72 MilnerIn a tiny corner of my tiny brain, there’s a conspiracy section that looks for connections where there are none. And that section is convinced that the Mets and Topps photographers were in cahoots to try to convince us that John Milner was a hitter. No, not a hitter in the way that Felix Millan was but an honest to goodness power hitter, the type the club never had, much less developed.

73 MilnerOh sure, there was the original Frank Thomas and his 34 homers in the Polo Grounds but there hadn’t been much since then. It’s not like there weren’t any power hitters around; it’s just that none of them called Shea home. Shea was not a great park for HR hitters but it’s not like we didn’t see guys hit homers against us on a regular basis. It’s just that the Mets didn’t have those guys.

74 MilnerBut why would Topps care? The key to any good conspiracy theory is not to dig too deeply. But for sake of argument, let’s assume Donald Grant gave the photographer a paper ticket to the Diamond Club, since we know he wouldn’t part with real money. Regardless, motive isn’t as important as results. And in an era when head shots reigned supreme, Topps repeatedly gave us a non-smiling Milner with a bat in his hand, ready to do damage.

75 MilnerThe remarkable thing about this is that Topps used essentially the same pose for five consecutive seasons and yet did not recycle a photo once! Check out the batting gloves. In 1972 he had white gloves, in ’73 he had a bottom tan glove, in ’74 the top was tan and the bottom was white, in ’75 he did not have any and in ’76 the bottom glove was blue.

76 MilnerMilner hit 82 homers during this five year span, which was a power hitter by Mets standards. Yet it was hardly deserving of such royal treatment by Topps. Meanwhile, during this stretch the Mets really did get a power hitter. Dave Kingman was brought in before the 1975 season and promptly hit 36 homers and followed that up with 37.

Grant, in the middle of contract negotiations with Tom Seaver, could no longer afford to just give away food. So he stopped giving the photographer access to the Diamond Club and Milner’s ’77 card was a sad head shot

7 comments on “Mets Card of the Week: Early John Milner

  • Charlie Hangley

    Helluva stance on the Hammer, there…

  • norme

    I remember that for very short spans it seemed that Milner was carrying the Mets all by himself. When he was hot it was like no one could get him out. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen often enough and he had very little to back him up.

  • JIMO

    The Hammer was an early favorite of mine…He hit a shot off the scoreboard…I think he may have knocked out a light or something marvelous. I can also distinctly remember saying to myself after his rookie year that he’ll hit even more HR’s in his second year (so the Mets are going to win the World Series).

  • James Preller

    Such a 70s type player. Small and a first baseman. His OPS+ numbers are good, despite the fact that his rate stats and counting stats are underwhelming compared to what we are used to nowadays. He needed to be a notch better, unfortunately. Always a disappointment.

    He’s possibly smaller than every pitcher on the Mets.

  • Steevy

    I have the 73 card.

  • Chris Ryan

    One of those Milner cards mentioned that Milner was from the same home town as Hammerin Hank: Mobile, Alabama. As a 12 yr old, it made an impression because I still somehow remember this detail.

    So even the back of the card was trying to push the mythology. Great post, Brian.

    • Brian Joura

      Thanks for the kind words!

      I believe that’s why Milner was known as The Hammer — a nod to Aaron.

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