This team checklist on the back of the Mets has 25 players, if I counted correctly. I wonder if that was the projected Opening Day roster as Topps saw it when the cards went to print. If I have it right, not all teams have 25 cards in this set. And yet again, there are only 12 autographs on the front. I wonder why, and will continue to wonder why.
Checking out the list of names, I'm struck by the various visions of baseball I get. Yogi Berra...well, many images come to mind, and they are stretched out over a great length of baseball history. I never realized that Daniel Joseph had the nickname of "Rusty." Or maybe that would be vice versa. Tug McGraw threw his glove up in the air in celebration of the Phillies 1980 Series victory. Felix Milan is a trivia answer as the player who went 4-for-4 with four singles just prior to Joe Torre's all-time MLB record for grounding into four double plays in a single game. Ray Sadecki was the bust trade for Orlando Cepeda. Tom Seaver, Hall of Famer with several teams. I just love how baseball is a huge mosaic with tiles placed all over. Names, places and times change, while some stay the same.
This Mets team was good enough to win the pennant the previous fall, and nearly pulled off another "Miracle Mets" victory. Or maybe they were just good enough to win a weak NL East, surprise the Big Red Machine, and nearly topple the dynastified A's. Is "dynastified" a word? Also notice that I did not check any of the boxes on this checklist. I don't know why, but maybe I received it late in my collecting game.
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