19 December 2008

spirit of 76 from the blogger of 87

eric from 87 donruss was kind enough to fill some holes in my 1976 topps set. always nice to connect with a fellow dodger fan.

here are a few of the cards he sent my way:

1975 nl batting leaders.

there were no dodgers in the package, so we'll start with a future dodger, bill madlock. notice that the two next highest batting averages belonged to catchers.

next up is a former dodger, dick allen. cleanshaven, even. of course, he was rich allen on his only dodger card - 1971 topps. but that's a topic for a different day.

denny doyle of the red sox.i included this card simply to showcase the double play turn that is on every second baseman's card in the set. i love the player graphics in this set, much more than the ones in the 1973 issue.

jim lonborg.by this time, lonborg was a .500 pitcher, but he had a monster year in 67 for the red sox. he and i have something in common, too, but that will wait for a different post as well.

finally, a couple of yankee captains. first, the iron horse.lou gehrig is quite possibly my favorite non-dodger. i really tried to learn all i could about him when garvey was around 1000 consecutive games. it blew my mind that he was less than half way to the record. i don't care if he was a yankee, lou gehrig was quite a man.

thurman munson.

the first yankee captain after gehrig. not dimaggio, not mantle, not murcer. i didn't necessarily like munson - the dodgers losing to the yanks in 77 and 78 colored my thinking, but i sure respect him as a player and leader of that team. kind of like zeppelin. i can't deny the talent and the impact, but it's just not my cup of tea. i thought it was great how his son got to represent him at the final game at yankee stadium. what mixed emotions he must have felt that night.

thanks a lot eric - hope you enjoyed the 77s and the dodgers i sent your way. let's do it again sometime.

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