They also had McCovey. Marichal. Bobby Bonds! Jim Ray Hart! Dave Kingman! Garry Matthews! New superstar acquisition Sam McDowell, whom the Giants excitedly traded pitching ace Gaylord Perry to Cleveland for. Looking good for '72.
Well, the wheels totally fell off that year for the Giants, despite this abundance. They went 69-86, and finished in 5th place, ahead of the lowly Padres. McCovey hit .213. McDowell was mostly a bust, while Perry went on to win the Cy Young for the Indians. Mays was traded for chump change in early May to the Mets. Marichal went 6-16. Let's just say it wasn't a good year, and it ushered in a pretty brutal stretch for San Francisco until 1978, which was the first full year of baseball that I was old enough to pay attention to.
In the meantime, we have the cards! All of 'em. It's a great set that won't set you back all that much, if you're interested in accumulating it. Here are a few of the guys who made Spring 1972 look so hopeful.
These are nice cards, and it's strange to think a team with so many stars finished so far out of the race.
ReplyDelete1972 Topps is one of my favorite flagship designs. It just screams the 70's. Plus it's my birth year set.
ReplyDeleteSam McDowell is staring into my soul.
ReplyDeleteDid you ever notice that the later series cards distributed in 1972 are much clearer photos than the first? While I can't claim to know much about photography, I read years ago that the Topps photographers finally started using daytime flashes for the higher #'d cards, hence the better photos!
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