I'm going to make an attempt to collect as many baseball cards as possible from 1976. I was 9 when the 1976 Topps baseball cards came out. I have most of those cards, but I'd like to expand and get the other cards from this great year.
Those are some really nice batting averages -- especially the last three years
Rod won four straight batting titles (1972-1975)
Carew barely missed out on a fifth straight batting title in 1976 --- he batted .331 and finished two points behind batting champion George Brett (.333)
Rod won two more titles in 1977 (.388) and 1978 (.333)
Bob Watson was in a great time in his career. He batted over .300 three times in the previous five years, and he came pretty darned close a fourth time.
This five-year stretch included two All-Star appearances (1973 and 1975)
Bob was the starting LF from 1971-1973 before moving to 1B in 1974
Watson would go on to have a few more good years with the Astros from 1976-1978
Before peak, peak, or past peak? peak (right at the end of it)
I'll post about the other twelve cards in the Kellogg's set once I get my hands on them.
Hostess put cards on the bottoms of boxes of Twinkies, Ding Dongs, and other assorted snack foods from 1975-1979. I remember beating the heck out of those boxes to find the cards I wanted. We didn't eat nearly enough of the things to complete a set.
I don't really like "partial stats" on cards, but it does have an upside. One can see whether a player is at his peak, past his peak, or if he is in the early part of his career.
Joe Morgan was at the peak of his career when this card was made. He had his highest batting average and his highest RBI total to date. Joe would have his career high in RBI (127) during the 1976 season.
My father introduced me to baseball cards in 1974. I was seven years old at the time.
I remember getting a "Hank Aaron Special" card in the first pack. I think it was card #4
We watched Aaron break the home run record on TV at a neighbor's house
My dad tried to get me to realize that keeping cards in good shape was important, but it didn't really sink in for a few years. We used to beat the heck out of our cards by flipping them and just handling them a lot.
He also tried to tell me about which cards were more important and valuable. At the time I just liked to get the cool-looking "in action" types of cards
During that summer my parents were trying to teach me how to swim. My father was in the pool at O'Neil Park and tried to get me to jump in. I was scared and wouldn't do it. He said that he would buy me 50 baseball cards if I would jump in. I still resisted. He increased the offer incrementally until I finally took the plunge at 200 cards. I couldn't find a picture of the pool, but above is a picture of the field where I played a lot of little league games.
My dad did a lot for me. He taught me to read at a very early age. He tried to get me interested in a lot of things. Some of them took (reading and baseball) while others didn't quite stick (hunting and fishing).
But the important thing is that he loved me and cared about me. He did a lot that helped make me who I am today. Thank you Dad and happy Father's Day!
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