Monday, January 12, 2015

TRADED: 1975 BOOG POWELL

Here's a 1975 "Traded" card for former Baltimore Orioles slugger Boog Powell, who was traded to the Cleveland Indians in February of '75, thus having Topps issue a card for him still shown as an oriole.
Take a look at my design:


Dig those funky mid-70's Indians duds!
The former 1970 American League Most Valuable Player was nearing the end of his career by then, eventually retiring after 50 games with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1977 (I hear a "Career Capper" card for him in the near future!).
He spent the first 14 years of his 17-year career with Baltimore, putting up some solid numbers: four 30+ homer seasons, three 100-R.B.I. years, four all-star selections and two other top-3 M.V.P. finishes besides the year he took the award home.
He also won two World Championships with the "O's", in 1966 when they surprisingly swept the defending champ Dodgers, and in 1970 when they beat the Reds.
He spent two years with the Tribe, and 1975 put in a really good year, hitting 27 homers with 86 runs batted in, 64 runs scored and a .297 average.
But by 1976 his performance dropped off dramatically, hitting only .215 with nine homers and 33 R.B.I.'s in only 95 games.
All told, Boog hit 339 home runs in his career, with 1187 r.b.i.'s, 889 runs scored and a .266 average over 2042 games.