1978 Kellogg's Baseball Card Backs #40 - 42

Today is a day where I expect to sit a lot.  Maybe I will do today's post and one for tomorrow.  The rain in the marathon really got to me yesterday.  I like the rain, but once my shoes got wet and no longer had any useful cushioning, my back, feet and ankles got sure. 

I kept going because I know my team would give me a hassle if I didn't and I knew that even with the last four miles being really slow I'd still hit the Boston Marathon qualifying time.  Too bad I have no interest in running another paved marathon.  I still to trails for anything longer than 13.1 miles, if I am even ever going to race that far again.

Back to the cards.

#42 - Burt Hooton. 

At least Kellogg's got his name correct.  Hostess had a tough time with that. 

Wow, only 102 innings in the minors.  And 35-3 with a 1.14 ERA in college.

I didn't know that Tommy Lasorda saw him pitch in winter ball and then got the Dodgers to trade for him. 

Not on the card - The Cubs got Eddie Solomon and Geoff Zahn.   Solomon lasted just over two months and six innings while Zahn played the remainder of the 1975 season and all of 1976 with the Cubs before they released him.  Zahn played nine more years, eight as a regular in the starting rotation.  He even got a 1979 Kellogg's card.

Not on the card - a good choice for inclusion in the set this year.  He finished second to Gaylord Perry in the Cy Young voting in 1978.

#41 - Cecil Cooper

I had forgotten that Cooper played with the Red Sox at the start of his career.  I need to look at my 1970's Topps card more often.  He finished his career with 11 seasons in Milwaukee - AL.

That was quite a big trade with Boston - Cooper for Bernie Carbo and George Scott in  December of 1976.   That didn't make sense since I knew Carbo was in the 1975 World Series with the Red Sox.  Carbo was traded to Milwaukee in June of 1976 - something I certainly didn't remember.  I do remember Scott being on the Brewers and Red Sox.  Scott also had previous been traded to the Brewers from the Red Sox.

Cooper hit .311 for the 1975 Red Sox.  I would not have been able to place him on that team.  That shows how much less I knew about the American League.

He had his best season in 1977.  More was to come - he got MVP votes every year from 1979 - 1983 and he led the league in RBIs twice.

#40 - Reggie Jackson

A great write-up.  He had just hit three homers in a World Series game to tie Babe Ruth's record.

Not on the card - he hit five homers in the six game to win World Series MVP, which he also won in 1973 with the A's.  

The Reggie Bar debuted in 1978.  Reggie had said "if I played in New York they'd name a candy bar after me".

Other quote by Catfish Hunter about the Reggie bar - 

"When you open it, it tells you how good it is".