#217 - Lou Piniella

Card fact: This is Lou Piniella's first card as a Yankee, not counting the 1974 Traded card in which he's listed as a Yankee but not wearing a Yankee uniform.

What I thought about this card then: Not aware of it.

What I think about this card now: Topps went through a two-year run in which it featured Piniella in a super close-up photo. The photo on the 1976 card is even closer. Maybe Topps thought Piniella was a matinee idol. He seemed rather sloppy to me.

Other stuff: Piniella was the butt of our Yankee-hating family's jokes in the 1970s. He was one of the most despised Yankees of my childhood. His over-the-top behavior made him an easy target. He had a temper, and he sometimes let it affect him in games. He was as hyper when he became a manager, and he never seemed to be able to handle losing gracefully. I thought it amusing that he took the job with the Cubs, a team known for their losing. I'm convinced that Piniella has mellowed because I don't think there's any way the younger Piniella could handle working for an organization that hadn't won a World Series in so long. Hell, he couldn't deal with the Yankees losing in the midst of their 1970 Series championship run.

Back facts: I think I forgot to modify the scan, that's why it's light.

Piniella received some MVP votes for his 1974 season, but it was just about the end of his run of being a full-time player. After 1974, he would have seasons of more than 400 at-bats only two more times (1978 and 1979).

Other blog stuff: On this date in 1941, Lou Gehrig died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at age 37. Sixteen years earlier on this date, he replaced Wally Pipp in the lineup and did not miss another game for 2,130 contests.

#652 - Lindy McDaniel

Card fact: This is the final Topps card issued during Lindy McDaniel's career. His last major league season was in 1975.

What I thought about this card then: My brother had this card. To us, McDaniel looked like the definition of a veteran major leaguer. I don't think we ever voiced it, but on the inside, we were thinking "now there's a guy who's been around and knows his ... uh ... stuff."

What I think about this card now: Whenever I see guys who played in the '50s wearing powder blue uniforms, it does not look right.

Other stuff: McDaniel pitched for 21 seasons in the majors, and is known as one of the greatest relief pitchers. He began with the Cardinals and started for them in 1957 and 1958. But after that he was almost exclusively a relief hurler. He led the league in saves in 1959, 1960 and 1963. His 1960 season was his best. He saved 26 games, recorded a 2.09 ERA, went 12-4, finished third in the Cy Young Award voting, and fifth in the MVP balloting.

McDaniel moved on to the Cubs and then the Giants and was effective throughout the '60s. But he returned to the level of his Cardinals days after being dealt to the Yankees for Bill Monbouquette in 1968. He enjoyed a stellar 1970 season, saving 29 games and recording a 2.01 ERA for New York.

After six years with the Yankees, New York sent McDaniel to Kansas City in the Lou Piniella trade. McDaniel pitched two seasons for the Royals before retiring.

McDaniel has his own web site, in which you can check out all his Topps cards.

McDaniel's 1971 Topps card happens to be up for a coveted spot in the esteemed Cardboard Appreciation Hall of Fame at Night Owl Cards.

EDIT: Lindy McDaniel died on Nov. 14, 2020.

Back facts: This was my first experience with a player whose career was so long that the stats are crammed onto the back of the card. I had never seen so many years of stats until viewing the Lindy McDaniel card. Topps even squeezed the card number to get all the stats on the back.

Also, I know many, many people don't need an explanation as to who Darrell Royal is, but I sure did when I was a kid. Even today, as someone who pays very little attention to college football, I can tell you only the most basic facts about Royal.

Other blog stuff: The green-purple border combination is now in a first-place tie with the pink-yellow border combo with 55 cards apiece.

#128 - Bill Lee

Card fact: This is a card of one of three players in major league history named Bill Lee.

What I thought about this card then: My brother had the mini card. I thought Lee looked like a stately, reserved gentleman in this photo. Boy was I wrong.

What I think about this card now: There's a lot of green on that card, both on the border and in the photo.

Other stuff: Lee's career has been well-documented because he's a media dream. He's articulate. He says wild stuff. He speaks in a humorous way. I have enjoyed him ever since he called his manager, Don Zimmer, a gerbil. I thought it was the most appropriate, hysterical characterization of someone ever. I still think it's funny.

The man who once claimed that smoking marijuana made him resistant to bus fumes while jogging to the ballpark, actually was and is a baseball traditionalist who has a great appreciation for the game to this day. A reporter at my newspaper once interviewed him for a story, and I kicked myself that I didn't get the opportunity to do it myself.

Back facts: Hey, what do you know? He's a lefty.

Lee's best seasons were the two most recent you see on this card and his 1975 season. In 1976, he was injured in a brawl with the Yankees (the one in which Lou Piniella barreled into Carlton Fisk at home plate) and lost a lot of time.

Other blog stuff: Lee's baseball-reference page is sponsored by someone who expresses a common thought that I find annoying. Yes, the Red Sox spend a bunch of money. But you can't say they're the same as the Yankees. Let the Red Sox spend a ton of money for, oh, 40 more years, and then you can say they're the same as the Yankees.

#656 - Bill Plummer

Card fact: We're getting down to the wire here. This is the last card featuring a photo of a player posing with a bat.

What I thought about this card then: I never saw it.

What I think about this card now: I upgraded this card a year or so ago after being blissfully unaware that there was a significant crease running through the right side of the card. This card has a little ding at the top, but I'm much happier with it.

Also, on many of Plummer's cards, he's featured with a major chaw in his cheek. I'm disappointed that isn't displaying one on this card.

Other stuff: Plummer spent most of his major league career as a back-up to Johnny Bench. He filled in for Bench between 1972-78. Plummer was your typical good-field, no-hit backup backstop. He finished with a career .188 batting average after 367 games between 1968-78.

Plummer played his final season with the Mariners in 1979. He then went into coaching in the Seattle organization. He later worked as a third base coach for Seattle, then managed them for a year in 1992 before the Mariners hired Lou Piniella.

Plummer went on to manage in independent leagues (he managed a player from my area, and I had planned to talk to him about the player. But the player was notorious for not wanting to talk about himself, so the story never happened and I never talked to Plummer). He is now an instructor in the Diamondbacks organization.

(EDIT: Bill Plummer died at age 76 on March 12, 2024).

Back facts: The write-up reads like an explanation as to why Topps is giving Plummer a card.

Other blog stuff: Dodger blue legend Tommy Lasorda was born on this date. He is 84 years old.

#480 - Carlos May

Card fact: Carlos May is one half of one of the brother combinations in this set. His brother, Lee May, was featured way back on card #25.

Other brothers with cards in this set are Phil and Joe Niekro, Gaylord and Jim Perry, Graig and Jim Nettles, Bob and Ken Forsch, and George and Ken Brett.

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

What I think about this card now: I love how the player in the background practically GLOWS because of the White Sox's uniform. Please let it be Dick Allen, please let it be Dick Allen, please let it be Dick Allen.

Other stuff: May started off strong with the White Sox, despite getting most of his right thumb blown off during a mortar unit cleaning accident while in the Marine reserves. His incident was a mild childhood obsession of mine.

May was named the Sporting News rookie of the year in 1969, even though Lou Piniella won the actual MLB rookie of the year award that year. May continued to put up decent numbers for Chicago throughout the early 1970s. But by the mid-70s, he was expendable and acquired by the Yankees the day after his birthday in 1976.

May played in the World Series for the Yankees that season, but it was his last hurrah. He didn't play much in '77, and ended his career with the Angels that same year. He then played four years in Japan, and now works in community relations with the White Sox.

Oh, and he's the only guy to wear his birthdate, "May 17," on the back of his uniform. He switched his uniform number from 29 to 17 after his first season.

Back facts: I think Topps was being a little generous giving May a card number ending in zero. May took a downturn in 1974.

Other blog stuff: The No. 1 song in the country on this date in 1975 was "Black Water" by the Doobie Brothers. "And I ain't got no worries, cause I ain't in no hurry at all."

Sure would like to be that dude.