1977 Topps Baseball Set Brings Back Memories

I am currently working on reloading my binder of 1977 Topps baseball cards which got me thinking about the summer of 1977 when: I listened to 95.5 WMET FM radio in Chicago (my favorite song was Steve Martin's "King Tut"), rode a Schwinn 10-speed bicycle, wore blue-striped Adidas gym shoes, always had a Binaca Blast, chewed Bubble Yum, ate Pop Rocks, and had a terrific poster up on my bedroom wall of the "HoneyBears," the Chicago Bears' cheerleaders. 

In that summer of 1977 I was flat out addicted to baseball. I spent countless hours throwing a rubber ball against the side of my brick house. I shagged fly balls with my buddies in the street in front of my house. I played a lot of fast pitch at my friend Brad's house, up against his garage. I played Little League. I watched a ton of MLB on TV. The Cubs were on WGN. The White Sox on UHF Channel 44. NBC had a game every Saturday afternoon on Channel 5 in Chicago. "This Week In Baseball" with Mel Allen was my favorite TV show.

It was a great summer for a young Chicago baseball fan. I grew up in a suburban-Chicago home that supported both Chicago baseball teams. Both the Cubs and the White Sox had exciting seasons. My parents had a large Chrysler station wagon and we regularly trucked in it to both Wrigley Field and Comiskey Park for games that summer.  Though, when the summer began, I was not all that enthused for Chicago baseball.

There was a lot of pre-season hype for new Cubs manager Herman Franks, who managed Willie Mays and those great Giants teams of the 1960s. I was an 11 year-old kid in 1977, I had no idea who Herman Franks was. I thought his name was weird. I was tremendously disappointed when a lot of my favorite players were traded just before the season.  Rick Monday was sent to the Dodgers.  I was in mourning when the Cubs sent Bill Madlock to the Giants for Bobby Murcer and Steve Ontiveros. I felt much better when Murcer and Ontiveros started the season on fire. Rick Reuschel, affectionately called "Fatty" by my dad, had a tremendous season. Bruce Sutter was amazing. However, the Cubs other starters Bill Bonham, Ray Burris, and Mike Krukow weren't very good.  The Cubs were 47-22 on June 28, in first place and 8 1/2 games ahead of the Phillies. Then came the typical Cubs summer swoon. They finished a respectable 81-81, which was about the best record for the Cubs of my youth. Though, I remember just being disgusted with the Cubs in the latter half of the summer. By July, I could care less about Cubs because I was caught up in the excitement of Bill Veeck's White Sox.    

Though, I was down on the Sox before the season began because Goose Gossage, Terry Forster, and Bucky Dent were shipped out of town. Little did I know that newcomers Richie Zisk and Oscar Gamble, along with Eric Soderholm, Lamar Johnson, Chet Lemon, and Jim Spencer would hit a ton of home runs. The energy at Comiskey Park and in the Chicago area for these White Sox was tremendous. It seemed like Richie Zisk hit a home run every game. At most of the games I attended, one of the Sox players hit a home run, setting off the exploding score board. We also stayed after the games for additional firework shows. The Sox pitchers were pretty good too. Steve Stone won 15 games, chunky Fancisco Barrios won 14 games, Chris Knapp won 12, Ken Kravec won 11, and my childhood hero Wilbur Wood was still tossing knuckleballs and won 7 games. Though, old Wilbur looked like fat Elvis at this stage of his career. I loved singing "Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye" when the opposing team's pitcher got yanked. I miss old Comiskey Park.

As soon as the Cubs started to free fall, on July 1 the Sox moved into first place and stayed there until mid-August. Unfortunately, they could not keep up with George Brett and the Royals, who dominated the AL West in the late 1970s. The Sox won 90 games in 1977, clearly the best Sox team of my youth. But the Royals won 103 that year. Freakin' George Brett! I rooted for the Royals anyway in the playoffs against the Yankees. I never liked the Yankees. I remember watching that playoff series and thinking George Brett could do anything he wanted with the bat. If his team needed a single he hit a single, if they needed a home run, he hit a home run. Brett was a one-man show while his teammates went south. George Steinbrenner's Yankees were stacked. Billy Martin the manager, Reggie Jackson, Thurman Munson, Nettles, Randolph, Ron Guidry, Catfish Hunter and crew coasted to the World Series. If only Bill Veeck had Steinbrenner's money!! As for the Cubs, they were in the waning years of the Wrigley ownership. The Wrigleys had plenty of money but didn't spend it on the Cubs.

On the local baseball diamonds, I played my third year in Little League. I was an all-star in '76 but a bench warmer in '77. The two coaches never sat their sons and there were a bunch of other guys who were a year ahead of me in school and should have been in Pony League but just my luck, they happened to be on my Little League team and took up the rest of the playing time. I was frustrated and psyched out all season. When I did get a chance to play, I didn't hit well but I do remember making some good defensive plays in the field.

After Little League season, I was shipped off to overnight camp in Cheboygan, Michigan, with my buddies Andy and Brad. It seemed like Brad and I were in trouble for that entire month at Camp Walden. No matter what we did, we got in trouble. Naturally, I didn't much care for Camp Walden. I would have been much happier at home, chucking that rubber ball against the side of the house, walking up to the corner store, getting some packs of cards and filling my mouth with that flavorless stick of gum that came with the cards. 

I first started collecting baseball cards in 1975. Both the '75 and '76 Topps sets were real colorful, and fun to look at. When the '77 cards came out, I thought the design was a let down because it looked so plain. The cards featured a large white border, the team name slapped on top and the player photo placed below.  Also working against that set was the introduction of cards featuring players from the expansion franchises of the Blue Jays and the Mariners. I felt gypped each time I pulled a Blue Jay or a Mariner from a pack of cards. I did not think MLB needed more teams. I also didn't like the team names or their logos. Topps superimposed/air brushed the logos onto the player pictures. It looked bad. Add to the fact that both teams had lousy players, the Blue Jays and Mariners cards just looked wrong. I still feel that way when I look at those cards today. Imagine being a kid and a fan of Carlton Fisk. You open a pack of cards, no Fisk, but you get a Rico Carty portrait with the Blue Jays logo badly air brushed to his hat. It looked lame then and it still looks lame today. If it was up to me, I'd get rid of all the post 1976 expansion teams. The Florida Marlins have won the World Series twice but does anyone care? Does anyone get hyped up to see a Rockies-Diamondbacks game? On the rare occasions I open up new packs of cards in the modern era, I always sort of look at cards of players on expansion teams with the feeling of "meh."

Expansion teams aside, 37 years later, I have come to appreciate the 1977 Topps baseball card set. I now think the cards have a nice clean look and are appealing. There are also some great players in that set like Robin Yount, Carl Yazstremski, Brooks Robinson, Jim Rice, Mike Schmidt, Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Willie McCovey and Lou Brock.

Back in 1977, I tried and tried to complete that set. I nagged my parents to buy me cards, I traded with my friends, my mom sent me cards at camp, but there always seemed to be one or two players on each team that I could never get. Fast forward to 2014 where completing a 1977 Topps baseball card set is a much simpler project with the advent of card shows, shops and the internet.

For the past 15 years, I have been at a card show most every weekend where I have picked up thousands of 1977 Topps cards. They show up regularly at my table.  As a result, I have built many sets. I think the '77 set is a great one to collect. It has rookie cards of Dale Murphy and Andre Dawson. Loads of Hall of Famers, all of which are affordable. Though, for me, the 1977 set is filled with memories... I still hate Camp Walden.

Nevertheless, at each card show I attend, I always try to bring out a near-set of 1977s for collectors to complete their sets. My fully loaded 1977 binder of cards will debut at the July 12 Orland Park show.  In the weeks leading up to Orland, then Gonzaga on July 13th, I would like to hear your memories of the summer of 1977.  Were you playing Little League like me? Were you in high school, college? Working, raising a family? What were you up to and what are some of your memories from that glorious summer of 1977? 

Some Random 1977 Highlights That Occurred During The Baseball Season
-- Star Wars opened in May
-- Canadiens swept the Bruins to win the Stanley Cup in June
-- Apple Computers released the Apple II (I had one!) in June
-- Trailblazers won the NBA Championship in June
-- "I'm Your Boogey Man" by KC and the Sunshine Band reached No. 1 in June
-- The Mets traded Tom Seaver to the Reds for Pat Zachry in June
-- The lights went out in New York City in July -- the famous blackout
-- Lou Brock passed Ty Cobb as the all-time steals leader in August
-- Elvis died on August 16
-- Groucho Marx died on August 19
-- Atari released its video games system in September (we got one in 1981)
-- Muhammad Ali defeated Ernie Shavers for the heavyweight title in September
-- Pele played his final soccer game in October
-- Lynard Skynard's Ronnie Vanzant and three other band members died in a plane crash
-- Fat Daddy entered junior high