What a card: This is the second-to-last Topps card of Garry Maddox issued during his career. He was entering his final full season of a 15-year big league career.
My observation on the front: Maddox has some great cards and was a favorite going back to childhood. This is a pretty cool close-up of Maddox taking some informal cuts (might want to take off that warm-up jacket, Garry) in the cage.
More opinion from me: The most famous quote about Maddox is the one that goes "two-thirds of the earth's surface is covered by water, the other third is covered by Garry Maddox." It's a terrific quote, and depending on what you're reading, it was either uttered by Harry Kalas or Ralph Kiner. This drives me crazy. SOMEONE had to say it first. Who was it? I want to say it was Kalas because he would've covered Maddox a lot more than Kiner. But yet Kiner is attributed everywhere as saying it. Perhaps Kiner said, "they say 'two-thirds of the earth's surface is covered by water, the other third is covered by Garry Maddox.'" I can hear him saying that, without attributing it, especially in his advanced state. But, dammit, this is a great line and it needs to be copyrighted or something. Etched in stone as either said first by Kalas or Kiner. Am I the only one who is annoyed by this?
Something you might know: Maddox was an eight-time Gold Glove winner, who nevertheless did not come up with Dusty Baker's fly ball or Bill Russell's single in the decisive Game 4 of the 1978 NLCS.
Something you might not know: When Maddox was first starting out in his baseball career, he told the Giants that he was quitting the game two months after signing a contract. He went into Army, served in Vietnam and only came back to the sport because his father had three heart attacks and his family needed him home.
My observation on the back: I wonder if that's the first time the Vietnam War was mentioned on a baseball card?
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