It’s a “missing” 1977 card for former pitcher Steve Dunning, who definitely pitched enough in 1976 to warrant a Topps card the following year.
However, he split the 1976 season between the California Angels and Montreal Expos, finishing the season across the border up North, so technically this should be an Expos card, not Angels.
Well, since I cannot find a suitable image of him with the Expos, but DID find this great Topps photo of him as an Angel, we get the following:
He only appeared in four games for them, pitching a total of six innings to a 7.50 ERA before he was purchased by the Expos on May 5th, 1976.
Once in Montreal he went on to appear in 32 games, with seven of them starts, throwing 91.1 innings and going 2-6 with a 4.14 ERA.
The combined 97.1 innings of work and 36 appearances should have gotten him a card the following year, so I don’t know why he was left out.
It’s especially funny when you consider that in 1977 he was now a member of the Oakland A’s and appeared in only six games, pitching 18.1 innings, and THAT got him a card in the 1978 set.
All told, Dunning put together a seven-year MLB career between 1970 and 1977, finishing up with a record of 23-41 with an ERA of 4.56 in 136 appearances, 84 of them starts, pitching 613.2 innings with a save and a shutout thrown in.
