1978 Topps Image Inventory

[Cliff Bowman]

On second thought I think it's Darold Knowles between Grieve and Ellis. I originally thought it might be September call up Bobby Cuellar but I noticed you didn't have Knowles in your list. ETA it blows my mind that the 1977 Rangers went 94-68, they sure could have used the Wild Card back then.

[Cliff Bowman]

The player on the back row right is Doyle Alexander, it fooled me too, I guess because he is actually smiling. Everybody in the photo is listed on this WorthPoint listing. https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...berg-162821295

[sthoemke]

I must have bought 10,000-15,000 of the 1978's as a kid. (I can still taste the gum)

I think almost every kid on the block had thousands of the cards.

At one point, I had sorted the cards into team sets, and during the junk wax era I unsorted the team sets and put together maybe 10 complete sets.

I've since sold off a couple sets and most of the key cards, but probably still have a monster box of mostly commons.

Did any one play the game on the backs?

[deweyinthehall]

Wow - thanks. That REALLY surprised me to know that was Alexander.

OK - with this information, I still think the likeliest time for the photo was the very end of August. Knowles and Alexander's inclusion still makes sense for that time frame. It means that of the 24 players pictured, 2 are inactive (Henderson, comes off DL 9/1, and Umbarger, acquired 8/25, supposedly sent to Tucson where he never appeared in a game, recalled anyway on 9/1), and no additional September call ups (Miller, Bealey, Poloni, Putnam,etc.)

This leaves room for 3 active players missing, which would account for Horton, Alomar and Washington.

Fantastic!

UPDATE - Just checked - the Rangers played in KC on 8/31, then had an off-day before taking on Boston at home on 9/2. So I think 9/2 is the likeliest date for this photo - fans are in the stands awaiting the start of the game.

[deweyinthehall]

[QUOTE= Did any one play the game on the backs?[/QUOTE]

Same as you I once had thousands back in the day - ripped so many wax, cello and rack. It was the first set I ever collected.

Finally had to buy the complete set (for $14.25 - a bargain!) from Renata Galasso. I could never find Gary Ross.

As to the game, I think I can recall a friend and I sitting down once to intentionally see how it would be played and winding up very disappointed.

[deweyinthehall]

The 1978 Topps Montreal Expos

There are 32 Expo images in the set, not including the Knowles paint job but including Pat Scanlon, Dennis Blair and Bombo Rivera.

The team photo was taken at Olympic Stadium/Stade Olympique in September - owing the presence of the call-ups.

The small image of Dick Williams was shot while he was with the KC A's in 1959 or 1960.

A host of images were taken in the spring of 1977 at City Island Ballpark in Daytona Beach: Dawson, Valentine, Parrish, Morales, Rogers, Cromartie, Kerrigan, Mejias, Stanhouse, Garrett, Brown and Blair.

Some were taken at The Stick during either 5/3-5/5 or 7/24-7/25 - Perez, Carter, Speier, Mackanin, Cash and McEnaney.

Twitchell was taken mid-delivery on 7/24, the only date he pitched there that year - a complete game 3-0 loss for Wayne that day.

Scanlon was also take in Candlestick, but back in 1975, between 6/13 and 6/15. This was the only time he appeared on an active roster when the club was in SF.

A number were taken in Shea during 4/27, 5/30-5/31, 7/8-7/10 or 9/5-9/6 - Atkinson, Unser, Williams and Frias. Bahnsen and Alcala were taken in May, July or September, Blackwell in July or September, and Schatzeder in September.

Bombo Rivera is a mystery - it is probably a spring ballpark, but City Island Ballpark didn't have double-posted light standards from what I can see.

As a curiosity, the TV spit out these images of Blair a few years back:

[deweyinthehall]

.

[deweyinthehall]

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.