1972 Topps Bob Aspromonte

 

About four or five years ago I stumbled upon a lot of 1972 Topps that I won in an online auction.  It was a tremendous find since it was advertised as a mixed lot of cards from the 70s and 80s.  Previous to this extremely lucky find I had exactly one card from the '72 set in my possession.  I suddenly had approximately half of the 787 card set.  Before then I had never been able to decide whether I liked the eccentric set or not.  After the black borders of the '71 set, the gray borders of '70 and the vanilla '69 set, these rainbow splashes must have popped some eyeballs in '72.  Seeing a several hundred of these colorful cards was quite an experience and I was hooked. 

Since then I have been piecing the set together usually card or three at a time.  Thankfully I have series 1 through 5 knocked out.  The 6th series...well that's a different story.  Back when Topps released their cards in series the final issue was often overlooked.  Kids were going back to school and turning their attention to football.  Therefore the 6th series is pretty scarce and pricey with commons going for about $4-6 on eBay if you want it in decent condition.

Bob Aspromonte, card # 659 is my latest addition.  I need 58 more cards to finish off this beast of a set.  I have the bigger names from the last series like Rod Carew, Joe Morgan, Steve Carlton, and Steve Garvey. 


Like a lot of players from that set, I knew little of Aspromonte before getting this card. So I gave it a good look.  Check out that batting glove.  Or is it a golf glove?  Who is that in the background?

As I looked into Aspromonte's career I was a little surprised that although pictured here with the Reds, he never played for them.  After playing for the Mets in '71 he was brought into Reds camp in '72 but didn't make the squad.  Not only did Aspromonte not play with the Reds in '72 he didn't play anywhere instead retiring at 33.  That really isn't that unique but by the time people got their hands on this card, Aspromente's career was well over.



Some intersting facts on Aspromonte:

• He was the last Brooklyn Dodger player to retire.  He got into one game for Brooklyn as an 18 year-old in 1956.
• He also was an original Houston Astro or Colt 45 as they were known then. He was plucked from the Dodgers roster with the 3rd pick in the expansion draft.
• His brother Ken played seven years in the majors.

Sometimes I get frustrated with a the high prices of the cards from the 6th series. After all who wants to pay five bucks for a Luis Alvarado card?  But I am close. I will keep trucking.