The
next card in the “Missing Rookie Cup” hit parade is the 1974 Dan
Driessen card, who put together a very nice rookie year for the
Cincinnati Reds in 1973:
Driessen, who would eventually be thought highly enough for the Reds to
deal future Hall of Famer Tony Perez to the Montreal Expos a few years
later, hit .301 in his Major League debut, driving in 47 runs while
scoring 49 himself in only 102 games.
In 1977, with Perez now with the Expos, Driessen put together his finest
Big League season of his 15-year career, driving in 91 runs while
hitting .300, with 31 doubles and 17 home runs along with 75 runs batted
in.
He would play all the way through the 1987 season, finishing up with the
St. Louis Cardinals, and end up with 1464 career hits with a .267
batting average, hitting 153 homers and driving in 763 runs and stealing
154 bases.