Sep 7, 2010

Phillies Project Update: Early '70s Schmidt and Carlton Edition

I have been out of commission and incognito (like the Carlton with the mustache card below) all during the past 4 days. I've moved apartments and I have no TV or internet probably until tomorrow at the earliest. Luckily, I can update this during work hours; no one's been bothering me today. Would you believe that the less phone calls I get during a day, the better I feel? I also finally saw the Phillies results from the weekend. Only 0.5 game out! It's time to push to the finish.

These cards almost complete my "Schmidt and Carlton regular issue during their playing days collection" phase of the Phillies project. This is dangerously close to nearing the end. It looks like 2011 will be the target end year.


1975 Topps Strikeout Leaders Steve Carlton/Nolan Ryan: Carlton had 240 strikeouts, followed by Andy Messersmith with 220, and Tom Seaver with 201. Ryan had 367 Ks, followed by Bert Blyleven with 249. Ryan did strike out a lot of batters in his career.
1972 Topps Steve Carlton: His last card as a Cardinal before the fateful trade.
1974 Topps Mike Schmidt: His first standalone card, which did not celebrate possibly the worst sophomore season by a HOF: .196/.323/.374 with 18 HR and 52 RBI in 1973.
1970 Topps ERA Leaders: Marichal, Carlton, and Gibson: In 1969, there were 9 pitchers with ERAs less than 2.50 with this triumvirate leading the way.
1970 Topps Steve Carlton: Carlton's whistling after his 2nd straight all-star season at the age of 24. Big dreams and results lay ahead.

Check out the wantlist on the sidebar for what remains. Only the rookie for the Schmidt collection remains. For the Carlton collection, all that remains is the rookie, 1968 Topps, and 1972 Topps (Traded). And then, and then....what happens when you complete something like this?

1 comment:

Jim said...

What happens? You find something else to collect, of course. It's the curse of the baseball card collector.