Not of This Quarter Bin
March 12th, 2012 by slangon
Lets wrap up this round of quarter bin cards, shall we? I already covered the 76’s that I got as well as the 73’s. We’ll finish thing off with the cards that fall into the “other” category.
1977 Topps #63 Tito Fuentes
There were several factors that led to me liberating this particular card from the white, corrugated confines of the 25¢ Bin. First off, and I think I’ve mentioned this on the blog before, for some reason there are certain baseball names from the past that continually rattle around inside my head as though they belong to Hall of Famers, but they don’t. Rico Carty, Rico Petrocelli, Joe Pepitone, Manny Sanguillen. They were all good players in their day, but I don’t think they’re good enough to justify how ingrained in my head they are. Tito Fuentes, for whatever reason, belongs to that group. Secondly, there’s just something off about that photograph that attracts me. I don’t think it’s airbrushed because Tito was with the Padres since 1975, so I think that’s an actual photo of him in an actual Padres uniform. It almost looks like a bad colorizing job or something. It’s weird. Lastly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the signature of a grown man where he dots the “i” in his name with a star. What’s extra cool about that is after having done a quick image search, it seems that he sometime really did sign his name like that. It also just struck me that they way the “F” is in that signature totally makes it look like it says “Tito Puente”.
1977 Topps #503 Bill Lee
Although there’s not much going on in this card in the way of interesting (unless you want to count that waistband that is so thick it almost looks like a cummerbund), I just can’t leave a Spaceman card all alone in a quarter bin.
The final four of this particular batch of quarter bin cards consists of all managers. Specifically, manager cards from the 1978 set. Out of all manager cards, these are up there for me as far as being some of my favorites. The whole “As Player” / “As Manager” thing is pretty awesome.
1978 Topps #467 Alvin Dark
Al Dark spent 13 seasons managing 4 different teams in both leagues. He led the Giants to the 1962 N.L. Pennant and the A’s to the 1974 World Series title. He didn’t have much luck during his 1 year at the helm of the Padres, though. He was the 3rd skipper the team had in 1977 and they went 48-65 under his watch.
1978 Topps #548 Billy Hunter
In the spirit of full disclosure, I had never heard of Billy Hunter before getting this card. As a matter of fact, when I saw his “As Player” photo, I immediately figured he played a few seasons of minor league ball before moving into coaching and eventually managing. Turns out, he was an All-Star during his rookie season in 1953 and even has a World Series ring with the Yankees, although he didn’t play in any World Series.
1978 Topps #656 Dave Garcia
Unlike Billy Hunter, Dave Garcia is, in fact, one of those managers who spent 200 years toiling in the minors before moving on to coaching and managing. I guess that’s why his “As Player” photo looks like it was taken off of a Cuban baseball card.
1978 Topps #684 Ralph Houk
It seems like it’s safe to say that Mark Fidrych is a fan favorite within the hobby of baseball card collecting. I’m sure everyone is aware of his incredible rookie season, combined with his rather colorful behavior. I’m sure everyone is also aware that The Bird never really recaptured the success he had that first season. Turns out, a lot of folks blame old Ralph here. The Tigers weren’t turning a lot of head during the late 70’s and Fidrych was one of the few things that was getting asses in the seats in Detroit in those days. Because of that, many felt, Houk would continually let The Bird pitch complete game after complete game. He made 29 starts in 1976 and threw 24 complete games.To make matters worse, Houk would often have him do it on 3 days rest. Fidrych tore his rotator cuff early in the 1977 season, pretty much ending what looked to be a very promising career.
Well, that does it for the latest batch of 25¢ Bin finds. Hopefully, the old local card shop will decide to keep the Quarter Bin out for a while and we can do this again sooner rather than later.
All that about Tito and you didn’t even mention the yellow headband.
I just stumbled across your blog from a random link on baseballblogs.com and I love these bargain bin posts. Reminds me of going to card shows at the mall with my mom and looking through boxes of bargain bin cards in plastic sleeves.
Also, I know this is probably the most cliched comment ever, but I really do like the look of your blog. It captures the feel of those old-time baseball cards perfectly.