Hey Twins fans! This is the fifth post in my series about Minnesota Twins baseball cards. This post is in a little different order than prior posts. Because I tend to dive most deeply into the most obscure player of the set (we all know about Tony, the Killer, and Carew not to mention Puckett, Hrbek, Mauer, and Morneau), this post will start with a write up of the player I deem to be most obscure in this set. Also “best” and “favorite” might be the same card, hence no different write up. If my favorite is different than the best, I will certainly say so. In previous posts, I struggled to differentiate between best and favorite. That’s not the case for the 1973 Topps, my favorite is definitely different from the best (which, I’m sorry tends to trend toward the most valuable).

Anyway, here we go…

1973 Topps

I love the look of the 1973 Topps baseball cards – the black border on the picture, the white border of the cards, and especially the silhouette of the player and his position in the lower right corner. The player’s name and team are listed at the bottom of the card. These cards are the standard 2.5” x 3.5” which started in 1957. The complete set has 660 cards. The Twins have 29 cards in this set including two variations of #49, the Frank Quilici manager card with his coaches. One of the variations has palm trees in the backgrounds for two of the coaches. www.PSAcard.com states the values of the two variations are the same and the number of each variation graded by PSA are similar.

MOST OBSCURE PLAYER

The 1973 Topps set has about half a dozen decent options for the most obscure Twins Player in the set, but one of these never played for the Twins. Meet Mr. Ken Reynolds.

Reynolds was originally drafted by Philadelphia in the fourth round of the 1966 draft. He was primarily a starting pitcher in their minor leagues. He started 25 games in 1971 and 23 games in 1972 for bad to awful Phillies teams. He had a crazy bad record of 2-15 in 1972. Reynolds came to the Twins in a November 1972 trade. The Twins traded fan favorite and future Twins Hall of Famer Cesar Tover for Joe Lis, Ken Sanders, and Reynolds. It seems like Philadelphia won that trade but it wasn’t robbery. Tovar played only one season for the Phillies and had a WAR of 0.9 WAR. The players the Twins received totaled -1.4 for the time they played for the Twins. That -1.4 WAR does not include Reynolds as he never played for the Twins and was traded to the Brewers in March 1973 for Mike Ferraro. Ferraro also never played for the Twins and the organization released him in May. Reynolds had a 7.36 ERA in two games for the Brewers. Reynolds later pitched for the Cardinals in 1975 and the Padres in 1976, finishing his MLB career with a 7-29 record. He stuck around the minor leagues until 1979.

An interesting tidbit I discovered while researching Ken Reynolds was that he played for the Hawaii Islanders in 1976 which was a AAA team and part of the Pacific Coast League. I went to Hawaii three weeks ago. It took me 4-5 after coming home to readjust to the time change. It seems like having Hawaii in a North American league would make travel exciting but brutal for those minor leaguers who experienced it. According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaii_Islanders, the Hawaii Islanders were surprisingly part of the PCL from 1961 thought 1987. I found the entire Wikipedia entry to be fascinating and would encourage your perusal. Hall of Famers Barry Bonds and Tony Gwynn played for the Islanders. This is something this blog series has done for me, introduce me to interesting parts of the game I never knew.

THE BEST

The Rod Carew #330 is the most valuable Twins card in this set. I like the stance, the pose, the background, and just the general look of this card. And I just love the look of this set in general.

PERSONAL FAVORITE

There’s something about the Tony Oliva card (#80). I think it’s a great picture, great pose, and mine is autographed (with his phenomenal signature). In the 1960s, there are many players photographed standing in Yankee Stadium with an inauthentic stance or pose. Tony’s stance may not be overly competitive but the pose, to me, looks better than average. But it’s not my favorite card.

The Harmon Killebrew (#170) is one of my favorite autographed cards in my entire collection (again, an exceptional autograph). This action shot seems to show an aggressive stance like he’s ready to release his energy and hit a blast. Where is he? The catcher’s red and blue pant stripes and the stadium background suggests Cleveland to me. I’m not sure. What do you think? I love this picture. But it’s not my favorite card.

As an aside, seriously, whose autograph is better Oliva or Killebrew? I’ve heard many say Killebrew’s signature is the best, but Tony O’s is similarly clear, legible, and smooth. Please share your opinion below.

Even though I have those two autographed cards of Hall of Fame players, neither ranks as my favorite Twins card from 1973. That honor easily belongs to another Hall of Famer – the #530 card of Jim Kaat. I think it’s absolutely awesome that Topps chose a photograph of a pitcher, Mr. Jim Kaat, batting. I love that this 1973 Topps card was issued, ironically, during the first year of the Designated Hitter. American League pitchers simply did not bat in 1973. Kaat could probably be considered a very good hitting pitcher. He batted .185 in his 25-year career, .289 in 1972, and .375 in 1981 (but only 8 at bats). I love all of that, which makes this my favorite Twins card in the 1973 Topps set.

Please, I would love to see your opinions, criticisms, and suggestions in the comments below. I really want to know. Let’s have fun with this! And Go Twins.