Today I wanted to start a "traded" sub-set that encompasses the
entire decade of late or mid-season trades that almost assuredly would
have been produced had Topps started their "Traded Set" before 1981.
I was a HUGE fan of the traded sets in the early-80's, and was even
the proud owner of 25 Fleer 1984 "Traded Sets", only to sell them seven
years later for $250 each: TEN TIMES the price I paid for them when
they came out!
Anyway, today I want to start with a 1977 card of "Tom Terrific",
Tom Seaver, who was traded to the Cincinnati Reds (and broke many a Mets
fans heart) on June 15th of that year.
Check it out:
I wanted to do something different than the usual card format Topps
had for the set, so for this one I went horizontal, with a "traded"
line running across the bottom with the date of the transaction.
I'll never forget that day, even as a Yankee fan at the age of
eight. I was crushed that Tom Seaver wasn't in New York any longer!
But that was nothing compared to many of my Met fan friends, who
were absolutely distraught at the thought of Seaver now pitching for the
Reds!
On a side note: It's amazing to think that Seaver was traded to the
reigning two-time World Champions, STILL loaded with Pete Rose, Joe
Morgan, Dave Concepcion, Ken Griffey and Johnny Bench, yet they never
brought home another championship until 1990 with
their surprising sweep of the Oakland A's.
I've mentioned this before on this blog, but years later in the
'80's I was watching an interview with former "Big Red Machine" manager
Sparky Anderson, and he stated that the reason the Reds didn't win
another World Series was because they lost Tony Perez,
whom Anderson considered a vital "cog in the Machine".
I remember how that stuck with me since the Reds still had all
those other awesome players. Yet here was Anderson saying that it was
the loss of Perez that killed the dynasty.
Interesting to say the least!
