I keep meaning to post a random Tigers card on Tuesdays -- you know, because it's alliterative? -- but I keep forgetting, so I'm posting one on Thursday instead 🫤

My vintage card of the week: The iconic 1975 Topps George Brett rookie card. I spent about a year building this set after acquiring an unbelievably nice starter set from Matt of Cardhound Vintage. I purchased 10 of the big cards graded in the NM range while building the set to match the condition of all the other cards. I'm not a set builder, really, but I'd always loved the design and colors of the '75 set, and it's stacked with HOFers. And it's my birth year, which is what really sold me on the idea of building the set. I completed this set about a year ago, but I still flip through the album about once a week just to admire the cards.

Here's one of my wild-goose-chase collection quests that I've been on for the last 7 or 8 years. I'm trying to get the buyback version of every one of the cards in the 1975 Topps set. That's 660 cards. I'm pretty sure I won't get them all -- stuff like the Brett and Yount rookies are way too expensive and a few cards likely don't exist with stamps. But this Leading Fireman card arrived today and it's the 539th '75 Topps card I own with a buyback stamp. That's 81.6% of the set!

One of the funkiest sets because of the crazy color combinations, the 75 Topps set is full of character. Long time SF Giant, Willie McCovey slid down the coastline and joined the Padres for a few years before one other stint somewhere else and then eventually going back to SF until the end of his career.

“Here’s a guy who is the most feared in baseball, but everyone pitches around him. If you let him bat 600 times and pitched to him instead of around him, he’d hit 80 home runs.” – Sparky Anderson

Some more Blue Jays content from me. (last night was just a blip on the way to glory)

Buck Martinez has been a part of the Blue Jays organization for almost 40 years - 6 as a player, 2 as a manager, and 30 as a broadcaster, and is beloved by the city of Toronto.

"I came here kicking and screaming in 1981, thinking, what the hell am I going to do in Toronto? I figured this was the end of my career. I'll play here in 1981 and be done."

Here he is as a member of the Royals in 1975. He hit .226 with 3 home runs that year, and was never much of a hitter, but he was a solid defensive catcher and pitchers liked working with him. All these years later, and he's still very much in the game.