1977 Topps Baseball #551 - Bill North

• Nice miscut! 
• Bill North had a tough 1977 season due in large part to injuries. In May a shower door at a health club shattered and Bill's foot was severely cut. North missed almost a month and shortly after he came back Bill fractured his index finger during a sacrifice bunt and missed two morth months. Then in early September A's owner Charlie Finley ordered North to be benched for the remainder of the season. Finley took exception to some comments North made about the team.
• Bill North's SABR biography
• 1977 Stats: .261 in 56 games
• 1977 Highlights:
• May 5 - Hit a 2-run triple to help the A's beat the New York Yankees 5-2.
• Other card blogs: 1973, 1974, 1975, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980

1977 Topps #4 - 1976 Stolen Base Leaders

• Look at all the A's players! Oakland almost managed to keep the string of AL West championships going in 1976 thanks in part to the running offense. The 1976 A's are a fun team to play in Strat-O-Matic.
• Bill North won his second (and last) stolen base title in 1976. He also was caught stealing 29 times, which was also an AL high.
• It was also the second and final stolen base title for Dave Lopes. Lopes had a much better stolen base percentage than North--he was caught stealing only ten times in 1976.
• Lopes must have made the most of his opportunities. He had only a .333 on base percentage in 1976.
• This was the last season in which Lou Brock would steal 50 or more bases. Brock had twelve seasons in a row (1965-1976) with 50 or more stolen bases. He was the NL leader in stolen bases in eight of those seasons.