Mets Card of the Week: 1975 Hank Webb box

1975 TOPPS HANK WEBB WAX BOX

Back in the spring of 2011, I did a piece on Hank Webb. This past May, I wrote about a 1970 Topps box.

Well, today is the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup moment. The moment that I stumble into the path of a random stranger, we collide awkwardly, and then exclaim in sequence “You got Webb on my box!/No, you got box on my Webb!”

This moment comes courtesy of the 1975 Topps wax box, which in both its regular and mini configurations carried an image of Hank Webb hurling a pearly white sphere straight at the young consumers of the day.

Lost to the mists of time is why Topps saw fit to use an image of Webb. He put up decent numbers in Tidewater in 1974, but nothing good enough to qualify as a top-tier prospect.

And anyway, what did we know of top-tier prospects in 1975? Back then, new players just kind of showed up, and Ralph/Lindsey/Bob gave us the scoop.

Topps would go on to feature an airbrushed Brooks Robinson on the 1976 wax box, but they were up to their old tricks in 1977, using a shot of journeyman OF Bob Jones. This practice of picturing relatively low-profile players continued until the early ’80s, when Topps appears to have finally recalled what it knew full well back in the ’60s: superstars sell.

Nonetheless, I find this period in their history kind of charming, and I’m very happy that one of our own Mets made the cut in 1975.

Because Hank Webb and a Topps wax box are indeed two great tastes that taste great together…