Here’s a “nickname of the 1970s” card that creamed to be created, my 1977 edition for “Sugar Bear” Larvell Blanks, who was smack in the middle of his nine-year Big League career when this card would have first seen the light of day:
Blanks was coming off his first season with the Cleveland Indians after
playing his first four years in the Major Leagues with the Atlanta
Braves.
He had a very nice season in 1976 for the Tribe, hitting .280 over 104
games, with 92 hits in 328 at-bats along with 45 runs scored and 41 runs
batted in.
The next season was more of the same as he hit .286 with 92 hits in 322
at-bats almost duplicating the runs scored with 43 and RBIs with 38.
After a 1978 season that saw him falter just a bit, he found himself
playing for the Texas Rangers in 1979, where he hit .200 in limited
play, collecting 24 hits in 120 at-bats.
In 1980, in what turned out to be the last year of his MLB career, he
was back where it all becan, in Atlanta, where he hit .204 for the
Braves in just over a half season’s action, collecting 45 hits in 221
at-bats while filling in at third, short and second as usual.
He would go on to play in the Mexican League between 1981 and 1985 for a
few different teams, finally calling it a pro career at the age of 35.
Overall, by the time he finished up his career in the Majors, Blanks had
a career .253 batting average, with 446 hits over 1766 at-bats in 629
games, with 203 runs scored and 172 RBIs.
