5 Baseball Cards that Never Showed Up

Maybe they got a little too close to Geoff Tate?

On Friday, my wife and I went to a Queensrÿche concert.

It was a great time, but don’t look for much Operation Mindcrime camaraderie from me — this is a Mrs. Wax Pack Gods special, and we hit the road as part of our anniversary celebration.

Rock on.

But, great time and all, there was a bit of bait-and-switch at play. See, I bought the tickets as a surprise, and she was thrilled.

We’ve been parenting and generally stick-in-the-mudding for the last few centuries, though, so we haven’t really kept track of all the nuances around the things and people and groups of people who were important to us when we were wee versions of ourselves.

So it was surprising and disappointing to learn that Queensrÿche is no longer Queensrÿche. Not since original member and lead singer Geoff Tate went all Ron Artest on the rest of the band back in 2012.

The concert was great fun, but it wasn’t quite what we had expected, in other words.

Because, like, the guy wasn’t there.

All of which reminds me of these baseball cards that were also missing a little something. The proper uniform in some cases, and mere existence in others.

1960-1967 Topps Maury Wills

It’s the classic story of scout tells card company to pass on making a card of a specific prospect …

… said prospect breaks out late …

… said card company wants to make a card of said prospect …

… prospect thumbs nose at card company …

… prospect turns into superstar …

… card company says “pretty please” …

… superstar uses a finger other than the thumb …

… superstar ages …

… superstar’s team trades him …

… now-middling star gives in to card company …

… card company finally issues middling star’s “rookie card” …

… said rookie card shows him with the new team …

All of which, of course, leaves fans of his original team in the breach.

Unless they wanted to eat 4-year-old cherry cookies.

And it also left collectors with plenty of confusion later on. Yeah, 1982 Kmart again.

1966 Topps Warren Spahn

Quick now — what team did Warren Spahn finish his career with? You know, when he was like 71 years old?

The Braves? Nah, though that would have been the most baseball-soul-nourishing answer.

Maybe you remember Spahn looking like John Smoltz’s grandpa, Jimmy Durante, as a member of the Mets?

That’s what 1965 Topps told us, and the way I usually think of him last.

But the truth is, the Mets released Spahn in July of 1965, which is sort of like the Lepers releasing Jesus.

The Giants picked up the veteran two days later, and he went 3-4 with a tidy 3.39 ERA for San Francisco down the stretch.

At the end of the season, the Giants released him, too.

And the next year, with Spahn not on a roster, Topps took a pass on making a career-capper. So no black-and-orange Warren for us.

On the other hand …

1977 Topps Reggie Jackson

Right, so technically, there is a 1977 Topps Reggie Jackson baseball card. It’s card #10 in the set.

But it shows Mr. October in a pretty bad airbrushed Yankees batting helmet rather than the uniform of his real team in 1976.

Charlie Finley traded Reggie to the Orioles in April of that year, a season ahead of his big foray into free agency. Jackson was in Baltimore, not New York, for the Bicentennial summer.

By the card standards of the day, it wouldn’t have been unreasonable for O’s fans to expect to see Reggie in orange and black in the 1977 set. Instead, the world got that ethereal green-black Yankees monstrosity.

But the card above, showing Reggie with the Orioles? It really does exist.

Truly.

It’s part of the “proof card” history that helps make this hobby so endlessly fascinating.

Read all about it here, but note that there’s some 2016 dust on that version of the story.

1982 Topps Ryne Sandberg

Ryne Sandberg played in 13 games for the 1981 Phillies.

Bob Dernier played in 10, and Ozzie Virgil played in 6

Meanwhile, Mark Davis made 9 mound appearances for that team.

In 1982, Topps anointed Davis, Dernier, and Virgil “Philadelphia Phillies Future Stars” on card #231.

Ryno was nowhere to be seen.

The Phils must have got the memo from Topps, because they flipped the young infielder and Larry Bowa to the Cubs that winter, in exchange for Ivan de Jesus.

Rumor has it that Sandberg eventually got a card or two of his own.

1984 Topps Traded Pete Rose

Like the Reggie above, this card technically does exist. But it’s a crossed-stream sort of situation that left collectors in at least two cities frustrated.

Here’s what happened …

• Rose was a Wheeze Kid who helped the Phillies creak to the World Series in 1983.

• Philadelphia let him walk in free agency, but the Montreal Expos swooped in to sign him.

• The base 1984 cards showed Rose as a Phillie.

• Rose collected his 4000th hit as a member of Les Expos.

• The Expos traded Rose to the Reds in August, for Tom Lawless.

• The Riverfront rejoiced.

Then, Fleer Update and Topps Traded hit the hobby in November, just in time to talk turkey.

Rose was there, as expected.

But he was in red, white, and blue pajamas, not Red and white or Red and gray pajamas.

So Expos collectors headed into Christmas stuck with cards of a Hustler who promised a hits record but then ditched them.

And Reds collectors had to wait another year or something for an updated card of their once and future savior.

We were left with no real option other than to break hobby law and cave in to the pressures of the Broder market.

—

So, what cards did you expect to see — or expect to see differently — that ultimately left you disappointed?

I’d love to hear your picks.

Until next time, I’ll be here searching for that elusive 1987 Topps Traded Doyle Alexander card. Gotta be here somewhere.

Right?

Thanks for reading.

—Adam