I want to post tonight on what I think is the best card of one of my favorite players of all-time, Jimmy Wynn, who passed away today at the age of 78.
Jimmy Wynn was a longtime top National League slugger, and was coming off a great 1974 season when he finished 5th in National League MVP voting, driving in a career-best 108 runs to lead the NL champion Dodgers. Wynn’s 32 homers that year marked his 8th season with 20+ longballs. His majestic shots for L.A., and before that, Houston, despite his 160-pound frame earned him the nickname ‘Toy Cannon’.
Wynn earned an All-Star badge in the 1975 for being voted an All-Star game starter in 1974. The badge proved significant- in 1975, Wynn was again elected a National-League All-Star, and he did not disappoint. Toy Cannon, playing center field and batting 6th in the NL lineup, followed his Dodgers teammate Steve Garvey’s home run off AL pitcher Vida Blue with a homer of his own. The blast was the 100th home run in All-Star competition, and the NL went on to a 6-3 win. 1975 turned out to be a down year for Wynn, who drove in just 58 runs. He did hit 18 homers and drew 110 walks, and he was traded to Atlanta after the end of the season. Wynn never did get back to his 1974 form, and was out of baseball by 1977.
Wynn’s 1975 Topps marks the high point of his career, and foreshadows his historic All-Star moment.
May the Toy Cannon Rest in Peace.
1970s Baseball 