I
came across this great image of the 1977 Dodgers 30-home run club and
decided it was perfect to re-do one of my own, my 1978 “Highlights of
the 1970’s” card that was created for the blog a long time ago:
For those who never saw it, this was the “original” I created some five years ago:
Though the feat has been accomplished since this groundbreaking feat in 1977, it is STILL a rarity.
Here’s my original write-up of it all from that initial entry in 2014:
“Here's a highlight from the 1970's that always wowed me as a kid: the
1977 Dodgers with FOUR players hitting 30 or more home runs in the same
season.
Not until these four sluggers achieved this was it ever accomplished in Major League history.
Call me nuts, but this feat deserved a card in the mighty 1978 set in my book.
Think of all the classic slugging teams throughout history up until that
point ('27 Yanks, '61 Yanks, '56 Reds, '64 Twins), and this team was
the first to do it.
Steve Garvey, Reggie Smith, Dusty Baker and Ron Cey.
Four "thumpers" who powered the Dodgers into the World Series against
the Yankees by combining for 125 homers and 398 runs batted in all on
their own!
Not until the home run days of the late 1990's/early 00's did another team also match the 1977 Dodgers.
In 1995 the Rockies accomplished this feat in the first of what would be
FOUR TIMES in the next five years, with the 1997 Dodgers also having
four players attain those lofty numbers.
Since then, a handful of other teams have reached the now watered-down
milestone in team-power, but when the 1977 Dodgers did it, it was big
stuff.
Big enough for the Los Angeles team to even feature a picture of the
four sluggers under the L.A. Scoreboard with "30" emblazoned in lights.
You think Topps could have found a little room to fit a card like this
in their set instead of an Oscar Zamora or Dennis Blair! (No offense to
those ex-players).