NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1972 RUDY MEOLI

Today’s blog post has a 1972 “not so missing” card for former infielder Rudy Meoli, who began what turned out to be a six-year Big League career with a handful of games for the California Angels in 1971:

Meoli played in seven games as a September call-up in 1971, going 0-3 at the plate while putting in some time pinch-running.
He’d spend all of 1972 in the Minors before coming back in 1973, seeing the most action in any one season for his career with 120 games, hitting .223 with career-bests across the board, including runs, hits, doubles, homers, RBIs and walks while playing second, third and shortstop.
A part-time player in parts of another four seasons from here on in, he’d play for the Angels, Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies before retiring after the 1979 season.
All told, Meoli hit .212 in the Big Leagues, with 133 hits in 626 at-bats, with 69 runs scored and 40 RBIs over 310 Major League games.

 

AIRBRUSHING THROUGH THE 1970'S (BUT WHY THIS ONE!?)- 1978 RUDY MEOLI

Today we look at an airbrush job by Topps for their 1978, and though not a terrible one, I must ask “why bother?” considering so many other players who deserved a card that year-the 1978 Rudy Meoli:

First off, the paint job on this is pretty good actually!
The effect of the embroidery on the Chicago Cubs logo looks great, as does the shadowing on the cap itself. An excellent effort all-around.
But consider this: Meoli at that point hadn’t played in the Big Leagues since the 1875 season when he was with the California Angels!
So why the effort on a card for the 1978 set, let alone the paint job, for a light-hitting infielder who was bounced around three organizations since his last MLB action?
Very odd.
Starting in November 1975, Meoli was traded from the Angels, the team he came up with in 1971, to the San Diego Padres, then to the Cincinnati Reds in April of 1976, for whom he never played, then on to the Cubs who purchased him in September of 1977.
He’d go on to play 47 games for the Cubs in 1978, hitting .103 before moving on to the Philadelphia Phillies for the 1979 season, where he’d play the last MLB games of his career, hitting .178 before leaving the game as an active player for good.
All told, over parts of six seasons, Meoli hit .212 with 133 hits in 626 at-bats over 310 games between 1971 and 1979, mainly with the Angels.

1978 TOPPS RUDY MEOLI- WHY?

I'm assuming that this is a card that was decided upon solely for what the player did in the Minor Leagues the year before, since nothing else would make sense!

 

 

Topps' 1978 Rudy Meoli card (#489) leaves a lot of questions to any asking, "why give a card to someone who hasn't appeared in a Major League game since 1975?!

During that '75 season Meoli played in 70 games for the California Angels, hitting .214 with a couple of doubles and a triple.

But over the course of the next two years, 1976 and 1977, he was strictly in the Minors, playing for Indianapolis, the Cincinnati Reds' Triple-A team.

And it's his 1977 season for Indy that I'm assuming got hima bit of attentions, and inclusion in the 1978 set.

He put together a pretty good season for a middle infielder of the 1970's, hitting .286 with 102 runs scored, 42 stolen bases and 113 walks, boosting his on-base-percentage to a nice .433 for the year.

I can only assume this is why Topps thought of him for a slot in the set, airbrushing him into a Chicago Cubs uniform after being purchased by them in September of '77.

Perhaps this slot could have been used more effectively, like a last Brooks Robinson card, or even an Ozzie Smith rookie?

Speaking of a 1978 Ozzie Smith rookie, keep an eye out for my "dream" rookie card, featuring Smith and another three future superstars...