Buyback Franken-set - July 3rd No-Hitter Edition

As I enjoy the fireworks going off both on my street and way off on the horizon, let's take a look at another ten buybacks for my slowly growing franken-set...

#543 - 1970 Clyde Wright

To begin this batch, we've got my very first entry from the 1970 Topps set in pitcher Clyde Wright.  This is actually the perfect obscure buyback for my set, as Clyde Wright enjoyed what was by far his best season in 1970.  He won the AL Comeback Player of the Year Award, and his 22 wins and 2.83 ERA were good enough to get him some votes for both the Cy Young and MVP awards. 

Clyde also threw a no-hitter in the summer of 1970, and guess what day it happened to be on?  July 3rd!
 

#698 - 1978 Juan Bernhardt

Here's another cool one, as Juan Bernhardt hit the very first home run in Seattle Mariners history just a year or so before this card was printed up.  This project is really providing a lot of entertainment in the form of learning totally obscure baseball facts.  Given that they're both pretty high numbers, and that both have an interesting statistic associated with them, I highly doubt either of these first two cards will ever be bumped from the binder.

#273 - 1976 Joe Niekro

Just 30 cards into my set at this point, and already this is my second variation of the great Astros jerseys of the '70s.  While Phil enjoyed the better career, Joe Niekro was no slouch either, and lasted for 22 seasons of pitching at the MLB level.  Love the number on the pants here.

#463 - 1979 Steve Comer

What can you really say about Steve Comer?  No, really.  What can I say?  Two minutes of web research reveals that 1979 was his best season, as he recorded 17 victories.  Again, love the uniform here.

#519 - 1975 Jim Todd

Believe it or not, this is my second Jim Todd card already.  He's also currently occupying slot #333 with his 1978 Topps issue.  Likely that one of these will get bumped out if and when I ever find another buyback for either number.  For now though, Jim Todd reigns supreme with the most cards in the set.

#74 - 1973 Billy Champion

Billy Champion seems like a pretty good name to have if you're going to pursue a career in sports.  Some classic '70s airbrushing on this one!

#460 - 1972 Al Downing

Here's the first '72 Topps card to make my set.  I know it's a '72 because someone was kind enough to note it for me in pencil in the upper right corner.  How handy!  Pencil marks, creases, dings, stains; any and all cards are welcome in my set.

#39 - 1962 Joe Koppe

Hat-less Joe Koppe is now the oldest card in my set.  I think the '57 Topps set is actually the oldest one that you can currently get a Topps buyback from, which makes sense as the releases before that were oversized and wouldn't work well in a modern pack.  For now this is the oldest one I've got though...

#164 - 1979 Mickey Lolich

To finish off tonight's post I've got a pair of '79 Topps cards that I've actually shown here on the blog before.  Mickey Lolich was well past his prime years with Detroit here, but I thought it was an interesting late-career card nonetheless.

#407 - 1979 Pete Vuckovich

This Pete Vuckovich came in the same Sportlots order as Mickey Lolich, and if memory serves I believe they were 99 cents each.  A nice posed shot of a young Vuckovich here, just a few years before he would win an AL Cy Young Award.

That's all I've got time for tonight.  I hope everyone in the US is enjoying a nice 4th of July weekend, thanks for reading!

Franken-set Progress:  30/792 (4%)