After playing out the 1974 season with the Red Sox, appearing in 11 games and finishing with a 5-1 record, Marichal was released in late October, but wasn't officially retired, so it would have been cool to have a card for him in '75. No reason not to.
So I went ahead and designed a 1975 card for him as a Boston player, being that in reality, Topps would never have had a card issued as a Dodger since he didn't sign with them until the end of March.
His stint in L.A. didn't last very long, a total of 2 games and six innings for an 0-1 record. And with that line capped off a Hall of Fame career, sporting a record of 243-142, 2.89 E.R.A. and 2303 K's.
Throw in three seasons of 25+ wins (each time overshadowed by a monster season by either Koufax or Gibson), nine All Star games, and a no-hitter on June 15th, 1963, and Marichal was arguably the best pitcher of the 1960's when considering the FULL decade: six 20+ win seasons, eight sub-3.00 E.R.A.'s, and winning the most games during the 1960's for any Major league pitcher.
After leaving the game in 1975, a 1976 card for him in a Dodger uniform would have been nice, and somewhat ironic considering that the one true blemish on his career would be the "Johnny Roseboro bat incident" in 1965. Google it if you're not familiar. No need to delve into that fiasco here.
Anyway, I've also gone and designed a 1976 Marichal Dodger card, capping off his amazing career which lead to a Hall induction in 1983.
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| Missing in the 1975 set. |
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| Capping off his legendary career. |