1978 Zest

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 #157 through #162

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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