The title of this post pretty much sums it all up: Charlie Sands,
former catcher for the Pirates and Angels somehow got TWO cards in Topps
sets in the early 1970's based off of 45 games and 58 at-bats.
You gotta love it.
After playing in only 28 games in 1971, good for 25 at-bats, Topps went ahead and included him in the awesome 1972 set.
Take a look:
Then after appearing in only 17 games in 1973, good for 33 at-bats
for his new team, the Angels, Sands is given a card in the 1974 set,
albeit with a bad airbrush job.
Take a look here:
Just more examples of the mystery of the Topps' player selection process when it came to set planning.
And why would they not have an image of Sands in an Angels uniform for the 1974 set if he played for them the year before?
He'd also end up getting a card in the 1975 set, but at least this
time he played in more games the previous year than the other two
instances: 43 games, good for 83 at-bats and 108 plate appearances.
May as well throw that card in this post as well.
Take a look:
Those three years of activity pretty much summed the extent of Sands career.
He saw his first Major League at-bat as a 19-year-old with the New
York Yankees in 1967, a single at-bat with the Pirates in 1972, and two
more at-bats with the Angels in 1975, and that was it besides those
three years of "extensive play" that got him
those three baseball cards.
93 games, 145 at-bats, with a .214 career average.
Man, I cannot for the life of me understand the method to Topps' madness.