NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1973 CHARLIE SANDS

Another fun card to create for the blog, a 1973 “not so missing” card for former catcher Charlie Sands, who appeared in one game, for one plate appearance during the 1972 season with the Pittsburgh Pirates:

Back in 1967 Sands made his MLB debut with one game and one plate appearance as a 19-year-old with the New York Yankees, before heading back to the Minors between 1968 and 1970.
In 1971 he made it back to the Big Leagues with 28 games with the eventual World Champion Pirates, hitting an even .200 with five hits over 25 at-bats, including his 1st MLB home run.
In 1973 he’d find himself with the California Angels, where he’d suit up for two years and a total of 60 games combines, before moving on to his final stop as a Big Leaguer, the Oakland A’s in 1975 with three appearances.
All told, Sands played parts of six years in the Majors, appearing in 93 games and hitting .214 with 31 hits over 145 at-bats, scoring 15 runs and driving in 23 with six homers.

45 GAMES...58 AT-BATS...IN TWO SEASONS...AND HE GETS TWO CARDS...

The title of this post pretty much sums it all up: Charlie Sands, former catcher for the Pirates and Angels somehow got TWO cards in Topps sets in the early 1970's based off of 45 games and 58 at-bats.

You gotta love it.

After playing in only 28 games in 1971, good for 25 at-bats, Topps went ahead and included him in the awesome 1972 set.

Take a look:

Then after appearing in only 17 games in 1973, good for 33 at-bats for his new team, the Angels, Sands is given a card in the 1974 set, albeit with a bad airbrush job.

Take a look here:

Just more examples of the mystery of the Topps' player selection process when it came to set planning.

And why would they not have an image of Sands in an Angels uniform for the 1974 set if he played for them the year before?

He'd also end up getting a card in the 1975 set, but at least this time he played in more games the previous year than the other two instances: 43 games, good for 83 at-bats and 108 plate appearances.

May as well throw that card in this post as well.

Take a look:

Those three years of activity pretty much summed the extent of Sands career.

He saw his first Major League at-bat as a 19-year-old with the New York Yankees in 1967, a single at-bat with the Pirates in 1972, and two more at-bats with the Angels in 1975, and that was it besides those three years of "extensive play" that got him those three baseball cards.

93 games, 145 at-bats, with a .214 career average. 

Man, I cannot for the life of me understand the method to Topps' madness.