On the blog today,
we move on to the 1977 Topps set and “fix” the league leader cards with
“expanded league leaders”, starting off with the National League and
their top three hitters of 1976:
We start off with
Chicago Cubs hitting machine Bill Madlock, who won his second straight
batting title in 1976, hitting .339 after hitting a blistering .354 the
previous season.
Turns out the man
would go on to win four batting titles before he was through, taking
home the other two in 1981 and 1983 while with the Pittsburgh Pirates,
hitting .341 and .323 respectively.
By the time he
retired, he finished his career with a .305 batting average, with 2008
hits in 6594 at-bats over 1806 games between 1973 and 1987.
Just three points
behind Madlock in the batting race, Cincinnati Reds outfielder Ken
Griffey (Sr.), who came into his own in 1976 (as if the “Big Red
Machine” even NEEDED yet another star hitter!), hitting
.336 with 189 hits in 562 at-bats.
He also scored 111
runs and stole 34 bases for the eventual World Champions, who possessed a
line-up that was just silly: Johnny Bench, Pete Rose, Joe Morgan,
George Foster and Griffey.
He would put in 19 seasons as a Big Leaguer, also topping 2000 hits (2143), with a career average of .296 between 1973 and 1991.
Of course, he also had a son who would go on to do a few things on the baseball diamond. Not too shabby!
In third place with a
.330 batting average was the DEFENSIVE outfielder extraordinaire, Garry
Maddox of the Philadelphia Phillies, who set his career-best average
with 175 hits in 531 at-bats, slapping 37
doubles and stealing 29 bases for the N.L. East champs.
That season he also
took home the second of his eight Gold Glove Awards, appreciated as one
of, if not THE best defensive outfielder in the game at that time,
leading to his now classic nickname, “The Secretary
of Defense”.
By the time he hung
up the cleats, he finished with 1802 hits in 6331 at-bats, good for a
.285 average over 1749 games between 1972 and 1986.
Next week, we move on to the American League and THEIR top three hitters!
See you then!
