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- Jerry Grote was toward the end of his run as the starting catcher for the New York Mets in 1976
- This card represents Jerry's best offensive five-year run
- Grote made the NL All Star team in 1974
- Jerry batted .272 in 323 at bats in 1976
- After the 1976 season Jerry considered retirement due to accumulated injuries and being "tired of baseball"
- Grote started the 1977 season with the Mets but didn't play much and was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in late August.
- Jerry played sparingly for the Dodgers in 1977 and in 1978 before retiring.
- Grote made a comeback with the Kansas City Royals in 1981. He was released at the end of August and wasn't happy about it. Jerry also played for the Dodgers for a short time before retiring permanently after the 1981 season.
- Before peak, peak, or after peak? after peak
- This is a pretty rough run. Pete Broberg's 1975 season was pretty good, especially for a poor ballclub.
- In late May first baseman George Scott was not happy with comments that Pete made about his fielding and said that he would prefer not to play behind Broberg in his next start
- After starting the season 1-5 with a 4.15 ERA Pete was moved to the bullpen for a couple of weeks in June.
- Broberg made two more starts in July and then was a reliever for the rest of the season
- Pete ended up with a 1-7 record and had a 4.97 ERA in 1976
- After the 1976 season Broberg was selected by the Seattle Mariners in the expansion draft
- Pete was traded to the Chicago Cubs early in the 1977 season and spent some time in the minors before coming back up in July.
- Broberg finished his career with the Oakland A's in 1978
- Before peak, peak, or after peak? after peak
- In 1976 this would not have been the best card to get. That .199 average in 1975 didn't look good. Little did we know that Jim Sundberg would turn out to be one of the better catchers in the AL for many years to come
- Jim was thought of as a weak link in the Texas lineup before the 1976 season
- Sundberg batted .228 in 140 games in 1976, but he won the first of six straight AL Gold Glove awards.
- Before peak, peak, or after peak? before peak
- This is a nice five-year run for Don Gullett.
- In 1975 Gullett only had three no-decisions in 22 starts. He went 15-4 and had a .789 winning percentage
- Don had another nice year in 1976 -- he had a record of 11-3 and had a 3.00 ERA
- Don missed most of August with shoulder problems.
- Gullett dislocated a tendon in his right ankle in game 1 of the 1976 World Series.
- Gullett went to the New York Yankees as a free agent after the 1976 season. He pitched in 1977 but was injured in 1978 and had to retire prematurely.
- Before peak, peak, or after peak? peak
- Ron Blomberg had some good batting years in this five-year run
- Injuries shortened Blomberg's career. He spent most of 1975 on the disabled list
- Ron had shoulder surgery in April and batted only twice (he was 0 for 2 on September 8) in 1976
- Even though he spent the entire 1977 season on the disabled list, Blomberg was voted a full World Series share by his Yankee teammates
- After the 1977 season Blomberg signed a four-year contract with the Chicago White Sox
- Ron played in 61 games in 1978 and batted .231 with five home runs.
- Blomberg didn't make the White Sox club in 1979 and was released during spring training
- Before peak, peak, or after peak? after peak
- Chris Speier had his best offensive run from 1971-1975
- Speier was an NL All Star in 1972, 1973, and 1974
- Chris was very optimistic when he said the the Giants could overtake the Reds in July 1975
- Chris had a poor year in 1976 -- he batted .226 with a .297 slugging percentage. He lost his starting shortstop job to rookie Johnnie LeMaster and reluctantly moved to second base in August.
- Speier became disgruntled and was traded to the Montreal Expos for Tim Foli on April 27, 1977
- After spending several seasons with the Expos and the Chicago Cubs, Chris came back to the Giants in 1987 to finish his career. Speier retired after the 1989 season.
- Before peak, peak, or after peak? after peak
- The Yankees really fleeced the Cleveland Indians in the Graig Nettles trade after the 1972 season
- Nettles was glad to be traded to New York since he wasn't on speaking terms with Cleveland manager Ken Aspromonte
- This card represents a nice five-year run for Nettles (he made the AL All Star team in 1975), but the best was yet to come
- Graig led the AL with 32 home runs in 1976.
- Oddly enough, 1976 was the only year Graig wasn't an AL All Star from 1975-1980
- before peak, peak, or after peak? peak
