1977 Topps Baseball #150 - Tom Seaver

• Tom Seaver had an interesting year in 1977. He started the season with the Mets, but was traded to the Cincinnati Reds on June 15 after a feud with Mets ownership. Unfortunately for the Reds, even Tom Terrific wouldn't be enough to overcome the LA Dodgers in 1977.
• 1977 Stats:
• New York Mets: 7-3, 3.00 ERA
• Cincinnati Reds: 14-3, 2.34 ERA
• TOTAL: 21-6, 2.58 ERA, led NL with 7 shutouts
• Allowed 3 runs (2 earned) in two innings pitched in the All Star Game. Seaver got a long standing ovation from the fans in Yankee Stadium in pre-game introductions.
• Finished third in Cy Young Award voting
• 1977 Highlights:
• April 17 - Pitched a one-hit shutout against the Chicago Cubs.
• July 14 - Allowed two hits and one unearned run in the Reds' victory over the Atlanta Braves
• Sept 20 - Pitched his second two-hitter of the season against the San Diego Padres.
• Sept 25 - Won his 20th game of the season as he shut out the Atlanta Braves 4-0. Seaver won 11 of his last 12 starts of the season to end up 21-6 for the year.
• Other card blogs: 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1974, 1974, 1975, 1976 Kellogg's, 1976, 1976, 1976, 1976, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986

1977 Topps #6 - 1976 Strikeout Leaders

• Two legendary strikeout pitchers grace the front of this card
• This was Nolan Ryan's fourth strikeout title. He had nine AL strikeout titles and two NL titles. Ryan struck out over 300 batters six times.
• Tom Seaver never struck out over 300 batters, but he put up some impressive strikeout numbers during his career. 
• 1976 was the last of nine straight years in which Seaver struck out over 200 batters.
• This was Seaver's fifth (and final) NL strikeout title.
• Tom Seaver was one of my favorite players when I was growing up. I had posters of Seaver, Pete Rose, and Rod Carew in my room for a few years. The Seaver poster was one of those Sports Illustrated posters like the one pictured below.