The Lesser Knowns: 1973 Topps Edition

As I have been working on my 1973 Topps set, I've had the urge to share some of my thoughts on the set. I recently showed off five cards in the set with "hidden" Hall of Famers. Today's theme will be an intersection of my collection of the "lesser knowns" and the 1973 Topps set. 

Put simply, a "lesser known" is a baseball player who reminds you of a more famous person. I categorize these players into a few groups:

• Players with a more famous baseball player in the family.
• Players sharing the same name with a more famous baseball player.
• Players sharing the same name with a more famous athlete in a different sport.
• Players sharing the same name with another more famous person.

Here are some the "lesser knowns" from the 1973 Topps set:

Card #41 - Tom Walker

Tom had a modest six-year career in MLB, while his son Neil played 12 seasons and won a Silver Slugger Award. 

Card #43 - Randy Moffitt

The name Randy Moffitt might not immediately strike you as a lesser known until I tell you that tennis legend Billie Jean King's maiden name was Moffitt. She is Randy's sister. 

Card #221 - Fred Kendall

Fred Kendall did spend 12 years in MLB, which is an impressive feat, but his son Jason was a three time All-Star during his 15 years in the majors. With Fred also being a catcher, though, he probably deserves some credit for his son's success. 

Card #351 - Jimmy Stewart

More notable is the actor with the same name, known for many popular films including, It's a Wonderful Life, Rear Window, the original Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. I feel like they kind of look alike, at least a little bit.

Card #358 - Jim Nettles

Jim's brother Graig played 22 seasons in MLB and made 6 All-Star teams. Graig is the only "better known" who also has a card in the 1973 set (#498):

Card #437 - John Kennedy

MLB's John Kennedy started his career in the majors in 1962, just a year after the more famous John Kennedy took the office of the U.S. presidency.

Card #444 - Ken Brett

Ken played a very respectable 14 years in MLB but is overshadowed by one of the all-time greats. His brother is Kansas City Royals Hall of Famer George Brett. 

Card #557 - Bernie Williams

Bernard "Bernie" Williams played sparingly during a short four years in MLB. Bernabe "Bernie" Williams spent 16 seasons with the New York Yankees, amassing four World Series rings while making the All-Star team five times. 

Lesser knowns are ultimately relative to a single person's perspective. With that in mind, I'll tell you that I considered the following players, but decided to pass on including them as they had MLB careers ranging from respectable to very good:

#39 Dave Roberts

#108 Bill Russell

#133 Dave Roberts

#176 Chuck Taylor

Did I miss anyone? Let me know in the comments. And if you're interested in seeing more lesser known players that are a part of my mini collection, click here. 

Some Vintage from a Garage Sale

Before I dive into this post, a couple notes:

• First, I wanted to offer a word of thanks to Dime Boxes, Night Owl, Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary, and A Penny Sleeve for Your Thoughts for their recent card giveaways!
• Second, my post thumbnails continue to not show up on other blogrolls. I have done some searching to try to figure out how to fix this, but no luck. If anyone can solve this distressing development, there's a PWE of cards with your name on it. EDIT: it randomly worked this time!

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit a garage sale of a guy who owned a card shop in town that recently closed. I've definitely missed going to his shop since it closed in March, though I doubt I would have made as many trips there with the COVID situation. There are two other card shops here, but one has very limited hours and selection (I'm not even sure if it's open right now anyway) and I've never liked the other card shop even though it's been around since my childhood. So the recently closed shop was my main outlet to hunt for treasures, besides the occasional card show (which have also gone away since the pandemic).

So it was fun to get to flip through some cards again for a little while. I started with his vintage boxes, which I hadn't really looked at much before. I'm the type that likes to know at least a ballpark of what I might pay for something. The hang up for me has been that his vintage cards are all in boxes by set, but are not priced. But since I was card-starved, I decided to pay whatever he quoted once I brought everything to him to check out. Since I bought some other unpriced items, I'm not sure exactly what I paid for these, but it was probably in the 50 cent range. So not terrible.

Anyway, it was fun to pick up some vintage cards that I thought I'd show off here.

First up are some new "lesser knowns" for my Frankenset/mini-collection:

1969 Topps #128, Tommie Aaron
1969 Topps #287, Jose Tartabull
1970 Topps #401, John Harrell/Bernie Williams

Tommie Aaron is part of one of my favorite baseball trivia questions, because a lot of people don't even know about him: Which brothers combined for the most home runs in MLB history? Hank and Tommie Aaron (768). Hank had 755, and Tommie had 13. The DiMaggios (Joe, Vince, and Dom) are second with 573 combined home runs.

Jose Tartabull hung around to play part of nine seasons in MLB. He is Danny Tartabull's father.

I didn't even know about this Bernie Williams before I saw this card. He batted .192 in 102 games over four MLB seasons.

1970 Topps #317, Billy Conigliaro/Luis Alvarado
1970 Topps #53, John Kennedy

Billy Conigliaro actually played two seasons on the same Red Sox squad as his more famous brother, Tony.

John Kennedy's middle name is Edward (JFK's brother, long time Senator Ted Kennedy, had the given name Edward). This John Kennedy card is of course made more awesome because it's a Pilots card.

Next up are a group of cards that sometimes appear in lists of most-awkward or funniest baseball cards. It was fun to pick some of these up.

1969 Topps #38, Zoilo Versalles

The former MVP was not happy in this photo, but it wasn't because he hated playing for the Padres. They picked him up in the expansion draft, but traded him to Cleveland before the 1969 season began.

1970 Topps #252, Lowell Palmer

I wonder if those were prescription sunglasses. 

1966 Topps #74, Don Mossi

Let's just say this photo may have benefitted from some zooming out. 

Next up is one of two cards I have depicting a catcher writhing in pain. This one was clearly a result of the now obsolete home plate collision. 

1973 Topps #542, Pat Corrales

If you're curious about the other "catcher in pain" card, here it is:

1992 Score #311, Jeff Reed

Back to vintage. I've known for some time that I needed a vintage Dick Allen card, because everyone needs a vintage Dick Allen card. By 1974, dumb Topps had finally stopped calling him Richie or Rich. 

1974 Topps #70, Dick Allen

The final pickup I'll show here was Dime Boxes' recently crowned second Frankenset winner! I was really pumped to see this beauty among the other 73s. 

1973 Topps #273, Chris Speier

The card store guy hinted online on his still active Facebook page that he planned on doing another sale. I hope he does, because I barely got to look at the dime boxes this time!