One last time before the year ends

 

I did my usual blog post ritual Tuesday, writing it up in the early afternoon and then setting a publish time for a few hours in the future.

 

The post did publish and it appeared on everyone's blog rolls, but it didn't show up on the blogger dashboard/reading list. That's happened periodically over the years and eventually it does show up. I waited and waited and it still didn't. It's on the reading list now if you go back a day or so on the dashboard, but I have a feeling some readers missed it.

 

So let's see what happens with this one. There's a weird synchronicity going on with the 1974 Topps set right now. Maybe that's not the right description but that's what I'm calling it.

 

For starters, it's the 50th anniversary of the first set I ever saw, the first cards I ever owned. I've written about that lots and have mentioned that it's the anniversary of my first baseball cards several times this year. One of the more recent ones was a few months ago.

 

Secondly, the Baseball Hall of Fame is getting ready to reveal selections from the Classic Baseball Era committee. The candidates are filled with 1974 Topps veterans.

 

 

 Dick Allen

Dave Parker

Luis Tiant

Tommy John

I put those in order of my preference for making the Hall of Fame -- not that I care a whole lot about stuff like that. But I think that's how it might go. Of course there are other candidates up for vote in the Classic Era this time and one of them could very well make it, too.

The other way the '74 set is jumping back into relevance is that members of the set are leaving the earth at an alarming rate lately. Tiant passed not long ago. And in just the last two days we've lost two players from my childhood.

I associate both Bill Melton and Al Fitzmorris more with the 1976 Topps set as I saw each of their cards a lot that year. Melton famously was stuffed in my pants pocket and went through the wash. Fitzmorris' '76 card was a big favorite of mine and reminds me of my friend Jeff from Kansas City who moved into the area and proclaimed his allegiance to the Royals for six months before vanishing as his family traveled somewhere else.

I hate to leave off on a down note so for the last time this year I'll give a 50th anniversary salute to those cards from that set that created my first baseball card memories. You saw two of them already -- Tommy John, the first card I pulled out of a pack, and Dave Parker, who was one of the first cards my brother had.

Here are eight other ones that I recall seeing that year:

Each of these transport me to that 1974 summer and most are longtime favorites. I like trying to remember the cards I saw as a kid as sort of a thought exercise. Posts like these are handy, too, for when I hit those senility years and I need to figure out what was important in my life. (I should make a label called "senile night owl" for easy reference).

I feel extremely fortunate to have collected in the 1970s. It was the last decade before collecting transformed into "what's it worth" and every set was ranked by hot rookies. We didn't care about any of that in the '70s. Every card had potential and the most valued usually were connected to your favorite team or an established star.

I'm thankful I knew that time.