Sunday, March 22, 2015

ANOTHER TOPPS MYSTERY: THE 1977 JIM HOLT CARD

I've been meaning to post about this card for some time now:


The 1977 Jim Holt Topps card was one of those cards I noticed early on because of his lack of play the previous year.
In 1976 Jim Holt appeared in a total of four games, with eight plate appearances and seven at-bats, slapping two doubles with two runs batted in. 
That was it. Total.
There were guys shown on those multi-player rookie cards that had more playing time in 1976 than Holt, so I could never figure out why he got a slot in the 660-card set.
On top of that, it wasn't until years later that I realized Holt actually never played a Major League game again after 1976, so it was especially curious as to how he got a card in the '77 set.
Don't get me wrong, I love writing about cards like this. Just want to shed a little light on them to see if anyone knows something I don't.
For Holt himself, he wrapped up a nine-year career in 1976, playing for the Twins and A's between 1968 and 1976.
He hit .265 with 428 hits in 1616 at-bats, with 19 homers, 177 R.B.I.'s and 174 runs scored.
He never played enough in any one season to qualify for a batting title, but he had his finest season in 1973 with the Twins, when he hit .297 with 11 homers, 58 R.B.I.'s and 532 runs scored over 132 games and 476 plate appearances.

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