Time for card #12 of pitcher Don Aase, the man at the forefront of the alphabetical order. I LOVED this card as a kid; it made me want to see Aase pitch. I figured if he looked this good on the card, he must have been one heck of a pitcher. I didn’t like the Red Sox at all as a child, I still don’t, but I sat through plenty of Red Sox games hoping to see this guy pitch as a 5-year-old. I think I watched a week’s worth of games and ended up learning a lot about the Sox. That was the first time I had really watched their epic outfield of Dwight Evans, Fred Lynn and Jim Rice, but I became fascinated with their infield of Rick Burleson and Jerry Remy more. I gave up the Sox watching experience after a week went by with no Don Aase. I think I forgot about his awesome card, too. It all came back to me when I got a copy of his ’82 Topps card, though, and I realized he had been traded to the Angels before that card had ever come out. Turns out he was traded for Jerry Remy. Remy would be an All Star for the Sox, but Aase led the Angels to their first Western Division Title in 1979. This card came out after Aase’s rookie season where he posted a 6-2 record in 13 games, all starts, for the Red Sox. It was his 3rd Topps card and probably the coolest. Aase had been exclusively a starting pitched from ’77 till 1981 when he switched to the bullpen. 
He served as the Angels closer for 3 years and saved 23 games over that period and then left California to sign a free agent contract with the Baltimore Orioles where he joined their pen in ’85. He enjoyed one of the best years of his career; he had a 10-6 record with 14 saves in 88 innings of work. The following year he would become the Orioles full-time closer and would go to the All Star game. 
He finished the season with 34 saves (2nd in AL) in 66 games. After the 1988 season he moved to the NL and made stops with the Mets and the Dodgers before retiring at age 35 after the 1990 season. Over his 13 year career Aase had a 66-60 record with a 3.80 ERA and 82 saves (161st All Time) in over 1,100 innings of work. Now it’s time for…The Nitty Gritty
Name/Number: Don Aase, number 45.
Position: Starting pitcher
Age-Now and Then: Was 22, Is 55.
Team’s 1977 Record: 97-64, 2nd in AL East
Topps Rookie Card: 1976 Topps, Card #597Number of Topps Base Cards:14
Playball! Double
1977 Stats Line: 6-2/3.13 ERA.
Awards in 1977: A really cool card in ’78.
Distinguishing Feature: The double A in his name.
Similar Modern Player: Mark Hendricksen.
What I said about this card then: Wow! This guy looks like he must be a great pitcher!
What I think about this card now: It’s perfect. Not much funny to say, this is just good photography…Back of the card memorable moment: His Major League debut was against the Brewers on 7-26-77 and he fanned 11 batters to win the game 4-3
Back of the card “fun fact”: Don won his first 3 decisions for the Sox in 1977.The condition: MINT
Grooviness factor: The moustache, high stirrups, and crazy looking delivery.
Wow! Factor: That the Sox would trade a promising young starter for an infielder.
What’s weird about this card: He has the number 13 written on his stirrups.
Career Accolades: All Star in ’86, earned save in the game. 161st All Time career in Saves. Was Orioles single season saves leader till Greg Olson saved 36 in 1990.
Best Season: 1978- Was 11-8 with 6 complete games.Nitty Gritty Fun Facts: Traded for Jerry Remy after 1977 season. Is 4th among baseball players when listed All Time in alphabetical order.
Where are they now?: His son Kelby Aase plays college ball at Fullerton College. Where’s Don? I really don’t know…
I have to say that I blame Don Aase for making me waste time watching the Red Sox as a kid, but it’s probably not really his fault. It is the power of baseball cards. This card is awesome and I stared at it and it made me want to watch this guy play, that is the point, right? On deck is card #lucky 13, of Astros infielder Art Howe. Two things, real quick... I DO plan on posting 5 times a week from now on, but it would be nice to think people were reading, PLEASE consider adding this to your blog rolls! When it hits 25 followers, there will be a (simple) contest, along the lines of pick a number between 1 and 25 and there will be 1978 related prizes...Stay tuned. 31 years, LATER!
Todays card of the day is Rick Manning, card #11. Manning, who as far as I know is of no relation to the football playing Mannings, 
was the Cleveland Indians star centerfielder. Manning came to pro ball in 1972 when he was drafted by the Indians in the 1st round, the 2nd pick overall, as a 17-year-old infielder. He signed immediately and began his career with the Class A Reno Silver Sox of the California League. He proved to be a horrible professional shortstop making 17 errors in his first 13 games. He made the switch to centerfield and the rest is history. He was in the big leagues by age 20 and had 12 assists from the outfield that year. He also batted .285 with 19 steals for the Indians as a rookie. He did not receive a single vote for ROY despite decent numbers, partly because of two other American League outfielders named Fred Lynn and Jim Rice. With Cleveland he was managed by a Hall of Fame outfielder named Frank Robinson. In a June of 1976 Baseball Digest article Robinson sang these praises of Manning: “He’s the most exciting ballplayer the Indians have had in many years, I think his potential is unlimited.” 
1976 was probably his best year, the 21-year old centerfielder batted .292 with 6 homers, 43 RBI and 16 steals. He also won his first (and only) Gold Glove Award that year. From what I have heard from old time fans, had there been a Sportscenter in '76, Manning would have been the highlight reel... Back then it seemed like he would only get better, but he didn’t. He continued to play superb defense, but his bat never came around. He set a career high with 8 homers in ’82 and 52 RBI in 1980. He never batted higher than his .292 mark from ’76. in 1979 he did steal 30 bases. I think that Frank Robinson thought that he would become a player similar to Carl Crawford, but he ended up being more of a Coco Crisp. Even that comparison is a stretch-Crisp did hit .300, hit 15 homers and won a ring. Manning didn’t do any of these things. Exactly 11 years (to the day) after the Indians had drafted Manning, they sent him to Milwaukee on June 6, 1983, 
along with 
Number of Topps Base Cards: 13
Back of the card memorable moment: Won his first Gold Glove in 1976, was one of the youngest to do so.
The younger Niekro, Joe, would finish second in Cy Young voting that year behind reliever Bruce Sutter. This 1980 Topps card, #205, is one of my favorites because it shows the two brothers dominating their league in wins. I always found it astonishing that Phil Niekro was able to top the NL in both wins and losses in the same season, but when you pitch as much as Phil did, it’s possible. In 1979 he set personal career highs in starts (44), complete games (23) and innings with a whopping 342 and by the way, he was 40 years old! This kind of stuff was par for the course for this knuckleballer who would be dominant, steady, reliable and tireless over 3 separate decades. 
In 24 big league seasons he averaged 31 starts and 11 complete games each year and he pitched till he was 48 years old and more often than not was pitching for inferior teams. With everything he would accomplish over his long career, he never made it to the World Series and only saw the postseason twice, in ’69 and ’82. The fans did appreciate Niekro’s loyalty though; his number 35 is retired by the team. 
Sadly, Braves management wasn’t as loyal to him. After a total of 26 seasons with the Braves organization, beginning in the minors, through Milwaukee and onto Atlanta, he was released after the 1983 season. At 44 years of age Niekro would go 11-10 with a 3.08 ERA en route to a second place finish under Joe Torre. The prior season Niekro was 17-4 and the Braves won the west before losing to St. Louis in the ALCS.
At 46 the Yankees finished just two games behind the Toronto Blue Jays, but Ron Guidry had replaced Niekro as ace. He still managed a 16-12 record and he wasn’t done pitching either. He continued to hang on and made stops playing in Cleveland and Toronto before finishing his career where it began, on a last place Braves team. Niekro made one final start for the Braves in 1987 at 48 years old. He lasted just 3 innings and gave up 5 runs and finally decided to call it quits in the game of baseball. When I first got this card Niekro looked like an old man to me, he was much older than my Dad and he just didn’t look like a baseball player and I initially thought he was a coach. At this point he had pitched for 14 years and owned 178 career wins, but I had no idea that he had only just begun. He accomplished more after 40 than most pitchers do in their entire careers. He would become a running joke with my friends and me, about how long he would pitch and if the Braves would put a rocking chair in the dugout for him. Satchel Paige pitched far longer, but he did have the bullpen rocker and Niekro was the closest to Satchel that my generation would see. 
He did play for 10 years after this card was printed and he would win 140 more games. When he notched career win number 300 on October 6, 1985 (and I can remember watching on TV) he did so in a Yankees uniform against the Blue Jays and he hit that milestone in style. At 46 years old he went the distance and shut out the Jays to become not only the oldest player to throw a shutout, but the first member of the 300-win-club to join in that fashion. It would be the 45th shutout (29th All Time) of his career and barring his no-hitter in 1973, it was probably his most memorable. In his 24 seasons in the majors he never did make it to the World Series or win ROY or Cy Young or an MVP, but he did manage to lead the league in every single pitching category (good and bad) at one point or another in his storied career. He was a 5-time All Star and also won 5 Gold Gloves, but it almost stands out more that he had 19 seasons where he wasn’t an All Star. He was a nightmare to hit and Bobby Murcer spoke the greatest quote to describe his stuff when he said “Trying to hit him is like trying to eat Jell-O with chopsticks.” 
That said, it was his reliability and longevity that made him an Immortal. His success was as great as his futility, but for 24 seasons, he was always there to start a ballgame (30-plus times) each year. Now, onto….
Number of Topps Base Cards: 25
Distinguishing Feature: His trench coat.
Back of the card “fun fact”: I’ll have to make one up; his nickname is “Knucksie” for reasons unknown, at 38 years young he isn’t thinking about retiring…
After a 13 homer year in 1981, the 31 year old DeCinces was sent to the Angels for Dan Ford to make room in the infield for Cal Ripken Jr. DeCinces went on to have a career year in California winning his lone Silver Slugger Award and making the playoffs, but he missed out on the World Series in 1983 with the Orioles. Now onto…
Number of Topps Base Cards: 15
Back of the card memorable moment: Doug belted a 3-run homer against the Red Sox on September 18, 1977.
Grooviness factor: The giant stache matches his uniform and he seems to be scooping up his team’s name.
Had two 3-homer games within a week during August 1982. He hit double digit homers for 13 straight years. His teams made the playoffs in ’79, ’82 and 1986.
