The Yard Sale Cards: Vintage & Early 80s

Finally, after much sorting, organizing, picture taking, and organizing said pictures, it's time to reveal some of the contents of my gigantic yard sale find from a few weeks ago. I decided to start with baseball and work from there and what better way to start than with some vintage!

One of my favorite sets from the 70s is the 1973 version. I always liked the white borders, the player silhouette, and the clean look at the bottom. I was pleasantly surprised when I found not one, but two 1973 cards in the miscellaneous boxes. The Reds in 1973 finished 1st in the NL West with a 99-63 record but were upset in five games by the Yogi Berra led Mets who won a rather weak NL East division that season with an 82-79 record. 

Here's something I definitely wasn't expecting to find, that being this 1968 Ron Santo. At first, I thought maybe it was a reprint, but nope it's the real thing. Aside from the 1967 set, I can't think of a set in the 60s that I don't actively like. In terms of favorites from that decade though, this particular set is right up there with 69, 62, and 63. 

I keep having this thought that I'm going to start collecting team cards, just because they're so unique. Now, I'm talking cards that actually have team photos on them, like this one, not any old team card. The Braves didn't exactly blow the doors off anything in 1977 with a 61-101 record, including one game where Ted Turner managed them.

Here are a couple random 1976 cards that showed themselves amongst the sorting. I'm not familiar with either of these players but a quick search on Baseball Reference shows them nearing the tail end of their respective careers in the late 70s. By the early 80s, both guys would be gone from the majors.

There were a few early 80s cards included as well and I figured I'd throw them in with this batch as well so they really don't get lost in the shuffle. 1981 Topps I think really gets overlooked as it's sandwiched between two really fun sets in 1980 and 1982, plus the rookie class isn't loaded with hall of famers but has some notable "fan favorite" type players. Doug Bair, pictured here, was not one of them.

Speaking of rookies, the "rookie set" if you will of Donruss was 1981. Sure it's not the best looking set ever but it's a set I really enjoy and have considered putting together a time or two. I love the variety of the players in this lot with notable players from Cecil Cooper, Mario Soto, and Pete Vukovich to people like Joe Charboneru, who won the AL Rookie of the Year in 1980 and then flamed out.

There's the first batch of stuff from the yard sale. It'll be a slow process putting some of these together as there is a ton of stuff to write about.

Single Card Post - 1977 Topps #492

Our subjects of examination today appear as a quartet on card #492 of the 1977 Topps issue. Everyone on the front of this card looks less than impressed, save for Carlos Lopez. Also, it looks to me that every hat is airbrushed. Three of these four I've never heard of so let's see how they did and if anything new is uncovered:

Tony Armas only made 4 games with the Pirates in 1976 before being shipped off to the A's with five other players for Phil Garner, Tommy Helms, and another player. Armas had six decent years with Oakland appearing in 694 games overall hitting .250, with 111 HRS and 374 RBIs. In the strike-shortened season of 1981, Armas was an All-Star and finished fourth in MVP voting. After the 1982 season, Armas was traded by the A's to Boston in a deal that landed Oakland Carney Lansford in return. With Boston, his best season (and probably best overall in his career) was 1984 where he played in 157 games, hit 43 homers, led the AL in RBIs with 123, and won the Player of the Month award for June. On top of that, he appeared in his second All-Star Game, finished in the top ten of MVP voting and won a Silver Slugger. After this power saw a relapse in both 1985 and 1986, Armas left Boston as a free agent and signed with the Angels before the 1987 season started. He would play three more years before retiring after the 1989 season and a 14-year career.

Steve Kemp was the first overall pick of the January 1976 amateur draft out of USC by the Tigers and was a bright spot on a Tigers squad that finished 4th in the AL East in 1977 with a .257 average, 18 homers, and 88 RBIs. Two years later, Kemp made is only All-Star team hitting .318/.398/.543 with 26 HRs and 105 RBIs and finished in the top twenty of MVP voting. After the 1981 season, he was sent to the White Sox in exchange for Chet Lemon. He only spent one season on the south side and then signed with the Yankees as a free agent. After two decent season, the Yankees traded him and Tim Foli to the Pirates for Dale Berra, Jay Buhner, and Alfonso Pulido. In Pittsburgh, he was a part-time player and was released by the Pirates in the middle of the 1986 season. He resurfaces for a few shots in 1988 with the Rangers but was released again in the middle of the season.

Carlos Lopez only played three years in the majors and all three with different teams. His MLB journey began when the Angels purchased him in 1973. He spent the 1974, 1975, and the majority of the 1976 seasons in the minors. At the end of 1976 he appeared in 9 games with 10 at bats and got exactly zero hits in those 10 at bats. The Mariners selected him in the 1976 expansion draft and he fared a bit better in Seattle and had his best season stat wise. After the season, the Mariners shipped him off to Baltimore along with Tommy Moore for Mike Parrott. After 129 games with the Orioles in 1978 he disappeared from the majors. 1979 was spent in the Orioles minor league system and by 1980 was back in the Mexican League where he played another five seasons.

Gary Woods debuted in 1976 playing in six games with the A's and after the season was selected by the Blue Jays in the expansion draft. With the Jays, he was primarily a backup outfielder, only appearing the 68 games over 1977 and 1978. After the season, he was traded to Houston for a minor leaguer and spent the entire 1979 season playing in the minors with Tuscon (AZ) and Charleston (WV) in the Astros system. The next year, he was back in the majors and again was primarily a backup outfielder, only getting in 73 games over the 1980 and 1981 seasons. After the 1981 season, he was again traded, this time to the Cubs for Jim Tracy. The best season of his career was the 1982 season, his first with the Cubs were he hit .269/.327/.388 but only mustered 4 homers and 30 RBIs. After that season, he had three more years with the Cubs as was out of the majors after the 1985 season.

Here's the back of the card for those who are interested. One thing I always liked about 1977 Topps is the back of the card as it's made to look like, at least in my opinion, a scoreboard you'd see at the local sandlot. Anyway, of the four players mentioned here, there's no doubt that Tony Armas had the best career of all involved.