Time
to add another player to my long-running thread, ‘MIA-MIA”, the
“missing” 1972 In-Action cards, this time the newly crowned Rookie of
the Year in the National League, Earl Williams of the Atlanta Braves:
First off, I DO realize this image was not from the 1971 season, but
there were NO images of Williams in action from 1971 to be found, so I
went with this shot since it was really a cool shot to use.
Williams burst onto the MLB stage with a great rookie season behind the
plate, slamming 33 home runs while driving in 87, along with 72 runs
scored and a .260 batting average.
Ironically, even after hitting another 28 home runs the following
season, it wasn’t enough to keep him in Atlanta, as he found himself
traded in a multi-player deal to the Baltimore Orioles with Taylor
Duncan for pitcher Pat Dobson and Davey Johnson along with two other
players.
He’d end up playing through the 1977 season, finishing up with the
Oakland A’s after eight-years in the league, hitting 138 home runs
before he was through, just under half of them those first two seasons.