NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1976 DAVE HILTON

Today we have a “not so missing” 1976 card for former San Diego Padre third baseman Dave Hilton, who turns out played the last games of his Major League career during the 1975 season:

Hilton, who was picked first overall in the January amateur draft back in 1871 after coming out of Rice University, appeared in four games for San Diego in 1975, going hitless in eight at-bats.
He only played parts of four seasons in the Big Leagues, spanning 1972 through 1975, never living up to that early promise coming out of College.
He’d go on to play another four years of professional ball through the 1981 season but never get the call back up, retiring by the age of 30.
It’s also worth mentioning that in 1977, two years after his last MLB action, Hilton was given a spot in Topps’ baseball card set airbrushed into a Toronto Blue Jays uni after being purchased by the new franchise along with Dave Roberts and John Scott, yet never playing for them.
Just part of the madness that was expansion for Topps that year!
All told, Hilton finished his Big League career with a career .213 batting average over 161 games and 506 at-bats, with 108 hits, 40 runs scored and 33 runs batted in.

THE WACKINESS OF DAVE ROBERTS AND HIS 1977 CARD

Today we'll take a closer look at card #537 from the 1977 set: Dave Roberts.
So much to talk about here, both the card and the player, where do I begin?
Let's start off with the fact that even though Roberts is shown as an original member of the Toronto Blue Jays, he never actually suited up for them. Ever.
Funny story with that actually.
Roberts, who was the #1 overall draft pick by the San Diego Padres in 1972 out of the University of Oregon, never really panned out as the star infielder San Diego was hoping for.
In all fairness, that 1972 draft wasn't exactly teeming with stars. You have to go all the way to the third round to find a legitimate "star", those being Dennis Eckersley and Gary Carter. But you DID have Chet Lemon go late in the first round. Oh well...
Regardless, Roberts did manage to stick around with the Padres on the Major League level for four years, but in 1976 he spent the entire year in the minors, not really showing enough to promoted before the year was up.
In October of 1976 San Diego sold Roberts, along with Dave Hilton and John Scott to the Toronto Blue Jays, seemingly giving up on their failed future star.
With that, Topps went ahead and airbrushed Roberts (along with Hilton, who I profiled earlier on this blog) in a Blue Jays uniform in anticipation of his new team for the upcoming season.
Only problem is Toronto then managed to turn right around and trade Roberts BACK to San Diego for pitcher Jerry Johnson in February of 1977, immediately making this an outdated card before it even came out!
Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Topps must have been scratching their heads with this one.
Check out the airbrushed Blue Jay logo on Roberts' cap...a bit on the small side don't you think?

Not so fast Topps! He's back with San Diego...

Well, Roberts carved out another six years as a Major League player, albeit in a part time, off-the-bench role, calling it quits after the 1982 season where he played for the Philadelphia Phillies as a catcher/infielder of all things.
When you look at the sheer ineptitude of San Diego's draft picks in the 1970's, it's mind-boggling. Let's look at the picks, along with the Padres position in the first round of the draft each year:

1970: 1st pick overall: Mike Ivie
1971: 2nd pick overall: Jay Franklin
1972: 1st pick overall: Dave Roberts
1973: 4th pick overall: Dave Winfield
1974: 1st pick overall: Billy Almon
1975: 2nd pick overall: Mike Lentz
1976: 5th pick overall: Bob Owchinko
1977: 8th pick overall: Brian Greer
1978: 5th pick overall: Andy Hawkins
1979: 14th pick overall: Joe Lansford

Wow. Eight top five positions in the decade, nine top tens, and the only pick that yielded a bona fide star was Winfield in 1973!
THREE #1 overall picks in the decade and the best they did with that was who, Mike Ivie?!
Just amazing. Go Padres!

WHEN EXPANSION GETS TOPPS SCRAMBLING: 1977 DAVE HILTON

While I do realize that baseball expansion in 1977 must have given Topps fits trying to produce Blue Jay and Mariner cards for the new set, it is entertaining to see what the final result was.
For example, earlier on this blog I profiled the 1977 Chuck Hartensein card (#416), who hadn't been included in a set since 1970, before Topps issued one for him as a Blue Jay seven years later. A case of a Major League cast-off getting second life because of expansion.
There's also that Rick Jones (#118) card as a Mariner, where Topps had to take a black and white image of him and airbrush the ENTIRE photo, giving us one of the stranger looking issues in the set. There just weren't any color photographs available for a player that was getting a job because of a new team roster to fill.
Then there's the case of Dave Hilton, profiled here (card #163).
Hilton was actually a #1 pick by the San Diego Padres in the January 1971 amateur draft after starring at Rice University in Texas.
He made the quick jump up to the big leagues in 1972 at the age of 21, and saw some sporadic playing time over the next couple of years, hitting a robust .214 in a 157 games.
In 1975 he only appeared in four games for the Padres, going 0-8. And that, ladies and gentlemen (I suspect ALL gentlemen here actually), was it for Mr. Hilton, as he never made it up to the big show again.
Of course no one would know it at the time, and the Blue Jays purchased Hilton, along with former #1 pick in the 1972 draft Dave Roberts and John Scott, from San Diego in October of 1976.
In 1977 Hilton would actually suit up for Toledo in Triple-A (Cleveland) before moving on to a few seasons in the Japanese League. He'd return to the States and play some more Minor League ball up until 1982, but never made it back up to the Majors.
So here we are left with a card of a player who hadn't appeared in the Majors for two years, and never would suit up for the team he was depicted on.
The nightmare of expansion rears it's ugly head again in the baseball card world.

"Swing and a miss" for Topps. Hilton never suited up for Toronto.