Bill Buckner 1971 Alt -Topps

1949-2019

Another 1971 Alt Topps for Bill Buckner. We lost him this past Memorial Day. On that day, 9 different players did something Buckner never did in his entire MLB career.

On the day that Bill Buckner passed away Niko Goodrum, Jim Adduci, Dainiel Descalso, Jonathan Schoop, CJ Cron, Miguel Sano, Matt Olson, Shin-Soo Choo and Mitch Haniger all struck out 3 times in a single MLB game.  In his 22 year career, Bill Buckner never had a 3-strikeout game.

Buckner led the league 4 times in At Bats per strikeout. He finished in the top 10 eleven times. Over his career he averaged 20.7 at bats for every strikeout.  Just to put that in context, the current MLB leader in strikeouts per at bat is the Angels second baseman, David Fletcher with 13.8.

Another thing Buckner didn't have was his own card in 1971. 

He had been featured on Rookie Stars cards by Topps in both 1970 and 1971. He finally had hid own Topps card in 1972.  

1976 Alt-Topps Requests

A few quick requests before the end of the year. 

Buzz likes a challenge. He requested a few veterans that were playing out the twilight of their careers on different teams. 

He also requested a couple West-Coast favorites. Billy Buck and Rick Monday.  The photo used is somewhat a cheat. Monday performed his famous flag rescue on May 4, 1976. This photo was obviously taken some time after that. He was dealt to the Dodgers for Buckner (in a five player deal) after the 1976 season.  Again, the colors used in the base cards reflect he colors Topps used for these teams in the real 1976 set. 

Deogolf requested more World Series cards so here are Games 1 & 7.

Bill wanted some All Stars so for good measure I added a couple stolen base experts. In truth, I just needed an excuse to use a photo that incorporated the little used football-styled helmet the Cards used in 1975.