Sunday, May 23, 2010

#208 - 1970 Most Valuable Players


Card fact: In a drastic departure from many previous sets, Topps went with all-gray borders in 1970. It looks pretty dull today, but at the time I'm sure it was quite different.

What I thought about this card then: Didn't see it.

What I think about this card now: Two classic shots featured here. I like Boog Powell posing in Yankee Stadium with the players in the background. And the Johnny Bench shot is burned in my memory even though it arrived before I started collecting cards.

Other stuff: I have a hard time remembering Powell was an MVP. I don't know why that is, but if I took one of those sporacle quizzes about MVPs, I'm sure I'd miss the 1970 AL MVP.


Back facts: Some very nifty stats for Bench. Notice that a lot of the statistics refer to the postseason, which does not figure in MVP voting.

Also, this is the 10th time that the MVPs were representatives from both World Series teams. It also happened in 1968, 1967, 1963, 1961, 1960, 1957, 1956, 1955 and 1951. To illustrate how much things have changed, the last time that both MVPs came from World Series teams was 1988 when Kirk Gibson of the Dodgers and Jose Canseco of the A's won. In fact, the last time even one of the MVPs was from a World Series team was back in 2002 with the Giants and Barry Bonds.

Other blog stuff: The green-purple (Incredible Hulk) color combo retakes the lead from the pink-yellow (marshmallow peeps) combo with its 19th card in the set.

2 comments:

Play at the Plate said...

I love that Bench card. Great info on the connection between MVP and World Series.

Eggrocket said...

First ... The Bench card is classic. It was always the holy graile when I was a kid.

And B ... Boog is a funny name.