Top 5 Cards: Willie Stargell

I don't mean to be one of those people, but I wish today's baseball was a little bit more like 70's baseball. Teams like the Athletics, Orioles, and Pirates stood out because of their generational players, colorful jerseys, and their nearly unparalleled ability to be interesting and talented teams.

Statistically, balls are being hit into play at a lower rate than they ever have been hit before. It seems like every hitter is either hitting a home run, striking out, or drawing a walk. Players like Willie Stargell, Ernie Banks, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Roberto Clemente made for a close race for NL MVP every single year. However, these guys didn't just hit home runs. They would get key clutch hits, draw a walk when needed, drive in 100+ runs a year, all while maintaining a batting average around .280 or above.

The way that Willie Stargell played the game of baseball is what made him one of my favorite players in baseball history (likely top 15). This is also a reason as to why I collect cards of his and have a player collection of 75 cards strong. I had to pick out 5 of them for this list. Here are the cards I ended up choosing.

#5 2013 Topps Archives 1972 Topps Basketball

For the most part, I tried to limit this list to only vintage cards because of how well they represent the era Stargell played in and that I have a pretty decent number of vintage Stargell cards in general. However, I had to make an exception for the '72 Basketball insert from 2013 Topps Archives. Not only is the set very well recreated, but the photo choice and the blue background color could not have been better. The blue and yellow pairing has always worked on baseball cards, and this is no exception.

#4 1968 Topps

The first 100 or so cards in the 1968 Topps set featured a burlap much thicker than that used for the cards included in the rest of the set. That was the case for Willie Stargell's card #86 in the set. I must say that I don't prefer one burlap pattern to another, but I do like the color choice on this card just like the card at #5. As much as I like the light blue, Topps has always chosen the unconventional pink color for the Pirates in multiple sets (1965, 1966, 1968, and likely more). The picture chosen for the card is very good, especially for the 60's, and the jersey is the right one, not too colorful, for a set that already stands out on its own.

#3 1981 Topps

Stargell's 1981 Topps card consists primarily of 2 colors; those being gold and black. When you take the time to look at the entire card, you notice that more than 80% of the entire card is black and gold, the Pirates team colors. The all-gold Stargell jersey doesn't make it onto every card due to how much it pops, but I do think it works here. I may not be the biggest fan of 1981 Topps, but the black hat works well on this card. Now, if the border color was black just like the hat, this card could be one of the greatest cards in history.

#2 1973 Topps

I can't remember putting this many Topps Flagship cards in one top 5 cards post at any point since I started doing these posts on the blog. Maybe it's just me, but I seem to think that Willie Stargell's Topps base cards are a step-up from nearly any other player who played in that time period, and his 1973 Topps card is a testament to that. '73 Topps features a ton of landscape cards like this one. This shows Stargell in what I believe to be one of his first seasons at 1st base. You can see #17 for the Phillies running towards 1st base on this card. After looking up the number, I believe it's Terry Harmon included on this card as well.

#1 1966 Topps Buc Belters

Technically, this is the 4th Topps Flagship card included on this list despite not being a base card of Stargell. Instead, it's a combo card of Stargell and Donn Clendenon, a pairing we would again see included on a combo card in 1967 Topps. Not only does the pink look fantastic on this card, but Stargell and Clendenon are taking the exact same pose on this card, and that really makes for a well-done card. Plus, Topps deciding not to make this card Stargell and Clemente mean I'm able to have this card in my collection considering how expensive Clemente stuff is. So, I can obviously tell they knew what they were doing for this card which is why I chose it for the top spot.