What a card: This card commemorates the Padres picking Bill Almon with the No. 1 selection in the 1974 amateur draft. The '74 draft was noted more for the Braves' selection of Dale Murphy at No. 5, as well as the draft that featured Lonnie Smith, Lance Parrish, Garry Templeton, Rick Sutcliffe and Willie Wilson. (In case you're interested, Topps skipped over the 1970, 71, 72 and 73 drafts, where the picks were, respectively, Mike Ivie, Danny Goodwin, Dave Roberts and David Clyde).
My observation on the front: This photo featured Almon without a mustache, which was odd because his other Padres cards feature him with a mustache. Only on a four-player rookie stars card in the 1977 set is Almon without a mustache.
More opinion from me: This card looks a lot like Almon's first solo card ...
... except for the mustache, of course.
Something you might know: Almon was called up to the majors by the Padres the same year he was drafted. He played in 16 games and hit .316. But he wouldn't play regularly until 1977.
Something you might not know: Almon was called "Billy" by Topps through the 1980 set. It then changed to "Bill" starting in 1981.
My observation on the back: Always enjoyable to have a Rhode Island native on a baseball card. But I expect this subset to be flooded with California boys. Right now it's California 2, rest of the U.S. 1.
The blog wants to speak now: Sorry, the NCAA Selection Sunday wiped me out big time. No tab updates today.
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