#35 - Graig Nettles

What a card: This is Graig Nettles' first base Topps card as a San Diego Padre. He's featured with the Padres in the 1984 Topps Traded set.

My observation on the front: Nettles is displaying the "RAK" memorial on his sleeve, which was for late McDonald's founder and Padres owner Ray Kroc. Kroc died in January 1984.

More opinion from me: It was very strange seeing Nettles in anything other than a Yankee uniform back then. I know he played for the Twins and Indians before he came to the Yankees, but that was before I knew anything about baseball. As far as I was concerned, he was always a Yankee.

Something you might know: Nettles earned a trade to the Padres after Yankees owner George Steinbrenner didn't take kindly to criticism of him in Nettles' newly released book "Balls."

Something you might not know: Nettles is mentioned at the end of Bruce Springsteen's "Glory Days" video. This is appropriate because "Glory Days" was released in 1985.

My observation on the back: It always surprises me that Nettles' brother played in the majors until 1981. I had no knowledge of Jim Nettles when I watched baseball as a kid between 1975-81. Of course, that's because he played in the majors after 1974 only in 1979 (11 games with Kansas City) and 1981 (1 game with Oakland).

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