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 Card of the Year - Round 1, Group 1

• It's time to choose a card of the year. I chose 64 cards to be included in the voting. About 45 of them were chosen by readers and I chose the other ones to fill out the field.

• We'll do this eight cards at a time. Choose your four favorite cards from each group. The top half of each group will advance to the next round.

• Here are the cards:

#620 Al Oliver

#278 Bernie Carbo

#627 Bill Plummer

#525 Billy Williams

#23 Brian Downing

#230 Carl Yastrzemski

#262 Checklist

#277 Chicago Cubs

• The poll will be open for three days and then the next set of cards will appear for your vote.

1976 Topps #656 - Chicago White Sox

• The Chicago White Sox had fallen on hard times in the mid 1970s. The other AL owners wanted White Sox owner John Allen to sell the club to Seattle interests in order to avoid a lawsuit that the city was bringing against baseball for moving the Seattle Pilots to Milwaukee. Charles Finley was then going to move the Oakland A's to Chicago. Bill Veeck bought the club after the 1975 season and kept the team in Chicago. The American League voted to put an expansion team in Seattle in order to mollify the people there.
• Chuck Tanner is shown as the manager of the White Sox, but he was fired after the 1975 season and replaced by Paul Richards. Tanner had a job managing in the majors every year from 1970-1988. He managed the White Sox (1970-1975), the Oakland A's (1976), the Pittsburgh Pirates (1977-1985), and the Atlanta Braves (1986-1988).
• The White Sox wore shorts for the first game of a doubleheader on August 8, 1976:
• Manager: Paul Richards
• 1976 Record: 64-97, 6th in AL West, 25 1/2 games behind Kansas City
• Attendance: 914,945 (10th in AL)
• Team Batting: .255 (7th in AL)
• Team HR: 73 (10th in AL)
• Team Stolen Bases: 120 (7th in AL)
• Team ERA: 4.25 (12th in AL)
• Team Fielding: .979 (4th in AL)
• Club Batting Leader: Ralph Garr (.300)
• Club HR Leader: Jorge Orta / Jim Spencer (14)
• Club RBI Leader: Jorge Orta (72)
• Club Runs Leader: Jorge Orta (74)
• Club Stolen Base Leader: Jorge Orta (24)
• Club Victories Leader: Ken Brett (10)
• Club Losses Leader: Rich Gossage (17)
• Club ERA Leader (starters): Ken Brett (3.32)
• Club ERA Leader (relievers): Clay Carroll (2.56)
• Club Saves Leader: Dave Hamilton (10)
• AL All Stars: Rich Gossage (P)
• League Leaders: Jim Spencer (intentional walks - 19)
• 
  

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1976 Topps #631 - Atlanta Braves

• The Atlanta Braves were having a rough time in the mid and late 1970s. This was after the Henry Aaron era and before the Dale Murphy era. 
• Dave Bristol managed the club in 1976. He also had two stints with the club in 1977. The Braves had a 130-192 (.404) record during Bristol's time with the team. Bristol also managed the Cincinnati Reds from 1966-1969, the Milwaukee Brewers from 1970-1972, and the San Francisco Giants from 1979-1980. 
• Team Record: 70-92 (6th in NL West, 32 games behind Cincinnati)
• Attendance: 818,179 (10th in NL)
• Team Batting: .245 (11th in NL)
• Team Home Runs: 82 (9th in NL)
• Team Stolen Bases: 74 (11th in NL)
• Team ERA: 3.86 (10th in NL)
• Team Fielding: .974 (10th in NL)
• Team Batting Leader: Willie Montanez (.321)
• Team HR Leader: Jim Wynn (17)
• Team RBI Leader: Jim Wynn (66)
• Team Stolen Base Leader: Jerry Royster (24)
• Team Victories Leader: Phil Niekro (17)
• Team Losses Leader: Dick Ruthven (17)
• Team ERA Leader (starters): Andy Messersmith (3.04)
• Team ERA Leader (relievers): Adrian Devine (3.21)
• Team Saves Leader: Adrian Devine (9)
• League Leaders: Jim Wynn (walks - 127); Rod Gilbreath (sac hits - 20); Dick Ruthven (losses - 17); Phil Niekro (wild pitches - 14)
• NL All Stars: Dick Ruthven

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1976 Topps #556 - Minnesota Twins

• It seemed like Gene Mauch managed forever.
• Philadelphia Phillies (1960-1968) 646-684, .486, best finish 2nd in NL in 1964. Mauch Boss as Sawyer Quits - The Milwaukee Sentinel April 15, 1968. Gene Mauch Isn't Angry - Gettysburg Times June 19, 1968.
• Montreal Expos (1969-1975) 499-627, .443, best finish 4th in NL East in 1973 and 1974. Gene Mauch is Manager at Montreal - Lodi News-Sentinel September 6, 1968. Gene Mauch Fired - The Bryan Times, October 5, 1975
• Minnesota Twins (1976-1980) 378-394, .490, best finish 3rd in AL West in 1976. Twins go 'outside', sign Gene Mauch for 3 Years - The Spokesman Review November 25, 1975. Royals Fuming over Last Hit - The Spokesman Review October 5, 1976. Gene Mauch Leaves Twins - Spartanburg Herald-Journal August 25, 1980. 
• California Angels (1981-1982) 122-103, .542, Best finish 1st in AL West in 1982, lost in ALCS. Mauch Succeeds Fregosi as Angels Skipper - The Pittsburgh Press May 29, 1981. Gene  Mauch resigns as manager of Angels - Reading Eagle October 23, 1982.
• California Angels (1985-1987) 257-229, .529, Best finish 1st in AL West in 1986, lost in ALCS. Mauch returns after quitting for good - The Milwaukee Journal October 17, 1984. California's Gene Mauch decides to hang up cleats - The Deseret News March 27, 1988.
• Lifetime record 1902-2037. 12th all-time in career wins as a manager.
• This was Mauch's first season managing the Twins. Owner Calvin Griffith was having trouble staying afloat in the beginning of the free agent era and his ballclubs paid the price.
• Team record: 85-77, 3rd place, 5 games behind Kansas City
• Team attendance: 715,394 (12th in AL)
• Team batting: .274 (1st in AL)
• Team home runs: 81 (8th in AL)
• Team stolen bases: 146 (5th in AL)
• Team ERA: 3.69 (10th in AL)
• Team fielding: .973 (12th in AL)
• Batting leader: Rod Carew (.331)
• HR leader: Dan Ford (20)
• RBI leader: Larry Hisle (96)
• Stolen Base leader: Rod Carew (49)
• Runs leader: Rod Carew (97)
• Victories leader: Bill Campbell (17)
• Losses leader: Jim Hughes and Dave Goltz (14)
• ERA leader (starters): Dave Goltz (3.36)
• ERA leader (relievers): Tom Burgmeier (2.50)
• Saves leader: Bill Campbell (20)
• AL All Stars: Rod Carew (starting 1B); Butch Wynegar (C)
• Award winners: Bill Campbell (Rolaids Reliever of the Year)
• League leaders: Bill Campbell (winning percentage - .773; appearances - 78)

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1976 Topps #531 - New York Mets

• The 1976 New York Mets had awesome pitching, but they didn't have enough offense to overcome the Philadelphia Phillies or the Pittsburgh Pirates. Believe it or not, ace Tom Seaver was actually only third on the staff in wins. Seaver won 14 games while Jerry Koosman won 21 and Jon Matlack won 17.
• Joe Frazier managed the Mets for the entire 1976 season and the club was 86-76. After the Mets started poorly (15-30), Frazier was relieved of his duties on  May 31, 1977. Here is an interesting blog entry about Frazier's time as the Mets' manager. There is a comment at the end of the entry that appears to be written by one of Joe's sons.
• Team Record: 86-76 (3rd in NL East, 15 games behind Philadelphia)
• Attendance: 1,468,754 (5th in NL)
• Team Batting: .246 (9th in NL)
• Team Home Runs: 102 (5th in NL)
• Team Stolen Bases: 66 (12th in NL)
• Team ERA: 2.94 (1st in NL)
• Team Fielding: .979 (4th in NL)
• NL All Stars: Dave Kingman (starting RF); Tom Seaver (P); Jon Matlack (P)
• League Leaders: Tom Seaver (strikeouts - 235); Jon Matlack (shutouts - 6)
• Batting Leader: Joe Torre (.306 in 310 AB); Ed Kranepool (.292 in 415 AB)
• Home Run Leader: Dave Kingman (37)
• RBI Leader: Dave Kingman (86)
• Stolen Base Leader: Bud Harrelson, Bruce Boisclair (9)
• Victories Leader: Jerry Koosman (21)
• Losses Leader: Mickey Lolich (13)
• ERA Leader (starters): Tom Seaver (2.59)
• ERA Leader (relievers): Skip Lockwood (2.67)
• Saves Leader: Skip Lockwood (19)

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1976 Topps #104 - Cincinnati Reds

• 
  The Reds were my favorite team when I was growing up. I really liked watching Bench, Rose, Morgan, Concepcion, etc. play. I remember really being ticked off when the Big Red Machine started to break up in the late 70s. It was unbelieveable that they'd trade Tony Perez and let Pete Rose sign with another team. I also couldn't believe that they could actually fire Sparky Anderson!
• A fun thing to try with these team cards is to enlarge them and see how many players can be identified without looking up uniform numbers.

• Sparky had a great record as a manager. From 1970-1988 he had only one sub-.500 season (1971--.488). His later years with the Tigers were up and down, but he still definitely deserved induction to the Hall of Fame.

• Here is Sparky's Hall of Fame page. Sparky retired with the third-highest win total in history (only behind Connie Mack and John McGraw). Bobby Cox and Tony LaRussa have passed him, and Joe Torre is only four wins away, but they all took more seasons to do it.

A baseball manager is a necessary evil.
Baseball is a simple game. If you have good players and if you keep them in the right frame of mind then the manager is a success.
Just give me 25 guys on the last year of their contracts; I'll win a pennant every year.