Now I'll be honest with you.
With all my nerdy baseball studying over the past 35 years or so, I
never knew of former New York Met Dave Schneck, and I promise you, I
have studied team rosters, especially from the 1970's and 1980's to the
point of embarrassment.
But when I came across that SABR article I cited earlier regarding
players with the most at-bats or innings pitched without a Topps card,
his was the one name I had no clue about.
Needless to say it was something I needed to "fix" asap, so please let me offer a 1975 Topps Dave Schneck card now:
Actually you can make a case for a "missing" 1973 Topps card for
Schneck as well, as he collected 134 plate appearances in 1972 in what
was his rookie year.
But for now let's focus on the real omission as far as Topps is concerned: his 1974 season.
That year Schneck appeared in 93 games, good for 272 plate appearances.
Granted he only hit .204 with five homers and 25 runs batted in,
but that is definitely substantial playing time for inclusion in a card
set.
I wonder of Topps just never had him under contract for a card at the time.
Turns out Schneck's entire career were the three years between 1972
and 1974, as he was shipped by the Mets to the Phillies as part of the
Tug McGraw/John Stearns deal in December of 1974 and toiled in the
Minors for Philly, Cincinnati and the Chicago
Cubs for another three years before hanging them up.
I think I'll still design a 1973 card for him as well, so for you
N.Y. Met fans out there keep an eye out for it in the near future.