This is the latest in my Topps Minus 50 series which addresses transactions and other events within Major League Baseball which might have had an affect on Topps checklists and the like.

Today we go into the very busy last day of the 1975 Winter Meetings.

December 12, 1975

The Detroit Tigers traded Billy Baldwin and Mickey Lolich to the New York Mets for Bill Laxton and Rusty Staub.

For this young fan, this trade would be an early sign of what being a Mets fan would entail. Rusty was a favorite with the Mets and would go on to be an All-Star with the 1976 Tigers.

What’s worse than trading a fan favorite? Trading a fan favorite for a pitcher who would go 8-13 for a team which won 86 games. He’d retire after the season but would later come out of retirement to pitch for the Padres.

Acquiring Billy Baldwin allowed the Mets to corner the market on Baldwins, as they already had pitcher Rick Baldwin (no relation).  This is  his 1976 SSPC card.

Bill Laxton also appeared in 1976 SSPC; the back of the card said “Detroit Tigers”, the photo shows him with the Triple-A Tidewater Tides, the Mets’ top farm team at the time. Laxton would be selected from the Tigers in the 1976 expansion draft and get his “official” rookie card in an airbrushed Mariners cap.

The Atlanta Braves traded Larvell Blanks and Ralph Garr to the Chicago White Sox for Ken Henderson, Dan Osborn and Dick Ruthven.

Ralph Garr would bat exactly .300 in his first 2 seasons with the White Sox, but his brief time as a league-leader and All-Star were behind him in 1976.  I don’t remember if I pointed this out before but Garr and other White Sox in the Traded set never wore this red and white uniform, unless the Chisox wore them in Spring Training.  1976 was the first year they wore those awful navy & white “leisure suit” uniforms.

UPDATE:  After this post went live I found out that today is Ralph Garr’s 80th birthday! Happy Birthday, Ralph!  That also means that this transaction happened on his 30th birthday.

Despite what the Traded card says, Henderson would play right field for the 1976 Braves and after the season would be part of a package of players sent to Texas for former MVP Jeff Burroughs.

Larvell Blanks would get flipped later in the day, so I leave him for later in the post.

Dick Ruthven pitched well in 1976 for a 92-loss Braves team.  He lost 17 games but was an All-Star.  He didn’t get a Traded card, but probably should have.  The White Sox had acquired Ruthven two days earlier in a trade also involving Jim Kaat.

Dan Osborn would pitch in Triple-A for the Braves, he had just the one Major League season and this was his only Topps card.

The Houston Astros traded Tommy Helms to the Pittsburgh Pirates for a player to be named later. The Pittsburgh Pirates sent Art Howe (January 6, 1976) to the Houston Astros to complete the trade.

Tommy Helms would serve as a pinch-hitter and backup infielder.  I’d completely forgotten that he twice served as interim manager for the Reds in the late 1980s.

How art Art Howe?  (Couldn’t resist sticking in a bit of humor from my childhood)  I think of Art Howe as a player with the Astros or as a manager with the Astros, A’s and Mets.  This 1976 SSPC card showing him with the Pirates (and with a mustache) weirds me out every time I see it.

The Chicago White Sox traded Jeff Sovern (minors) and Rich Hinton to the Cincinnati Reds for Clay Carroll.

Clay Carroll was a two-time All-Star as a Reds reliever, and lead the NL with 37 saves in 1972.  That’s not the Clay Carroll the White Sox got.

Rich Hinton had a 7.64 ERA in 12 games with the Reds, so the trade didn’t really work out for either team.

No Topps card for Sovern

The Atlanta Braves traded Tom House to the Boston Red Sox for Roger Moret.

Rogelio Moret was considered to be a young promising pitcher who never panned out.

Tom House and his “Boston Magenta Sox” cap would have more success as a pitching coach.

The Cincinnati Reds traded Clay Kirby to the Montreal Expos for Bob Bailey.

Given that Bob Bailey had been in the Majors since 1962, I was mildly surprised to find he was only 34 in 1976.  He was the starting 1st baseman in the Expos first-ever game.

Clay Kirby would wrap up his career by going 1-8, 5.72 with the Expos.

The Atlanta Braves traded Mike Lum to the Cincinnati Reds for Darrel Chaney.

More roster-shuffling by the Reds. Mike Lum would serve as a pinch-hitter and backup outfielder, and would get an at-bat in the 1976 NLCS.

Darrell Chaney would be the starting shortstop for the Braves, the only season where he was a regular.

The Chicago White Sox traded Larvell Blanks to the Cleveland Indians for Jack Brohamer.

Here’s the second deal of the day involving Larvell Blanks. He’d go from a starter with the Braves to something of a super-sub with Cleveland, splitting most of his games between 2nd and short.

Brohamer would be the starting 2nd baseman for the White Sox in 1976 but would fall into a reserve role after that.

Quick note: That finishes off the checklist for 1976 Topps Traded, but there were a couple of other transactions that I decided to feature anyway.

The New York Mets traded Gene Clines to the Texas Rangers for Joe Lovitto.

Another trade which didn’t work out for the Mets, but on a smaller scale. Lovitto never played a regular season game for the Mets, getting his release towards the end of Spring Training. I honestly don’t remember Lovitto being with the Mets, even though I would’ve had a couple of his cards at the time.

Gene Clines would serve as a backup outfielder and pinch-hitter for the Rangers and later for the Cubs.

The Chicago White Sox traded Lee Richard to the St. Louis Cardinals for Buddy Bradford and Greg Terlecky.

Lee Richard was a player along the lines of Herb Washington – he was fast but not much of a hitter or a fielder. Nearly half of his appearances in 1976 came as a pinch-runner.

Buddy Bradford had an interesting career trajectory. He broke in with the White Sox, was traded to the Indians and Reds and then back to the White Sox, was traded to the Cardinals in June 1975 and then back to the White Sox a third time in this deal. He’d play one more season in the Majors and then put in another season in Japan.

Greg Terlecky pitched 10 professional seasons but his only Major League action came in 1975.  This SSPC card is the one card in these posts that I don’t actually own, I had to ‘borrow’ this image from TCDB.

The Cincinnati Reds traded Joaquín Andújar to the Houston Astros for two players to be named later. The Houston Astros would send Luis Sánchez and Carlos Alfonso (minors) to the Cincinnati Reds to complete the trade.

This transaction might have flown under most people’s radar at the time, but Joaquín Andújar – who was stuck in Triple-A with the Reds – would join the Astros starting rotation in 1976 and go on to be a 4-time All-Star over 13 seasons. His rookie card came in 1977 Topps.

Luis Sánchez wouldn’t last long in the Reds organization, but he’d pitch a number of years in Mexico and then pitch for the Angels from 1981 to 1985 and then Japan’s Yomiuri Giants in 1986 and 1987

Carlos Alfonso never made it to the Majors.

This is the latest in my Topps Minus 50 series which addresses transactions and other events within Major League Baseball which might have had an affect on Topps checklists and the like.

Today we go into the fourth day of the 1975 Winter Meetings, held in Hollywood, Florida.

December 11, 1975

The New York Yankees traded Doc Medich to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Ken Brett, Dock Ellis and Willie Randolph.

Willie Randolph wins this trade all by himself. This card is one of three rookie cards in the Traded set, but the only one where a multi-player rookie card in the base set is updated with a solo Traded card. Randolph immediately became the Yankees’ starting 2nd baseman and was an All-Star. He didn’t get any ROY consideration, but that’s probably due to 1976 being the year of Mark Fidrych.

Ken Brett pitched just 2 games for the Yanks before being traded with Rich Coggins to the White Sox for Carlos May.

Dock Ellis won 17 games for the 1976 Yankees, then played for 3 different teams in 1977.

Doc Medich went 8-11, 2.51 in 1976 and, like Dock Ellis, played for 3 teams in 1977.  Topps seemed to have trouble duplicating the Pirates’ mustard caps via airbrush.

The California Angels traded Ed Figueroa and Mickey Rivers to the New York Yankees for Bobby Bonds.

Another trade that worked out well for the Yankees… Bonds numbers were decent with the Angels, but fell off from his 1975 season.

Ed Figueroa won 19 games with the Yankees, finished 4th in the 1976 Cy Young voting and even got some MVP consideration.

Mick The Quick was a 1976 All-Star and got a 1st place MVP vote but finished 3rd in that voting.

The California Angels traded Morris Nettles and Jim Spencer to the Chicago White Sox for Steve Dunning and Bill Melton.

Former All-Star Bill Melton was on the decline when he was traded, and batted just .208 with the Angels

Morris Nettles wouldn’t play in the Majors after 1975;  he spent 1976 in Triple-A

Yesterday I mentioned that Jim Spencer would get flipped after being traded to the Angels, here’s his destination for 1976. Spencer would lead the AL with 19 intentional bases on balls.

Steve Dunning did not have a card in 1976; in fact, he went 5 years between appearances on a Topps card (1973 to 1978)

The Houston Astros traded Doug Rader to the San Diego Padres for Larry Hardy and Joe McIntosh.

This trade might be considered a lose-lose.  Doug Rader was the Padres’ starting 3rd baseman, but disappointed and was sold to the Blue Jays during the 1977 season.

Joe McIntosh is another rookie in 1976 Topps Traded.  He suffered from a torn rotator cuff and never pitched in the Majors after 1975.

Larry Hardy had just one Topps card for his career, and it was in 1975.  He did make it into 1976 SSPC, though, so here’s that card.  Hardy set a then-record in 1974 by pitching in 76 games as a rookie, but had a 7.06 with the 1976 Astros, his last season in the Majors.

This is the latest in my Topps Minus 50 series which addresses transactions and other events within Major League Baseball which might have had an affect on Topps checklists and the like.

We’re continuing with the 1975 Winter Meetings, held in Hollywood, Florida.

December 10, 1975

The Chicago White Sox traded Mike Buskey and Jim Kaat to the Philadelphia Phillies for Alan Bannister, Dick Ruthven and Roy Thomas.

The Phillies acquired another pitcher (they got Ron Reed the day before) as they acquired “Kitty Kaat” (as the Traded card’s headline calls him) who was coming off of an All-Star, 20-win, Gold Glove season.  Kaat wouldn’t win 20 games in 1976, but he would win his 15th consecutive Gold Glove and first National League Gold Glove.

If you read the overview of the trade and had been sitting there thinking “Dick Ruthven was with the White Sox?”, fear not.  You are not losing it.  The Chisox would flip Ruthven two days later.

Mike Buskey (not related to Tom Buskey), Alan Bannister and Roy Thomas did not have 1976 Topps cards.

The California Angels traded Bill Singer to the Texas Rangers for Jim Spencer and $100,000.

Singer would have a busy 1976… He pitched 10 games for the Rangers, was traded to the Twins in the middle of a game he’d started (He did get pulled first), and then was selected by the Blue Jays in that winter’s expansion draft.

Jim Spencer would get flipped to White Sox the following day, I’ll save his Traded card until then.  In the meantime, I look at this card and think “Holy crap, those are some wide freakin’ stripes on Spencer’s pants!”

Side editorial comment:  One of these days the Texas Rangers will unveil uniforms which will be more appealing than the various largely-generic uniforms they’ve had for almost all of their existence.

This is the latest in my Topps Minus 50 series which addresses transactions and other events within Major League Baseball which might have had an affect on Topps checklists and the like.

This post covers the 2nd day of the 1975 Winter Meetings, held in Hollywood, Florida.

December 9, 1975

The Cleveland Indians purchased Ray Fosse from the Oakland Athletics.

Fosse returned to the team where he’d been a 2-time All-Star and Gold Glove.  I wonder if Topps would’ve reused a photo from 1972 had the Indians not changed their uniform in the meantime.

The Philadelphia Phillies traded Mike Anderson to the St. Louis Cardinals for Ron Reed.

Mike Anderson was a former 1st round draft pick that never quite panned out.  Perhaps the Cardinals were hoping he’d benefit from a change of scenery.

Ron Reed had been a starting pitcher with the  Braves and Cardinals.  The Phillies converted him to a reliever and he’d be in the Philadelphia bullpen for the next 8 years.  Reed had been a two-sport player, having played for the NBA’s Detroit Pistons in the 1960s.  Sadly there are no basketball cards which show Reed with the Pistons.

The Cleveland Indians traded John Ellis to the Texas Rangers for Ron Pruitt and Stan Thomas.

John Ellis fractured his leg 11 games into the 1976 season and would miss the rest of the year.

Stan Thomas had a card in 1976 Topps but not Topps traded.  After the 1976 season he’d be selected by the Seattle Mariners in the expansion draft.

Ron Pruitt’s rookie card came in 1977.

There was one other transaction which didn’t directly affect Topps: Astros pitcher Wayne Granger was released. He would sign with the Expos in February, 1976 and pitch for Montreal and their Triple-A affiliate the Denver Bears.

This is the latest in my Topps Minus 50 series which addresses transactions and other events within Major League Baseball which might have had an affect on Topps checklists and the like.

Today we start into the 1975 Winter Meetings, held in Hollywood, Florida from December 8th to the 12th.  On the first day there was one transaction announced.

December 8, 1975

The San Francisco Giants traded Pete Falcone to the St. Louis Cardinals for Ken Reitz.

Ken Reitz was coming off a Gold Glove win in 1975.  Just over a year later, he was traded back to the Cardinals for pitcher Lynn McGlothen… so much for “Reitz comes home to San Francisco”.

In 1976 Pete Falcone would have his best season, going 12-16, 3.23 for a 90-loss Cardinals team.  This, along with his ‘regular’ 1976 card, is considered a rookie card of his.

Also on this day in 1975 was the Rule V draft, where unprotected players can be added to a team’s 40 man roster. Only one of the three players taken in the Major League phase of the draft stuck with his team: Gil Rondón, who was selected by the Astros from the Angels. Rondón pitched in 19 games for the 1976 Astros but would not return to the Majors until 1979 with the White Sox. His first baseball cards didn’t come until 1990 when he got cards as the Kingsport Mets’ pitching coach and as a member of the Senior Professional Baseball Association.