On his 1970 Topps rookie card, 21-year-old Bill Buckner shared his “Dodgers Rookie Stars” card with 28-year-old Jack Jenkins, a rookie who had pitched in the major leagues seven years earlier.
He was on another “rookie stars” card in 1971 and finally got his own card in 1972, where he was a 1971 Topps All-Star Rookie.
He has a great Shea Stadium action shot in the legendary 1976 SSPC set, with the back written by a high school student named Keith Olbermann.
As a Cub in the early 1980s he was one of the first Donruss “Diamond Kings”. Artist Dick Perez clearly used Buckner’s base set card as the inspiration for his portrait.
Buckner was traded to the Red Sox in 1984, and his first Fleer card as a Red Sox had some eerie foreshadowing.
In 1990 Upper Deck was not very subtle at all, positioning the giant hole of the tarp between Buckner’s legs.
Buckner still appears on modern baseball cards occasionally, most recently in 2014 Topps Allen & Ginter.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bo Rosny is The Hall of Very Good’s resident baseball expert. You can read more from him at his website Baseball Cards Come to Life.
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The Hall of Very Good™ Class of 2016 is presented by Out of the Park Developments, the creators of the wildly popular baseball simulation game Out of the Park Baseball. Out of the Park Developments has made a generous donation to The Hall.
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