The next card up for "review" on my 1972 "Awards" sub-set thread is
card #624, "Minor League Player of the Year", which originally featured
a landscape orientation and images of two different trophies. Take a
look:
Again, not that attractive a card, and something that NEVER would
have happened later on when "rookie-mania" took hold in the late 80's!
But nevertheless, it WAS cool that Topps had such a card for minor
league awards. Would have been nice if they kept
such a practice in place.
Now, not that you would have any idea who actually won the award(s)
unless you scanned the back of the card, but the 1971 Minor League stud
was none other than future all-star second baseman Bobby Grich, then of
the Baltimore Orioles.
So with that, I went and redesigned the card with Grich as the subject, not the awards themselves.
Take a look-see:
I had to totally recreate the whole card, and make it a portrait
orientation to accommodate the photo used, but I think it still came out
ok, no?
As for Grich himself, before carving out an excellent Major League
career, he had a monster 1971 season playing for the Orioles' Triple-A
farm club in Rochester.
In 130 games as a shortstop, Grich POUNDED the International
League, hitting .336 while smashing 32 homers with 83 runs batted in and
124 runs scored with 299 total bases.
These were NOT middle infielder numbers you often saw during the 1960's and 1970's!
And it was for those numbers that Grich was a solid pick for Minor League Player of the Year.
Once he jumped to the Majors for good in 1972, he became one of the
best second baseman in the game for the rest of the decade, considered
one of the best fielders at his position, winning four Gold Gloves as
well as leading the league in putouts, double-plays
and assists multiple times.
But he was no slouch at the plate, as he retired with almost 2000
hits, 224 homers, 1000+ runs scored and 864 runs batted in after seven
years in Baltimore and ten years in California as a member of the Angels
before hanging them up after the 1986 season.
It's funny how initial perception stays with you. My first
over-the-top maniacal card-collecting year was 1977, and the guys that
were designated as "All-Stars" on their cards remained somewhat
legendary to me, and Grich was one of them.
Even though later on I learned the game and understood where guys
like Toby Harrah, Ron LeFlore and even Grich stood as far as "star
players" were concerned, those 1977 "All-Star" cards stayed with me to
this very day, giving those players and extra bit
of status that never faded after almost four decades.
Next up on this "awards" sub-set thread: card #625, "Rookie of the Year".
Keep an eye out for it in the near future…
