Saturday, December 15, 2012

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1980 Topps #380 Garry Maddox

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Saturday, December 15, 2012:


  • Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1980 Topps #380.
  • Player Name, position, team: Garry Maddox, outfielder, Philadelphia Phillies.
  • Major League Debut: April 25, 1972.
  • Last Line of Statistics: 1979 stats (Phillies): 148 G, 548 AB, 70 R, 154 H, 28 2B, 6 3B, 13 HR, 61 RBI, .281 AVG.
  • Any special information about player: Drafted by the Giants, #2nd, January 1968. Traded by the Giants to the Phillies 05/04/1975. Bats: right. Throws: right.
  • Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 14. This is his eighth Topps card.
  • Blurb on the back: "Had 20-game hitting streak for the Phillies during the 1978 season.  Swiped 4 bases in one game for Phillies vs. Pirates, 05/29/1978."
  • Commentary: Topps' 1980 baseball card set is mostly remembered as being the home of Rickey Henderson's rookie card.  But there are a lot of other cards that are usually overlooked when discussing this set.  Like this one for example.  What other card features a player whose hair could only rival what was underneath the cap of Oscar Gamble's 1976 Topps Traded card?  Garry Maddox was Phillies regular center fielder from the time the Giants traded him to Philly in 1975 to 1985.  He won eight straight Gold Glove awards (from 1975 to 1982), earning him the nickname "Secretary of Defense."  In 1976, hit career highs with a .330 batting average to go with an OBP/SLG/OPS of .377/.456/.833.  During the 1980 season, his averaged dipped to .259, but he hit 11 home runs, drive in 73 rbi's, and stole 25 bases for a team that would go on to win its first World Series in franchise history.  Although he ended his career early in the 1986 season, he maintained his ties to the city he called home as a player.  Maddox founded a promotional products company.  He became a majority owner and CEO of an office furniture company in 1995.  In 2003, he even began a four-year term on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.  He also hosts the Garry Maddox Barbecue Challenge, a fundraiser held outside the Phillies' stadium.  
  • Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.30-$0.75.
  • How many cards of this player do I own?: 13.
Tomorrow is Retro Sunday, the one day of the week that we feature a card from 1951-1975. The card we will feature tomorrow is: 1965 Topps #105. Come back at 1:00 PM CST to see who (or what) it is.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

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