Happy 70th Birthday Greg Luzinski 1978 OPC #

Today we are noting a milestone birthday for Phillies Slugger Greg Luzinski born on November 22 1950. 

Luzinski remains active with the Phillies in an baseball ambassador role and as namesake for one of the teams signature restaurants "Bull's BBQ"

To mark the Birthday we are going to feature his 1978 OPC card

1978 #42 OPC Greg Luzkinski

I always the All-Star subset. 1978 has its own icon never used before or since - Topps/OPC gave the cards a dash of Red White and Blue on a shield that kind of looks like an Interstate Route Number sign. 

In 1978 Luzinski played in the final of his four consecutive All-Star games. He went 1-2 with an RBI on a Bases Loaded Walk off of Hall of Fame Pitcher Jim Palmer. Of course the 1978 card represents the previous years ASG in which the Bull Homered, also off of Palmer. 

OPC

1978 OPC #42 Greg Luzinski

Typically I would use an OPC card for a column with a Canadian or French Connection. Today my reason is for the card number 42. 

While the Bull is remember for wearing #19 for almost the entirety of his career, when he came up in 1970 he wore the now league-wide retired #42 which happens also to be his OPC card. Six other Phillies wore the number after Luzinski, the most significant of which was Ron Reed. The last player to wear the number as a Phillies Player was Toby Borland. 

Luzinkski 1978T Card number is 420 - significant to some folks for a totally non-baseball reason. 

Phungo Original

1978T Greg Luzinski

I tackled the 1978T card by going pretty vanilla. I elected to not give the sketch a background and had Luzinski's powerful Rawlings Bat busing out of frame. I also added the discrete position of LF to the All-Star Shield. 

Greg Luzinski Index

1971T #439 (rc) 2013 Philadelphia Sports HOF Induction

1977 Topps #30: 1976 ASG +40 

2003 Fleer Ultra All-Vet Stadium #7 Spot the Sig

1971T #439 Card Show Swag

1974 Kellogs 3D Swag from the Phillies Room

1975T Mini Card Show Swag

1978T #420 Year of the Tiger

Sources and Links

1980 Phillies World Champs

Baseball-Ref

MLB

2015 ASG Franchise Four Johnny Bench

Tonight MLB concluded their Franchise Four promotion. It ended with a ceremonial first pitch that was thrown by Don Sutton and caught by the Reds own Johnny Bench.

1978 Topps #700 Johnny Bench

I wouldn't immediately think of Bench at one of the four greatest living players.

Further research has revealed he has the highest career WAR of all catchers in History and he won two World Championships including 1976 when he was Series MVP.

During his 17 year career the first ballot Hall of Famer represented the Reds on 14 All-Star teams at one of the games most grueling positions. 

1978 Topps 
Johnny Bench's 1978T #700 was his second of six hero number cards. Judging by the era and condition of this card I believe it is from the v1.0 Phungo Collection.

Johnny Bench HoF Index 
2011 Topps #198 Legends Variation
2014 Topps Heritage Draft Pick Cards

Sources and Links
2015 ASG Coverage
baseball-ref
baseball card database