One and done players, update 3

Friday was One-Hit Wonder Day, according to a few of your favorite pop-culture outlets. As a pop-music aficiostorian (that's "aficionado" and "historian" combined into one terribly appropriate new description), this got my attention. I have indeed watched many a VH1 countdown show, chronicling the greatest one-hit wonders, from start to finish.

As is often the case in these "one-hit wonder" lists, some of them miss the point of "one-hit wonder." One hit means one hit. No more. A-Ha, often considered a one-hit wonder for "Take On Me," actually had another minor hit with its second single in the United States, called "The Sun Always Shines On TV," which went to No. 20. I remember it being played on the radio. Therefore, not a one-hit wonder. Same deal with Quarterflash, Men Without Hats, John Parr, Animotion and a bunch of others that are classified as "one-hit wonders." They had other songs that climbed the charts.

That's why Peter Schilling's "Major Tom" is one of my favorite "one-hit wonders." Not only is it and always will be a bitching song, but you won't see Peter Schilling's name on another American hit in the Billboard Top 40. That was his one hit.

So how does this translate to baseball cards? Well, Wrigley Roster Jenga did a nice Cubs-themed take on the one-hit wonder the other day. It got me thinking about my own take, and then I realized "I have my own take already!"

It's the One-And-Done Players series.

I haven't written a One-And-Done post in over a year, mostly because each one takes too much time. But just to refresh your memory, these posts pay tribute to players who received one card -- and only one card -- in a mass-released set. The player didn't appear on a multi-player rookie card or any other card set (with the exception of minor league issues, those are allowed).

These are true one-hit wonders in the card world. In fact, I'm going to rename this series from "One-and-Done" to "One-Card Wonders". (I believe Chris from Stale Gum, in compiling a list from baseballcardpedia.com to help with my research, used this term, too).

For today's version of One-Card Wonders, I settled on a single set, because there's no time again. And that set is one I enjoy more than any other.

It's 1975 Topps.

I know this set so well that it wasn't too difficult to pin down the one-card wonders. There are five of them. Here is the list:

#288 - Bruce Ellingsen, Indians
#407 - Herb Washington, A's (NEWLY ADDED!)
#508 - Bob Hansen, Brewers
#524 - John Doherty, Angels
#587 - Chris Ward, Cubs
#651 - John Morlan, Pirates

That's your whole list. Bruce Ellingsen's cap-less card appeared for only one year, in the first year I collected cards, just to torment me. Thank goodness the Dodgers got Pedro Guerrero for him to alleviate my misery. Here are the links to my thoughts on all five players' cards.

It's interesting to me that four of the cards appeared in the last 160 cards in the set. Even though Topps had stopped issuing sets in series in 1973, I think they still had an order to how the set was created, and I'll bet the higher-numbered cards still contained "throw-ins" like these guys to fill out the set. They just had to set them aside initially in case someone more notable was available for the set.

So the 1975 set goes with the other sets that I've already researched for the renamed "One-Card Wonders":

1974 Topps:

#8 - George Theodore, Mets (NEWLY ADDED!)
#33 - Don Newhauser, Red Sox
#37 - Dave Sells, Angels
#77 - Rich Troedson, Padres
#421 - Dan Fife, Twins
#457 - Chuck Goggin, Braves
#573 - Mike Adams, Twins 

1975 Topps

#288 - Bruce Ellingsen, Indians
#508 - Bob Hansen, Brewers
#524 - John Doherty, Angels
#587 - Chris Ward, Cubs
#651 - John Morlan, Pirates


1980 Topps:

#59 - Eddy Putman, Tigers
#72 - Fred Howard, White Sox
#156 - Tony Brizzolara, Braves
#221 - Joe Cannon, Blue Jays
#233 - LaRue Washington, Rangers
#291 - Randy Scarberry, White Sox
#347 - Harry Chappas, White Sox

1981 Topps:

 #491 - Gordy Pladson, Astros

1982 Topps:

#356 - Denny Lewallyn, Indians

1984 Topps:

#116 - George Bjorkman, Astros
#159 - Darryl Cias, A's
#163 - Lorenzo Gray, White Sox
#337 - Kevin Hagen, Cardinals
#382 - Chris Nyman, White Sox
#474 - Greg Bargar, Expos

1994 Topps:

#491 - John Hope, Pirates


As always, it's possible I may have missed a major-issue card of one of the listed '75 players. If you know one -- again, minor league issues excluded -- let me know, and I'll cross that player off the One-Card Wonder list.

After all, the last thing I want to be doing is telling people Men Without Hats' only hit was "Safety Dance".