Fun card and post to revisit today on the blog, my
1970 "missing in action" card for former infielder Van Kelly, who got
the spotlight here on April 5th of 2014 as one of the earlier "missing
in action" creations by yours truly:
Here's the original write-up for the blog post way back when:
Kelly really should have had a card in the 1970 Topps set after playing almost
half of San Diego's inaugural season the previous year, manning both
third and second base.
Kelly didn't leave much of a mark in the Majors, playing in 73 games in 1969 and only 38 games the next.
But I'd like to think that 222 plate appearances in '69 would be
enough to warrant a card, especially for a 23 year old who seemed to be
on the verge of a "career", no?
All told, Kelly would play in 111 games in his career, finishing
with a .221 batting average, 66 hits, four homers, 25 runs scored and 24
runs batted in during his short career.
But thanks to the world of baseball card geeks like me, his name lives on!
