SPECIAL REQUEST: 1979 "MISSING" HOSTESS RICKEY HENDERSON

Special request that was posted to Twitter a couple months ago that I created for my buddy Alan gets the spotlight here on the blog today, "missing" 1979 variations for Rickey Henderson Hostess cards:

Fun idea that I was happy to whip up!

Coming into 1979 Henderson was on fire in 1977 and 1978 playing for Modesto and Jersey City in the Minors.

In '77 with Modesto, all he did was hit .345 with 120 runs scored and 95 stolen bases to go along with a sick .465 on-base-percentage.

The following year, getting promoted to Double-A ball, Henderson kept on hitting, this time to the tune of .310 with 81 runs scored and 81 steals.

So at the dawn of the 1979 season Henderson was ready to just about take over the game, straight to the Hall of Fame some 25 years later.

Greatest lead-off man the game has ever seen!

GEORGE SCOTT AND HIS 1977 HOSTESS PHOTO

Time to go ahead and spotlight another classic Hostess photo, courtesy of Topps, the George Scott image used for their 1977 set:

“Boomer’ was on his way back to Boston after spending the past five seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers, bringing his thunderous bat to Fenway.
Of course, that meant that the people at Hostess had to get it “right” for their upcoming set, so off we went yet again to “airbrush” and the neon goodness you see here.
What a wild color job for the helmet! I love it!
Always cool to see how they would do ONLY the amount of painting needed to get on the card, with odd finishing points leaving the original showing underneath.
I guess the OCD designer in me would just finish the whole thing!
Scott would not disappoint the fine folks of Boston, clubbing 33 homers along with 95 runs batted in for the powerful Red Sox team that also had Fred Lynn, Jim Rice, Yaz and company.
He’d retire after the 1979 season, finishing up with 271 homers and 1051 RBIs, with a .268 batting average and just under 2000 hits (1992).

A LOOK AT THE 1978 HOSTESS DAVE KINGMAN PHOTO/CARD

Hey, I know I’m straying a bit here, but thought it’d be fun to look at the 1978 image that was used on the Dave Kingman Hostess card, showing the paint job executed to have him suited up as a Chicago Cub, his new team after an insane 1977 season that saw him suit up for four OTHER teams:

Actually not really a bad job I have to say. I like the lighting/shadowing done on the batting helmet! Great work there.
“Kong”, the enigma. After slugging for the Mets, Padres, Angels and Yankees in 1977 he found somewhat of a home on the North Side of Chicago where he’d play for three years before returning to Queens in 1981.
The poster child for “all or nothing”, he’d finish his career with 442 homers, including a whopping 35 in his final MLB season in 1986, along with 1816 strikeouts in only 6677 at-bats, which paired up with his .236 career average tells you where his game was at!
But I loved the guy. Really an odd bird as far as players are concerned, and I’m all for that!
Seems today’s game could use some “Dave Kingmans” sprinkled throughout the league.
I’ll be covering some other Hostess cards from the 1970’s, as they had some whoppers of paint-jobs on the images used. Just too good to pass up!