The 1978 Topps New York Mets
There are 31 Met images in the set, excluding the Elliott Maddox paint job and including those of Phillips, Grote, Dwyer and Kingman.
The team photo was taken at Shea sometime during homestands from 6/16-6/22 or 6/27-6/29: The haul they received from the Reds for Seaver as well as Joel Youngblood are with the team, but Paul Siebert has yet to arrive.
The small black and white image of Torre was taken sometime during 1960-1965 when he was with the Milwaukee Braves.
I occasionally had difficulty telling images taken at Shea from images taken at the club's Al Lang Stadium facility in St. Petersburg - from a number of angles looking out into the outfield, Shea had a uniquely minor league feel to it - no structures immediately visible over the fence. If you can't see the lights or the scoreboard, it's hard to separate from a minor league park.
So, to the best of my ability, here are the shots taken in the spring: Matlack, Vail, Torre, Espinosa, Stearns, Lockwood, Harrelson, Todd, Apodaca, Swan, Hodges, Myrick and Dwyer.
Another bunch were taken at Shea at some point during the season: Mazzilli, Foster, Boisclair, Milner, Henderson (after 6/15), Zachry (after 6/15), Youngblood (after 6/15), Flynn (after 6/15), Valentine (after 6/15) and Grote (before 8/31).
The Mets actually have 2 images which can be precisely timed - Felix Millan is shown turning a double play on 7/17....he has just received the ball from Len Randle and is relaying it to John Stearns (playing 1st that day) as Dave Parker slides. The play occurred in the top of the 1st inning.
Len Randle is shown after sliding into first and being called out, as Gene Richards makes sure. This happened July 31 as Randle led off the game in the bottom of the 1st with a grounder to 2nd baseman Pat Scanlon.
Jerry Koosman is shown at some point during 77 in Shea - he happened to start the game on the 17th, so I wonder whether this doesn't show him delivering a pitch in that very game.
Ed Kranepool's image is a tough on - I had thought it might be Shea until I realized he was wearing his road uniform. The dugout roof is consistent with that at Candlestick, although the seats don't look to have that Candlestick red color, but that could be the fans. So, I will call this SF, sometime during 5/6-5/8 or 7/26-7/27.
Mike Phillips was taken in Candlestick during the May series, as he departed the club on 6/15, the same day as apparently everyone else that season.
Kingman is a headache - he played for three additional clubs in 1977 after departing the Mets on 6/15. I have to assume the original image shows him in a Met's home uniform, as it would have been easier to convert to a Cubs (so would the Yankees', come to think of it). With nothing much to go on, I will place this with the Mets in St. Pete unless there's a better theory out there.
|