Comments on: Cubs, 1977

By: ajw627

ajw627 — Tue, 25 May 2010 22:33:45 +0000

Does anyone know why Topps did the floating head Cubs team cards? Did the Cubs have a thing against team photos?

By: catfish326

catfish326 — Wed, 06 May 2009 04:42:41 +0000

Oh, man, the commentary in this string is absolutely hilarious. I laughed out loud for 30 minutes! Good stuff. The Reuschel brothers, the mustaches, the floating heads . . . all great stuff. I watched these Cubbies in IL during that season. It is a great part of my childhood.

By: El Lay Dave

El Lay Dave — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 20:34:44 +0000

24. 23 Peter Marshall is a stage name for Ralph Pierre LaCock, which is also Pete’s full name, with a Junior, I suppose.

Didn’t Topps make floating-heads Cubs (and only Cubs) team cards for several years? I remember the 1971 card:
http://www.checkoutmycards.com/CardImages/Cards/038/382/07F.jpg

By: Jebstache

Jebstache — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:33:47 +0000

23. You must do a feature on the Reuschel big league brothers card – one that had other brothers all over America rolling on the floor with glee. Two huge whales with ‘taches, chrystal blue drano pin-striped polyesther double knits, birth control glasses, and a retarded 70′s Boomer-style hittin’ helmet on a pitcher(?). Also as noted earlier taken on the road at that favorite Topps pose spot at Shea.

Or Pete LaCock: the always fascinating tidbit that he was Peter Marshall’s son featured every year on his Topps card. What could be more 70′s? How jealous were we all? Why was his name not Marshall?

I saw a great game Monday afternoon in June at Wrigley in 1987 where Rick Reuschel started for the Pirates against Jamie Moyer when he was a toddler. It was an afternoon game and Keith Moreland won it with a walk-off. There was a good crowd and the Cubs had been in first or second for 6 weeks – they finished last with yet another hideous sept/oct. Wrigleyville was not fully gentrified but on its way.

By: Josh Wilker

Josh Wilker — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:57:23 +0000

22. 21 : I've heard the summer of '77 brought up from time to time this summer, what with both teams looking strong. The White Sox scare me.

By: Zernialophile

Zernialophile — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:22:24 +0000

21. Well Josh, now that you live in Chicago, you should know that an easy way to strike up a conversation with another baseball fan your age is to mention either the 77 Cubs or the 77 White Sox. They both started extremely and well and then fell apart in August and September, the Cubs more drastically than the Sox. But for both teams, it was the only real whiff of competition amid long stretches of mediocrity. Fittingly, the 1977 cards for both teams are both aberrations too, between the floating-head Cubs and the White Sox wearing shorts. Also, look at Ernie Banks (by then a coach) on the bottom left. It sure seems that Topps just transposed the head from one of Ernie's old cards rather than a recent photo. That, or Ernie magically grew younger-looking over the course of the previous decade.

By: Catfish326

Catfish326 — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 13:06:50 +0000

20. I watched a lot of Cubs games that season. I fell in love with them that year, despite how terrible they were.

By: JL25and3

JL25and3 — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 13:39:12 +0000

19. This marketing gambit by the Angels - co-opting the name of a larger market while retaining their local identity - could be picked up by other teams as well. Why not have the Mexico City Pirates of Pittsburgh, or the Tokyo Royals of Kansas City?

By: ramblin pete

ramblin pete — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 12:36:19 +0000

18. sorry were you saying something? i am not interested in baseball anymore. in the words of nat hentoff, "i am interested in something else..."

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 11:49:52 +0000

17. The Angels have had four different location designations without ever moving. That's got to be worth something in the trivia department. I am rooting for a fifth-- the Orange County Angels of Los Angeles and Anaheim.