Speaking Of 1970s Cards....

 I have been working on a little project for the past two months trying to collect all of the former Durham Bulls players who appear in the 1975 Topps Mini Set.  I know that I am no longer a regular poster, but I have gotten really close to the end of that set and will be posted an update soon.  

In the meantime, I have started tracking down some other 1960s and 1970s Durham Bulls players.  I was able to find a pretty nice lot of Mickey Lolich cards from the 1970s a few weeks back.  The long-time Tigers pitcher actually started his professional career with the Bulls during the summer of 1959.  He also played in Durham at different points of the 1960 and 1961 seasons.  

A quick rundown on my newest cards.  

 

 

 

First up is a 1972 Topps League Leaders card.  Lolich had a lot of strikeouts during his career, but only managed to lead the league once.  That was during the 1971 season when he fanned a total of 308 batters.  Kind of an odd quirk for a pitcher who ended up with nearly 3,000 strikeouts during his career.  

Here is the list of American League Strikeout Leaders.  Some pretty good names on this list.  A few Hall of Famers.  Pat Dobson is another former Durham Bulls player on this list.  I have posted a few of his cards from time to time.  I will have a few more coming up at some point in the near future.  

 

 

 

Next up is a 1973 Topps card.  This is a really boring card.  There isn't even anything interesting in the background of the card.  Looks like a back field at Spring Training.  

 

This is my second copy of this 1976 Topps Lolich card.  Slight crease at the top and some soft corners, but it probably helped keep down the prices on this group of cards.  I love the side view of Lolich pitching and how close his knee is to the mound in the photograph.  Very unique, but not a one off thing that only happened when the photograph took the picture.  

 

Just the way he threw the ball.  

Second card Lolich card from the 1976 Topps set....

 

 

 

I have mentioned this on previous posts, but Lolich retired as the all-time strikeout leader for left-handed pitchers.  Carlton passed him in the early 1980s, but he still held the American League record until 2017 when C.C. Sabathia passed him.  Lolich is 20th all-time in Ks sandwiched in between Jim Bunning and Mike Mussina.  When he retired, he was inside of the top 10. 

Here is the list when Lolich passed Warren Spahn for the record in 1975.  Lolich is currently fourth all-time behind Sabathia, Steve Carlton, and Randy Johnson.  Clayton Kershaw is only 300 strikeouts behind Lolich, so he will be bumped down to fifth within the next two years.  

Last card. 

Also a 1976 Topps card, but this time from the Traded set.  Topps has not improved their airbrushing much over the years.  Maybe a little bit more pixelated nowadays, but just as bad.  Hey, they did a pretty good job on the blue pinstripes.  Lolich was traded to the Mets for Rusty Staub, another former Durham Bulls player.  It was actually the second time that Rusty Staub was traded for another former Durham Bulls player, but more on that a different day. 

More 1970s Bulls later this week, or next week.  Let's just hope I make another post this year.