Comments on: Guest author: Ben Henry of The Baseball Card Blog

By: nunyer

nunyer — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 19:06:43 +0000

Count me in as another guy who loves the 78 Topps set. Easily my favorite of all time… not so much for any particular baseball reason… but just the perfect combination of era and design. You still had great afros and facial hair and gloriously bright polyester unis… and the set was also a high point from a design standpoint. Compared to the other 70s sets… you had too garish (1975) or sorta clunky (1977) or too busy (1972) or just downright dull (1979)… this set was borderline elegant. That great script spelling out each team in the lower corner, the simple thin border allowing for a larger player picture… The only slight knock is that baseball position indicator in the upper corner intruding on the otherwise clean, let visually interesting, design. It’s something that would have worked just as well in 1988 or 1998 as it did when it was issued… and that’s without any nostalgia induced irony required. I still will occasionally google this set… ready to pounce on one if I can find it cheap enough.

By: caminante0

caminante0 — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:53:43 +0000

I love the 78 set. It was the first year I remember getting cards. I was able to recover some from home and many many 1979-1984 cards from my parents home before it was sold. I had taken some of my best cards and hid them in a part of my cellar and some of the 78 cards were eaten by some bugs. I started collecting cards again then and completed the 78 set and some other sets thanks to ebay and sportlots.com. Then I stopped buying more when I ran out of time to organize the ones I had bought. I am hoping to employ my daughter in this task in a few years (she is 6 now).

By: johnq11

johnq11 — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:54:32 +0000

I was checking Ellis Valentine’s splits of the 1980 season and he actually got BETTER after he came back from the beaning. His last game was on 5/30/80 and then he came back on July 10, 1980.

5/30/80: .297/.354/.473
End of Season: .315/.367/.524

Now the Expos most likely win the division if he doesn’t miss 6 weeks but the beaning doesn’t affect him in 1980.

Now maybe there was a residual effect in 1981 or maybe it was a combination with his drug problem that started his slide.

By: jrosenfelder

jrosenfelder — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 05:33:43 +0000

and another thing, dewey evans was not underrated. darrell was!

By: jrosenfelder

jrosenfelder — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 05:28:28 +0000

great post. i had this set, purchased pack by pack! it’s not an amazing year but i agree re the expos’ young outfield. they were really exciting and i once saw warren cromartie hit an inside the park homer at shea during a double header.

ellis valentine had a great arm too.

By: vertigone72

vertigone72 — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 23:32:00 +0000

Valentine wore one of those half football mask jaw protectors after that incident, as seen on his ’81 Topps card.

By: thunderfan24

thunderfan24 — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:44:35 +0000

Author Robert B. Parker just passed away. I read and enjoyed many of his Spenser books over the years. I know that Robert Uhrich played Spenser in the TV series, but my mental image of Spenser has always remained as Dwight Evans (with mustache).

By: johnq11

johnq11 — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:44:26 +0000

I like the ’78 set as well. The ’77 set was just too cheap looking and bland for my taste so ’78 was a nice change. Plus, ’77 had a ton of bad air brushed Mariners and Blue Jays. ’78 was the first set that you actually saw what the Blue Jay & Mariners looked like in card form. I loved the ’78 manager cards when I was a kid because it had a small b&w photo of what the managers looked like when they were players.

There was a time in the late 70′s that it looked like Ellis Valentine was going to be the huge star not Andre Dawson. From 77-80 he was really a top notch player, AS, GG, ops+ of 124, 128, in ’77 & ’78. Then in 1980 he was having his best season with a 147OPS+ and he was hit in the face and broke his jaw. He never was the same player after that incident IMO.

Who knows, if Valentine didn’t get hit in the face, the Expos win the N.L. East. The Expos history is filled with all of these odd twists of fate and it really seems like they were a snake-bitten franchise. If 4 or 5 things had turned out differently they may won 3 or 4 divisions and won a WS or two.

By: Josh Wilker

Josh Wilker — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:23:02 +0000

Besides the cannon arm, he also (as ’70s Strat-O-Matic fans know) CRUSHED left-handed pitching. People also make a big deal about a beaning derailing his career, but I think that point has been disputed.

By: mbtn01

mbtn01 — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:16:34 +0000

Yes, Valentine did have a drug issue at one time, I don’t recall if it was during or after his playing career. I read somewhere that he’s an addictions counselor today.