Here's a card that would have been nice to pull fresh from a Topps
pack in 1979: a "highlight" card celebrating Willie McCovey hitting his
500th home run.
Take a look:
McCovey reached the lofty mark on June 30th of 1978 against the
Atlanta Braves, and became the twelfth slugger to reach that mark at the
time.
Before McCovey, the last player to reach 500 home runs was Frank Robinson towards the end of the 1971 season.
"Stretch" would end up with 521 homers in his career, tying the great Ted Williams on the all-time list.
It's amazing to think, but McCovey missed a chunk of time
throughout his career because of injuries, and it's hard not to wonder
if 600 was possible for him had he stayed healthy.
Nevertheless, his 22 year career was worthy of Hall of Fame
induction in 1986, capping a brilliant run that saw him suit up for the
Giants, Padres, and A's between 1959 and 1980, making him one of those
rare "four decade" players as well.
I followed the design for this card after my Gaylord Perry 3000th
strikeout "highlight" card which I posted a couple months ago, and it
seems to make for a decent "virtual" sub-set for the otherwise bland set
Topps put out there, 35 years ago.
Hope you all agree…
