Hector Torres was one of those players that came and went throughout the 1970's.
I originally had him measured up to be a "missing in action"
subject in the future for this blog, but also realized that he went four
years before making an appearance in a Topps set again, from 1972 to
1976.
In the 1972 set he was depicted as a Chicago Cub (on "devlish" card
#666) since he appeared in 31 games for them in 1971, good for 58
at-bats.
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| Card #666 in 1972's psychedelic set. |
Yet oddly enough Topps didn't go and give him a card in their 1973
set even though he saw a lot more playing time with the Montreal Expos,
getting into 83 games and 181 at-bats. Go figure?!
After bouncing around the Minors for a couple of years he finally
found decent playing time in 1975 with the San Diego Padres playing
various infield positions, getting into 112 games with 352 at-bats, both
the highest totals since his rookie year in 1968,
and totals he'd never surpass again in his career.
For this, in 1976 Topps "rewarded" Torres with his first card since 1972, #241 in the equally as colorful set. See below…
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| A baseball card reappearance for Torres after four years. |
I've always been a sucker for "missing" cards of players, or cards of a player that hadn't appeared in sets for years.
So because of this, I will also be profiling Torres for his missing cards.
Yes, that's "cards" plural, as he should have had a card in the 1973,
1977 and 1978 sets. Especially the latter two since he posted over 200
at-bats in each of 1976 and 1977.
As a matter of fact Torres was one of the "original" Blue Jays in
1977, so it's a shame he wasn't shown as such from a historical
standpoint.
Keep an eye out for them in the future.