1976 Kellogg's #31 - Fred Lynn

• What did he do to deserve a 1976 Kellogg's card?
• This was probably the most sought-after card in the set. Fred could do no wrong in 1975
• Lynn was the AL MVP and Rookie of the Year in 1975
• Fred batted .331 with 21 HR and 105 RBI in 1975
• Led the AL with 103 runs, 47 doubles, and a .566 slugging percentage
• Went 0 for 2 in the 1975 All Star Game
• Won the first of his four Gold Gloves 
• Batted .364 (4 for 11) in the AL Championship Series and .280 (7 for 25) in the World Series
• 1976 Highlights
• Batted .314 with 10 HR and 65 RBI
• Was 1 for 3 with a solo HR as the AL starting CF in the All Star Game

1976 Topps Card of the Year - round 3, group 2

• Pete Rose, Dave Parker, World Series Champs, and the Kurt Bevacqua Bubble Blowing Card will move on to the final eight. I had to make a decision between the Worlds Series Champs and the Luis Tiant cards since both had the same number of votes.
• Here are the cards from the "other side of the bracket." Please vote for your favorite card(s) from this group. The top four cards will move on to the final eight.

Steve Garvey #150

Carl Yastrzemski #230 

Jerry Reuss #60

Oscar Gamble traded #74T

Johnny Bench #300

Ray Fosse #554

Fred Lynn #50

Lou Brock #10

1976 Topps Card of the Year (Round 2, Group 1)

• Well the first round is over. Tito Fuentes, Willie Horton, the World Series card, and Steve Ontiveros all advance to the second round.

• In this round we'll have four groups of eight cards. I randomized the cards into new groups. The top four cards from each group will advance to the next round.

• Here are the cards for this round:

Ray Fosse #554

Ron Cey #370

Lou Brock #10

Jim Palmer #450

Johnny Bench #300

Fred Lynn #50

Hank Aaron Record Breaker #1

George Hendrick #570

1976 Topps Card of the year - Round 1, Group 2

• The four cards from Group 1 that will advance are: Carl Yastrzemski, Al Oliver, Bill Plummer, and Brian Downing. 

• There was no love shown for the checklist card. It was the only one that received no votes.

• Here is the next group of eight cards. Please vote for your four favorites from this group. The top four from this group will advance to round 2.

#477 Cleveland Indians

#48 Dave Concepcion

#213 Dave Heaverlo

#4 Dave Lopes Record Breaker

#185 Dave Parker

#512 Ellie Rodriguez

#50 Fred Lynn

#103 Biff Pocoroba

1976 Topps #196 - AL RBI Leaders

• All three of these guys had great years in 1975. You know you had a good season when you appear on multiple league leader cards in the following year.

• The 1975 season was the second (and last) season in which George Scott would have over 100 RBI.

• John Mayberry led the AL in RBI twice (1972 and 1975) and those were the only two years in which he would have over 100 RBI. He was second in MVP voting in 1975.

• Fred Lynn also had over 100 RBI twice (1975 and 1979). Fred was the AL Rookie of the Year and MVP in 1975. The 1975 season was the first of nine straight AL All Star seasons for Lynn.

1976 Topps #192 - AL Batting Leaders

Another batting race that wasn't very close. Mr. Carew won his 6th batting title by 28 points over Rookie of the Year Fred Lynn. It's interesting to see how large of a gap some players have between their first title and their last title. Mr. Cobb's first title was in 1907 and his last one was in 1919. Mr. Williams had his first title in 1941 and his last title in 1958 -- that's quite a gap!

1976 Topps #50 - Fred Lynn

• Off the top of my head, I can't think of many rookies that got off to a better start than Fred Lynn. He was the first player to win Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same year (1975). Fred led the league in runs, slugging percentage, and OPS, and came within two points of winning the batting title (he hit .331, Hal McRae hit .332, and George Brett won the title at .333). He also had a nice postseason in '75, batting .364 in the ALCS and .280 in the World Series. I was only eight years old in 1975 and I was rooting for the Reds in the World Series, but I thought he was fun to watch.
• Fred had good years in 1976-1978, and then had a great year in 1979 (.333, 39 HR, 122 RBI, 4th in MVP voting). He was traded to California after the 1980 season and had a poor, injury-riddled year in 1981. He bounced back in 1982 with a good year (.299, 21 HR, 86 RBI). Fred stayed with the Angels through the 1984 season then signed with Baltimore as a free agent. He made $1 million plus per year from 1985-1988 but didn't produce as much as the Orioles would have liked. Lynn was acquired by the Detroit Tigers for their unsuccessful 1988 stretch run and he played with the Tigers through the 1989 season. Lynn finished up his career with the San Diego Padres in 1990.
• Fred won four Gold Glove awards and was a nine-time All Star. Lynn was the 1982 ALCS MVP in a losing effort and was the 1983 All Star Game MVP. He hit a grand slam off of Atlee Hammaker -- the only grand slam in All Star Game history.
• A few links:

• Here is an article "Remembering Fred Lynn."
• His biography on the baseball biography project
• His official site
• Whatever happened to Fred Lynn - 2009 article