Maddox was still with his original Big League team, the San Francisco Giants, when this card would have seen the light of day, with him just about to begin his fourth season.
1975 would see him get traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for Willie Montanez in May, and he would take that opportunity to take home the first of eight Gold Gloves over his brilliant 15-year career.
He would spent the rest of his career with the Phillies, hitting as high as .330 in 1976, helping them to a World Championship in 1980, and finishing with 1802 hits and a .285 batting average when it was all said and done.
Incredibly, the man was never tabbed for an All-Star game, which stuns me since he had some excellent seasons during his career.
Nevertheless, by the time he retired after the 1986 season he was regarded as one of the best defensive outfielders ever, prompting one of the best quotes, “Two-thirds of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, the other one-third by Maddox”.
Brilliant!
