Up on the blog today we have a career-capping 1977 card for former San Diego Padres slugger Nate Colbert, who finished his Big League career with a short stint as an Oakland A's player at the tail-end of the 1976 season:
After starting the season with
the Montreal Expos, Colbert found himself back out West, ending up
appearing in two games for the A's, going 0-for5 at the plate with a
walk and three strikeouts.
During his heyday in San Diego
between 1969 and 1974, Colbert was one of the franchise's first stars,
twice hitting 38 homers ( 1970 and 1972) while driving in as many as 111
runs in 1972.
Those efforts got him three straight All-Star
nods between 1971 and 1973, and an eighth place finish in the National
League MVP race in 1972.
Of course, that season also saw him
have one of the most productive days any player has ever seen at the
plate, when he hit five home runs and drove in 13 runs in a
double-header against the Atlanta Braves.
I actually created a
1973 "Highlight" card for that feat, one of my first in that category,
way back in July of 2014 right here on the blog:
Quite
a day for a man who was ALSO in attendance back when the man whose
five-home run record he tied, Stan Musial, set the record some 18 years
earlier! He was at the game as a youngster with his father!
Just incredible!