League teams, but have their been National League teams in the past that are no longer associated with a current franchise of the same name?

The forgotten NL Teams

Following up from the Rockies, Larry Walker also was unable to collect 10+HR to begin his career in a NL uniform as a member of the Expos.

Andre Dawson didn't collect his first HR until his second season following his debut.

Astros

Before multiple seasons of tanking and trash banging, the Astros had a few power hitters in their franchise. Jeff Bagwell is the only one to make the list of 12 seasons of 10 or more homeruns to begin their career in the National League.  Lance Berkman, Hunter Pence, and Ken Caminiti all fell short.

So here is the list I came up with

Barry Bonds

Hank Aaron

Eddie Matthews

Johnny Mize

Jeff Bagwell

Willie McCovey

That is only 6 players and according to the back of this Stadium Club card there are 7 players to begin their careers in the National League and have 10+ HR in a season for 12 consecutive years.  All six of them would go on to have several more seasons of 10+ HR in their careers and with the exception of a * all are Hall of Famers and All Time Greats.

I began looking at the leaderboards of All Time HR leaders, clicking on ANYONE that may have began their career in the National League.  It wasn't until the player that is 164th All Time that I came across a name I never heard of, Del Ennis.

Del Ennis began his career playing for his hometown Philadelphia Phillies in 1946.  As a 21 year old rookie, Ennis connected for 17HR while batting .313.  He made the All Star team and finished the season with an OPS+ of 144, meaning he was better than 44% of the league.  He played for the Phillies for 11 seasons collecting 259 round trippers. In the 1957 season, Ennis joined the St. Louis Cardinals and hit 24 balls out of the park, marking 12 straight consecutive seasons.  In 1958, Ennis would fail to hit double digit homers for the first time in his career and would retire following the 1959 season.  

Ennis failed to reach 13 seasons of 10+HR in the National League to begin a career.

With Cutch already having collected 15 HR in this half season, he has kept pace with the afformentioned Hall of Famers* as he now has 13 seasons of double digit homers.

Cardboard Insider: Who The Heck is Curt Barclay?

Whenever I get an Andrew McCutchen card on a vintage Topps design I like to research the original card numbering who shares the numbering on Cutch's card.

Andrew McCutchen appeared twice in the 2018 Topps Archives product as a member of the San Francisco Giants.  He received his own card (which I will discuss in a future post come April) and on a team card featuring Buster Posey titled BASHERS BY THE BAY.

The image used for the card of these BASHERS is ....well....let's just say it looks like they are competing for Dancing With The Stars.

The card features the 1959 Topps design and is numbered 307 on the back.

Coincidentally the 1959 Topps set had another San Francisco Giant appear as card number 307.  However it didn't feature any bashers by the bay.

Instead it features a gent named Barclay.

Not much is known of Curt Barclay.  Even his Wikipedia page doesn't provide much information of the former Giants pitcher.

Barclay excelled at both baseball and basketball at the University Of Oregon.  The Chicago native signed with the Giants in 1952 and made his MLB debut in 1957, starting in 28 games for the Giants.

He had two shutouts that year as a rookie (his only career shutouts) and would go on to post a 9-9 record that year, his only full season in the majors.

Shuffling between the majors and minors in 1958 and 1959, Barclay officially retired following the 1959 season.  His career stats over the three calendar year seasons were 73 strikeouts in 199 1/3 innings with a 10-9 record and 3.48 ERA.

Barclay died from cancer in his Montana home at the age of 53 years old.

***The Barclay card images used for this post were taken from the internet.  I do NOT own the 1959 Topps Curt Barclay card***

Cardboard Insider: Piano Legs & Gonzo

Baseball is a game with a rich history.  It's been described as a thinking man's game and all the statistics, sabremetrics, analytics would help support that.

Sometimes though we forget about the history.

That's where the cardboard insider comes in.  The job of the Cardboard Insider is to reveal how my favorite player, Andrew McCutchen, connects to the game's rich history.

I have to be completely honest, prior to looking at the back of this card, I had never heard of Charlie "Piano Legs" Hickman.

Why am I bringing up Charlie Hickman on a blog about Andrew McCutchen?

Because Hickman, Luis Gonzalez, and Andrew McCutchen are THE ONLY PLAYERS IN THE HISTORY OF THE GAME to extend a hit streak to at least 15 games with a walk off homer.
(The front of the card will be shown at the bottom along with a recap of the game)

Considered to be a utility player, Piano Legs was one of the original pitcher/hitter players.  Playing before Babe Ruth and Shoehei Otani, Ol'Piano Legs hit 59 homeruns and won 10 games in his career.

Take that Shohei!!!  I wonder what his "Piano Legs" Bowman Bubblefractor Autos would have sold for.

Luis "Gonzo" Gonzalez might be one of the most underrated players of the 90s and early 2000s.
In addition to having the most memorable hit in Diamondbacks history, Gonzo also accumulated 51.5WAR, 5 All-Star appearances, and is on a who's who list of players with over 300HR/300SB, 500 doubles, 2500hits.  That list is pretty exclusive and includes names like Bonds, Mays, Rodriguez.

Do you ever look on the back of cards and see a name you have never heard of?
If so, do some research and you may find it very interesting to learn more about the history of the game.

Cardboard Insider: Happy Belated Bobby Bonilla Day

Yesterday was Bobby Bonilla Day.  In case you are unfamilar with one of the Mets most famous contract fails, every July 1st since 2011, Bobby Bonilla receives a check from the Mets for a deferred contract he signed prior to the 2000 season.

Bonilla will earn over $23 million in interest for this contract negotiating having received his last payment at the age of 72 in the year 2035 a full 35 years past his last game played in a Mets uniform.

Bonilla was a 4 time All Star with the Pirates and served as a part of the team's resurgence in the early 90s with Barry Bonds and Andy Van Slyke.

After the 1991 season Bonilla left for free agency and signed with the New York Mets.

He would go on to have 2 more All Star appearances then would leave to join the Florida Marlins in 1997 and help them to their first World Series.

Bonilla would finish his career with stops in Baltimore, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and a second go round with New York before hanging up the cleats.  His career included 2,010 hits, 287 home runs, and 1,173 RBIs.  In addition to 6 All Star Games he also won 3 Silver Slugger awards.

He would go on to receive just 2 votes in his first and only year on the Hall of Fame ballot.

Normally I show the card first before giving the inside information, but that fake bobblehead is too perfect not to lead this post with.

Bonilla's name is mentioned on the back of this card.

The card is from a 2014 All-Star Game Wrapper Redemption

The Cardboard Insider: Steve Garvey Edition

I held a contest during spring training for people to suggest names for a series of future posts where I look at comparing Cutch to a player mentioned on the back of his baseball cards.

The sleuth aspect of investigating these players made me choose The Cardboard Insider, submitted by Gavin of   Baseball Card Breadown.

Thanks to everyone who participated.  If you haven't already please make sure to enter my current contest. You can see it by clicking here.  A Craig Biggio Topps Dynasy Patch/Auto is the main prize, but everyone who enters will receive some autos, relics, parallels, etc.

Back to The Cardboard Insider....

Today's card is a 2013 Topps Archives 83 All-Star Insert.

The back of the card features (drumroll please)
Steve Garvey

Steve Garvey is an absolute fan favorite in every sense of the word.  There's even a few bloggers who PC him as one of their main guys.  It's no wonder why fans liked him.  He was elite for his time in the majors.  A 10 time All-Star, MVP, 4x Gold Glove winner and World Series Champion, Garvey deserves some Hall of Fame discussion.

Even with all his hardware and career accomplishments, Garvey never even reached 50% of the required 75% vote.  His highest was 42.6% in 1995.

Garvey's downfall in terms of Hall of Fame debate is his lack of hitting the "magical numbers."
He finished his 19 year career just shy of a .300 batting average (.294), about 400 hits shy of 3,000 and less than 300 career home runs.

Garvey's career WAR over 19 seasons was 37.7 according to Baseball-Reference.com
To put that into perspective, Cutch has the same WAR in only 8 seasons (I''m not counting 2017 since it just started).

Actor and Late Night Host Jimmy Kimmel wrote an excellent article for ESPN a few years back that if you are a fan of the National League's Iron Man you should check out here.

The All-Star voting has begun.  If you haven't already cast your ballots, please vote for Cutch.  I know his stats don't scream early season All-Star, but I would love to add more All-Star cardboard of him to the collection.