1978 Topps Cards #7 through #12

THE PLAYERS

#7 Reggie Jackson Record Breaker
#8 Mike Sadek
#9 Doug DeCinces
#10 Phil Niekro
#11 Rick Manning
#12 Don Aase



THE DESIGN

Good: Here's our first look at the cool script that the 1978 set is well known for, used to write the team name on each card. I also like how there is a white border around each team name that cuts into the lower left corner of the photo. It gives the cards a kind of "framed" look that was mastered later when fades were used regularly on cards starting in the early 1990s.

Bad: Where do I start? Firstly, the Reggie RB has the same problems with the stars as we saw on the first 6 RB cards. From there, most of the colorings picked for the cards are awful. I can live with the purple and orange on the Giants cards. And I can live with the gold and red on the Red Sox cards. But the rest...geez. We've got red and purple on an Orioles card, hot pink and green on a Braves card, and green and hot pink on an Indians card. What gives with those selections? Must be a 1970's thing. Also note how the "P" in the baseball on Aase's card is well off center to the right. That sort of misalignment was pretty common on cards before computer layout was used. Each card has the position centered a bit differently.


THE PHOTOS

Good: Two of these cards are awesome. First, DeCinces' photo captures practically his entire shadow, and it's kind of a late-afternoon goofy shadow at that. I love it. And Niekro's card shows a nice shot of long-lost Fulton County Stadium Candlestick Park as well what appears to be a rogue Oriole Brave warming up.

Bad: The comment on the back of Manning's card, claiming him to be a top young center fielder, is a bit of a stretch considering how much time he missed in 1977. Aase's got his jersey number, 45, written on his sock. That's not quite so professional looking. And my, oh my, what can be said about DeCinces' mustache?



THE STATS

Good: Only 7 guys have 500 homers and 200 stolen bases. Reggie Jackson is one of them.

Bad: The back of Sadek's card says he was "an exceptionally fine bunter" which might be a bit of an exaggeration. He had 19 sac bunts in his career, with #5 on that list being the one mentioned on the card, coming off Charlie Hough.


THE COUNTERS

Hall of Famers: 6
(+1 for Jackson, +1 for Niekro)

Deceased: 0

Future managers: 1

Fathers and sons of major leaguers: 1

Loyalty counter: 1

Rookies of the Year: 2

Total all-star appearances: 76
(+14 for Jackson, +1 for DeCinces, +5 for Niekro, +1 for Aase)

Total MVP awards: 4
(+1 for Jackson)

Total Cy Young awards: 1

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1978 Topps Cards #1 through #6

THE PLAYERS

#1 Lou Brock Record Breaker
#2 Sparky Lyle Record Breaker
#3 Willie McCovey Record Breaker
#4 Brooks Robinson Record Breaker
#5 Pete Rose Record Breaker
#6 Nolan Ryan Record Breaker



THE DESIGN

Good: The stars are a nice little feature to get these cards to stand out from the rest of the set, especially since they didn't use the script font we'll see on all the rest of the cards.

Bad: Those stars again. Look closely on cards 1 through 5 and you'll see that there's an odd gap between the first 5 stars and the rest of the stars across the top row. All 6 of the cards have a similar error on the row of stars above the player's name: there's a weird gap between the 4th and 5th stars. I guess stuff like that was more challenging in the days before computer layout. I'm also not crazy about the red and green color scheme on these cards.


THE PHOTOS

Good: The Lyle photo on card #2 takes the cake here as a nearly full-body shot of the man in mid-pitch. I like Brooks Robinson's photo too, mainly because of the tiny people in the back. And the Pete Rose photo is a classic action shot of Charlie Hustle.

Bad: Clearly McCovey got the worst treatment of this group, with the top half of his face completely in the shadows. For anyone not familiar with his appearance, you couldn't even use this photo to ID him in a lineup, which means the photo is no good. Special mention of Nolan Ryan's extreme closeup with the 70s hair. I cannot recall another photo that shows him with such a big smile. Maybe he was thinking 15 years into the future about beating the crap out of some young White Sox 3B.




THE STATS

Good: Prior to The Steroids Era, the two most recent seasons where a guy qualified for the batting title while posting an OPS+ of at least 200 (think about that...an OPS+ of 200) were George Brett in 1980 and Willie McCovey in 1969. Despite being a Hall of Famer, I think McCovey might actually be a bit underrated. For guys with at least 8000 career at-bats, he has the 17th-best career OPS+, clearly making him one of the greatest players of all time.

Bad: Since 1901, 22 players have had at least 10,000 career at-bats, and Robinson and Brock have the 3rd- and 4th-lowest career OPS+ among them. We can forgive Brock since he was a leadoff hitter, but one might have expected that Robinson was a little better. Pete Rose is in the bottom half, too.


THE COUNTERS

Hall of Famers: 4
(+1 for Brock, +1 for McCovey, +1 for Robinson, +1 for Ryan)

Deceased: 0

Future managers: 1
(+1 for Rose)

Fathers and sons of major leaguers: 1
(+1 for Pete Rose Jr.)

Loyalty counter: 1
(+1 for Robinson)

Rookies of the Year: 2
(+1 for McCovey, +1 for Rose)

Total all-star appearances: 55
(+6 for Brock, +3 for Lyle, +6 for McCovey, +15 for Robinson, +17 for Rose, +8 for Ryan)

Total MVP awards: 3
(+1 for McCovey, +1 for Robinson, +1 for Rose)

Total Cy Young awards: 1
(+1 for Lyle)

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