As many of you around my age can attest to, George Foster’s 1977 is the stuff of legend.
His incredible year for the Cincinnati Reds got him a National League
MVP Award, and for good reason, as the man became the first player since
Willie Mays in 1965 to hit 50+ homers, along with 124 runs scored and
149 RBIs, also league-topping numbers.
So when the 1978 Topps card of the man came out, I was a bit
underwhelmed, as I was expecting the glorious type card like a 1977 Dave
Kingman, Rusty Staub, or perhaps the 1976 Johnny Bench or Carl
Yastrzemski.
You know, something that went “BOOM”!
Anyway, I’m not trying to say I matched those glorious cards here, but I think I did better than the original, so here goes:
George Foster demolished the league’s pitching in 1977 by leading in
runs (124), home runs (52), runs batted in (149), slugging (.631) and
total bases (388) while also collecting 197 hits and posting a .320
batting average.
The man was an absolute beast! So much so that it actually makes people
forget he was runner up to the league’s MVP Award the previous season,
losing out to teammate Joe Morgan.
I think a card showing him smashing a ball at the plate works a little better don’t you?
He’d go on to play 18 years in the Big Leagues, finishing in the top-3
in MVP voting three times, while making five All-Star teams and retiring
with 348 home runs, 1239 RBIs and just under 2000 hits with 1925.
Not a bad Major League tenure!
