1975 Kellogg's Baseball Card Backs #13 - 15

Back to the 1975 card backs.  It seems like they spent a good amount of time on these cards near the beginning of the set.  Are the later card backs boring because they were running short on time?

15 - Al Oliver

He was an All-State basketball player in high school.

Tom Seaver considered him to be one of the toughest outs in baseball.  He did bat .321 in 1974.

The card mentions that he now lives in Pittsburgh and he works with the Big Brothers organization.

Not on the card - he amassed over 2,700 career hits and he ended his career with a .303 average.  Wow!

Here is an interesting article on the end of Oliver's career.  I didn't remember this - Al Oliver's Career Ending

14 - Jorge Orta

Lots to say on this card since Orta has only played three seasons for the White Sox.  Manager Chuck Tanner predicted that he'd be the best hitting second baseman in the AL.  It is mentioned that he was second to Rod Carew among second basemen. 

Not on the card - he hit .304 the next year but never surpassed .300 again in his 16-year career.

He played basketball in Mexico and he turned down a scholarship to UCLA.  FYI - Simone Biles also turned down an athletic scholarship to UCLA.

Kellogg's mentions that with his speed he will soon steal many more bases.  He did improve to 16 and 24 during the next two seasons, but then he never reach double-digits again.

Times were different - the card referred to him as "the young Mexican".

13 - Bake McBride

I like the old Cardinals logo on this card.  With only two years, he's got lots of text too.

He hit over .300 and was named Rookie of the Year in 1974.  He's considered the "heir apparent to Lou Brock's stolen base crown".

He played football in high school.

He is currently attending Westminster College during the off-season,  

Not on the card - that's great to read about when the guy is 26 years old.

Before joining the Cardinals, he was a college track star.  

Not on the card - yeah a track star.  Do you always believe stuff like this when it is on the back of the card?  I checked out the school website and sure enough Arnold McBride held the 220-yard school record with a time of 20.90.   

The 220y is actually longer than the current distance run of 200 meters.  The school's 200-meter record is over 23 seconds.  

I didn't find him listed in the NCAA Finals, but a time of 20.9 was run by Mel Gray (football player - St. Louis Cardinals receiver).  Gray finished fifth. 

McBride was quite a team player, competing in jumps as well as the relays.

Not on the card - he was close to 75% successful on stolen base attempts, but he only got 183 in 11 years.