Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1979 Topps #600 George Foster

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Tuesday, January 12, 2010:


  • Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1979 Topps #600.
  • Player Name, position, team: George Foster, outfielder, Cincinnati Reds.
  • Major League Debut: September 10, 1969.
  • Last Line of Statistics: 1978 stats (Reds): 158 G, 604 AB, 97 R, 170 H, 26 2B, 7 3B, 40 HR, 120 RBI, .281 AVG.
  • Any special information about player: Drafted by Giants #3rd, January 1968. Traded by the Giants to the Reds 05/29/1971. Bats: right, Throws: right.
  • Any special information about this specific card: Foster's ninth regular Topps card (total includes both Topps and Topps Traded cards, and does not include any record breakers, league leaders, or other season highlight cards). Up until 1981, Topps would include the words "All-Star" on a player's regular card instead of creating a second card with that sole purpose in mind. By the time this card came out, Foster was already a three-time All-Star and the NL MVP in 1977, and his cards from the past couple of years also included the words "All-Star." The back of the card includes a blurb on a game in which Foster hit three home runs against the Atlanta Braves on 07/14/1977. Many of the players' cards also had a little section called "Baseball Dates" where the question of "What Happened" on a certain date in baseball history. In Foster's case, the date is 04/18/1899 (John McGraw makes his managerial debut).
  • Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.30-$0.75.
  • How many cards of this player do I own?: 28 cards.
Tomorrow's card will be: 2008 Topps #471. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Flash forward with the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

3 comments:

TDLindgren said...

I wonder why there is no Reds logo on his helmet? I'm assuming the picture was taken in spring training, so perhaps this is a batting practice generic helmet? Just curious.

MMayes said...

I wonder if George was posing for a special minor set (Kraft, etc) that didn't have licensing rights and Topps happened to get a photo? I've always thought this card had the feel of one of those unlicensed sets because the Reds decal was missing.

John Bateman said...

I used to love those all star designation on Topps cards. You may be right about the helmet.