I like stuff.
Today’s Reds highlights are brought to you by Frank McCormick, Ewell Blackwell, Gary Nolan, Cesar Geronimo, Sal Butera, Dave Concepcion, and Eric Davis.
Take special note of Concepcion’s highlight. I really wish I could have found a photo of the actual event.
May 27, 1948
Gary Nolan was a big part of the Reds teams of the 1970s, winning 110 games for Cincinnati from 1967 through 1977 with a 3.02 ERA.
There has not been a new post on the Cardboard Junkie website in four months. But Dave is still quite active on Twitter as @CardJunk, and after telling him that I wanted to send him some Barves cards, he said he had some Reds set aside for me. His package arrived last week. Here’s some of the awesomeness contained inside:
A couple of “1st Home Run” inserts from 2015 Topps featuring Josh Hamilton and Tony Perez. I don’t recall seeing any of these last year, and if I did, I certainly didn’t notice that some were silver and some were gold.
Some parallel goodies. Red-bordered Jonathan Broxton from 2014, and man, Reds players sure look good on red-bordered cards. The emerald green borders look sharp too, but I bet Donald Lutz would look better in an A’s uniform on that card. The Mike Leake is a mini, alternate-colored bordered Gypsy Queen. And a black-bordered Johnny Cueto Heritage. Are there any sets that don’t have some sort of parallel anymore?
Autographed goodness! Luis Pineda only played two seasons in the bigs, and only one for the Reds. But I got his scribbles now!
Future Hall of Famer Trevor Hoffman never played for the Cincinnati Reds, but he spent some time in the organization before going to Miami Florida in the 1992 expansion draft.
Another fantastic reliever, John Franco, from the 1987 Topps sticker set.
Hall of Famer Barry Larkin, from the 1987 Classic green border set. I already had the yellow border card from the travel edition, but the green border features a different photo and everything.
Now we’re starting to get vintagey with a trio of ’70s cards. Tony Perez, 1976. Gary Nolan, 1972. Ty Cline, 1971.
Even more vintage. Leo Cardenas, 1968. This card is going to look fantastic with Leo’s scribbles on it. The only question is whether I wait until December at Redsfest or try to catch him at the Reds Hall of Fame this summer.
There was a ton of other stuff in the package…
…including a card that I didn’t even discover until I went to scan them last night. In addition to all the Reds goodies, Dave included a special 1/1 sketch card of one of my very favorite vampires…
NOSFERATU!
A pleasant surprise slid in between two other cards in one of the hard cases. I absolutely love this sketch card!
Another overlooked pitcher from the Big Red Machine era, Nolan was a 1st round pick in 1966 and a solid righty for Cincinnati. He finished 3rd in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 1967 behind Tom Seaver and Dick Hughes, and twice received votes for the Cy Young Award (1970 and 1972). In 1972, Nolan was selected to the NL All-Star team and finished the year with a 15-5 record. In ten years, Nolan compiled a 110-70 record (110-67 for the Reds).
His career was cut short by arm problems, retiring in 1978 after a brief 1977 stint with the California Angels and a short spring with the Milwaukee Brewers. In 1983, Nolan was inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame.
A few weeks ago, I made a “fun card” of Mike Squires for Johngy’s Beat. He told me he had some Reds for me in return, and I thought, “Cool, maybe he’ll hit some of my blank spots from the junk wax era.” I mean, I don’t have every 1987-1991 Reds card. Then he said he had some 1970s Reds for me. I thought, “Cool, I could always use a couple more 1978 or 1979 cards.”
A package arrived today. There were no junk wax Reds. There were no 1978 or 1979 Reds. Inside that package, there were twelve 1972 cards, ten 1974 cards, and twenty-two 1975 cards. Yes, twenty-two 1975 cards! An amazing package, and every single card was one that I needed. Here are a few of my favorites…
I always loved the Topps All-Star Rookies. 1971 was not a great year for ASRs – no Hall of Famers on that list.
McRae is always overlooked because he was traded away before the mid-70s powerhouse Machine.
A rare action shot from the 1974 set. Most of the cards in this set were posed photos.
Look at that smile on Nolan’s face. It’s like he knew the Reds were going to dominate in ’75.
2010 Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame inductee.
Johnny Bench led the NL in RBI three times: 1970, 1972, and 1974. He came in 4th in MVP voting in 1974. Ahead of him were a couple of blue boys (Garvey and Marshall) and a speedy bird (Brock). Burroughs won the AL MVP in 1974, the only time he led the AL in RBI.
Thanks to Johngy for these awesome cards! You certainly made my day better today!
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