A happy birthday, to mighty Willie McCovey, old "Stretch" himself. He nailed down first base for the San Francisco Giants for years and nabbed Comeback Player of the year later for the Padres.
I had his 1960 Topps rookie card (yes, one of those awful horizontal 1960s Topps), but it didn't auction for much because, on the back, taking up nearly all the surface, some dunce had scrawled "1960" in thick marks a lot. Boohoo.
Card shown is a 1970 Topps All Star card.
Anyhow, one hot summer day, I was playing in there and found in the back of the truck a couple 1970 Topps baseball cards which I suppose my older brother must have bought and stored there in the truck. The only card I recall specifically was a nondescript portrait card of Chicago Cubs outfielder Al Spangler, who had had a few fair years earlier in his career w/ the old Houston Colt 45s. (See old pal Al's stellar career stats here.) Oh, some dudes have it up in their ebay stores here.
Well, I admired that nothing card, turned it over and found the blurb and stats on the back, and I was hooked. I went to the 7/11 and bought my first cards. The cards had been in that toy truck for a while, so the first cards I bought were now the 1971 Topps baseball cards w/ the tough black borders. I was off and running!
