Here’s
a “missing” 1975 card for a guy who got shafted by Topps the first TWO
seasons of his career, this being the first, former Minnesota Twins
infielder Luis Gomez:
Gomez appeared in over 80 games in each of his first two Major League
seasons: 1974 and 1975, yet Topps for some reason left him out of the
following year’s sets, getting his first card in the 1977 set.
In 1974 Gomez made his Bog League debut, playing in 82 games and hitting .208 with 35 hits over 168 at-bats at the age of 22.
The following season he’d play in 89 games, hitting .139 with 10 hits
over 72 at-bats, and yes, while I understand that he didn’t really
“deserve” a card with those stats, for me it’s about playing time, and
he certainly had enough to warrant cards in the 1975 and 1976 sets.
For Gomez, he’d go on to play eight seasons in the Big Leagues,
finishing up with the Atlanta Braves in 1981, ending up with a career
.210 average with 263 hits over 1251 at-bats in 609 games between 1974
and 1981.