On the blog today, we move on to the great Joe Morgan and add him to my on-going "On-Card All-Star" thread where I slap a big beautiful "All-Star" banner on the base cards of starting players in years Topps had separate All-Star cards:
To refresh
everyone's memories, I was never a fan of separate All-Star cards as a
kid. I loved when Topps had the All-Star designation on the players base
card, giving it that extra iconic element that made them instant
classics.
Between 1975 and 1981 Topps did just that, and I was
absolutely heartbroken when I ripped open my first packs of 1982 cards,
and came upon a Reggie Jackson card, then noticing it was a dedicated
All-Star card.
Anyway, as for Mr. Morgan, the man was just
beginning a run that would send him straight to the Hall of Fame, while
helping build a juggernaut of a team forever known as the "Big Red
Machine".
They'd win two straight Wold Series in 1975 and
1976, and field teams with the likes of Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, George
Foster and Ken Griffey Sr.
Morgan was the National League's
starting second baseman in the 1973 Midsummer Classic, and would go on
to finish the year with a .290average, with 116 runs scored, 35 doubles,
26 homers and 67 stolen bases, good enough for a fourth place finish in
the MVP race, while also taking home the first of his five Gold Gloves.
Just a juggernaut himself!
