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Sunday, September 30, 2018

1978 Kellogg's Baseball Card Backs #46 - 48

I really like that this set has lots of text and very little blank space.  Problem - so far the text has been really boring.  I hope there is some better writing ahead.

#48 - Bruce Sutter


One of my favorite Kellogg's cards.  When Sutter became a closer for the Cubs, things were good.  One problem - the Cubs weren't good enough to make the playoffs anyway.  The 2018 team could use someone like Sutter.

Oddly, the card doesn't even have the save stats on there.  

I've always been a Cub fan, but I never heard anyone call them the "Little Bears" like Kellogg's did.  

This card is more interesting.  Sutter discovered the fork ball after arm surgery in 1972.  Fred Martin, a Cub instructor, taught him the pitch.  Here is what Wikipedia says about Sutter and the split-finger fastball - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split-finger_fastball.

He led the team with six saves in 1976.  Really?

Not on the card - baseball-reference.com shows Sutter with 10 saves in 1976.  I guess Kellogg's was wrong.  



#47 - Mitchell Page




Kellogg's would take chances with some younger players.  Page hit .307 as a rookie in 1977.  He stole 42 bases and had 75 RBIs.

Kellogg's really dissed the A's calling them a "tail-end team" and calling Page "one of the few bright spots".

Not on the card - the A's won 91 games in 1976 and then only 65 games in 1977.  

Not on the card - he was runner up to Eddie Murray in the AL Rookie of the Year voting.

Not on the card - he only played eight seasons.  In only his first four seasons did he get into more than 57 games.  




#46 - Lyman Bostock




Three seasons and a .318 average.  Wow, this guy was quite the hitter.   And he had Maury Wills helping him with base running. 

His father played in the Negro Leagues.  He signed with the Angels late in 1977 - the Angels logo is shown on the back of the card.

Not on the card - he hit .296 in 1978 to drop his career average to .311.  In the last week of the 1978 season after a game against the White Sox in Chicago, he was shot and killed in one of his childhood hometowns -  Gary, Indiana.  I remember reading the story in the paper before doing my paper route that day.    
















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