1977 Hostess #29 - Bobby Murcer

• As the back of this card indicates, Bobby Murcer had been traded to the Chicago Cubs for Bill Madlock before the 1977 season. Three other players were involved in the deal, but the main trade was Murcer/Madlock.
• The Cubs were having difficulty signing Madlock, and the Giants were having a hard time signing Murcer.
• The Giants had acquired Murcer from the New York Yankees for Bobby Bonds after the 1974 season. Both players had off-years in 1974.
• Murcer represented the Giants in the 1975 All Star Game. He went 0 for 2 in the game.
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1975 Hostess #31 - Gary Matthews

• It really is too bad the Giants couldn't keep Gary Matthews. He was a good one
• Matthews made his debut on September 6, 1972 (my 6th birthday)
• Gary batted .279 with 20 HR and 84 RBI in 116 games in 1975.
• Gary had a home plate collision with Johnny Bench on April 22. Bench played with the injury through the 1975 season and had shoulder surgery after the season.
• Matthews was injured after fighting (perhaps playfully) with teammate Derrel Thomas on June 1. Gary missed six weeks with a broken thumb

1975 Hostess #43 - Garry Maddox - and I found a good shop in Albuquerque

• The Giants had SO  many good young outfield prospects in the 1970s: Garry Maddox, Gary Matthews, Dave Kingman, George Foster, and later Jack Clark. How could they have let so many of them go?
• On May 4, 1975 the Giants traded Maddox to the Philadelphia Phillies even-up for Willie Montanez. Yuck!
• Garry won the first of eight straight Gold Gloves in 1975.
• We just got back from a short visit to Albuquerque. One thing I'll say is: Google Maps for the Android phone is great when traveling! I got a lot of use out of it during this time in Albuquerque.
• One of the cool things is that I was able to do a search for "sports cards" and it came up with several stores. I think Albuquerque has more card shops than Phoenix.
• The shop I visited is called Bubba's Baseball Bullpen. The store is located at 8206 Menaul Blvd. NE. It has a pretty good selection of newer stuff, lots of supplies, and some good vintage cards as well. It was nice to see that the owner didn't need to look at a price guide before giving me prices for 1970s common cards. I picked up this 1975 Hostess card of Garry Maddox and several vg-ex 1973 commons and semi stars. His singles are half price for the rest of 2011.
• Here is a video someone made a couple of years ago: