Saturday, August 24, 2024

FANTASY CARD: 1973 DAVE WINFIELD

Good day everyone.

Up on the blog, my 1973 "Fantasy" card for Hall of Fame outfielder Dave Winfield, one of my favorite players growing up in New York City during his tenure with the New York Yankees:



Of course, Winfield would never have gotten a card in that 1973 set, being drafted that June and skipping the Minors.
But I just could not resist using this wonderful image of him in that glorious mustard and brown San Diego Padres uniform!
Winfield would become the favorite player of many young kids in the San Diego area during the 1970’s, giving the Padres a new-look outfielder, bringing a whole new type of athleticism (along with Dave Parker of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Andre Dawson of the Montreal Expos), with speed, stellar defense, a gun for an arm, and power at the plate.
By the time he retired after the 1995 season, his 22nd as a Big Leaguer, he finished with eight 100-RBI seasons, 15 20-home run seasons, 3110 hits, 1669 runs scored and 1833 RBIs.
He made the All-Star team 12 times, took home seven Gold Gloves, finished Top-10 in MVP voting seven times and was awarded six Silver Slugger Awards.
Man I loved this guy! I’ll never forget his line-drive home runs deep into left field at Yankee stadium as a kid, wondering what he would do in a stadium like today where he wasn’t looking at 430 to left-center.
One of the game’s greatest all-around athletes!