1978 Topps Cards #55 through #60

THE PLAYERS

#55 Mitchell Page All-Star Rookie
#56 Randy Jones
#57 Dan Meyer
#58 Bob Forsch
#59 Otto Velez
#60 Thurman Munson




THE DESIGN

Good: There are two great things about the Munson card. Firstly, the border colors of purplish-blue and orangey-red nearly match Munson's navy uniform and red catching gear, giving the card very nice color uniformity. Also, on the back, they mention that it was Munson, and not DiMaggio, Mantle, Ford, or anybody else, who became the first captain of the Yankees since Lou Gehrig. That was a very big deal that is often overlooked today.

Bad: The text on the back of Forsch's card might be very confusing to some. First it talks about his pitching, mentioning that "he went distance" against the Expos. The next sentence talks about his hitting in that game, with his 2-RBI double. Then they switch right back to pitching again, talking about his 6 K's, unless Forsch managed to also strike out at the plate 6 times in addition to his double. Messy, messy writing.


THE PHOTOS

Good: I mentioned Munson's card already, and it's Forsch who clearly takes the cake here. With his hair sticking out forward on both sides, it looks like there is a stiff wind coming from behind him. I also like the cocky look that Meyer's got on his face.

Bad: The photo that Topps chose to use for Page's card is among the worst photos ever selected for a baseball card. Where do I start?

• The yellow on his jersey clashes with the gold All-Star Rookie cup, making this easily the ugliest All-Star Rookie card in any Topps set that I've ever seen.
• They chose to use a close-up of a guy with frizzy hair and a sparse beard and mustache, which is not a good look in any era. An action shot would have been much better.
• There is a terrible glare coming off his eyeglasses.
• The background is very out of focus, making the batting cage and stands look like metal rails going in every direction. It's very distracting and adds nothing to the photo.
• And did I mention how horrible the hot pink and green color scheme is?
  

Particularly as an All-Star Rookie selection, Page deserved much, much better.



THE STATS

On the Baseball-Reference.com Stat of the Day Blog, I previously noted that Page is one of just 14 players in history to amass 100 SB and 250 RBI while playing in at most 800 games.

Over the two-year period 1975-1976, Jones had the 2nd-most wins, 3rd-most innings pitched, 4th-most complete games, and the 3rd-most shutouts. Why didn't he continue that success later in his career? Perhaps because over that same period, of the 231 pitchers to throw at least 100 innings, he had the 223rd-best strikeout rate. Wow.

Dan Meyer, not to be confused with the current major leaguer with the same name, once had 7 RBIs in a game, a Mariners victory over the Yankees in 1979.

Despite the fact that I think he was overrated, I'm still surprised that Forsch never received a single Cy Young vote or was ever an All-Star.

Otto Velez could really hit. In baseball history, he's got one of the highest career OPS+ figures for a guy with no more than 2000 career ABs and at least 400 career hits. That list is a little screwy as the first 3 guys don't really count. Players like Ken Phelps, Dick Dietz, and Erubiel Durazo are better comparisons for Velez.

Munson is among a handful of (all good) players since 1940 with 3 seasons with at least 100 RBI but fewer than 20 HR.


THE COUNTERS

Hall of Famers: 11
(none)

Deceased: 3
(+1 for Munson)

Future managers: 7
(none)

Fathers and sons of major leaguers: 5
(none)

Loyalty counter: 8
(+1 for Munson)

Rookies of the Year: 7
(+1 for Munson)

Total all-star appearances: 195
(+2 for Jones, +7 for Munson)

Total MVP awards: 8
(+1 for Munson)

Total Cy Young awards: 4
(+1 for Jones)

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