#213 - Oscar Gamble

Card fact: The first player card in 25 posts is the same card that I featured on the first post of this blog. It's also one of the most famous cards of the 1970s. Oscar Gamble's cap/Afro Mickey Mouse look has been cited hundreds of times, although probably not as often as Gamble's 1976 Topps Traded card.

What I thought about this card then: I pulled this card when my family was out of town on vacation. I don't recall thinking anything specific about Gamble's hair (there were a lot of people who looked like that then). But it did become one of my most favorite cards from the set. I probably did dig the hair, I just didn't know how to express it. I was 9.

What I think about this card now: There is so little vegetation in the background and the sky is so light that when I think of the card, I imagine the photo was taken in a studio, which never happened back then.

Other stuff: Oscar Gamble was just coming into his own in the mid-1970s. He'd have some decent seasons for the Indians, then really turn things after he was traded by the Yankees to the White Sox for Bucky Dent. I remember being thrilled that Gamble had such a great 1977 after leaving the Yankees. But then the Yankees won the World Series that year and Gamble ended up back with the Yankees a couple of years later.

EDIT: Gamble died at age 68 on Jan. 31, 2018.

Back facts: Yay! Cartoons are back! Ouch! Getting hit by that many balls at once has got to hurt!

Other blog stuff: Here is the very card that I pulled out of that pack on a July day in 1975:

What it is!

In other words: Welcome!

This is my new blog. It is a tribute to the Muhammad Ali of card sets, the G.O.A.T. of card sets, the 1975 Topps series.

I love the '75 set for its over-the-top color, its uniqueness, its ability to stand out against all other sets. But mostly, I love it because it is the first set I ever collected. Those were great times to be a 9-year-old boy.

But you know all that. I've babbled about it enough on Night Owl Cards. So much so, even, that I've finally carried out on my threat to start a blog devoted to just the 1975 set.

Now, I don't have much of an idea of how this blog is going to work other than that I will be featuring each card of the set in order from No. 1 to No. 660. But unlike some very fine blogs devoted to a single card set, I will not be doing a lot of research for each of these posts. That is because: first of all, several blogs, like the Project Baseball 1976 blog and the 1980 Topps blog, cover many of the same players that are in the '75 set, so I don't want to repeat their fine work.

Secondly, I don't have the time to do that. So, mostly, this will be nostalgic musing about each card. I hope that you will muse along in the comments. This is meant to be a trip back in time, even though I admit I don't remember a whole lot about it. I was only 9 after all!

As for the look of the blog, the '75 set is the inspiration, particularly the Oscar Gamble card that you see at the very top. So that's what you can blame for all the wild colors. I promise you my home does not look like this.

The site is still a bit under construction (including additions to the blog roll -- I ran out of time!). Feel free to lend any advice. I'll be winging this whole thing as I go anyway, and I probably won't be posting on a daily basis. But I hope you enjoy. Especially you kids out there who didn't catch the set the first time.

Keep on truckin'