It's my all-time favorite player Ron Cey's birthday today. He's 77. Yikes.
The last couple of years I've been able to show a card that "matches" with his birthday. You know, 1975 Topps with 75 years old, 1976 Topps with age 76, etc.
So this is his 1977 Topps card here. This was a big year for Cey and for me collecting him. Let's start with me.
The '77 season was really my first year of being super invested in major league baseball. I already knew I liked the Dodgers and that Cey was my favorite player, but what did that really mean? In 1977 I had the full concept down. This is why I was so glad that I pulled Cey's card that year very early on in the card season. I think it might've been from a rack pack but I don't know for sure.
As for Cey, he enjoyed a standout, powerful season in '77, beginning with the very first month. In April that year, he batted .425, hit nine home runs and drove in 29. He still holds the Dodger record for batting average in April for at least 20 games. By the end of the month the Dodgers led the defending World Series-champion Reds by 7.5 games in the NL West. L.A. would control the division the rest of the season and Cey went to the second World Series of his career, making some noise in the postseason, too.
1977 may also have been his most plentiful year as far as card collectibles go. Here are mine from that year:
The Topps flagship card is at top left. I have a few copies of this card, and every one of them has some sort of slight condition issue. I should really get a solid copy -- no, nothing graded -- I mean what kind of Cey fan am I?
Others across the top row are the Topps Cloth Sticker, the O-Pee-Chee card and the Hostess card.
In the second row, aside from the MSA discs, are the Venezuelan sticker and the Kellogg's 3-D card. I don't have the back-error version of the Kellogg's card, I just can't get interested in most back variations, even for Cey. (But stay tuned).
At the bottom is a Cey Sportscaster card and the back of the Cloth Stickers checklist that features an NL All-Star team puzzle piece, showing Cey and some other dudes.
As for the MSA discs, the ones I have that were issued in 1977 are the "blank back," Chilly Willee, Dairy Isle, Detroit Caesar's, Holiday Inn and Zip'z.
I also own the 1977 Burger Chef Ron Cey disc, sent to me a long time ago by Angus. The whole tray (with other Dodgers discs on the reverse side) remains intact and I don't want to bust out the Cey. I should buy a separate Cey disc already.
But my main focus is finding the regular-sized MSA discs, like the ones you saw above. I pursued those pretty good last year and there are just a few more difficult ones left. I'm happy to say that I landed one of those today -- on Cey's birthday.
It's the Saga back version. I don't know who is advertising here, some nutrition company? Anyway it is the 12th regular-sized MSA disc in the Cey collection. By my count, there are five left. I am assuming they are all fairly rare and semi-pricey.
But that's OK, nothing is too much for a Cey card in the 1970s.
Celebrate the day in your own way. I already have -- with a new cardboard Cey.
Comments
#1: It's hard to top a lenticular Kellogg's card. That's easily my favorite.
#2: Cey's Hostess card features a nice portrait shot... but it gets extra credit for having Candlestick Park in the background.
#3: Topps zoomed in a little too much on his flagship photo... but it's still a really nice looking card.
1. It is interesting that the new to you disc is a nutrition company when they are more typically found advertising a burger restaurant or ice cream companies.
2. I had no idea there were Venezuelan stickers. I am heading off to find the checklist now.