Card of the Moment #23
April 22nd, 2010 by slangon

Still in Florida. Still not posting. I’m going to guess that the Mets still aren’t winning.

A card for you to look at in the mean time.

1968 Topps #172 Walt Williams

I’ve been toying with the idea of adding Walt Williams to my player collection list. Initially it was just because his nickname is “No Neck” but seeing his sophomore card here, how can you not love this guy? Just look at the look on his face. And that gigantic arm. You won me over, Walt.

As far as the origins of his awesome nickname, I was looking at his Wikipedia page to try and figure it out. All it said was:

Williams was commonly known as “No Neck”, due to his relatively short stature (5 feet 6 inches) combined with a muscular upper torso. He was a popular and fan-friendly player who admitted to liking that nickname. He seemed to embody the old saying, “a good little ballplayer”.

There was also a sort of odd but kind of funny line further on in the article.

The authors of The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book, Brendan C. Boyd & Fred C. Harris, Little Brown & Co, 1973, made this impish comment on p.126 next to a picture of Williams’ baseball card: “Yes, Virginia, Walt Williams had no neck. And his legs weren’t particularly long, either.”

One Response to “Card of the Moment #23”

  1. Walt is a GREAT guy. He managed the home town minor league squad when I was a kid and recently did a couple of ttms for me. I gotta land that card!

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