78 Topps Cards

New blog

2009-01-27T12:11:00.000-05:00

I've started a new blog looking at the 1988 Score Rookies & Traded set. See here.

I'm done

2009-01-13T13:50:00.003-05:00

Folks, I'm packing it in.

I've enjoyed my time away too much. I don't want to continue this blog. Sorry.

I will instead be contributing regularly again to the Baseball-Reference.com Stat of the Day blog.

Also I am getting rid of my entire collection. If you want any cards, particularly from 1971, 1973, or 1978, let me know by emailing 78topps at gmail dot com. I'll take any relic or auto cards from the following players in return: Mattingly, T Gwynn, Mike Schmidt, Baines, Raines. Others considered as well. Trades will be in your favor--I'll give you as much as I can in return for whatever you want.

Hiatus

2008-12-16T11:09:00.002-05:00

For numerous reasons, I've decided to go on hiatus through the rest of December and beginning of January.

I shall return in mid-January to finish posting the rest of the 1978 Topps set.

Even if you're not celebrating a holiday in the next few weeks, I hope you have a happy, safe, and fun holiday season, and I look forward to reconnecting with you in January.

If anybody has already mailed me a trade, then I'll be sending you a trade back. If you haven't yet mailed anything, please hold off until next year.

I do not expect to read anybody else's blogs either. I've sort of overdosed on baseball cards and will be taking a nice long break. I'm also taking some time to consider what I really want to do after finishing out the 1978 set. I may or may not pursue the 71/73 idea I've had. Overall I'm finding that my blog commitments are demanding more time than I can afford, and I'm going to re-evaluate what I want to do. Thanks for your support so far, and we shall continue in January!

In the meantime, if you didn't see my 88 Topps Cards blog, you can read 1000+ posts there. Or, you can pick out a few new card blogs to read right here.

Winner

2008-12-16T11:06:00.002-05:00

The winner of our next giveaway for cards #73 through #144 is MMayes.

You'll have to take it on faith that I went though and scored everybody's comments. He came out ahead. He's been a longtime contributor here as well as back on 88 Topps Cards, so I'm quite happy to send him some free stuff.

Mike, I know I've had some trouble emailing you in the past because of some sort of filter you have set up. Can you email me your address to 78topps at gmail dot com? Also tell me your favorite team and I'll see if i can send you some extras.

1978 Topps Cards #157 through #162

2008-12-16T07:30:00.000-05:00

THE PLAYERS

#157 Pete LaCock
#158 Joaquin Andujar
#159 Lou Piniella
#160 Jim Palmer
#161 Bob Boone
#162 Paul Thormodsgard

BRUT sign sighting #5 on Palmer's card

THE DESIGN

Good: The back of Thormodsgard's card tell it like it was. He got released by the Reds, then was out of baseball (which they mention both in the commentary and in the stats) before making it back with the Twins.

Bad: Holy crap--Palmer had just finished his 3rd-straight 20-win season (and 7th 20-win season out of the last 8) and the best thing Topps could thing to mention on the back of his card was a one-hitter from 2 years earlier?

THE PHOTOS

Good: Although I usually do not like helmet glare on photos, the reflection of the "P" on Boone's helmet is awesome!! At first I thought it was a #14, but Boone didn't wear 14 and if you look carefully, it's clearly a mirror image of the "P." Catchers are the only players who can be photographed in helmets when not batting.

The LaCock photo is utterly bizarre. That's just about the strangest pose ever captured on a baseball card. I guess he's thinking "Now, where did I leave my bat?"

I guess I should mention the Palmer photo. It's OK. The All-Star shield is nice to see, although the overall look of this card is ruined by too much orange and red in combination.

Bad: The Andujar car is absolutely mindbogglingly strange. We just saw this photo on the 5-card 1978 Zest post but now it's time to talk about it. His entire uniform is airbrushed. But why? Andujar was in the majors with the Astros in 1976 and 1977. The Astros' uniforms didn't change significantly in those years, so they could have used an old photo. Andujar was with the Reds previously, but not in the majors, so it's unlikely that they had a photo of him wearing a different uniform. I just don't get it. Any theories?

THE STATS

Pete LaCock pounded Francisco Barrios, nailed Roger Erickson, hammered Nolan Ryan, and banged Fergie Jenkins.

Andujar was tied for first in wins over 1984-85. Of course, he was also tied for 16th in losses over the same period.

What do Benito Santiago and Lou Piniella have in common? They are the all-time co-leaders for most seasons with 11 HR.

Palmer led all of baseball in wins from 1970 to 1978, although not by as much as I expected.

I mentioned Thormodsgard before, because Jim Essian hit more of his own career homers off Thormodsgard than anybody else. But Thormodsgard gave up the same number of homers to one other guy: Ben Ogilve.

THE COUNTERS

Hall of Famers: 0
(+1 for Palmer)

Deceased: 0
(none)

Future managers: 0
(+1 for Piniella, +1 for Boone)

Fathers and sons of major leaguers: 0
(+THREE!!! for Ray Boone, father of Bob, Bret Boone, son of Bob, and Aaron Boone, also son of Bob)

Loyalty counter: 0
(+1 for Palmer)

Rookies of the Year: 0
(+1 for Piniella)

Total all-star appearances: 0
(+4 for Andujar, +1 for Piniella, +6 for Palmer, +4 for Boone)

Total MVP awards: 0
(none)

Total Cy Young awards: 0
(+3 for Palmer, our first multiple Cy Young winner in this set)

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1978 Topps #151 to #156

2008-12-15T07:30:00.000-05:00

THE PLAYERS

#151 Milt Wilcox
#152 Ivan DeJesus
#153 Steve Stone
#154 Cecil Cooper
#155 Butch Hobson
#156 Andy Messersmith

THE DESIGN

Good: This speaks more to the photograph, but check out Cooper's card. The white part of the background looks like a nice frame for the baseball and looks like an enhanced design for the card.

Bad: It's nice to know from the back of Stone's card that he not only set a career high with 12 strikeouts on 9/30/1973 but he set a career high for himself. You mean he didn't set someone else's career high with that performance?

I also need to point out that the commentary on the back of Hobson's card is terribly written. It makes it sound like Hobson is the second player ever to get 100 RBI in a season for Boston.

THE PHOTOS

Good: Although the Wilcox photo is clearly posed, it's pretty damn cool if you ask me. The Tigers cards have some of the best coloring of this set, and that's a really cool card.

Also we need to give some special praise to Steve Stone's double chain action.

Bad: Two bad photos here. First. Ivan DeJesus looks absolutely like a cardboard cutout. I wonder if he appreciated being asked to pose in a bunting stance. Also, Topps managed to get almost all of Cooper's body in the shadows. Just about all of his face, his entire torso, and his entire right leg.

THE STATS

Among the 74 pitchers to throw at least 70 complete games since 1970, Wilcox is tied for the fewest career shutouts.

DeJesus has the 5th most-recent season with a sub-.200 batting average in a year with at least 400 AB. On that list, you have to go all the way back to Bob Lillis in 1963 to find a lower OPS than DeJesus in 1981.

A guy has won 25 games in a season 19 times since 1953, and Steve Stone had one of the lowest strikeout totals of those.

Guys have hit 30 homers in a season 1,103 times through 2008. Only 23 times, though, has a guy hit 30 HRs and walked fewer than 3o times.

Messersmith had the second most RBI among pitchers from 1974 to 1976.

THE COUNTERS

Hall of Famers: 16
(none)

Deceased: 6
(none)

Future managers: 14
(+1 for Cooper, current manager of the Astros, +1 for Hobson)

Fathers and sons of major leaguers: 9
(none)

Loyalty counter: 16
(none)

Rookies of the Year: 11
(none)

Total all-star appearances: 326
(+1 for Stone, +5 for Cooper)

Total MVP awards: 14
(none)

Total Cy Young awards: 9
(+1 for Stone)

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PLAY BALL: Game 2, second inning

2008-12-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

GAME 2

Mudville Nine lead the series 1-0

TOP OF THE SECOND INNING
New York Knights at bat

#123 Manny Trillo: K (one out)
#124 Dave Rozema: single (runner on first, one out)
#125 George Scott: ground out (GIDP, three outs)

0 runs on 1 hit and 0 walks. New York Knights lead 3-1

BOTTOM OF THE SECOND INNING
Mudville Nine at bat

#126 Paul Moskau: fly out (one out)
#127 Chet Lemon: rules card (no play)
#128 Bill Russell: BB (runner on first, one out)
#129 Jim Colborn: HR (two runs score, one out)
#130 Jeff Burroughs: fly out (two outs)
#131 Bert Blyleven: ground out (three outs)

2 runs on 2 hits and 1 walk. Game tied at 3.

PLAY BALL: Game 2, first inning

2008-12-13T08:00:00.000-05:00

GAME 2

Mudville Nine are the home team in Game 2.

Mudville Nine lead the series 1-0

TOP OF THE FIRST INNING
New York Knights at bat

#108 Von Joshua: fly out (one out)
#109 Joe Torre (no play)
#110 Richie Zisk: triple (runner on third, one out)
#111 Mike Tyson: rules card (no play)
#112 Houston Astros (no play)
#113 Don Carrithers: BB (runners on first and third, one out)
#114 Paul Blair: HR (three runs score, bases empty, one out)
#115 Gary Nolan: foul out (two outs)
#116 Tucker Ashford: fly out (three outs)

0 runs on 2 hits and 1 walk. New York Knights lead 3-0

BOTTOM OF THE FIRST INNING
Mudville Nine at bat

#117 John Montague: ground out (one out)
#118 Terry Harmon: single (runner on first, one out)
#119 Denny Martinez: double (runners on second and third, one out)
#120 Gary Carter: single (one run scores, runners on first and second, one out)
#121 Alvis Woods: foul out (runners on first and second, two outs)
#122 Dennis Eckersley: fly out (three outs)

0 runs on 3 hits and 0 walks. New York Knights lead 3-1

Dale Murray

2008-12-12T11:30:00.001-05:00

Greg from Night Owl Cards pointed out the similarity of the 1976, 1977, and 1980 photos on the Dale Murray card. I wanted to see, so here they are.

Indeed. No wonder why Murray never seemed to age.

1978 Topps Cards #145 through #150

2008-12-12T07:30:00.000-05:00

THE PLAYERS

#145 Rick Monday
#146 Doyle Alexander
#147 Lee Mazzilli
#148 Andre Thornton
#149 Dale Murray
#150 Bobby Bonds

THE DESIGN

Good: I had absolutely no idea that Andre Thornton was known as "Andy" until I read the back of his card. Let's here it for Andys everywhere!

Bad: This isn't exactly bad, but the comment on the back of Alexander's card is interesting. It says he was one of the leading hurlers of the Rangers' staff in 1977. While it's true that he led that staff in wins, he had the worst ERA among the top 4 starters. Incidentally, those 3 other guys weren't so bad: Gaylord Perry, Bert Blyleven, and Dock Ellis.

THE PHOTOS

Good: There is nothing to like in this set except for the unusual photo for Bobby Bonds. I'm not sure I even like it, but it's certainly interesting to see such a closeup.

Bad: Where do I start? Why did they show such a lazy, strange photo of Monday? Lee Mazzilli's got a terrible shadow on his face. Murray's photo is another lame shot of a Cincinnati pitcher. Ho hum.

THE STATS

Rick Monday is one of 23 guys with between 240 and 250 career homers. He had the 3rd fewest RBI of that group.

There are 17 pitchers to finish with a career ERA+ between 99.9 and 100.1--extremely average. Murray was in the middle of the pack in terms of career IP. (Actually one guy, Sean Marshall, is still active.)

Before 1980, Bobby Bonds was the power-speed king of baseball. He had by far the most seasons of 30 HR and 20 SB up to that point. After 1980, only one player beats Bobby Bonds anyway. Who? Well, uhh, Bonds.

THE COUNTERS

Hall of Famers: 16
(none)

Deceased: 6
(+1 for Bonds)

Future managers: 12
(+1 for Mazzilli)

Fathers and sons of major leaguers: 9
(+1 for Barry Bonds, son of Bobby)

Loyalty counter: 16
(none)

Rookies of the Year: 11
(none)

Total all-star appearances: 320
(+2 for Monday, +1 for Alexander, +1 for Mazzilli, +2 for Thornton, +3 for Bonds)

Total MVP awards: 14
(none)

Total Cy Young awards: 8
(none)

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1978 Topps Cards #139 through #144

2008-12-11T07:30:00.000-05:00

THE PLAYERS

#139 Wayne Gross All-Star Rookie
#140 Rollie Fingers
#141 Ruppert Jones All-Star Rookie
#142 John Montefusco
#143 Keith Hernandez
#144 Jesse Jefferson

THE DESIGN

Good: Topps went to great lengths to mention the All-Star game at Yankee stadium. Check out the back of Gross' and Jones' cards.

Bad: It was an odd decision to put two of the All-Star rookie cards so close in the set. In this set, they are spaced randomly around the set. In 1988 Topps, they were pretty evenly spaced.

THE PHOTOS

Good: The best thing in these photos is the nice look at the front of the Mariners jersey. We also have another nice body shadow from Montefusco.

There are some weird pairings in the group of 6 cards. Obviously, we have 2 All-Star rookies. Then Fingers and Montefusco are in almost identical poses. Gross and Hernandez are also in nearly identical poses. Hernandez and Jefferson both have one person in the background, as well as a nice view of the warning track. And finally Gross and Fingers both have nice foliage in the background.

Bad: The backgrounds on Montefusco's and Hernandez's card are making me dizzy...

THE STATS

Wayne Gross was the Ken Phelps of his time. From 1977 to 1984, he was one of the leaders in most seasons with at least 10 homers but fewer than 500 AB.

Ruppert Jones was one of the leading power-speed hitters from 1977 to 1986. He was one of the top 20 players with double-digit seasons in homers and stolen bases.

Montefusco threw 10 shutouts over 1975-76, tied for 4th-most in baseball.

In baseball history, Jesse Jefferson has the 3rd-worst W-L% for all pitchers with at least 1000 IP, and the two guys ahead of him pitched before 1910. Mind you, he wasn't absolutely terrible, but mostly pitched for bad teams.

THE COUNTERS

Hall of Famers: 16
(+1 for Fingers)

Deceased: 5
(none)

Future managers: 11
(none)

Fathers and sons of major leaguers: 8
(none)

Loyalty counter: 16
(none)

Rookies of the Year: 11
(+1 for Montefusco)

Total all-star appearances: 311
(+1 for Gross, +7 for Fingers, +2 for Jones, +1 for Montefusco, +5 for Hernandez)

Total MVP awards: 14
(+1 for Fingers, +1 for Hernandez)

Total Cy Young awards: 8
(+1 for Fingers)

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Just curious

2008-12-10T09:42:00.003-05:00

Please take a second to vote in this poll:

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Also, check out Night Owl's Top 10 cards from 1978 Topps.

1978 Topps Cards #133 through #138

2008-12-10T07:30:00.000-05:00

THE PLAYERS

#133 Jerry Augustine
#134 Steve Henderson
#135 Ron Guidry
#136 Ted Sizemore
#137 Craig Kusick
#138 Larry Demery

THE DESIGN

Good: Larry Demery had some good moments in his carer but overall wasn't that special. Topps went way above and beyond writing all sorts of good things about him on the back of his card, including mentioning that he pitched in 2 post-seasons. They left out how he had an ERA of 36.00 the first year and 18.00 the second year. Way to make lemonade from lemons, Topps!

Bad: The comment on the back of Sizemore's card is just crap. The best thing they can say about the guy is that he had a 3-hit game and "played a flawless 2nd base"? Just what does that mean? Were they at the game? I'm sure he wasn't credited with any errors, but playing a flawless 2nd base takes more than that. I'm not saying he didn't do it, I just don't know what Topps expects us to take away from that comment. I call laziness on their part.

THE PHOTOS

Good: The Guidry photo is remarkably similar to Sparky Lyle's photo. Other than that, the only other half decent photo here is Augustine's, yet another nice Brewer shot.

There's something quite odd on Demery's card, though. In the background, there is a player running, and he's not part of a play captured in the photograph. He's just running. Can anybody think of another such example?

Bad: Pick any card from the right column. I'm sure all three of these guys are quite handsome, but you'd never know it from these photos. Kusick, who died from lukemia, also deserved better than a sideways shot where you can't see his face at all.

THE STATS

Not terribly surprisingly, HOFers hit very well off Jerry Augustine, especially Reggie Jackson.

Ron Guidry has the most recent, and probably last ever, season with at least 25 wins and a WHIP below 1.00.

Ted Sizemore made his 23 career homers count. Of the 23 HRs, 5 tied the game and 10 put his team ahead. One was a walkoff shot against Tug McGraw, and 5 came in the 8th, 9th, or extra innings. Truly amazingly, not a single one of his homers came with more than 1 runner on base.

The late Craig Kusick also did a lot with his 46 career homers, tying 4 games, giving his team the lead in 16 others, and hitting 3 walk-off jobs, including the last homer of his career in this game.

Larry Demery started 139 games in his career, and his top game score came in a complete-game loss.

THE COUNTERS

Hall of Famers: 15
(none)

Deceased: 5
(+1 for Cusick)

Future managers: 11
(none)

Fathers and sons of major leaguers: 8
(none)

Loyalty counter: 16
(+1 for Augustine, +1 for Guidry, +1 for Demery)

Rookies of the Year: 10
(+1 for Sizemore)

Total all-star appearances: 295
(+4 for Guidry)

Total MVP awards: 12
(none)

Total Cy Young awards: 7
(+1 for Guidry)

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Various

2008-12-09T14:05:00.003-05:00

A few quick notes:

I just wrote a piece about dwindling offensive output by catchers right here.
A word of warning for the person who wins 1978 Topps cards #63-#144: I pulled #100 (George Brett) and #120 (Gary Carter) to sent to Saints of the Cheap Seats since Dan is close to finishing his 1978 set. So you will not be winning those cards.
I'm gradually gathering more 1971 and 1973 Topps cards. If you have some you might want to trade, please email me and tell me YOUR want lists. Any cards I post on the blog are possibly available for trade, too. Hit me up at 78topps at gmail dot com.

1978 Topps Cards #127 through #132

2008-12-09T07:30:00.001-05:00

THE PLAYERS

#127 Chet Lemon
#128 Bill Russell
#129 Jim Colborn
#130 Jeff Burroughs
#131 Bert Blyleven
#132 Enos Cabell

THE DESIGN

Good: The three cards in the right column all use the photos to enhance the design. We have two script "Dodgers" in close proximity on Russell's card, a nice full "Atlanta Braves" on Burrough's card, and a block "Astros" and script "Astros" on Cabell's card. I love it.

Bad: Apparrently, Chet Lemon is a zombie. According to the back of his card, he doesn't "possess excellent speed" but rather he is "possessed with excellent speed." I believe the way to ward off that evil plague is to wear a brick on a chain around one's neck. Also, what does having a sure glove have to do with being a brilliant baserunner?

THE PHOTOS

Good: It's hard not to love the Lemon photo as an excellent example of the White Sox's uniform of the period.

Also, the Colburn photo is great since there must have been a woman pulling her top off in the upper deck, since that's the only reason Topps would have used such a dumb photo, since Colburn refused to look away from that spot.

Bad: If you've got a guy like Burroughs wearing Coke bottle eyeglasses, please try to shoot him from the front, not the side.

If you look quickly at Cabell's photo, you might think his little soul patch beard is sticking out quite a bit. But look more carefully: that's actually a person in the background, right along the edge of Cabell's face. Are you kidding me? What a terrible photo choice.

THE STATS

Russell once had 9 total bases in a game, and the Dodgers won 12-11. You'd think that Russell had 4 or 5 RBIs in that game, but with his triple, homer, and two singles, he got only that 1 RBI. Kind of amazing. That game was also the only time in his career that he got on base 5 times.

Colburn had one of the lowest strikeout rates in a 20-win season during the last 50 years.

When it comes to MVP awards, voters are usually seduced by big HR and RBI totals without much regard for the actual value of those numbers. Not so in 1977, though, where Burroughs hit 41 HR but finished 16th in the NL MVP voting. A big reason for that was George Foster's 52 HR the same year. But also, that season puts Burroughs in the top 10 for worst 40-HR seasons from an OPS+ perspective. To hit that many homers and still have an OPS+ under 130 is pretty difficult to do, unless you played at Coors field in the late 1990s (as was the case with 5 of the top 18 seasons on that list.)

I have already writetn tons online about Bert Blyleven. The guy belongs in the Hall of Fame without question. See here and here.

Enos Cabell had a pretty poor stolen base precentage. I'm surprised he isn't higher on this list of most times caught stealing for guys with no more than 250 career stolen bases. there are some really poor ratios on there, such as for Pete Rose and Alfredo Griffin.

THE COUNTERS

Hall of Famers: 15
(none)

Deceased: 4
(none)

Future managers: 11
(+1 for Russell)

Fathers and sons of major leaguers: 8
(+1 for Sean Burroughs, son of Jeff.)

Loyalty counter: 13
(+1 for Russell)

Rookies of the Year: 9
(none)

Total all-star appearances: 291
(+3 for Chet the Jet, +3 for Russell, +1 for Colborn, +2 for Burroughs, +2 for Blyleven)

Total MVP awards: 12
(+1 for Burroughs)

Total Cy Young awards: 6
(none)

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Loot

2008-12-08T13:40:00.002-05:00

I got a whole bunch of packages in the mail today, including one from Don S who sent a whole bunch of awesome 1971 and 1973 Topps cards for my sets.

I also got 71 and 73 Topps from jackplumstead at Pursuit of 80's(ness) and dayf at Cardboard Junkie.

John and dayf were both generous, including a Mattingly jersey relic card. Amazingly, they included the same card!

One's got a stripe and one doesn't. Both are very sweet.

Thanks guys!

1978 Zest

2008-12-08T13:04:00.003-05:00

Here is a beautiful 5-card set sent to me by JayBee of bdj610's Topps Baseball Card Blog.

JayBee wrote about it originally right here and Greg from Night Owl Cards (also a recipient of a free set from JayBee) wrote more about it here.

Here are the fronts...

and the backs...

The fronts are identical to those from the regular 1978 Topps set, except for the Montanez photo. The backs are similar but include both English and Spanish for everything, do not include the PLAY BALL game, and Montanez's name includes a cedilla over the "n" that is not present on the back of his regular 78 Topps card.

Thanks again to JayBee for sending this great set of cards!

1978 Topps Cards #121 through #126

2008-12-08T07:30:00.000-05:00

THE PLAYERS

#121 Alvis Woods
#122 Dennis Eckersley
#123 Manny Trillo
#124 Dave Rozema All Star Rookie
#125 George Scott
#126 Paul Moskau

Al Woods is BRUT card #4.

THE DESIGN

Good: The back of Woods' card mentions that he hit an Opening Day pinch-hit homer. Neat. He's the 20th most-recent guy to do that.

Bad: This isn't exactly bad, but it's interesting. The back of Moskau's card abbreviates "Earned Run Average" as "E.R.A." with the periods. I wonder when the periods were completely dropped from stat abbreviations such as ERA, RBI, etc.

THE PHOTOS

Good: It's impossible not to love Scott's photo. He's displaying an actual real smile, so rarely seen on baseball cards. I wish the Boston logo on his helmet were visible, but otherwise it's a great shot.

Four of these cards feature batting practice paraphernalia.

Bad: Apparently, both Al Woods and Manny Trillo were hanging out in a criminal's hideout from the 1960 Batman TV show. The photos are so crooked, it's ridiculous.

THE STATS

Al Woods had an interesting year in 1980. He's one of the most recent players to get 15 homers in a season with no more than 400 ABs and 35 or fewer K's.

Dave Rozema is one of three guys with two different seasons allowing exactly 100 hits. Could this stat be more meaningless? I don't think so.

This is weird. George Scott, otherwise a great player, had one of the worst all-time OPS+ for a guy in his 3rd season or later, minimum 350 ABs. I wonder what happened that year?

Paul Moskau is one of three pitchers to complete at least one game and also finish at least one game every season from 1977 to 1980.

THE COUNTERS

Hall of Famers: 15
(+1 for Eckersley)

Deceased: 4
(none)

Future managers: 10
(none)

Fathers and sons of major leaguers: 7
(none)

Loyalty counter: 12
(none)

Rookies of the Year: 9
(none)

Total all-star appearances: 280
(+6 for Eckersley, +4 for Trillo, +3 for Scott)

Total MVP awards: 11
(+1 for Eckersley)

Total Cy Young awards: 6
(+1 for Eckersley)

Online Surveys & Market Research

1978 Topps Cards #115 through #120

2008-12-06T07:30:00.000-05:00

THE PLAYERS

#115 Gary Nolan
#116 Tucker Ashford
#117 John Montague
#118 Terry Harmon
#119 Denny Martinez
#120 Gary Carter

THE DESIGN

Good: That's a pretty interesting stat they came up with on the back of Martinez's card. 1977 was his rookie year, although it was his second year in the bigs. A search for all pitchers who recorded at least 4 saves and 5 complete games in either their first or second year reveals that Martinez wasn't even the only guy to do it in 1977.

Bad: The commentary on the back of Montague's card is a bit more suspect. It says he saw action as both a starter and reliever in 1977 (translation: he sucked) and points out that he led the AA in shutouts in 1976. I wonder why he wasn't in the majors in 1976? (answer: he sucked.)

THE PHOTOS

Good: The Carter photo here is the iconic one that everyone identifies with. I like it because it's iconic, but I hate most everything else about it. For one, nearly all the red on the Expos uniform is washed out, making him look more like he's wearing a Blue Jays uniform. For two, Carter looks like he's making a lude gesture with his tongue.

Bad: There is a lot to dislike about these photos. Nolan, Ashford, Montague, and Harmon all have shadows across their faces. And Montague is looking so far off to the side....why? They could easily face photographed him more from the front. Harmon looks about 48 years old, by the way, thanks in large part to the shadows. Martinez (who looks so fresh-faced I can hardly believe that this is the same guy) looks like the Yankee Stadium foul pole is coming out of his pants (no jokes, please.)

THE STATS

Gary Nolan hit one homer in his career, a 3-run job in a tie game in the 7th. He pitched a 4-hit shutout that day.

Of Tucker Ashford's 6 career homers, one was a game-ending shot off Mr. Pajamas himself. He also hit one off Oatmeal Ruthven.

From 1975 to 1980, Montague had one of the worst WHIPs in baseball, minimum 400 IP. (For noobs, that's Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched.)

Harmon had 3 career 4-hit games.

El Presidente was one of just 3 pitchers to have at least 2 RBIs as a batter each season from 1986 to 1993.

THE COUNTERS

Hall of Famers: 14
(+1 for Carter)

Deceased: 4
(none)

Future managers: 10
(none)

Fathers and sons of major leaguers: 7
(none)

Loyalty counter: 12
(+1 for Terry Harmon)

Rookies of the Year: 9
(none)

Total all-star appearances: 267
(+1 for Nolan, +4 for Martinez, +11 for Carter)

Total MVP awards: 10
(none)

Total Cy Young awards: 5
(none)

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1980 Topps Harold Baines

2008-12-05T11:31:00.002-05:00

What's that you say? Harold Baines didn't have a card in the 1980 Topps set?

Well he does now, courtesy of an amazing creation by Steve at White Sox Cards.

PLAY BALL: Game 1, ninth inning

2008-12-05T08:30:00.000-05:00

GAME 1

Mudville Nine lead 7-6

TOP OF THE NINTH INNING
Mudville Nine at bat

#101 Sid Monge: ground out (one out)
#102 Matt Alexander: single (runner on first, one out)
#103 Tom Murphy: foul out (runner on first, two outs)
#104 Lee Lacy: fly out (three outs)

0 runs on 1 hit and 0 walks. Mudville Nine lead 7-6

BOTTOM OF THE NINTH INNING
New York Knights at bat

#105 Reggie Cleveland: K (one out)
#106 Bill Plummer: single (runner on first, one out)
#107 Ed Halicki: ground out (GIDP, three outs)

0 runs on 1 hit and 0 walks.

Mudville Nine win Game 1 by the score of 7-6

1978 Topps Cards #109 through #114

2008-12-05T07:30:00.000-05:00

THE PLAYERS

#109 Joe Torre
#110 Richie Zisk
#111 Mike Tyson
#112 Houston Astros
#113 Don Carrithers
#114 Paul Blair

Candlestick Marlboro sign sighting #4 on Tyson's card. Zisk is blocking the BRUT sign.

THE DESIGN

Good: There's nice attention to detail on the back of Torre's card. Instead of saying that he "THROWS: RIGHT" it says he "THREW: RIGHT." I'm sure that in 1978, Torre was still capable of throwing, but Topps is subtly noting that he was no longer a player in 1978, just a manager.

Bad: The Zisk card contains a horrible error in design. Do you know what it is? If not, click here and read about halfway down the page. I wonder how much this oversight hurt Zisk's reputation. Had Topps not made the error, lots of kids might have thought of him as a better player.

THE PHOTOS

Good: Well, hmm, this is another pretty unimpressive group. The Astros team photo is my favorite, just to see all those rainbow jerseys line up into one huge rainbow. They should have hired a guy to dress up like a leprachaun or big pot of gold or something.

Bad: Where do I start with the suck? The Zisk photo is a halfways decent airbrush, except that I would have airbrushed out that ridiculous gold chain in the process. Torre's mouth is hanging open in both photos on his card. Mike Tyson needs so badly to brush his hair. And I know that Paul Blair was black, but his face, hair, and cap are ridiculously dark in this photo. You can barely see anything. Don Carrithers, you get a pass.

THE STATS

I don't understand how Joe Torre won the MVP in 1971. He had a great year, sure, but Willie Stargell and especially Hank Aaron had much better years. Incidentally, his MVP doesn't count below since it's his manager card here. Torre was a player/manager in 1977 but not in 1978.

Zisk is one of just 10 guys to have double-digit homers every season from 1973 to 1983.

Tyson owned John Candelaria, hitting 3 of his 27 career homers against him. First came a go-ahead 2-run homer in May 1976. A few months later came an inside-the-park 3-run homer. Then in July 1977 came a grand slam off the Candy Man. Nice.

Carrithers should have been used exclusively as a reliever. Checking out his splits by role, his ERA was nearly a run and a half better as a reliever. He actually walked more guys than he struck out as a starter and allowed more hits than innings pitched, too.

Blair has one of the most recent seasons with at least 12 triples but no more than 8 stolen bases. I sort of discount Jim Rice's appearances on that list since the Red Sox didn't really run much.

THE COUNTERS

Hall of Famers: 13
(none)

Deceased: 4
(none)

Future managers: 10
(none)

Fathers and sons of major leaguers: 7
(none)

Loyalty counter: 12
(none)

Rookies of the Year: 9
(none)

Total all-star appearances: 252
(+2 for Zisk, +2 for Blair)

Total MVP awards: 10
(none)

Total Cy Young awards: 5
(none)

Online Surveys & Market Research

PLAY BALL: Game 1, eighth inning

2008-12-04T12:00:00.001-05:00

GAME 1

Mudville Nine lead 7-5

TOP OF THE EIGHTH INNING
Mudville Nine at bat

#89 Ken Clay: ground out (one out)
#90 Larry Bowa: fly out (two outs)
#91 Oscar Zamora: 2B (runner on second, two outs)
#92 Adrian Devine: fly out (three outs)

0 runs on 1 hit and 0 walks. Mudville Nine lead 7-5

BOTTOM OF THE EIGHTH INNING
New York Knights at bat

#93 Bobby Cox (no play)
#94 Chuck Scrivener: 2B (runner on second, no outs)
#95 Jamie Quirk: ground out (runner on second, one out)
#96 Baltimore Orioles (no play)
#97 Stan Bahnsen: single (runners on first and third, one out)
#98 Jim Essian: fly out (one run scores, runner on first, two outs)
#99 Willie Hernandez: BB (runners on first and second, two outs)
#100 George Brett: ground out (three outs)

1 run on 2 hits and 1 walk. Mudville Nine lead 7-6

1978 Topps Cards #103 through #108

2008-12-04T07:30:00.000-05:00

THE PLAYERS

#103 Tom Murphy
#104 Lee Lacy
#105 Reggie Cleveland
#106 Bill Plummer
#107 Ed Halicki
#108 Von Joshua

THE DESIGN

Good: Topps did me one better here. I wrote the "STATS" section below before writing this section and I noted that Plummer's best offensive game was a 2-HR job against Steve Carlton. They found a better one, as noted on the back of his card. In fact, holy crap, he never had 4, 5, or 6 RBI's in a game.

Bad: Really? What was so "superb" about this game? I'm not sure I like the copy on the back of Cleveland's card.

THE PHOTOS

Good: First, a little contest. One of these 6 photos immediately struck me as very oddly reminiscent of a certain TV show. Five points to whomever can guess it in the comments. (No random guesses please, just solid theories.)

Three of these photos (Lacy, Plummer, and Halicki) show the player's uniform number, with Joshua giving up just half of his. I love that.

Cleveland joins the shadow club, and Halicki joins the Candlestick park "375 sign" club.

Bad: No horrible photos in this bunch, except maybe for Murphy with a nasty shadow right across his face. I'm not crazy about the glare on Plummer's helmet either.

THE STATS

In 1974, Tom Murphy had one of the best ERA+ figures for a guy with at least 120 IP who finished with a W-L record no better than .500.

Lee Lacy is far and away the leader in most seasons with 3 or 4 triples.

Reggie Cleveland has the 2nd most-recent season with 10 complete games and also 10 games finished.

Another stat from 1974 is this game, Plummer's best on offense where he hit 2 homers off Steve Carlton.

Since 1901, only 11 times has a pitcher qualified for the ERA title with a WHIP of 1.06 or less and not gotten at least 10 wins. Halicki had such a year in 1978, only the 3rd such year since 1917. Curt Schilling makes his second appearance in this post.

Not too often does a guy hit 10 triples but then have as many as 10 caught stealings with as few as 20 stolen bases. Von Joshua did it in 1975.

THE COUNTERS

Hall of Famers: 13
(none)

Deceased: 4
(none)

Future managers: 10
(+1 for Plummer)

Fathers and sons of major leaguers: 7
(none)

Loyalty counter: 12
(none)

Rookies of the Year: 9
(none)

Total all-star appearances: 248
(none)

Total MVP awards: 10
(none)

Total Cy Young awards: 5
(none)

Online Surveys & Market Research

PLAY BALL: Game 1, seventh inning

2008-12-03T12:00:00.000-05:00

GAME 1

Mudville Nine lead 7-5

TOP OF THE SEVENTH INNING
Mudville Nine at bat

#74 Checklist 1-121 (no play)
#75 Dick Ruthven: foul out (one out)
#76 Steve Ontiveros: 2B (runner on second, one out)
#77 Ed Kirkpatrick: fly out (runner on second, two outs)
#78 Pablo Torrealba: rules card (no play)
#79 Darrell Johnson (no play)
#80 Ken Griffey: single (runners on first and third, two outs)
#81 Pete Redfern: ground out (three outs)

0 runs on 2 hits and 0 walks. Mudville Nine lead 7-5

BOTTOM OF THE SEVENTH INNING
New York Knights at bat

#82 San Francisco Giants (no play)
#83 Bob Montgomery: BB (runner on first, no outs)
#84 Kent Tekulve: fly out (runner on first, one out)
#85 Ron Fairly: BB (runners on first and second, one out)
#86 Dave Tomlin: K (runners on first and second, two outs)
#87 John Lowenstein: single (bases loaded, two outs)
#88 Mike Phillips: K (three outs)

0 runs on 1 hit and 2 walks. Mudville Nine lead 7-5

1978 Topps Cards #97 through #102

2008-12-03T07:30:00.003-05:00

THE PLAYERS

#97 Stan Bahnsen
#98 Jim Essian
#99 Willie Hernandez
#100 George Brett
#101 Sid Monge
#102 Matt Alexander

THE DESIGN

Good: The cool design feature to notice is the All-Star shield on Brett's card. We've seen one already in this set, but here it's worth noting that Topps elimianted the baseball from the cards of the guys on the All-Star team and instead put their position inside the shield. Back in 1978, shields were still cool.

Bad: Naughty, naught. The "P" inside the baseball on Bahnsen's card is way off center, almost on the stitches.

THE PHOTOS

Good: Essian's card is pretty cool. I really like the flags in the background--can anybody identify what those flags are for? I also really like the nearly full-body shadow on Alexander's card, plus the shadow of the batting cage.

Bad: Unfortunately, there's a lot to hate in this group. The three head shots on the left are all bad, with goofy expressions from all three guys. Those pajamas Bahnsen is wearing are ridiculous (although not the photographer's fault.) The Alexander photo is horrible, with so much overexposure that the logo on his cap isn't visible and his uniform looks lime green.

I also, perhaps surprisingly, hate the Brett card. I'm not a fan of players appearing without a cap or helmet, such as Tony Perez early in this set. I also don't like that Brett's got a huge wad of what is likely tobacco in his cheek. I know that the 1970s were not a time of addiction awareness and I can't really fault Topps for showing this photo, but to me it just doesn't stand up over time. I hate the card.

THE STATS

Bahnsen is the second most-recent Yankee to strike out the side in his major league debut.

I check most players' HR logs and Jim Essian's is unusual. It's rare to find a guy who has at least 2 homers more against one guy than against anybody else. In other words, players with fewer than 50 career HR usually have 1 against a bunch of guys and 2 against a few pitchers. In Essian's case, he had 3 off Paul Thormodsgard and 1 off everybody else. The same is true for guys with lots of homers. Reggie Jackson, for example, had 8 off Wilbur Wood, 7 against two guys, 6 against a handful of guys, etc.

Sid Monge has the 11th most-recent season with no more than 4 game starts and at least 2 complete games. Back on Sammy Stewart's page on the 88 Topps Cards blog, I noted how 3 guys did it in 1980.

Matt Alexander had only 36 career hits but did have two 3-hit games.

THE COUNTERS

Hall of Famers: 13
(+1 for Brett)

Deceased: 4
(none)

Future managers: 9
(+1 for Essian)

Fathers and sons of major leaguers: 7
(none)

Loyalty counter: 12
(+1 for Brett)

Rookies of the Year: 9
(+1 for Bahnsen)

Total all-star appearances: 248
(+3 for Hernandez, +13 for Brett, +1 for Monge)

Total MVP awards: 10
(+1 for Hernandez, +1 for Brett)

Total Cy Young awards: 5
(+1 for Hernandez)

Online Surveys & Market Research

The wantlists

2008-12-02T10:19:00.003-05:00

My next blog is going to be about 1971 and 1973 Topps. Why? You'll have to wait and find out.

I've posted wantlists here and here as I try to collect the entire sets. If you have any cards you want to trade, please let me know. If you're interested in specific 1971 or 1973 Topps cards yourself, please let me know as I've already got a bunch of doubles. I will also gladly accept gifts of cards from these sets in exchange for a hearty thank-you and link to your blog posted on my blog.

Either way, email me at 78topps at gmail dot com with trade inquiries.

1978 Topps Cards #91 through #96

2008-12-02T07:30:00.003-05:00

THE PLAYERS

#91 Oscar Zamora
#92 Adrian Devine
#93 Bobby Cox manager
#94 Chuck Scrivener
#95 Jamie Quirk
#96 Baltimore Orioles

BRUT sign sighting #3 on Jamie Quirk's card. It's also directly behind Adrian Devine and not visible.

THE DESIGN

Good: Topps gets good marks for consistency. The back of Devine's card not only again mentions a low-place finish in the Fireman of the Year award, but also mentions our old friend Steve Foucault again.

I guess they also smelled a rat with Jamie Quirk, ignoring anything they might have said about his 3 years in the majors and instead pulling out a stat from his minor league days.

Bad: The Zamora card is extremely odd. First of all, the guy did not play in the big leagues in 1977. He didn't even play in the minors in 1977. He wasn't a star player prior to then. Why in the world did Topps include his card in this set? I can't see any possible rationale where they thought it made sense. Can anybody come up with a plausible explanation? Furthermore, he signed with the Astros on November 17, 1977. I'm shocked that they were able to include him in this set as an Astro, even though the photo is obviously airbrushed. Back in the 70s, did cards come out right at the end of the calendar year like they do now? If so, I can't imagine how they had enough time to prepare the Zamora card. (We'll get to the photo on the Zamora card below...)

THE PHOTOS

Good: Quirk continues the streak of very nice Brewers cards. I don't know why, but it seems that Topps really wanted to make the Brewers look good in this set. Thier cards are all poses so far, but they are great posed shots. Quirk's bat going right into the foreground of the card is awesome.

I also really like that Bobby Cox has the same pose and expression in both his photos...he just looks a lot older. Younger readers of this blog will probably be shocked to realize that Cox was manager of the Braves in the late 70s and early 80s before returning as manager in 1990, a position he still holds today.

Bad: The Orioles team card is perfectly nice except for the added photo on the left of an extra guy. I'll let Kevin comment on who this is and why it might be there. Had it been me, I would have simply left that guy off, or at least tried to get a photo of him with a black background so it blended a little better.

Nice random fat guy in the background of Scrivener's card.

And at last we come back to that Zamora card. Clearly this was airbrushed, and probably hastily too after he signed with the Astros in very late 1977. I've already talked about how odd the mere inclusion of his card in this set was. However, the airbrushing itself is weird too. I swear it looks like his face has been significantly airbrushed. I also wonder whether Zamora's left eye was naturally closed up as in the photo, or if they chose a terrible photo to use for the airbrushing. All around, this is a horrible and very puzzling card. I give it two big "WTFs" way up.

THE STATS

For whatever it's worth (and it's not worth much) there have been only 9 seasons in history where a pitcher finished 31 games and saved 10 of them. Oddly, Zamora did it in both of his first two seasons and is the only guy to do it more than once.

Devine had two stints with the Braves and two stints with the Rangers. He was traded twice between the teams in two memorable exchanges:

December 8, 1977: Traded as part of a 4-team trade by the Texas Rangers with Tommy Boggs and Eddie Miller to the Atlanta Braves. The Atlanta Braves sent Willie Montanez to the New York Mets. The Texas Rangers sent a player to be named later and Tom Grieve to the New York Mets. The Texas Rangers sent Bert Blyleven to the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pittsburgh Pirates sent Al Oliver and Nelson Norman to the Texas Rangers. The New York Mets sent Jon Matlack to the Texas Rangers. The New York Mets sent John Milner to the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Texas Rangers sent Ken Henderson (March 15, 1978) to the New York Mets to complete the trade.

December 6, 1979: Traded by the Atlanta Braves with Pepe Frias to the Texas Rangers for Doyle Alexander, Larvell Blanks, and $50,000.

It's amazing how many of these guys we've already seen on this blog, including Montanez, Matlack, Blanks, as well as Alexander's 1973 Topps card. I also like that there were two Milners involved in that first trade.

Bobby Cox hit 9 career homers, but a whopping two-thirds of them either tied the game or put the Yankees ahead.

Scrivener's best career game came in 1976 when he had 3 hits, including a homer, against the Indians.

Speaking of trades, look at this crappy pair that the Brewers made:

December 6, 1976: Traded by the Kansas City Royals with a player to be named later and Jim Wohlford to the Milwaukee Brewers for Jim Colborn and Darrell Porter. The Kansas City Royals sent Bob McClure (March 15, 1977) to the Milwaukee Brewers to complete the trade.

August 3, 1978: Traded by the Milwaukee Brewers to the Kansas City Royals for Gerry Ako (minors) and cash.

That's how they acquired Jamie Quirk from the Royals and then sent him back there. All they did was lose Darrell Porter in the meantime, for essentially nothing.

THE COUNTERS

All counters are zero for this set except for Scrivener being with the Tigers for his entire career.

Hall of Famers: 12
(none)

Deceased: 4
(none)

Future managers: 8
(none)

Fathers and sons of major leaguers: 7
(none)

Loyalty counter: 11
(+1 for Scrivener)

Rookies of the Year: 8
(none)

Total all-star appearances: 231
(This is the first set of cards without any All-Star appearances. Of course, if we were counting Cox's appearances as manager or the appearances of the individual Orioles on the team card, then there'd be plenty.)

Total MVP awards: 9
(none)

Total Cy Young awards: 4
(none)

Online Surveys & Market Research

1973 Topps wantlist

2008-12-01T13:53:00.011-05:00

Cards I need are in black.
Cards I already have are in grey
Cards I have but could use an upgrade are in blue

Email me at 78topps at gmail dot com to discuss trades.

(I happen to have a lot of the cards from 1 to 100)

249/660 (37.7% complete)

39 replacements needed

1 Aaron/Ruth/Mays

2 Rich Hebner -- Pittsburgh Pirates

3 Jim Lonborg -- Philadelphia Phillies

4 John Milner -- New York Mets

5 Ed Brinkman -- Detroit Tigers

6 Mac Scarce -- Philadelphia Phillies

7 Rangers Team -- Texas Rangers

8 Tom Hall -- Cincinnati Reds

9 Johnny Oates -- Baltimore Orioles

10 Don Sutton -- Los Angeles Dodgers

11 Chris Chambliss -- Cleveland Indians

12 Padres Mgr/Coaches -- San Diego Padres

13 George Hendrick -- Oakland Athletics

14 Sonny Siebert -- Boston Red Sox

15 Ralph Garr -- Atlanta Braves

16 Steve Braun -- Minnesota Twins

17 Fred Gladding -- Houston Astros

18 Leroy Stanton -- California Angels

19 Tim Foli -- Montreal Expos

20 Stan Bahnsen -- Chicago White Sox

21 Randy Hundley -- Chicago Cubs

22 Ted Abernathy -- Kansas City Royals

23 Dave Kingman -- San Francisco Giants

24 Al Santorini -- St. Louis Cardinals

25 Roy White -- New York Yankees

26 Pirates Team -- Pittsburgh Pirates

27 Bill Gogolewski -- Texas Rangers

28 Hal McRae -- Cincinnati Reds

29 Tony Taylor -- Detroit Tigers

30 Tug McGraw -- New York Mets

31 Buddy Bell -- Cleveland Indians

32 Fred Norman -- San Diego Padres

33 Jim Breazeale -- Atlanta Braves

34 Pat Dobson -- Baltimore Orioles

35 Willie Davis -- Los Angeles Dodgers

36 Steve Barber -- California Angels

37 Bill Robinson -- Philadelphia Phillies

38 Mike Epstein -- Oakland Athletics

39 Dave Roberts -- Houston Astros

40 Reggie Smith -- Boston Red Sox

41 Tom Walker -- Montreal Expos

42 Mike Andrews -- Chicago White Sox

43 Randy Moffitt -- San Francisco Giants

44 Rick Monday -- Chicago Cubs

45 Ellie Rodriguez -- Milwaukee Brewers

46 Lindy McDaniel -- New York Yankees

47 Luis Melendez -- St. Louis Cardinals

48 Paul Splittorff -- Kansas City Royals

49 Twins Mgr/Coaches -- Minnesota Twins

50 Roberto Clemente -- Pittsburgh Pirates

51 Check Seelbach -- Detroit Tigers

52 Denis Menke -- Cincinnati Reds

53 Steve Dunning -- Cleveland Indians

54 Checklist 1-132

55 John Matlack -- New York Mets

56 Merv Rettenmund -- Baltimore Orioles

57 Derrel Thomas -- San Diego Padres

58 Mike Paul -- Texas Rangers

59 Steve Yeager -- Los Angeles Dodgers

60 Ken Holtzman -- Oakland Athletics

61 Williams/Carew LL

62 Bench/Allen LL

63 Bench/Allen LL

64 Brock/Campaneris

65 Carlton/Tiant LL

66 Carlton/Perry/Wood

67 Carlton/Ryan LL

68 Carroll/Lyle

69 Phil Gagliano -- Boston Red Sox

70 Milt Pappas -- Chicago Cubs

71 Johnny Briggs -- Milwaukee Brewers

72 Ron Reed -- Atlanta Braves

73 Ed Herrmann -- Chicago White Sox

74 Billy Champion -- Milwaukee Brewers

75 Vada Pinson -- California Angels

76 Doug Rader -- Houston Astros

77 Mike Torrez -- Montreal Expos

78 Richie Scheinblum -- Kansas City Royals

79 Jim Willoughby -- San Francisco Giants

80 Tony Oliva -- Minnesota Twins

81 Cubs Mgr/Coaches -- Chicago Cubs

82 Fritz Peterson -- New York Yankees

83 Leron Lee -- San Diego Padres

84 Rollie Fingers -- Oakland Athletics

85 Ted Simmons -- St. Louis Cardinals

86 Tom McCraw -- Cleveland Indians

87 Ken Boswell -- New York Mets

88 Mickey Stanley -- Detroit Tigers

89 Jack Billingham -- Cincinnati Reds

90 Brooks Robinson -- Baltimore Orioles

91 Dodgers Team -- Los Angeles Dodgers

92 Jerry Bell -- Milwaukee Brewers

93 Jesus Alou -- Houston Astros

94 Dick Billings -- Texas Rangers

95 Steve Blass -- Pittsburgh Pirates

96 Doug Griffin -- Boston Red Sox

97 Willie Montanez -- Philadelphia Phillies

98 Dick Woodson -- Minnesota Twins

99 Carl Taylor -- Kansas City Royals

100 Hank Aaron -- Atlanta Braves

101 Ken Henderson -- San Francisco Giants

102 Rudy May -- California Angels

103 Celerino Sanchez -- New York Yankees

104 Reggie Cleveland -- St. Louis Cardinals

105 Carlos May -- Chicago White Sox

106 Terry Humphrey -- Montreal Expos

107 Phil Hennigan -- New York Mets

108 Bill Russell -- Los Angeles Dodgers

109 Doyle Alexander -- Baltimore Orioles

110 Bob Watson -- Houston Astros

111 Dave Nelson -- Texas Rangers

112 Gary Ross -- San Diego Padres

113 Jerry Grote -- New York Mets

114 Lynn McGlothen -- Boston Red Sox

115 Ron Santo -- Chicago Cubs

116 Yankees Mgr/Coaches -- New York Yankees

117 Ramon Hernandez -- Pittsburgh Pirates

118 John Mayberry -- Kansas City Royals

119 Larry Bowa -- Philadelphia Phillies

120 Joe Coleman -- Detroit Tigers

121 Dave Rader -- San Francisco Giants

122 Jim Strickland -- Minnesota Twins

123 Sandy Alomar -- California Angels

124 Jim Hardin -- Atlanta Braves

125 Ron Fairly -- Montreal Expos

126 Jim Brewer -- Los Angeles Dodgers

127 Brewers Team -- Milwaukee Brewers

128 Ted Sizemore -- St. Louis Cardinals

129 Terry Forster -- Chicago White Sox

130 Pete Rose -- Cincinnati Reds

131 Red Sox Mgr/Coaches -- Boston Red Sox

132 Matty Alou -- New York Yankees

133 Dave Roberts -- San Diego Padres

134 Milt Wilcox -- Cleveland Indians

135 Lee May -- Houston Astros

136 Orioles Mgr/Coaches -- Baltimore Orioles

137 Jim Beauchamp -- New York Mets

138 Horacio Pina -- Texas Rangers

139 Carmen Fanzone -- Chicago Cubs

140 Lou Piniella -- Kansas City Royals

141 Bruce Kison -- Pittsburgh Pirates

142 Thurman Munson -- New York Yankees

143 John Curtis -- Boston Red Sox

144 Marty Perez -- Atlanta Braves

145 Bobby Bonds -- San Francisco Giants

146 Woodie Fryman -- Detroit Tigers

147 Mike Anderson -- Philadelphia Phillies

148 Dave Goltz -- Minnesota Twins

149 Ron Hunt -- Montreal Expos

150 Wilbur Wood -- Chicago White Sox

151 Wes Parker -- Los Angeles Dodgers

152 Dave May -- Milwaukee Brewers

153 Al Hrabosky -- St. Louis Cardinals

154 Jeff Torborg -- California Angels

155 Sal Bando -- Oakland Athletics

156 Cesar Geronimo -- Cincinnati Reds

157 Denny Riddleberger -- Cleveland Indians

158 Astros Team -- Houston Astros

159 Clarence Gaston -- San Diego Padres

160 Jim Palmer -- Baltimore Orioles

161 Ted Martinez -- New York Mets

162 Pete Broberg -- Texas Rangers

163 Vic Davalillo -- Pittsburgh Pirates

164 Monty Montgomery -- Kansas City Royals

165 Luis Aparicio -- Boston Red Sox

166 Terry Harmon -- Philadelphia Phillies

167 Steve Stone -- San Francisco Giants

168 Jim Northrup -- Detroit Tigers

169 Ron Schueler -- Atlanta Braves

170 Harmon Killebrew -- Minnesota Twins

171 Bernie Carbo -- St. Louis Cardinals

172 Steve Kline -- New York Yankees

173 Hal Breeden -- Montreal Expos

174 Rich Gossage -- Chicago White Sox

175 Frank Robinson -- California Angels

176 Chuck Taylor -- Milwaukee Brewers

177 Bill Plummer -- Cincinnati Reds

178 Don Rose -- California Angels

179 A's Mgr/Coaches -- Oakland Athletics

180 Fergie Jenkins -- Chicago Cubs

181 Jack Brohamer -- Cleveland Indians

182 Mike Caldwell -- San Diego Padres

183 Don Buford -- Baltimore Orioles

184 Jerry Koosman -- New York Mets

185 Jim Wynn -- Houston Astros

186 Bill Fahey -- Texas Rangers

187 Luke Walker -- Pittsburgh Pirates

188 Cookie Rojas -- Kansas City Royals

189 Greg Luzinski -- Philadelphia Phillies

190 Bob Gibson -- St. Louis Cardinals

191 Tigers Team -- Detroit Tigers

192 Pat Jarvis -- Atlanta Braves

193 Carlton Fisk -- Boston Red Sox

194 Jorge Orta -- Chicago White Sox

195 Clay Carroll -- Cincinnati Reds

196 Ken McMullen -- Los Angeles Dodgers

197 Ed Goodson -- San Francisco Giants

198 Horace Clarke -- New York Yankees

199 Bert Blyleven -- Minnesota Twins

200 Billy Williams -- Chicago Cubs

201 AL Playoffs

202 NL Playoffs

203 World Series Game 1

204 World Series Game 2

205 World Series Game 3

206 World Series Game 4

207 World Series Game 5

208 World Series Game 6

209 World Series Game 7

210 World Series Summary

211 Balor Moore -- Montreal Expos

212 Joe Lahoud -- Milwaukee Brewers

213 Steve Garvey -- Los Angeles Dodgers

214 Dave Hamilton -- Oakland Athletics

215 Dusty Baker -- Atlanta Braves

216 Toby Harrah -- Texas Rangers

217 Don Wilson -- Houston Astros

218 Aurelio Rodriguez -- Detroit Tigers

219 Cardinals Team -- St. Louis Cardinals

220 Nolan Ryan -- California Angels

221 Fred Kendall -- San Diego Padres

222 Rob Gardner -- Oakland Athletics

223 Bud Harrelson -- New York Mets

224 Bill Lee -- Boston Red Sox

225 Al Oliver -- Pittsburgh Pirates

226 Ray Fosse -- Cleveland Indians

227 Wayne Twitchell -- Philadelphia Phillies

228 Bobby Darwin -- Minnesota Twins

229 Roric Harrison -- Baltimore Orioles

230 Joe Morgan -- Cincinnati Reds

231 Bill Parsons -- Milwaukee Brewers

232 Ken Singleton -- Montreal Expos

233 Ed Kirkpatrick -- Kansas City Royals

234 Bill North -- Oakland Athletics

235 Jim Hunter -- Oakland Athletics

236 Tito Fuentes -- San Francisco Giants

237 Braves Coaches -- Atlanta Braves

238 Tony Muser -- Chicago White Sox

239 Pete Richert -- Los Angeles Dodgers

240 Bobby Murcer -- New York Yankees

241 Dwain Anderson -- St. Louis Cardinals

242 George Culver -- Houston Astros

243 Angels Team -- California Angels

244 Ed Acosta -- San Diego Padres

245 Carl Yastrzemski -- Boston Red Sox

246 Ken Sanders -- Philadelphia Phillies

247 Del Unser -- Cleveland Indians

248 Jerry Johnson -- San Francisco Giants

249 Larry Biittner -- Texas Rangers

250 Manny Sanguillen -- Pittsburgh Pirates

251 Roger Nelson -- Kansas City Royals

252 Giants Mgr/Coaches -- San Francisco Giants

253 Mark Belanger -- Baltimore Orioles

254 Bill Stoneman -- Montreal Expos

255 Reggie Jackson -- Oakland Athletics

256 Chris Zachary -- Detroit Tigers

257 Yogi Berra Mgr -- New York Mets

258 Tommy John -- Los Angeles Dodgers

259 Jim Holt -- Minnesota Twins

260 Gary Nolan -- Cincinnati Reds

261 Pat Kelly -- Chicago White Sox

262 Jack Aker -- Chicago Cubs

263 George Scott -- Milwaukee Brewers

264 Checklist 133-264

265 Gene Michael -- New York Yankees

266 Mike Lum -- Atlanta Braves

267 Lloyd Allen -- California Angels

268 Jerry Morales -- San Diego Padres

269 Tim McCarver -- St. Louis Cardinals

270 Luis Tiant -- Boston Red Sox

271 Tom Hutton -- Philadelphia Phillies

272 Ed Farmer -- Cleveland Indians

273 Chris Speier -- San Francisco Giants

274 Darold Knowles -- Oakland Athletics

275 Tony Perez -- Cincinnati Reds

276 Joe Lovitto -- Texas Rangers

277 Bob Miller -- Pittsburgh Pirates

278 Orioles Team -- Baltimore Orioles

279 Mike Strahler -- California Angels

280 Al Kaline -- Detroit Tigers

281 Mike Jorgensen -- Montreal Expos

282 Steve Hovley -- Kansas City Royals

283 Ray Sadecki -- New York Mets

284 Glenn Borgmann -- Minnesota Twins

285 Don Kessinger -- Chicago Cubs

286 Frank Linzy -- Milwaukee Brewers

287 Eddie Leon -- Chicago White Sox

288 Gary Gentry -- Atlanta Braves

289 Bob Oliver -- California Angels

290 Cesar Cedeno -- Houston Astros

291 Rogelio Moret -- Boston Red Sox

292 Jose Cruz -- St. Louis Cardinals

293 Bernie Allen -- New York Yankees

294 Steve Arlin -- San Diego Padres

295 Bert Campaneris -- Oakland Athletics

296 Reds Mgr/Coaches -- Cincinnati Reds

297 Walt Williams -- Cleveland Indians

298 Ron Bryant -- San Francisco Giants

299 Ted Ford -- Texas Rangers

300 Steve Carlton -- Philadelphia Phillies

301 Billy Grabarkewitz -- California Angels

302 Terry Crowley -- Baltimore Orioles

303 Nelson Briles -- Pittsburgh Pirates

304 Duke Sims -- Detroit Tigers

305 Willie Mays -- New York Mets

306 Tom Burgmeier -- Kansas City Royals

307 Boots Day -- Montreal Expos

308 Skip Lockwood -- Milwaukee Brewers

309 Paul Popovich -- Chicago Cubs

310 Dick Allen -- Chicago White Sox

311 Joe Decker -- Minnesota Twins

312 Oscar Brown -- Atlanta Braves

313 Jim Ray -- Houston Astros

314 Ron Swoboda -- New York Yankees

315 John Odom -- Oakland Athletics

316 Padres Team -- San Diego Padres

317 Danny Cater -- Boston Red Sox

318 Jim McGlothlin -- Cincinnati Reds

319 Jim Spencer -- California Angels

320 Lou Brock -- St. Louis Cardinals

321 Rich Hinton -- Texas Rangers

322 Garry Maddox -- San Francisco Giants

323 Tigers Coaches -- Detroit Tigers

324 Al Downing -- Los Angeles Dodgers

325 Boog Powell -- Baltimore Orioles

326 Darrell Brandon -- Philadelphia Phillies

327 John Lowenstein -- Cleveland Indians

328 Bill Bonham -- Chicago Cubs

329 Ed Kranepool -- New York Mets

330 Rod Carew -- Minnesota Twins

331 Carl Morton -- Montreal Expos

332 John Felske -- Milwaukee Brewers

333 Gene Clines -- Pittsburgh Pirates

334 Freddie Patek -- Kansas City Royals

335 Bob Tolan -- Cincinnati Reds

336 Tom Bradley -- San Francisco Giants

337 Dave Duncan -- Oakland Athletics

338 Checklist 265-396

339 Dick Tidrow -- Cleveland Indians

340 Nate Colbert -- San Diego Padres

341 Jim Palmer -- Kid Pixs -- Baltimore Orioles

342 Sam McDowell -- Kid Pixs -- Oakland Athletics

343 Bobby Murcer -- Kid Pixs -- New York Yankees

344 Jim Hunter -- Kid Pixs -- Oakland Athletics

345 Chris Speier -- Kid Pixs -- San Francisco Giants

346 Gaylord Perry -- Kid Pixs -- Cleveland Indians

347 Royals Team -- Kansas City Royals

348 Rennie Stennett -- Pittsburgh Pirates

349 Dick McAuliffe -- Detroit Tigers

350 Tom Seaver -- New York Mets

351 Jimmy Stewart -- Houston Astros

352 Don Stanhouse -- Texas Rangers

353 Steve Brye -- Minnesota Twins

354 Billy Parker -- California Angels

355 Mike Marshall -- Montreal Expos

356 White Sox Mgr/Coache -- Chicago White Sox

357 Ross Grimsley -- Cincinnati Reds

358 Jim Nettles -- Minnesota Twins

359 Cecil Upshaw -- Atlanta Braves

360 Joe Rudi -- Oakland Athletics

361 Fran Healy -- San Francisco Giants

362 Eddie Watt -- Baltimore Orioles

363 Jackie Hernandez -- Pittsburgh Pirates

364 Rick Wise -- St. Louis Cardinals

365 Rico Petrocelli -- Boston Red Sox

366 Brock Davis -- Milwaukee Brewers

367 Burt Hooton -- Chicago Cubs

368 Bill Buckner -- Los Angeles Dodgers

369 Lerrin LaGrow -- Detroit Tigers

370 Willie Stargell -- Pittsburgh Pirates

371 Mike Kekich -- New York Yankees

372 Oscar Gamble -- Cleveland Indians

373 Clyde Wright -- California Angels

374 Darrell Evans -- Atlanta Braves

375 Larry Dierker -- Houston Astros

376 Frank Duffy -- Cleveland Indians

377 Expos Coaches -- Montreal Expos

378 Lenny Randle -- Texas Rangers

379 Cy Acosta -- Chicago White Sox

380 Johnny Bench -- Cincinnati Reds

381 Vicente Romo -- San Diego Padres

382 Mike Hegan -- Oakland Athletics

383 Diego Segui -- St. Louis Cardinals

384 Don Baylor -- Baltimore Orioles

385 Jim Perry -- Minnesota Twins

386 Don Money -- Milwaukee Brewers

387 Jim Barr -- San Francisco Giants

388 Ben Oglivie -- Boston Red Sox

389 Mets Team -- New York Mets

390 Mickey Lolich -- Detroit Tigers

391 Lee Lacy -- Los Angeles Dodgers

392 Dick Drago -- Kansas City Royals

393 Jose Cardenal -- Chicago Cubs

394 Sparky Lyle -- New York Yankees

395 Roger Metzger -- Houston Astros

396 Grant Jackson -- Baltimore Orioles

397 Dave Cash -- Pittsburgh Pirates

398 Rich Hand -- Texas Rangers

399 George Foster -- Cincinnati Reds

400 Gaylord Perry -- Cleveland Indians

401 Clyde Mashore -- Montreal Expos

402 Jack Hiatt -- California Angels

403 Sonny Jackson -- Atlanta Braves

404 Chuck Brinkman -- Chicago White Sox

405 Cesar Tovar -- Philadelphia Phillies

406 Paul Lindblad -- Oakland Athletics

407 Felix Millan -- New York Mets

408 Jim Colborn -- Milwaukee Brewers

409 Ivan Murrell -- San Diego Padres

410 Willie McCovey -- San Francisco Giants

411 Ray Corbin -- Minnesota Twins

412 Manny Mota -- Los Angeles Dodgers

413 Tom Timmermann -- Detroit Tigers

414 Ken Rudolph -- Chicago Cubs

415 Marty Pattin -- Boston Red Sox

416 Paul Schaal -- Kansas City Royals

417 Scipio Spinks -- St. Louis Cardinals

418 Bobby Grich -- Baltimore Orioles

419 Casey Cox -- New York Yankees

420 Tommie Agee -- Houston Astros

421 Angels Mgr/Coaches -- California Angels

422 Bob Robertson -- Pittsburgh Pirates

423 Johnny Jeter -- Chicago White Sox

424 Denny Doyle -- Philadelphia Phillies

425 Alex Johnson -- Cleveland Indians

426 Dave LaRoche -- Chicago Cubs

427 Rick Auerbach -- Milwaukee Brewers

428 Wayne Simpson -- Kansas City Royals

429 Jim Fairey -- Montreal Expos

430 Vida Blue -- Oakland Athletics

431 Gerry Moses -- New York Yankees

432 Dan Frisella -- Atlanta Braves

433 Willie Horton -- Detroit Tigers

434 Giants Team -- San Francisco Giants

435 Rico Carty -- Texas Rangers

436 Jim McAndrew -- New York Mets

437 John Kennedy -- Boston Red Sox

438 Enzo Hernandez -- San Diego Padres

439 Eddie Fisher -- Chicago White Sox

440 Glenn Beckert -- Chicago Cubs

441 Gail Hopkins -- Kansas City Royals

442 Dick Dietz -- Los Angeles Dodgers

443 Danny Thompson -- Minnesota Twins

444 Ken Brett -- Philadelphia Phillies

445 Ken Berry -- California Angels

446 Jerry Reuss -- Houston Astros

447 Joe Hague -- Cincinnati Reds

448 John Hiller -- Detroit Tigers

449 Indians Mgr/Coaches -- Cleveland Indians

450 Joe Torre -- St. Louis Cardinals

451 John Vukovich -- Milwaukee Brewers

452 Paul Casanova -- Atlanta Braves

453 Checklist 397-528

454 Tom Haller -- Philadelphia Phillies

455 Bill Melton -- Chicago White Sox

456 Dick Green -- Oakland Athletics

457 John Strohmayer -- Montreal Expos

458 Jim Mason -- Texas Rangers

459 Jimmy Howarth -- San Francisco Giants

460 Bill Freehan -- Detroit Tigers

461 Mike Corkins -- San Diego Padres

462 Ron Blomberg -- New York Yankees

463 Ken Tatum -- Boston Red Sox

464 Cubs Team -- Chicago Cubs

465 Dave Giusti -- Pittsburgh Pirates

466 Jose Arcia -- Kansas City Royals

467 Mike Ryan -- Philadelphia Phillies

468 Tom Griffin -- Houston Astros

469 Dan Monzon -- Minnesota Twins

470 Mike Cuellar -- Baltimore Orioles

471 Ty Cobb LDR

472 Lou Gehrig LDR -- New York Yankees

473 Hank Aaron LDR -- Atlanta Braves

474 Babe Ruth LDR -- New York Yankees

475 Ty Cobb LDR -- Detroit Tigers

476 Walter Johnson LDR

477 Cy Young LDR

478 Walter Johnson LDR

479 Hal Lanier -- New York Yankees

480 Juan Marichal -- San Francisco Giants

481 White Sox Team -- Chicago White Sox

482 Rick Reuschel -- Chicago Cubs

483 Dal Maxvill -- Oakland Athletics

484 Ernie McAnally -- Montreal Expos

485 Norm Cash -- Detroit Tigers

486 Phillies Mgr/Coaches -- Philadelphia Phillies

487 Bruce Dal Canton -- Kansas City Royals

488 Dave Campbell -- San Diego Padres

489 Jeff Burroughs -- Texas Rangers

490 Claude Osteen -- Los Angeles Dodgers

491 Bob Montgomery -- Boston Red Sox

492 Pedro Borbon -- Cincinnati Reds

493 Duffy Dyer -- New York Mets

494 Rich Morales -- Chicago White Sox

495 Tommy Helms -- Houston Astros

496 Ray Lamb -- Cleveland Indians

497 Cardinals Mgr/Coache -- St. Louis Cardinals

498 Graig Nettles -- New York Yankees

499 Bob Moose -- Pittsburgh Pirates

500 A's Team -- Oakland Athletics

501 Larry Gura -- Chicago Cubs

502 Bobby Valentine -- California Angels

503 Phil Niekro -- Atlanta Braves

504 Earl Williams -- Baltimore Orioles

505 Bob Bailey -- Montreal Expos

506 Bart Johnson -- Chicago White Sox

507 Darrel Chaney -- Cincinnati Reds

508 Gates Brown -- Detroit Tigers

509 Jim Nash -- Philadelphia Phillies

510 Amos Otis -- Kansas City Royals

511 Sam McDowell -- San Francisco Giants

512 Dalton Jones -- Texas Rangers

513 Dave Marshall -- San Diego Padres

514 Jerry Kenney -- Cleveland Indians

515 Andy Messersmith -- Los Angeles Dodgers

516 Danny Walton -- Minnesota Twins

517 Pirates Mgr/Coaches -- Pittsburgh Pirates

518 Bob Veale -- Boston Red Sox

519 John Edwards -- Houston Astros

520 Mel Stottlemyre -- New York Yankees

521 Braves Team -- Atlanta Braves

522 Leo Cardenas -- California Angels

523 Wayne Granger -- St. Louis Cardinals

524 Gene Tenace -- Oakland Athletics

525 Jim Fregosi -- New York Mets

526 Ollie Brown -- Milwaukee Brewers

527 Dan McGinn -- Chicago Cubs

528 Paul Blair -- Baltimore Orioles

529 Milt May -- Pittsburgh Pirates

530 Jim Kaat -- Minnesota Twins

531 Ron Woods -- Montreal Expos

532 Steve Mingori -- Cleveland Indians

533 Larry Stahl -- Cincinnati Reds

534 Dave Lemonds -- Chicago White Sox

535 John Callison -- New York Yankees

536 Phillie Team -- Philadelphia Phillies

537 Bill Slayback -- Detroit Tigers

538 Jim Hart -- San Francisco Giants

539 Tom Murphy -- Kansas City Royals

540 Cleon Jones -- New York Mets

541 Bob Bolin -- Boston Red Sox

542 Pat Corrales -- San Diego Padres

543 Alan Foster -- California Angels

544 Von Joshua -- Los Angeles Dodgers

545 Orlando Cepeda -- Oakland Athletics

546 Jim York -- Houston Astros

547 Bobby Heise -- Milwaukee Brewers

548 Don Durham -- St. Louis Cardinals

549 Rangers Mgr/Coaches -- Texas Rangers

550 Dave Johnson -- Atlanta Braves

551 Mike Kilkenny -- Cleveland Indians

552 J.C. Martin -- Chicago Cubs

553 Mickey Scott -- Baltimore Orioles

554 Dave Concepcion -- Cincinnati Reds

555 Bill Hands -- Minnesota Twins

556 Yankees Team -- New York Yankees

557 Bernie Williams -- San Francisco Giants

558 Jerry May -- Kansas City Royals

559 Barry Lersch -- Philadelphia Phillies

560 Frank Howard -- Detroit Tigers

561 Jim Geddes -- Chicago White Sox

562 Wayne Garrett -- New York Mets

563 Larry Haney -- Oakland Athletics

564 Mike Thompson -- Texas Rangers

565 Jim Hickman -- Chicago Cubs

566 Lew Krausse -- Boston Red Sox

567 Bob Fenwick -- St. Louis Cardinals

568 Ray Newman -- Milwaukee Brewers

569 Walt Alston Mgr -- Los Angeles Dodgers

570 Bill Singer -- California Angels

571 Rusty Torres -- Cleveland Indians

572 Gary Sutherland -- Houston Astros

573 Fred Beene -- New York Yankees

574 Bob Didier -- Atlanta Braves

575 Dock Ellis -- Pittsburgh Pirates

576 Expos Team -- Montreal Expos

577 Eric Soderholm -- Minnesota Twins

578 Ken Wright -- Kansas City Royals

579 Tom Grieve -- Texas Rangers

580 Joe Pepitone -- Chicago Cubs

581 Steve Kealey -- Chicago White Sox

582 Darrell Porter -- Milwaukee Brewers

583 Bill Greif -- San Diego Padres

584 Chris Arnold -- San Francisco Giants

585 Joe Niekro -- Detroit Tigers

586 Bill Sudakis -- New York Mets

587 Rich McKinney -- Oakland Athletics

588 Checklist 529-660

589 Ken Forsch -- Houston Astros

590 Deron Johnson -- Philadelphia Phillies

591 Mike Hedlund -- Cleveland Indians

592 John Boccabella -- Montreal Expos

593 Royals Mgr/Coaches -- Kansas City Royals

594 Vic Harris -- Texas Rangers

595 Don Gullett -- Cincinnati Reds

596 Red Sox Team -- Boston Red Sox

597 Mickey Rivers -- California Angels

598 Phil Roof -- Minnesota Twins

599 Ed Crosby -- St. Louis Cardinals

600 Dave McNally -- Baltimore Orioles

601 Pena/Robls/Stelmaszk

602 Behney/Garcia/Rau

603 Hughes/McNulty/Reitz

604 Jefrson/O'Tool/Strmp

605 Bourque/Cabel/Marquz

606 Mathew/Paciork/Roque

607 Busse/Frias/Guerrero

608 Busby/Colpart/Medich

609 Blanks/Garcia/Lopes

610 Freeman/Hough/Webb

611 Cogins/Wohlford/Zisk

612 Lawson/Reynold/Strom

613 Boone/Ivie/Jutze

614 Bumbry/Evans/Spikes

615 Mike Schmidt/Cey

616 Anglni/Blatric/Garmn

617 Rich Chiles -- New York Mets

618 Andy Etchebarren -- Baltimore Orioles

619 Billy Wilson -- Philadelphia Phillies

620 Tommy Harper -- Boston Red Sox

621 Joe Ferguson -- Los Angeles Dodgers

622 Larry Hisle -- Minnesota Twins

623 Steve Renko -- Montreal Expos

624 Astros Mgr/Coaches -- Houston Astros

625 Angel Mangual -- Oakland Athletics

626 Bob Barton -- Cincinnati Reds

627 Luis Alvarado -- Chicago White Sox

628 Jim Slaton -- Milwaukee Brewers

629 Indians -- Cleveland Indians

630 Denny McLain -- Atlanta Braves

631 Tom Matchick -- Baltimore Orioles

632 Dick Selma -- Philadelphia Phillies

633 Ike Brown -- Detroit Tigers

634 Alan Closter -- New York Yankees

635 Gene Alley -- Pittsburgh Pirates

636 Rick Clark -- California Angels

637 Norm Niller -- Houston Astros

638 Ken Reynolds -- Minnesota Twins

639 Willie Crawford -- Los Angeles Dodgers

640 Dick Bosman -- Texas Rangers

641 Reds Team -- Cincinnati Reds

642 Jose Laboy -- Montreal Expos

643 Al Fitzmorris -- Kansas City Royals

644 Jack Heidemann -- Cleveland Indians

645 Bob Locker -- Chicago Cubs

646 Brewers Mgr/Coaches -- Milwaukee Brewers

647 George Stone -- New York Mets

648 Tom Egan -- Chicago White Sox

649 Rich Folkers -- St. Louis Cardinals

650 Felipe Alou -- New York Yankees

651 Don Carrithers -- San Francisco Giants

652 Ted Kubiak -- Oakland Athletics

653 Joe Hoerner -- Atlanta Braves

654 Twins Team -- Minnesota Twins

655 Clay Kirby -- San Diego Padres

656 John Ellis -- Cleveland Indians

657 Bob Johnson -- Pittsburgh Pirates

658 Elliott Maddox -- Texas Rangers

659 Jose Pagan -- Philadelphia Phillies

660 Fred Scherman -- Detroit Tigers

1971 Topps wantlist

2008-12-01T12:20:00.003-05:00

Cards I need are in bold.

Email me at 78topps at gmail dot com to discuss trades.

75/752 (9.97% complete)

1 World Champions -- Baltimore Orioles
2 Dock Ellis -- Pittsburgh Pirates
3 Dick McAuliffe -- Detroit Tigers
4 Vic Davalillo -- St. Louis Cardinals
5 Thurman Munson -- New York Yankees
6 Ed Spiezio -- San Diego Padres
7 Jim Holt -- Minnesota Twins
8 Mike McQueen -- Atlanta Braves
9 George Scott -- Boston Red Sox
10 Claude Osteen -- Los Angeles Dodgers
11 Elliott Maddox -- Washington Senators
12 Johnny Callison -- Chicago Cubs
13 Brinkman/Moloney -- Chicago White Sox
14 Dave Concepcion -- Cincinnati Reds
15 Andy Messersmith -- California Angels
16 Ken Singleton -- New York Mets
17 Billy Sorrell -- Kansas City Royals
18 Norm Miller -- Houston Astros
19 Skip Pitlock -- San Francisco Giants
20 Reggie Jackson -- Oakland Athletics
21 Dan McGinn -- Montreal Expos
22 Phil Roof -- Milwaukee Brewers
23 Oscar Gamble -- Philadelphia Phillies
24 Rich Hand -- Cleveland Indians
25 Clarence Gaston -- San Diego Padres
26 Bert Blyleven -- Minnesota Twins
27 Cambria/Clines -- Pittsburgh Pirates
28 Ron Klimkowski -- New York Yankees
29 Don Buford -- Baltimore Orioles
30 Phil Niekro -- Atlanta Braves
31 Eddie Kasko -- Boston Red Sox
32 Jerry DaVanon -- St. Louis Cardinals
33 Del Unser -- Washington Senators
34 Sandy Vance -- Los Angeles Dodgers
35 Lou Piniella -- Kansas City Royals
36 Dean Chance -- New York Mets
37 Rich McKinney -- Chicago White Sox
38 Jim Colborn -- Chicago Cubs
39 Lamont/LaGrow -- Detroit Tigers
40 Lee May -- Cincinnati Reds
41 Rick Austin -- Cleveland Indians
42 Boots Day -- Montreal Expos
43 Steve Kealey -- California Angels
44 Johnny Edwards -- Houston Astros
45 Jim Hunter -- Oakland Athletics
46 Dave Campbell -- San Diego Padres
47 Johnny Jeter -- Pittsburgh Pirates
48 Dave Baldwin -- Milwaukee Brewers
49 Don Money -- Philadelphia Phillies
50 Willie McCovey -- San Francisco Giants
51 Steve Kline -- New York Yankees
52 Brown/Williams -- Atlanta Braves
53 Paul Blair -- Baltimore Orioles
54 Checklist 1-132
55 Steve Carlton -- St. Louis Cardinals
56 Duane Josephson -- Chicago White Sox
57 Von Joshua -- Los Angeles Dodgers
58 Bill Lee -- Boston Red Sox
59 Gene Mauch -- Montreal Expos
60 Dick Bosman -- Washington Senators
61 Johnsn/Olva/Ystrzski
62 Carty/Sangulen/Tore
63 Conglaro/Howrd/Powll
64 Bench/Perez/Williams
65 Howrd/Klbrw/Ystrzski
66 Bench/Perez/Williams
67 Palmer/Segui/Wright
68 Seaver/Simpson/Walkr
69 Cuellar/McNally/Pery
70 Gibson/Jenkins/Perry
71 Johnsn/Lolich/McDowl
72 Seaver/Gibson/Jenkns
73 George Brunet -- Pittsburgh Pirates
74 Hamm/Nettles -- Minnesota Twins
75 Gary Nolan -- Cincinnati Reds
76 Ted Savage -- Milwaukee Brewers
77 Mike Compton -- Philadelphia Phillies
78 Jim Spencer -- California Angels
79 Wade Blasingame -- Houston Astros
80 Bill Melton -- Chicago White Sox
81 Felix Millan -- Atlanta Braves
82 Casey Cox -- Washington Senators
83 Bobb/Foli -- New York Mets
84 Marcel Lachemann -- Oakland Athletics
85 Billy Grabarkewitz -- Los Angeles Dodgers
86 Mike Kilkenny -- Detroit Tigers
87 Jack Heidemann -- Cleveland Indians
88 Hal King -- Atlanta Braves
89 Ken Brett -- Boston Red Sox
90 Joe Pepitone -- Chicago Cubs
91 Bob Lemon -- Kansas City Royals
92 Fred Wenz -- Philadelphia Phillies
93 McRae/Riddleberger -- Washington Senators
94 Don Hahn -- Montreal Expos
95 Luis Tiant -- Minnesota Twins
96 Joe Hague -- St. Louis Cardinals
97 Floyd Wicker -- Milwaukee Brewers
98 Joe Decker -- Chicago Cubs
99 Mark Belanger -- Baltimore Orioles
100 Pete Rose -- Cincinnati Reds
101 Les Cain -- Detroit Tigers
102 Forsch/Howard -- Houston Astros
103 Rich Severson -- Kansas City Royals
104 Dan Frisella -- New York Mets
105 Tony Conigliaro -- California Angels
106 Tom Dukes -- San Diego Padres
107 Roy Foster -- Cleveland Indians
108 John Cumberland -- San Francisco Giants
109 Steve Hovley -- Oakland Athletics
110 Bill Mazeroski -- Pittsburgh Pirates
111 Colson/Mitchell -- New York Yankees
112 Manny Mota -- Los Angeles Dodgers
113 Jerry Crider -- Chicago White Sox
114 Billy Conigliaro -- Boston Red Sox
115 Donn Clendenon -- New York Mets
116 Ken Sanders -- Milwaukee Brewers
117 Ted Simmons -- St. Louis Cardinals
118 Cookie Rojas -- Kansas City Royals
119 Frank Lucchesi -- Philadelphia Phillies
120 Willie Horton -- Detroit Tigers
121 Dunegan/Skidmore -- Chicago Cubs
122 Eddie Watt -- Baltimore Orioles
123 Checklist 133-263
124 Don Gullett -- Cincinnati Reds
125 Ray Fosse -- Cleveland Indians
126 Danny Coombs -- San Diego Padres
127 Danny Thompson -- Minnesota Twins
128 Frank Johnson -- San Francisco Giants
129 Aurelio Monteagudo -- Kansas City Royals
130 Denis Menke -- Houston Astros
131 Curt Blefary -- New York Yankees
132 Jose Laboy -- Montreal Expos
133 Mickey Lolich -- Detroit Tigers
134 Jose Arcia -- San Diego Padres
135 Rick Monday -- Oakland Athletics
136 Duffy Dyer -- New York Mets
137 Marcelino Lopez -- Baltimore Orioles
138 Lis/Montanez -- Philadelphia Phillies
139 Paul Casanova -- Washington Senators
140 Gaylord Perry -- San Francisco Giants
141 Frank Quilici -- Minnesota Twins
142 Mack Jones -- Montreal Expos
143 Steve Blass -- Pittsburgh Pirates
144 Jackie Hernandez -- Kansas City Royals
145 Bill Singer -- Los Angeles Dodgers
146 Ralph Houk -- New York Yankees
147 Bob Priddy -- Atlanta Braves
148 John Mayberry -- Houston Astros
149 Mike Hershberger -- Milwaukee Brewers
150 Sam McDowell -- Cleveland Indians
151 Tommy Davis -- Chicago Cubs
152 Allen/Llenas -- California Angels
153 Gary Ross -- San Diego Padres
154 Cesar Gutierrez -- Detroit Tigers
155 Ken Henderson -- San Francisco Giants
156 Bart Johnson -- Chicago White Sox
157 Bob Bailey -- Montreal Expos
158 Jerry Reuss -- St. Louis Cardinals
159 Jarvis Tatum -- Boston Red Sox
160 Tom Seaver -- New York Mets
161 Coins Checklist
162 Jack Billingham -- Houston Astros
163 Buck Martinez -- Kansas City Royals
164 Duffy/Wilcox -- Cincinnati Reds
165 Cesar Tovar -- Minnesota Twins
166 Joe Hoerner -- Philadelphia Phillies
167 Tom Grieve -- Washington Senators
168 Bruce Dal Canton -- Pittsburgh Pirates
169 Ed Herrmann -- Chicago White Sox
170 Mike Cuellar -- Baltimore Orioles
171 Bobby Wine -- Montreal Expos
172 Duke Sims -- Cleveland Indians
173 Gil Garrido -- Atlanta Braves
174 Dave LaRoche -- California Angels
175 Jim Hickman -- Chicago Cubs
176 Griffin/Montgomery -- Boston Red Sox
177 Hal McRae -- Cincinnati Reds
178 Dave Duncan -- Oakland Athletics
179 Mike Corkins -- San Diego Padres
180 Al Kaline -- Detroit Tigers
181 Hal Lanier -- San Francisco Giants
182 Al Downing -- Milwaukee Brewers
183 Gil Hodges -- New York Mets
184 Stan Bahnsen -- New York Yankees
185 Julian Javier -- St. Louis Cardinals
186 Bob Spence -- Chicago White Sox
187 Ted Abernathy -- Kansas City Royals
188 Strahler/Valentine -- Los Angeles Dodgers
189 George Mitterwald -- Minnesota Twins
190 Bob Tolan -- Cincinnati Reds
191 Mike Andrews -- Boston Red Sox
192 Billy Wilson -- Philadelphia Phillies
193 Bob Grich -- Baltimore Orioles
194 Mike Lum -- Atlanta Braves
195 AL Playoff Game 1
196 AL Playoff Game 2
197 AL Playoff Game 3
198 AL Playoff Summary
199 NL Playoff Game 1
200 NL Playoff Game 2
201 NL Playoff Game 3
202 NL Playoff Summary
203 Larry Gura -- Chicago Cubs
204 Brewers Rookies -- Milwaukee Brewers
205 Gerry Moses -- California Angels
206 Checklist 264-393
207 Alan Foster -- Los Angeles Dodgers
208 Billy Martin -- Detroit Tigers
209 Steve Renko -- Montreal Expos
210 Rod Carew -- Minnesota Twins
211 Phil Hennigan -- Cleveland Indians
212 Rich Hebner -- Pittsburgh Pirates
213 Frank Baker -- New York Yankees
214 Al Ferrara -- San Diego Padres
215 Diego Segui -- Oakland Athletics
216 Cleveland/Melendez -- St. Louis Cardinals
217 Ed Stroud -- Washington Senators
218 Tony Cloninger -- Cincinnati Reds
219 Elrod Hendricks -- Baltimore Orioles
220 Ron Santo -- Chicago Cubs
221 Dave Morehead -- Kansas City Royals
222 Bob Watson -- Houston Astros
223 Cecil Upshaw -- Atlanta Braves
224 Alan Gallagher -- San Francisco Giants
225 Gary Peters -- Boston Red Sox
226 Bill Russell -- Los Angeles Dodgers
227 Floyd Weaver -- Chicago White Sox
228 Wayne Garrett -- New York Mets
229 Jim Hannan -- Detroit Tigers
230 Willie Stargell -- Pittsburgh Pirates
231 Colbert/Lowenstein -- Cleveland Indians
232 John Strohmayer -- Montreal Expos
233 Larry Bowa -- Philadelphia Phillies
234 Jim Lyttle -- New York Yankees
235 Nate Colbert -- San Diego Padres
236 Bob Humphreys -- Milwaukee Brewers
237 Cesar Cedeno -- Houston Astros
238 Chuck Dobson -- Oakland Athletics
239 Red Schoendienst -- St. Louis Cardinals
240 Clyde Wright -- California Angels
241 Dave Nelson -- Washington Senators
242 Jim Ray -- Houston Astros
243 Carlos May -- Chicago White Sox
244 Bob Tillman -- Atlanta Braves
245 Jim Kaat -- Minnesota Twins
246 Tony Taylor -- Philadelphia Phillies
247 Cram/Splittorff -- Kansas City Royals
248 Hoyt Wilhelm -- Chicago Cubs
249 Chico Salmon -- Baltimore Orioles
250 Johnny Bench -- Cincinnati Reds
251 Frank Reberger -- San Francisco Giants
252 Eddie Leon -- Cleveland Indians
253 Bill Sudakis -- Los Angeles Dodgers
254 Cal Koonce -- Boston Red Sox
255 Bob Robertson -- Pittsburgh Pirates
256 Tony Gonzalez -- California Angels
257 Nelson Briles -- St. Louis Cardinals
258 Dick Green -- Oakland Athletics
259 Dave Marshall -- New York Mets
260 Tommy Harper -- Milwaukee Brewers
261 Darold Knowles -- Washington Senators
262 Robinson/Williams -- San Diego Padres
263 John Ellis -- New York Yankees
264 Joe Morgan -- Houston Astros
265 Jim Northrup -- Detroit Tigers
266 Bill Stoneman -- Montreal Expos
267 Rich Morales -- Chicago White Sox
268 Phillies Team -- Philadelphia Phillies
269 Gail Hopkins -- Kansas City Royals
270 Rico Carty -- Atlanta Braves
271 Bill Zepp -- Minnesota Twins
272 Tommy Helms -- Cincinnati Reds
273 Pete Richert -- Baltimore Orioles
274 Ron Slocum -- San Diego Padres
275 Vada Pinson -- Cleveland Indians
276 Davison/Foster -- San Francisco Giants
277 Gary Waslewski -- New York Yankees
278 Jerry Grote -- New York Mets
279 Lefty Phillips -- California Angels
280 Fergie Jenkins -- Chicago Cubs
281 Danny Walton -- Milwaukee Brewers
282 Jose Pagan -- Pittsburgh Pirates
283 Dick Such -- Washington Senators
284 Jim Gosger -- Montreal Expos
285 Sal Bando -- Oakland Athletics
286 Jerry McNertney -- St. Louis Cardinals
287 Mike Fiore -- Boston Red Sox
288 Joe Moeller -- Los Angeles Dodgers
289 White Sox Team -- Chicago White Sox
290 Tony Oliva -- Minnesota Twins
291 George Culver -- Houston Astros
292 Jay Johnstone -- Chicago White Sox
293 Pat Corrales -- Cincinnati Reds
294 Steve Dunning -- Cleveland Indians
295 Bobby Bonds -- San Francisco Giants
296 Tom Timmermann -- Detroit Tigers
297 Johnny Briggs -- Philadelphia Phillies
298 Jim Nelson -- Pittsburgh Pirates
299 Ed Kirkpatrick -- Kansas City Royals
300 Brooks Robinson -- Baltimore Orioles
301 Earl Wilson -- San Diego Padres
302 Phil Gagliano -- Boston Red Sox
303 Lindy McDaniel -- New York Yankees
304 Ron Brand -- Montreal Expos
305 Reggie Smith -- Boston Red Sox
306 Jim Nash -- Atlanta Braves
307 Don Wert -- Washington Senators
308 Cards Team -- St. Louis Cardinals
309 Dick Ellsworth -- Milwaukee Brewers
310 Tommie Agee -- New York Mets
311 Lee Stange -- Chicago White Sox
312 Harry Walker -- Houston Astros
313 Tom Hall -- Minnesota Twins
314 Jeff Torborg -- Los Angeles Dodgers
315 Ron Fairly -- Montreal Expos
316 Fred Scherman -- Detroit Tigers
317 Driscoll/Mangual -- Oakland Athletics
318 Rudy May -- California Angels
319 Ty Cline -- Cincinnati Reds
320 Dave McNally -- Baltimore Orioles
321 Tom Matchick -- Kansas City Royals
322 Jim Beauchamp -- St. Louis Cardinals
323 Billy Champion -- Philadelphia Phillies
324 Graig Nettles -- Cleveland Indians
325 Juan Marichal -- San Francisco Giants
326 Richie Scheinblum -- Washington Senators
327 World Series Game 1
328 World Series Game 2
329 World Series Game 3
330 World Series Game 4
331 World Series Game 5
332 World Series Summery
333 Clay Kirby -- San Diego Padres
334 Roberto Pena -- Milwaukee Brewers
335 Jerry Koosman -- New York Mets
336 Tigers Team -- Detroit Tigers
337 Jesus Alou -- Houston Astros
338 Gene Tenace -- Oakland Athletics
339 Wayne Simpson -- Cincinnati Reds
340 Rico Petrocelli -- Boston Red Sox
341 Steve Garvey -- Los Angeles Dodgers
342 Frank Tepedino -- New York Yankees
343 Acosta/May -- Pittsburgh Pirates
344 Ellie Rodriguez -- Kansas City Royals
345 Joe Horlen -- Chicago White Sox
346 Lum Harris -- Atlanta Braves
347 Ted Uhlaender -- Cleveland Indians
348 Fred Norman -- St. Louis Cardinals
349 Rich Reese -- Minnesota Twins
350 Billy Williams -- Chicago Cubs
351 Jim Shellenback -- Washington Senators
352 Denny Doyle -- Philadelphia Phillies
353 Carl Taylor -- Milwaukee Brewers
354 Don McMahon -- San Francisco Giants
355 Bud Harrelson -- New York Mets
356 Bob Locker -- Oakland Athletics
357 Reds Team -- Cincinnati Reds
358 Danny Cater -- New York Yankees
359 Ron Reed -- Atlanta Braves
360 Jim Fregosi -- California Angels
361 Don Sutton -- Los Angeles Dodgers
362 Adamson/Freed -- Baltimore Orioles
363 Mike Nagy -- Boston Red Sox
364 Tommy Dean -- San Diego Padres
365 Bob Johnson -- Pittsburgh Pirates
366 Ron Stone -- Philadelphia Phillies
367 Dalton Jones -- Detroit Tigers
368 Bob Veale -- Pittsburgh Pirates
369 Checklist 394-523
370 Joe Torre -- St. Louis Cardinals
371 Jack Hiatt -- Houston Astros
372 Lew Krausse -- Milwaukee Brewers
373 Tom McCraw -- Chicago White Sox
374 Clete Boyer -- Atlanta Braves
375 Steve Hargan -- Cleveland Indians
376 Mashore/McAnally -- Montreal Expos
377 Greg Garrett -- Cincinnati Reds
378 Tito Fuentes -- San Francisco Giants
379 Wayne Granger -- Cincinnati Reds
380 Ted Williams -- Washington Senators
381 Fred Gladding -- Houston Astros
382 Jake Gibbs -- New York Yankees
383 Rod Gaspar -- San Diego Padres
384 Rollie Fingers -- Oakland Athletics
385 Maury Wills -- Los Angeles Dodgers
386 Red Sox Team -- Boston Red Sox
387 Ron Herbel -- Atlanta Braves
388 Al Oliver -- Pittsburgh Pirates
389 Ed Brinkman -- Detroit Tigers
390 Glenn Beckert -- Chicago Cubs
391 Brye/Nash -- Minnesota Twins
392 Grant Jackson -- Baltimore Orioles
393 Merv Rettenmund -- Baltimore Orioles
394 Clay Carroll -- Cincinnati Reds
395 Roy White -- New York Yankees
396 Dick Schofield -- St. Louis Cardinals
397 Alvin Dark -- Cleveland Indians
398 Howie Reed -- Montreal Expos
399 Jim French -- Washington Senators
400 Hank Aaron -- Atlanta Braves
401 Tom Murphy -- California Angels
402 Dodgers Team -- Los Angeles Dodgers
403 Joe Coleman -- Detroit Tigers
404 Harris/Metzger -- Houston Astros
405 Leo Cardenas -- Minnesota Twins
406 Ray Sadecki -- New York Mets
407 Joe Rudi -- Oakland Athletics
408 Rafael Robles -- San Diego Padres
409 Don Pavletich -- Boston Red Sox
410 Ken Holtzman -- Chicago Cubs
411 George Spriggs -- Kansas City Royals
412 Jerry Johnson -- San Francisco Giants
413 Pat Kelly -- Chicago White Sox
414 Woodie Fryman -- Philadelphia Phillies
415 Mike Hegan -- Milwaukee Brewers
416 Gene Alley -- Pittsburgh Pirates
417 Dick Hall -- Baltimore Orioles
418 Adolfo Phillips -- Montreal Expos
419 Ron Hansen -- New York Yankees
420 Jim Merritt -- Cincinnati Reds
421 John Stephenson -- California Angels
422 Frank Bertaina -- St. Louis Cardinals
423 Marting/Saunders -- Detroit Tigers
424 Roberto Rodriguez -- Chicago Cubs
425 Doug Rader -- Houston Astros
426 Chris Cannizzaro -- San Diego Padres
427 Bernie Allen -- Washington Senators
428 Jim McAndrew -- New York Mets
429 Chuck Hinton -- Cleveland Indians
430 Wes Parker -- Los Angeles Dodgers
431 Tom Burgmeier -- Kansas City Royals
432 Bob Didier -- Atlanta Braves
433 Skip Lockwood -- Milwaukee Brewers
434 Gary Sutherland -- Montreal Expos
435 Jose Cardenal -- St. Louis Cardinals
436 Wilbur Wood -- Chicago White Sox
437 Danny Murtaugh -- Pittsburgh Pirates
438 Mike McCormick -- New York Yankees
439 Luzinski/Reid -- Philadelphia Phillies
440 Bert Campaneris -- Oakland Athletics
441 Milt Pappas -- Chicago Cubs
442 Angels Team -- California Angels
443 Rich Robertson -- San Francisco Giants
444 Jimmie Price -- Detroit Tigers
445 Art Shamsky -- New York Mets
446 Bobby Bolin -- Boston Red Sox
447 Cesar Geronimo -- Houston Astros
448 Dave Roberts -- San Diego Padres
449 Brant Alyea -- Minnesota Twins
450 Bob Gibson -- St. Louis Cardinals
451 Joe Keough -- Kansas City Royals
452 John Boccabella -- Montreal Expos
453 Terry Crowley -- Baltimore Orioles
454 Mike Paul -- Cleveland Indians
455 Don Kessinger -- Chicago Cubs
456 Bob Meyer -- Milwaukee Brewers
457 Willie Smith -- Cincinnati Reds
458 Lemonds/Lolich -- Chicago White Sox
459 Jim Lefebvre -- Los Angeles Dodgers
460 Fritz Peterson -- New York Yankees
461 Jim Hart -- San Francisco Giants
462 Senators Team -- Washington Senators
463 Tom Kelley -- Atlanta Braves
464 Aurelio Rodriguez -- Detroit Tigers
465 Tim McCarver -- Philadelphia Phillies
466 Ken Berry -- California Angels
467 Al Santorini -- San Diego Padres
468 Frank Fernandez -- Oakland Athletics
469 Bob Aspromonte -- New York Mets
470 Bob Oliver -- Kansas City Royals
471 Tom Griffin -- Houston Astros
472 Ken Rudolph -- Chicago Cubs
473 Gary Wagner -- Boston Red Sox
474 Jim Fairey -- Montreal Expos
475 Ron Perranoski -- Minnesota Twins
476 Dal Maxvill -- St. Louis Cardinals
477 Earl Weaver -- Baltimore Orioles
478 Bernie Carbo -- Cincinnati Reds
479 Dennis Higgins -- Cleveland Indians
480 Manny Sanguillen -- Pittsburgh Pirates
481 Daryl Patterson -- Detroit Tigers
482 Padres Team -- San Diego Padres
483 Gene Michael -- New York Yankees
484 Don Wilson -- Houston Astros
485 Ken McMullen -- California Angels
486 Steve Huntz -- San Francisco Giants
487 Paul Schaal -- Kansas City Royals
488 Jerry Stephenson -- Los Angeles Dodgers
489 Luis Alvarado -- Chicago White Sox
490 Deron Johnson -- Philadelphia Phillies
491 Jim Hardin -- Baltimore Orioles
492 Ken Boswell -- New York Mets
493 Dave May -- Milwaukee Brewers
494 Garr/Kester -- Atlanta Braves
495 Felipe Alou -- Oakland Athletics
496 Woody Woodward -- Cincinnati Reds
497 Horacio Pina -- Washington Senators
498 John Kennedy -- Boston Red Sox
499 Checklist 524-624
500 Jim Perry -- Minnesota Twins
501 Andy Etchebarren -- Baltimore Orioles
502 Cubs Team -- Chicago Cubs
503 Gates Brown -- Detroit Tigers
504 Ken Wright -- Kansas City Royals
505 Ollie Brown -- San Diego Padres
506 Bobby Knoop -- Chicago White Sox
507 George Stone -- Atlanta Braves
508 Roger Repoz -- California Angels
509 Jim Grant -- Pittsburgh Pirates
510 Ken Harrelson -- Cleveland Indians
511 Chris Short -- Philadelphia Phillies
512 Garman/Mills -- Boston Red Sox
513 Nolan Ryan -- New York Mets
514 Ron Woods -- New York Yankees
515 Carl Morton -- Montreal Expos
516 Ted Kubiak -- Milwaukee Brewers
517 Charlie Fox -- San Francisco Giants
518 Joe Grzenda -- Washington Senators
519 Willie Crawford -- Los Angeles Dodgers
520 Tommy John -- Chicago White Sox
521 Leron Lee -- St. Louis Cardinals
522 Twins Team -- Minnesota Twins
523 John Odom -- Oakland Athletics
524 Mickey Stanley -- Detroit Tigers
525 Ernie Banks -- Chicago Cubs
526 Ray Jarvis -- California Angels
527 Cleon Jones -- New York Mets
528 Wally Bunker -- Kansas City Royals
529 Buckner/Hernndz/Perz -- San Diego Padres
530 Carl Yastrzemski -- Boston Red Sox
531 Mike Torrez -- St. Louis Cardinals
532 Bill Rigney -- Minnesota Twins
533 Mike Ryan -- Philadelphia Phillies
534 Luke Walker -- Pittsburgh Pirates
535 Curt Flood -- Washington Senators
536 Claude Raymond -- Montreal Expos
537 Tom Egan -- Chicago White Sox
538 Angel Bravo -- Cincinnati Reds
539 Larry Brown -- Cleveland Indians
540 Larry Dierker -- Houston Astros
541 Bob Burda -- St. Louis Cardinals
542 Bob Miller -- Chicago Cubs
543 Yankees Team -- New York Yankees
544 Vida Blue -- Oakland Athletics
545 Dick Dietz -- San Francisco Giants
546 John Matias -- Kansas City Royals
547 Pat Dobson -- Baltimore Orioles
548 Don Mason -- San Diego Padres
549 Jim Brewer -- Los Angeles Dodgers
550 Harmon Killebrew -- Minnesota Twins
551 Frank Linzy -- St. Louis Cardinals
552 Buddy Bradford -- Cleveland Indians
553 Kevin Collins -- Detroit Tigers
554 Lowell Palmer -- Philadelphia Phillies
555 Walt Williams -- Chicago White Sox
556 Jim McGlothlin -- Cincinnati Reds
557 Tom Satriano -- Boston Red Sox
558 Hector Torres -- Chicago Cubs
559 Cox/Gogolewski/Jones -- Washington Senators
560 Rusty Staub -- Montreal Expos
561 Syd O'Brien -- California Angels
562 Dave Giusti -- Pittsburgh Pirates
563 Giants Team -- San Francisco Giants
564 Al Fitzmorris -- Kansas City Royals
565 Jim Wynn -- Houston Astros
566 Tim Cullen -- Washington Senators
567 Walt Alston -- Los Angeles Dodgers
568 Sal Campisi -- Minnesota Twins
569 Ivan Murrell -- San Diego Padres
570 Jim Palmer -- Baltimore Orioles
571 Ted Sizemore -- St. Louis Cardinals
572 Jerry Kenney -- New York Yankees
573 Ed Kranepool -- New York Mets
574 Jim Bunning -- Philadelphia Phillies
575 Bill Freehan -- Detroit Tigers
576 Davis/Garret/Jestadt -- Chicago Cubs
577 Jim Lonborg -- Boston Red Sox
578 Ron Hunt -- Montreal Expos
579 Marty Pattin -- Milwaukee Brewers
580 Tony Perez -- Cincinnati Reds
581 Roger Nelson -- Kansas City Royals
582 Dave Cash -- Pittsburgh Pirates
583 Ron Cook -- Houston Astros
584 Indians Team -- Cleveland Indians
585 Willie Davis -- Los Angeles Dodgers
586 Dick Woodson -- Minnesota Twins
587 Sonny Jackson -- Atlanta Braves
588 Tom Bradley -- Chicago White Sox
589 Bob Barton -- San Diego Padres
590 Alex Johnson -- California Angels
591 Jackie Brown -- Washington Senators
592 Randy Hundley -- Chicago Cubs
593 Jack Aker -- New York Yankees
594 Hrabosky/Chlps/Stnsn -- St. Louis Cardinals
595 Dave Johnson -- Baltimore Orioles
596 Mike Jorgensen -- New York Mets
597 Ken Suarez -- Cleveland Indians
598 Rick Wise -- Philadelphia Phillies
599 Norm Cash -- Detroit Tigers
600 Willie Mays -- San Francisco Giants
601 Ken Tatum -- Boston Red Sox
602 Marty Martinez -- Houston Astros
603 Pirates Team -- Pittsburgh Pirates
604 John Gelnar -- Milwaukee Brewers
605 Orlando Cepeda -- Atlanta Braves
606 Chuck Taylor -- St. Louis Cardinals
607 Paul Ratliff -- Minnesota Twins
608 Mike Wegener -- Montreal Expos
609 Leo Durocher -- Chicago Cubs
610 Amos Otis -- Kansas City Royals
611 Tom Phoebus -- San Diego Padres
612 Camilli/Ford/Mingori -- Cleveland Indians
613 Pedro Borbon -- Cincinnati Reds
614 Billy Cowan -- California Angels
615 Mel Stottlemyre -- New York Yankees
616 Larry Hisle -- Philadelphia Phillies
617 Clay Dalrymple -- Baltimore Orioles
618 Tug McGraw -- New York Mets
619 Checklist 644-752
620 Frank Howard -- Washington Senators
621 Ron Bryant -- San Francisco Giants
622 Joe Lahoud -- Boston Red Sox
623 Pat Jarvis -- Atlanta Braves
624 Athletics Team -- Oakland Athletics
625 Lou Brock -- St. Louis Cardinals
626 Freddie Patek -- Kansas City Royals
627 Steve Hamilton -- Chicago White Sox
628 John Bateman -- Montreal Expos
629 John Hiller -- Detroit Tigers
630 Roberto Clemente -- Pittsburgh Pirates
631 Eddie Fisher -- California Angels
632 Darrel Chaney -- Cincinnati Reds
633 Brook/Koegel/Northey -- Oakland Athletics
634 Phil Regan -- Chicago Cubs
635 Bobby Murcer -- New York Yankees
636 Denny Lemaster -- Houston Astros
637 Dave Bristol -- Milwaukee Brewers
638 Stan Williams -- Minnesota Twins
639 Tom Haller -- Los Angeles Dodgers
640 Frank Robinson -- Baltimore Orioles
641 Mets Team -- New York Mets
642 Jim Roland -- Oakland Athletics
643 Rick Reichardt -- Chicago White Sox
644 Jim Stewart -- Cincinnati Reds
645 Jim Maloney -- California Angels
646 Bobby Floyd -- Kansas City Royals
647 Juan Pizarro -- Chicago Cubs
648 Folkers, Martinez, Matlack -- New York Mets
649 Sparky Lyle -- Boston Red Sox
650 Rich Allen -- Los Angeles Dodgers
651 Jerry Robertson -- New York Mets
652 Braves Team -- Atlanta Braves
653 Russ Snyder -- Milwaukee Brewers
654 Don Shaw -- St. Louis Cardinals
655 Mike Epstein -- Washington Senators
656 Gerry Nyman -- San Diego Padres
657 Jose Azcue -- California Angels
658 Paul Lindblad -- Oakland Athletics
659 Byron Browne -- Philadelphia Phillies
660 Ray Culp -- Boston Red Sox
661 Chuck Tanner -- Chicago White Sox
662 Mike Hedlund -- Kansas City Royals
663 Marv Staehle -- Atlanta Braves
664 Reynld/Reynld/Reynld
665 Ron Swoboda -- Montreal Expos
666 Gene Brabender -- California Angels
667 Pete Ward -- New York Yankees
668 Gary Neibauer -- Atlanta Braves
669 Ike Brown -- Detroit Tigers
670 Bill Hands -- Chicago Cubs
671 Bill Voss -- Milwaukee Brewers
672 Ed Crosby -- St. Louis Cardinals
673 Gerry Janeski -- Washington Senators
674 Expos Team -- Montreal Expos
675 Dave Boswell -- Minnesota Twins
676 Tommie Reynolds -- California Angels
677 Jack DiLauro -- Houston Astros
678 George Thomas -- Boston Red Sox
679 Don O'Riley -- Chicago White Sox
680 Don Mincher -- Oakland Athletics
681 Bill Butler -- Kansas City Royals
682 Terry Harmon -- Philadelphia Phillies
683 Bill Burbach -- New York Yankees
684 Curt Motton -- Baltimore Orioles
685 Moe Drabowsky -- St. Louis Cardinals
686 Chico Ruiz -- California Angels
687 Ron Taylor -- New York Mets
688 Sparky Anderson -- Cincinnati Reds
689 Frank Baker -- Cleveland Indians
690 Bob Moose -- Pittsburgh Pirates
691 Bob Heise -- San Francisco Giants
692 Haydl/Moret/Twitchel
693 Jose Pena -- Los Angeles Dodgers
694 Rick Renick -- Minnesota Twins
695 Joe Niekro -- Detroit Tigers
696 Jerry Morales -- San Diego Padres
697 Rickey Clark -- California Angels
698 Brewers Team -- Milwaukee Brewers
699 Jim Britton -- Montreal Expos
700 Boog Powell -- Baltimore Orioles
701 Bob Garibaldi -- Kansas City Royals
702 Milt Ramirez -- St. Louis Cardinals
703 Mike Kekich -- New York Yankees
704 J.C. Martin -- Chicago Cubs
705 Dick Selma -- Philadelphia Phillies
706 Joe Foy -- Washington Senators
707 Fred Lasher -- California Angels
708 Russ Nagelson -- Detroit Tigers
709 Baker/Baylor/Paciork
710 Sonny Siebert -- Boston Red Sox
711 Larry Stahl -- San Diego Padres
712 Jose Martinez -- Pittsburgh Pirates
713 Mike Marshall -- Montreal Expos
714 Dick Williams -- Oakland Athletics
715 Horace Clarke -- New York Yankees
716 Dave Leonhard -- Baltimore Orioles
717 Tommie Aaron -- Atlanta Braves
718 Billy Wynne -- California Angels
719 Jerry May -- Kansas City Royals
720 Matty Alou -- St. Louis Cardinals
721 John Morris -- Milwaukee Brewers
722 Astros Team -- Houston Astros
723 Vicente Romo -- Chicago White Sox
724 Tom Tischinski -- Minnesota Twins
725 Gary Gentry -- New York Mets
726 Paul Popovich -- Chicago Cubs
727 Ray Lamb -- Cleveland Indians
728 Lamprd/Redmnd/Wiliam
729 Dick Billings -- Washington Senators
730 Jim Rooker -- Kansas City Royals
731 Jim Qualls -- Cincinnati Reds
732 Bob Reed -- Detroit Tigers
733 Lee Maye -- Chicago White Sox
734 Rob Gardner -- New York Yankees
735 Mike Shannon -- St. Louis Cardinals
736 Mel Queen -- California Angels
737 Preston Gomez -- San Diego Padres
738 Russ Gibson -- San Francisco Giants
739 Barry Lersch -- Philadelphia Phillies
740 Luis Aparicio -- Boston Red Sox
741 Skip Guinn -- Houston Astros
742 Royals Team -- Kansas City Royals
743 John O'Donoghue -- Montreal Expos
744 Chuck Manuel -- Minnesota Twins
745 Sandy Alomar -- California Angels
746 Andy Kosco -- Milwaukee Brewers
747 Moore/Sevrinsn/Spink
748 John Purdin -- Chicago White Sox
749 Ken Szotkiewicz -- Detroit Tigers
750 Denny McLain -- Washington Senators
751 Al Weis -- New York Mets
752 Dick Drago -- Kansas City Royals

PLAY BALL: Game 1, sixth inning

2008-12-01T12:00:00.001-05:00

GAME 1

Game tied 5-5

TOP OF THE SIXTH INNING
Mudville Nine at bat

#63 Don Zimmer (no play)
#64 Gene Pentz: BB (runner on first, no outs)
#65 Ken Singleton: single (runners on first and second, no outs)

(What else did you expect SINGLETON to do?)

#66 White Sox (no play)
#67 Claudell Washington: ground out (runner on third, two outs)
#68 Steve Foucault: HR (two runs score, two outs)
#69 Mike Vail: fly out (three outs)

2 runs on 2 hits and 1 walk. Mudville Nine lead 7-5

BOTTOM OF THE SIXTH INNING
New York Knights at bat

#70 Rich Gossage: single (runner on first, no outs)
#71 Terry Humphrey: single (runners on first and second, no outs)
#72 Andre Dawson: ground out (runner on third, two outs)
#73 Andy Hassler: fly out (three outs)

0 runs on 2 hits and 0 walks. Mudville Nine lead 7-5

Night Owl Cards

2008-12-01T09:44:00.001-05:00

Great post of a unique card right here:

1975 Herb Washington at Night Owl Cards

1978 Topps Cards #85 through #90

2008-12-01T07:30:00.001-05:00

THE PLAYERS

#85 Ron Fairly
#86 Dave Tomlin
#87 John Lowenstein
#88 Mike Phillips
#89 Ken Clay
#90 Larry Bowa

THE DESIGN

Good: The comment on the back of Tomlin's card reveals a pretty amazing stat if you dig into it. Check out his career pitching splits by opponent. In 52 IP against the Braves, he had a 1.90 ERA, far better than just about every other team except for the Dodgers, against whom he pitched to a 2.06 ERA in 35 IP. His OPS against vs Atlanta was just .587, which is staggering. If you click on the red "ATL" on the left, you can see that in 1976, he pitched 16.1 innings over 7 appearances against the Braves, giving up 11 hits, 5 walks, and no runs.

Bad: This isn't really bad, but I'd like to point out the two card fronts here that show multiple positions inside the baseball. Obviously some guys play multiple positions and that's fine, but the font size on those baseballs is dangerously small.

THE PHOTOS

Good: The best photo here is Larry Bowa. You can almost believe he was a really good hitter looking at this picture.

A while back, a reader mentioned about appearances by the BRUT advertising sign but I can't find the comment. Here is the second appearance on Ken Clay's card.

Bad: Mike Phillip's photo was clearly taken before his June 1977 trade to the Cardinals, since his entire uniform is airbrushed (and pretty poorly airbrushed at that. Seriously, I can live with his hat or the fake-looking stripes on his uniform. But look at his shoulders and the rest of his chest. It's just all white with no attempt at any sort of definition. It's clearly not a real jersey since there is no hint of a team name on there. Yuck.

All I have to say about Lowenstein's picture is this: "My name is John Lowenstein. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

THE STATS

Ron Fairly is tied with Yaz for most seasons all-time with between 10 and 19 HR. That's kind of wild considering that Yaz played only 2 seasons more than Fairly but ended up with a lot more career homers (452 vs 215.)

Dave Tomlin appeared in just 1 major-league game in 1985, getting a scoreless inning. Boy was he lucky to get a scoreless inning. Pitching in the fifth, he got pitcher Bryn Smith to fly out. Then Tim Raines singled and stole second. With UL Washington batting, Tomlin threw a wild pitch to put Raines on third. Then he walked Washington. Then he got Andre Dawson to ground into a double play.

Lowenstein was a pretty good player, and for one year he was an incredible slugger. Lowenstein's 1982 makes the top 20 for most total bases by a guy with fewer than 400 PAs in a season. Look at the other names on there--most of them are great players who had short seasons. Lowenstein sticks out as the only guy who didn't get much playing time, having surpassed 350 ABs in a season just once in his career.

Mike Phillips didn't have a great offensive career, but he did hit quite well as the first batter in a game. In those 56 games (and 56 plate appearances) Phillips had an OBP of .375 and a SLG of .449, including 3 doubles, 1 triple, 1 homer, and 7 walks.

Ken Clay gave up 35 homers in his career, including pairs to George Brett, Bobby Grich, Wayne Gross, and Toby Harrah. He also gave up one to another guy in this group of cards: Ron Fairly.

THE COUNTERS

Hall of Famers: 12
(none)

Deceased: 4
(none)

Future managers: 8
(+1 for Bowa)

Fathers and sons of major leaguers: 7
(none)

Loyalty counter: 10
(none)

Rookies of the Year: 8
(none)

Total all-star appearances: 231
(+2 for Fairly, +5 for Bowa)

Total MVP awards: 9
(none)

Total Cy Young awards: 4
(none)

Online Surveys & Market Research

PLAY BALL: Game 1, fifth inning

2008-11-30T07:30:00.000-05:00

GAME 1

New York Knights lead 5-4

TOP OF THE FIFTH INNING
Mudville Nine at bat

#53 Phil Garner: HR (one run scores, no outs)
#54 Tom Johnson: fly out (one out)
#55 Mitchell Page: single (runner on first, one out)
#56 Randy Jones: foul out (runner on first, two outs)
#57 Dan Meyer: fly out (three outs)

1 runs on 2 hits and 0 walks. Game tied 5-5

BOTTOM OF THE FIFTH INNING
New York Knights at bat

#58 Bob Forsch: rules card (no play)
#59 Otto Velez: ground out (one out)
#60 Thurman Munson: BB (runner on first, one out)
#61 Larvell Blanks: fly out (runner on first, two outs)
#62 Jim Barr: K (three outs)

0 runs on 0 hits and 1 walk. Game tied 5-5

There seem to be a lot of fly outs in this game!

PLAY BALL: Game 1, fourth inning

2008-11-27T08:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

GAME 1

New York Knights lead 5-4

TOP OF THE FOURTH INNING
Mudville Nine at bat

#42 Jorge Orta: BB (runner on first, no outs)
#43 Bill Atkinson: single (runners on first and second, no outs)
#44 Toby Harrah: foul out (runners on first and second, one out)
#45 Mark Fidrych: fly out (runners on first and second, two outs)
#46 Al Cowens: ground out (three outs)

0 runs on 1 hit and 1 walk. New York Knights lead 5-4

BOTTOM OF THE FOURTH INNING
New York Knights at bat

#47 Jack Billingham: single (runner on first, no outs)
#48 Don Baylor: K (runner on first, one out)
#49 Ed Kranepool: fly out (runner on first, two outs)
#50 Rick Reuschel: double (runners on second and third, two outs)
#51 Charlie Moore: BB (bases loaded, two outs)
#52 Jim Lonborg: ground out (three outs)

0 runs on 2 hits and 1 walk. New York Knights lead 5-4

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-26T07:30:00.001-05:00

I'll be taking a break on the blog for several days for the holiday. There will be some PLAY BALL posts at least but probably no new cards until Monday. But maybe not. We'll see :)

1978 Topps Cards #79 through #84

2008-11-26T07:30:00.000-05:00

THE PLAYERS

#79 Darrell Johnson manager
#80 Ken Griffey
#81 Pete Redfern
#82 San Francisco Giants
#83 Bob Montgomery
#84 Kent Tekulve

I didn't mess up the scan. I purposely scanned the back of the SF Giants team card first so that it would be facing the right way.

THE DESIGN

Good: Holy crap--the back of Griffey's card mentions the number of infield hits he had in 1976. That's a stat I wish were readily available for all players and years. I also like that Carlton Fisk finds his way onto yet another card, mention on the back of Montgomery's.

Bad: Griff's card is also the lowlight, with the miscapitalized ugly slang term "Grand Slammers."

THE PHOTOS

Good: Well, darn it, that Giants team card totally takes the cake. Somehow they got a cable car into Candlestick Park and half the team's on it. And the scoreboard has the name of the team. Very cool.

Oh, and there's our third sighting of the Marlboro billboard in Candlestick.

Griffey's card is very nice too, displaying the fantastic family smile that his son made even more famous.

Montgomery's got a good pose going, too.

Bad: You know I love Kent Tekulve, and he made it really far in the 88 Topps Cards best card poll. But that card is just awful. The Pirates uni is terrible, and the background behind Teke matches the ugly uniform, making him just blend in. The Pirates cards are among the worst of this set.

Redfern's face is really in the shadows. You can't see his eyes at all. Awful.

THE STATS

In his playing career, Darrell Johnson had just 2 homers, but he hit them off two damn good pitchers.

From 1977 to 1987, Griffey tied for the lead for most seasons between 10 and 15 homers. Interestingly, one of his co-leaders is Jose Cruz, also the father of a future major leaguer.

Of all the HOFers Redfern faced, he came up against two Brewers the most: Robin Yount and Paul Molitor.

Montgomery had 2 HR off Doug Bird in the same game. One in the 7th, and a walkoff winner in the 10th.

THE COUNTERS

Hall of Famers: 12
(none)

Deceased: 4
(+1 for Johnson)

Future managers: 7
(none)

Fathers and sons of major leaguers: 7
(+1 for Ken Griffey Jr)

Loyalty counter: 10
(+1 for Redfern, +1 for Montgomery)

Rookies of the Year: 8
(none)

Total all-star appearances: 224
(+3 for Griffey, +1 for Tekulve)

Total MVP awards: 9
(none)

Total Cy Young awards: 4
(none)

Online Surveys & Market Research

PLAY BALL: Game 1, third inning

2008-11-25T12:00:00.001-05:00

GAME 1

New York Knights lead 5-4

TOP OF THE THIRD INNING
Mudville Nine at bat

#34 Willie McCovey: ground out (one out)
#35 Sparky Lyle: single (runner on first, one out)
#36 Eddie Murray: K (runner on first, two outs)
#37 Rick Waits: Foul out (three outs)

0 runs on 1 hit and 0 walks. New York Knights lead 5-4

BOTTOM OF THE THIRD INNING
New York Knights at bat

#38 Willie Montanez: rules card (no play)
#39 Floyd Bannister: single (runner on first, no outs)
#40 Carl Yastrzemski: ground out (GIDP, two outs)
#41 Burt Hooton: fly out (three outs)

0 runs on 1 hit and 0 walks. New York Knights lead 5-4

Giveaway winner: Cards 1 through 72

2008-11-25T11:21:00.002-05:00

I've tallied all the points and here are the final standings for the first giveaway:

Winner:

jacobmrley with 23 points

Runners-up are:

night owl with 21 points
Timberhill with 21 points
mmayes with 20 points
kevin with 18 points
gcrl with 16 points

followed by 20 other people with fewer points.

A new contest has already started with the post for cards 73 through 78, so start with a comment there. I'm tending to give more points for comments that answer questions I ask in my posts or that reveal interesting information about the careers, stats, or lives of the people featured on the cards.

Thanks, everybody, for participating!

jacobmrley--email me at 78topps at gmail dot com so we can arrange to get you your prize.

1978 Topps Cards #73 through #78

2008-11-25T07:30:00.003-05:00

THE PLAYERS

#73 Andy Hassler
#74 Checklist Topps '78 Baseball Cards 1-121
#75 Dick Ruthven
#76 Steve Ontiveros
#76 Ed Kirkpatrick
#77 Pablo Torrealba

THE DESIGN

Let's focus on the checklist card since it's the first one we've seen so far in this set.

Good: I was pleasantly shocked to see the abbreviation '78 on the card instead of 1978 spelled out. Plus it actually notes that it's the baseball checklist, not football, basketball, or hockey, back at a time when people actually cared about cards from those sports. You also know how I love recursive cards, and there is the checklist #74 mentioned right on the back of the checklist #74.

Bad: The card number sure is weird, floating out there in a circle on the back of the card. They squeezed it in there next to a few short names. I'm wondering how it was done on other checklist cards. Guess we'll have to wait to find out.

I also note the red and blue color scheme on this card. It's quite nice. Why did they reserve it for a checklist? How about repalcing one of those hot pink and green color schemes with this one?

THE PHOTOS

Good: Slim pickings in this set for a decent photo. Kirkpatrick is continuing the streak of nice Brewers cards, with a good photo and nice pose. I also love when the uniform numbers are easily visible.

Bad: With the exception of Andy Hassler, every other photograph is slanted in some way. The Ontiveros card has slanted stands in the background as does the Torrealba card. This makes no sense to me--weren't these guys standing straight up? The backgrounds of both the Ruthven and Kirkpatrick cards are also weirdly slanted. And, geez, is that Candlestick again on Ruthven's card? And Hassler has a seriously pointed knee. At least I hope that's his knee.

THE STATS

Andy Hassler was robbed. He finished his career with just about a league average ERA. However, his W/L record was 44-71 (.383.) When neutralizing, though, which can be done on his B-R.com page if you follow the link from his name at the top of this post, on average teams in average ballparks he would have had a 61-59 (.508) record, including an 11-win season in 1974. Like I said, he was robbed.

Ruthven was the very definition of a fairly effective but somewhat below-average pitcher. Over his career from 1973 to 1986, he tied for the most seasons with at least 120 IP but an ERA+ between 85 and 99.

Steve Ontiveros, not to be confused with a pitcher with the same exact nam e, once had 7 total bases in a game. That wasn't just any game, either.

Kirkpatrick is the 80th most-recent player to get exactly 100 hits in a season.

Torrealba gave up multiple homers to just one guy: Jim Rice. Both gave Boston the lead. He also gave up an inside-the-park homer to Lou Whitaker.

THE COUNTERS

Hall of Famers: 12
(none)

Deceased: 3
(none)

Future managers: 7
(none)

Fathers and sons of major leaguers: 6
(+1 for Steve Torrealba, son of Pablo, who appeared in 15 games in 2001-2002.)

Loyalty counter: 8
(none)

Rookies of the Year: 8
(none)

Total all-star appearances: 220
(+2 for Ruthven)

Total MVP awards: 9
(none)

Total Cy Young awards: 4
(none)

Guess what? This poll site doesn't allow me to use the word "dick". Can you believe that? That's why I had to put his name in quotes in the poll. Don't let that discourage you from voting for him if you want, though!

Online Surveys & Market Research

Autos and Goudey relics

2008-11-24T09:40:00.003-05:00

This is a bit off-topic, but here are a few autographed cards and a few Goudey jersey cards.

The autographed cards came from reader Timberhill as part of his trade for the book deal from 88 Topps Cards. He said right up front that he has no idea of their origins or authenticity as they were found stuck in a non-baseball-card-related purchase. I was wondering if anybody out there has an opinion on whether they are real or fake?

Also here are a few Goudey relic cards that I pulled form packs. Mostly I'm showing these as trade bait for 71 and/or 73 Topps cards. If you're interested in any of the stuff, email me at 78topps at gmail dot com.

(click on the image for much bigger versions)

1978 Topps Cards #67 through #72

2008-11-24T07:30:00.002-05:00

THE PLAYERS

#67 Claudell Washington
#68 Steve Foucault
#69 Mike Vail
#70 Rich Gossage
#71 Terry Humphrey
#72 Andre Dawson All Star-Rookie

THE DESIGN

Good: There are a few interesting/funny comments on the backs of these cards. Firstly, apparently Goose Gossage "throws very hard." And Steve Foucault ranked 11th in the American League Fireman Derby...do they still track that these days? Has that morphed into the Rolaids Relief Award? Foucault's card also refers to the Tigers as the "Bengals", a nickname you don't hear much anymore. It's also interesting to note that Washington's card talks a lot about his stolen base totals since that stat isn't reported in this set.

Bad: You may have noticed that the font size used for the player's name on the front varies depending on the length of the player's name. Although I understand the need to use a small font to fit "CLAUDELL WASHINGTON" on there, they used an awfully small font needlessly.

THE PHOTOS

Firstly, I've just noticed that the same sign saying "375" is visible behind Rich Gossage as was visible behind Jim Barr in the previous card post. Who knows what stadium that is? I assume it's an NL park since Gossage's photo was certainly taken when he was playing for the Pirates. (See below for more on that.)

Good: I love how easily we can see the patch on Washington's shoulder. I love the posed Foucault shot. And, hot damn, The Hawk looks like he's about to swat that Topps All-Star Rookie cup. Nice to see Dawson pulling out his distinctive glare on such an early card.

Incidentally, Dawson appeared with 3 other players on a 1977 Topps card. The 1978 card is not his rookie card although it's the first card he has all to himself.

Bad: And so it begins. The Gossage card is the first of a whole bunch of wacky airbrush jobs in the 1978 Topps set. If you look carefully, you can see that his entire uniform is painted on, to reflect the fact that he was certainly wearing a Pirates uniform when the photo was taken but joined the Yankees as a free agent during the offseason.

The Humphrey photo is neither good nor bad, just odd. How often do you see a guy photographed without his cap, with with a cap sitting right next to him in the photo? At least we can see his awesome 70s hair. Oh and did you notice Humphrey's knee in full frame there? At least I hope that's his knee.

THE STATS

The back of Vail's card notes his team record-tying hit streak of 23 games. Here is a list of all-time hit streak for the Mets as of now. Vail has been tied with Cleon Jones and they were later tied by John Olerud. Four other guys, however, have since passed their streak of 23 games. The current record is 30, set by Moises Alou in 2007.

Steve Foucault gave up 41 homers in his career, including 3 to Larry Hisle. (Who can tell me how "Hisle" is pronounced?) Three of those were game-ending, including 1 to somebody named Henry Aaron.

Terry Humphrey had just one career game with more than 1 extra-base hit. At least the Angels won that game.

THE COUNTERS

Hall of Famers: 12
(+1 for Gossage)

Deceased: 3
(none)

Future managers: 7
(none)

Fathers and sons of major leaguers: 5
(none)

Loyalty counter: 8
(none)

Rookies of the Year: 8
(+1 for Dawson)

Total all-star appearances: 218
(+2 for Washington, +9 for Gossage, +8 for Dawson)

Total MVP awards: 9
(+1 for Dawson)

Total Cy Young awards: 4
(none)

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Various

2008-11-23T18:47:00.002-05:00

When I posted cards #61-66, I forgot the poll. If you've already read that post, head back for a second and vote for the best card of that group.
The first giveaway will be cards 1 through 72, which includes some awesome cards including Eddie Murray, Andre Dawson, and all the Record Breakers.
If you haven't already read it, see this post to learn how your comments can result in getting free cards.
I have a ton of stuff to trade, especially 2008 Goudey. If you need anything, let me know. I'm trying to get some 1971 and 1973 Topps cards these days (any at all.)

PLAY BALL: Game 1, second inning

2008-11-23T07:30:00.002-05:00

GAME 1

Mudville Nine lead 4-1

TOP OF THE SECOND INNING
Mudville Nine at bat

#23 Bump Wills: single (runner on first, no outs)
#24 Don Money: fly out (runner on first, one out)
#25 Jon Matlack: K (runner on first, two outs)
#26 Rich Hebner: foul out (three outs)

0 runs on 1 hit and 0 walks. Mudville Nine lead 4-1

BOTTOM OF THE SECOND INNING
New York Knights at bat

#27 Geoff Zahn: single (runner on 1st, no outs)
#28 Ed Ott: BB (runners on 1st and 2nd, no outs)
#29 Bob Lacey: ground out (runner on 3rd, two outs)

(Note: I've elected to have a ground out with a runner on first and less than 2 outs result in a GIDP, and also elected to have such a GIDP advance any runner on 2B or 3B one base.)

#30 George Hendrick: BB (runners on 1st and 3rd, two outs)
#31 Glenn Abbott: single (one run scores, runners on 1st and 2nd, two outs)

(Note: here is another discretionary rule. Some would play that a single would load the bases. If there had been runners on 1st and 2nd, I would say a single results in bases loaded. With a runner on third, however, I will have that guy score.)

#32 Garry Templeton: HR (three runs score, bases empty, two outs)
#33 Dave Lemanczyc: fly out (three outs)

4 runs on 3 hit and 2 walks. New York Knights lead 5-4

1978 Topps Cards #61 through #66

2008-11-22T07:30:00.002-05:00

THE PLAYERS

#61 Larvell Blanks
#62 Jim Barr
#63 Don Zimmer Manager
#64 Gene Pentz
#65 Ken Singleton
#66 White Sox

If you're too lazy to download the photo and rotate it, or at least rotate your head, here is the same image rotated. I'm not going to do this in the future.

THE DESIGN

Good: The Zimmer card, our first manager, shows the awesome way that Topps did manager cards in this set. Showing a picture of the manager as a player was a great idea, and brings some great historical photos into the set. I also really like the way they framed the old photo as if it were a newspaper clipping. It reminds us that in the 1940s and 1950s, the vast majority of what fans knew about players, including their appearances, came from newspapers. Bravo, Topps!

On the back of the Zimmer card, they give his playing stats, plus some managerial hightlights instead of the PLAY BALL game. Nice.

I love the fact that the back of the White Sox team card lists the players' uniform numbers. Uni numbers are becoming a lost item in today's game.

Bad: I love team cards and I am happy to see the White Sox one here, our first in the set. The problem with team cards is that the photos are too small to recognize people. I would love it if, especially, some of the non-player personnel were easier to see or were identified on the back of the card. I believe that not all of the team cards are the same in this set...we'll see some different examples coming up.

THE PHOTOS

Good: There isn't much to like in this set, except for Zimmer's incredible cheeks, Pentz's crazy white man afro and smirk, and the Singleton shot is a fairly nice and unorthodox action photo.

Visible behind Jim Barr is 2B Rob Andrews.

Bad: On Barr's card, Topps managed to get not one, but two guy's faces completely obscured by shadows. That horrible abstract "C" on Blanks' card just ruins it for me, although that's not Topps' fault. And I've already mentioned that the White Sox team photo, as with most team photos, makes it too hard to recognize individual people.

THE STATS

Of his 14 career triples, Larvell Blanks hit two off Ken Holtzman a few weeks apart in 1976. Interestingly, Holtzman was an Oriole when he gave up the first one, but a Yankee when he gave up the second one.

Barr pitched in some bad luck. He had a few seasons with an ERA better than league average but a losing record. His neutralized career record is 120-103 (.538) as compared to his actual numbers: 101-112 (.474).

From 1955 to 1964, Zimmer was among the leaders in most seasons with at least 10 HR but no more than 132 games played. The guy could hit for some power.

Pentz walked too many guys. The guys he walked the most are a Who's Who of some of the best offensive players in the game at the time.

Singleton finished his career with more walks than strikeouts. Among guys who finished with at least 1200 walks, Singleton has one of the lowest strikeout totals in history. He's just ahead of guys like, umm, Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, and Hank Aaron. Many of the players ahead of Ken are guys who played in eras where strikeouts were less common.

THE COUNTERS

Hall of Famers: 11
(none)

Deceased: 3
(none)

Future managers: 7
(none)

Fathers and sons of major leaguers: 5
(none)

Loyalty counter: 8
(none)

Rookies of the Year: 7
(none)

Total all-star appearances: 199
(+1 for Zimmer as a player, +3 for Singleton)

Total MVP awards: 8
(none)

Total Cy Young awards: 4
(none)

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PLAY BALL: Game 1, first inning

2008-11-21T09:55:00.006-05:00

Following Splint's suggestion, I am going to play out a game of "Play Ball" using the backs of the 1978 Topps set in sequence.

I'll do this periodically in special posts like this, instead of adding more sections to the regular card posts.

We need two teams. I'm taking the Mudville Nine, from Casey at the Bat, and the New York Knights, from The Natural. (Incidentally, if you haven't been keeping up with Ben Henry's rendition of Casey, then you're missing out. Start here.)

The Knights are the home team (at least in Game 1) and so the Mudville Nine bat first.

GAME 1

TOP OF THE FIRST INNING
Mudville Nine at bat

(Note: the Record Breaker cards #1-#7 do not have the "Play Ball" game on them, so we start with card #8.)

#8 Mike Sadek: BB (runner on 1st, no outs)
#9 Doug DeCinces: BB (runners on 1st and 2nd, no outs)
#10 Phil Niekro: single (bases loaded, no outs)
#11 Rick Manning: K (bases loaded, one out)
#12 Don Aase: 2B (2 runs score, runners on 2nd and 3rd, one out)
#13 Art Howe: ground out (1 run scores, runner on 2nd, two outs)

(Note: I've made the decision here that a ground out or a fly out scores a runner from 3rd with less than 2 outs but does not advance other runners. The rules of the game don't specify how to handle these situations, so I've just decided to do it this way.)

#14 Lerrin LaGrow: 3B (1 run scores, runner on 3rd, two outs)
#15 Tony Perez: foul out (three outs)

4 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks. Mudville Nine lead 4-0

BOTTOM OF THE FIRST INNING
New York Knights at bat

#16 Roy White: HR (1 run scores, no outs)
#17 Mike Krukow: fly out (one out)
#18 Bob Grich: rules card (no play)
#19 Darrell Porter: single (runner on 1st, one out)
#20 Pete Rose: BB (runners on 1st and 2nd, out out)
#21 Steve Kemp: fly ouy (runners on 1st and 2nd, two outs)
#22 Charlie Hough: ground out (three outs)

1 run on 2 hits and 1 walk. Mudville Nine lead 4-1

1978 Topps Cards #55 through #60

2008-11-21T07:30:00.004-05:00

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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1978 Topps Cards #49 through #54

2008-11-20T07:30:00.003-05:00

THE PLAYERS

#49 Ed Kranepool
#50 Rick Reuschel
#51 Charlie Moore
#52 Jim Lonborg
#53 Phil Garner
#54 Tom Johnson

THE DESIGN

Good: For some reason, I dig the double-name action on Kranepool's card, with his team jersey name appearing right above the card team name. I also note that Kranepool's photo absoluetly could be Greg Brady from about 1973.

Bad: There is a lack of consistency in the font. Check out the "P"s appearing on Lonborg and Garner's cards. The bottom of the loop on each P is different on the two cards. Naughty, naughty.

THE PHOTOS

Good: Charlie Moore's card is damn near perfect. I mean, the red and blue border colors are awful for Brewers cards, but otherwise the pose, lighting, and framing of the photo are all awesome.

I like the shot of Reuschel, mostly because it's very similar to Phil Niekro's card, which we now know was taken in Candlestick Park.

Bad: Those Pirates uniforms were terrible, and the Garner photo is just horrible. With all those dark pinstripes, they needed to have a closer-up photo to make it work. Not only is he too small, looking like a set of vertical blinds, but they got another pinstriped player right behind him and a coach in the dugout. It's just a bad shot.

Standing behind Garner is #6 Rennie Stennett. Checking out the Pirates' batting orders for 1977, Stennett batted immediately after Garner (at least in the starting lineup) on July 15th and in a doubleheader on July 17th. However, those games were all at Shea Stadium and the Pirates look to be wearing home uniforms here. Maybe the photo is from spring training? [A reader tells me that this photo IS, in fact, at Shea Stadium. How can you tell?) Also, is that manager Chuck Tanner in the background?

THE STATS

Kranepool has the most seasons in history with exactly 10 homers. Hmm.

Moore just misses adding to the loyalty counter by playing in 51 games at the end of his career with Toronto. Seven guys had at least one triple every year from 1973 to 1987. You would NEVER have guessed Moore, but he did it. The others aren't all easy either.

Lonborg faced a lot of HOFers and pitched pretty well against most of them, including Aparicio, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Tony Perez, and Dave Winfield.

In 1977, Johnson tied for the 3rd-most wins in a season (16) with no game starts.

THE COUNTERS

Hall of Famers: 11
(none)

Deceased: 2
(none)

Future managers: 7
(+1 for Garner)

Fathers and sons of major leaguers: 5
(none)

Loyalty counter: 7
(+1 for Kranepool, +1 for Johnson)

Rookies of the Year: 6
(none)

Total all-star appearances: 186
(+1 for Kranepool, +3 for Reuschel, +1 for Lonborg, +3 for Garner)

Total MVP awards: 7
(none)

Total Cy Young awards: 3
(+1 for Lonborg)

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Loot and photos

2008-11-19T10:24:00.006-05:00

I'm going off-topic a bit to show off a few items I received from other folks. Also I'm looking at lots and lots of photos from 1993 Upper Deck Series 2 below--many great ones and some odd ones.

First up is a 1973 Doyle Alexander sent from Kevin in trade for the book and card I sent him. This is an insanely beautiful card. I love how young and fresh-faced Alexander looks, plus the three guys in the background, plus the tarp, plus the stray bats on the field, plus the ad for First Federal. It's just an awesome card.

I've decided that for my next project after 78 Topps Cards, I'll be looking at both the 1971 and 1973 Topps sets. So I'm taking any cards from those sets as trades now. If you see any cards in this post you want, you can send me a single card from either of those sets in trade.

The next card is an autographed card of Tim Hudson. The neat thing is that the card is in Spanish both front (shown above) and back (not shown.) I've never seen a card written in Spanish before. Anybody know anything about this set of cards? This one came in as a trade from Tribe Cards.

The rest of the cards in this post are all from 1993 Upper Deck Series 2. These are packs I won in a contest from Night Owl Cards. In the above set of scans, we've got special reissues of a classic David Justice card as well as a classic Reggie Jackson card. Note that the UD Heroes design for the Reggie Jackson card very closely resembles the 2008 UD Heroes set that's out now. We've also got the Derek Jeter rookie card, although I swear that guy doesn't look like Jeter at all. We've also got a very unusual but cool Strawberry card. It's obviously posed but does a great job of capturing his distinctive and very high leg kick.

Next up are 4 unusual Phillies cards. First is a sort of cool action shot of Eisenreich catching a fly ball, although it's odd that they chose to use a photo with the glove covering almost his entire face. On the back of the card (not pictured), they show him collapsed on the warning track and his face is completely hidden. Next is Incaviglia looking very much like he has just struck out. Next is Ricky Jordan, usually a first baseman, looking as if he's making a catch in the outfield although it's hard to tell for sure. Is there a Giants fan who can identify which part of Candlestick park that is? (I note that Jordan did play 11 games in left field in 1992.) Jordan makes another appearance on Milt Thompson's card, with Thompson looking a bit unsure of the close touching. I'm pretty sure that's Dale Murphy on the left.

Finally in this set are two cool sunglasses photos. Check out the reflections on the Wells card, and the sheer bling of the Cole card. (See below for the back of Cole's card too.)

Here are a series of unusual shots: Greg Vaughn toweling off, an umpire completely in frame on Kevin Seitzer's card, a supreme ass shot of Bob Scanlan, a wicked cool angled shot of Rey Sanchez jumping over Larry Walker, Vinny Castilla about to eat a baseball, and Luis Sojo about to commit an error, probably.

Here are a few nice card backs. Ellis Burks has just shimmied out of the way of a pitch, but caught like this without the baseball in view, he looks more like he's avoiding a bee. Kevin McReynolds' bat has split all the way down! Lloyd McClendon looks like a huge dork with his cap coming off, but at least UD made some money from Gatorade for this advertising photo. Scott Servais is shown, unusually for a catcher, trying to throw out a baserunner. I have to assume this photo was taken during drills. Alex Cole is being shown interviewing and we can see his awesome sunglasses again, plus a nice pretty bracelet that the camera operator is wearing. And check out the bottom right of the Charlie Hayes photo. How cool is that little wave of dirt that Charlie just kicked up while moving for the ball?

Here are some team checklist cards. As is usually the case, these illustrations are hit or miss. First up is the Bagwell card, which if you ask me makes the best possible use of the Houston rainbow. Next up is Bobby Bo, as the card says, and for some reason the headshot in the lower left reminds me of the Transformers. Anybody else get that vibe? The Eck card is nice. Robby Thompson, however, looks like a pedophile. Strawberry looks just fine. Randy Johnson looks like he was drawn by a child. Much better than I could ever do, but a lot worse than most of the rest. These illustrated cards are, on the whole, pretty damn awesome.

Here are various cards featuring team stars. There are two different cards featuring Barry Bonds, Matt Williams, and Will Clark. It's truly amazing how tiny Bonds looks. The three Astros in front of the Astrodome is great, especially with such youthful photos of Bagwell and Biggio. That Rockies card is the most phallic and homoerotic a card can get without showing actual male nudity. I put the Pirates card up here for the nice shot of downtown Pittsburgh and a very youthful (and still active) Tim Wakefield on the left. And finally, that Padres card is very cool with Gwynn, Crime Dog, Sheff, and, ahem, Phil Plantier.

Wrapping it up are a few more horizontal cards. Big Daddy is kicking up a bunch of dirt. The back of the card (not pictured) has Fielder looking through the kind of camera lens used to take these photos. We have a Manny Ramirez rookie card, and an awesome multi-frame Phil Hiatt card. Then we have an illustration of Sammy Sosa that looks nothing like him, and a very weird Albert Belle card. All the Native American stuff, while true to the Indians name, is fairly contrary to the way the Indians team has identified with their namesakes. And showing Belle breaking a bat is kid of creepy. Finally, we have Gerald Clark looking very pissed after getting knocked down at the plate.

There you have it--the 1993 Upper Deck Series 2 cards are really great, and thanks again to Night Owl Cards for giving me the chance to check them out. (I still have a bunch of unopened packs, too!)

Once again, if you want to trade for anything here, see if you can dig up a 1971 or 1973 card and email me at 78topps at gmail dot com.

1978 Topps Cards #43 through #48

2008-11-19T07:30:00.001-05:00

THE PLAYERS

#43 Bill Atkinson
#44 Toby Harrah
#45 Mark Fidrych
#46 Al Cowens
#47 Jack Billingham
#48 Don Baylor

THE DESIGN

Good: The Fidrych card is a classic, both because of his unusual career and because it's simply beautiful. The orange and brown cards are the best of this set, for both the Tigers and the Padres.

Bad: Now that we've seen close to 50 cards, we see that there are only something like 6 color pairs. Numerous teams have a yellow border, numerous teams have either hot pink and green or green and hot pink, and numerous teams have the purplish borders. I'm not sure why Topps chose to have so few colors. I'm guessing it was either because someone thought that more colors would make the set seem too scattered (recall that most sets before 1978 had very little in the way of border color variation) or that it was a way of uniformly using up ink and managing their printing costs efficiently.

THE PHOTOS

Good: There isn't a single good photo in this group, actually. Every player either has a strange facial expression or pose (Cowens, Billingham, and Baylor) or their face is significantly shadowed (Atkinson, Harrah, and Fidrych.)

The Fidrych card jumps out as an iconic card because he didn't have very many cards due to such a short career. But it's actually a pretty awful photo, with his head completely dark and his body caught in a very compact and obstructed view. Compare the Fidrych photo with the Atkinson photo. Atkinson's was taken perhaps a quarter second later in his delivery and is a much better photo overall.

Bad: Special bad marks go to the Cowens photo where not only is his brow in the shadows, but they got a really grumpy look on his face, plus there are reflections in his glasses making his face harder to see. Were Cowens not deceased, perhaps I wouldn't judge this photo so harshly. I just feel like he deserved better.

The Baylor card is another one where the blue sky background just doesn't work. His body position is kind of weird and the photo is overexposed.

THE STATS

Atkinson allowed 17 career HR including a pair to two different guys you'd NEVER guess: Biff Pocoroba and Dave Concepcion.

Harrah has one of the few palindromic last names in MLB. Can you come up with any others? (No points for Nen.) There were lots of great third basemen in the 1970s and Harrah was quite overshadowed. But he does rank 5th among 3B for HR from 1974 to 1982.

In 1977, Fidrych completed 24 games while winning "only" 19. These days, completing more games than you win is unheard of. Fidrych's season is the 10th most recent time a guy completed at least 20 in a season while winning no more than 19.

Cowens had a whopping 10 walk-off plate appearances, including two homers. In 1984, he won 2 out of 3 games against the Rangers in the same series!

Billingham had the 9th most victories in MLB over 1973-1974, just 7 behind leader Catfish Hunter.

THE COUNTERS

Hall of Famers: 11
(none)

Deceased: 2
(+1 for Cowens, the second deceased player to appear so far in this set, and both are wearing Royals uniforms.)

Future managers: 6
(+1 for Harrah, who managed Texas for half a season in 1992, taking over from Bobby Valentine, +1 for Baylor)

Fathers and sons of major leaguers: 5
(none)

Loyalty counter: 5
(+1 for Atkinson, +1 for Fidrych)

Rookies of the Year: 6
(+1 for Fidrych)

Total all-star appearances: 178
(+4 for Harrah, +2 for Fidrych, +1 for Billingham, +1 for Baylor)

Total MVP awards: 7
(+1 for Baylor)

Total Cy Young awards: 2
(none)

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Trivia

2008-11-18T10:35:00.001-05:00

Seven guys had at least 1 triple every year from 1973 to 1987 (15 seasons.) How many can you name?

I'll take guesses in the comments.

1978 Topps Cards #37 through #42

2008-11-18T07:30:00.000-05:00

THE PLAYERS

#37 Rick Waits
#38 Willie Montanez
#39 Floyd Bannister
#40 Carl Yastrzemski
#41 Burt Hooton
#42 Jorge Orta

THE DESIGN

Good: So here is a difference between the 1988 Topps set and the 1978 Topps set. In 1988 Topps (and many other Topps sets in the 80s) the All-Stars chosen by Topps got their own special All-Star cards. In this set, however, Topps put the All-Star logo, league, and position right onto the base cards for the selected players. See Yaz's card for an example of this. Now, I'm not entirely sure if the 1978 version of the All-Stars were Topps' choices (as they were in the 80s) or if they were based on the actual participants in the 1977 All-Star game. Does somebody know the answer?

Bad: There are three hot pink and green cards in a row. Ugh.

The back of Hooton's card mentions that he struck out the first batter he ever faced in the majors. Is that such a big deal? Very roughly, 1 in every 6 plate appearances is a strikeout, meaning that abotu 1 in every 6 pitchers probably starts his career with a strikeout. They could have at least mentioned who the unlucky batter was, HOFer Lou Brock.

THE PHOTOS

Good: The Yaz photo is a classic. By 1978, he was already a longtime veteran, and this rare profile shot captured the grey on his temples and a contemplative look not often seen on baseball cards.

I also need to shout out about the Bannister card, a great card of a young pup.

Bad: The worst photo here is Orta's because he's just about asleep. And while I can't blame the photographer, I need to complain about those terrible 70s uniforms for the Indians, and the horrible blue sateen warmup jackets for the Braves.

THE STATS

In 1978, Rick Waits was one of 17 pitchers to throw at least 15 complete games, but he was the only one with a losing W-L%. His ERA+ of 118 was not the problem.

For players with at least 100 career intentional walks since the stat has been kept, Montanez has one of the lowest career OPS+ values. A guy we saw recently, Garry Templeton, is even lower on the list.

We know that Fenway is a great place for hitters, and Yaz benefited as much as anyone. His home/road splits are amazing but the OPS says it all: .909 at home and .779 on the road.

Orta flew under the radar, but he was a well above average player in terms of power and speed. From 1974 to 1980, he was one of just 19 players with 80 HR, 60 SB, and an OPS+ of 115.

THE COUNTERS

Hall of Famers: 11
(+1 for Yastrzemski)

Deceased: 1
(none)

Future managers: 4
(none)

Fathers and sons of major leaguers: 5
(+1 for current major-leaguer Brian Bannister)

Loyalty counter: 3
(+1 for Yastrzemski)

Rookies of the Year: 6
(none)

Total all-star appearances: 170
(+1 for Montanez, +1 for Bannister, +18 for Yastrzemski, +1 for Hooton, +2 for Orta)

Total MVP awards: 6
(+1 for Yastrzemski)

Total Cy Young awards: 2
(none)

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3D Eddie Murray

2008-11-17T12:00:00.000-05:00

Here is a stereoscopic 3D image of Eddie Murray's 1978 Topps rookie card.

Just cross your eyes and create a third image in between the original two. You might want to click on the above image for the larger version.