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.