1970 TOPPS DONN CLENDENON
Back in the sixties, April was clearly the cruelest month for the Mets. Well, it was at least tied with May, June, July, August, and September…
From Camelot through Woodstock, the franchise did not manage to win a single Opening Day game. Even the miracle year of 1969 started out with an ugly 11-10 loss to the expansion Expos.
Twice that decade, the team carried Opening Day leads into the 9th inning, only to lose the games in the final frame.
In 1966, Jack Fisher brought a slim 2-1 lead into the 9th, but the Braves pecked away and scored first on a Lee Thomas single and next on a Denis Menke squeeze.
In 1968, the Mets held a 4-2 advantage over the Giants going into the 9th, but Tom Seaver and then Danny Frisella faltered, and San Francisco closed out a 5-4 comeback win with a two-run double by right fielder Jesus Alou.
The first year of the Me Decade finally brought a change in fortune. On April 7, 1970 Seaver and Steve Blass locked horns in Pittsburgh, and a 3-3 game went to extra innings. Blass stuck around to pitch a scoreless 10th, but the Mets got to Chuck Hartenstein and Joe Gibbon in the top of the 11th.
The crowning blow was a bases-loaded single by Donn Clendenon, which scored Mike Jorgensen and Ron Swoboda and at last gave the Mets an Opening Day victory.
Not a bad turnaround here for Topps – getting a guy traded late in the ’69 season in the right uniform for his ’70 card. It was much better treatment than they gave Agee.
I love the white lettering of “Mets” on this card. I wouldn’t want an entire set like that but I think it works really well in small runs/certain cards.
Topps used white, red, yellow and black team names for the Mets in 1970– I think Bud Harrelson was the only player with a black team name, but I could be wrong. In general, I prefer the white names, but I always liked the yellow Bobby Pfeil and the red Tug McGraw.
It could be that Topps was looking to do Donn a solid after the rough treatment he received in the 1969 set. There were two variations in that set (Houston and Expos), both of which utilized a head shot with a blotchy dark helmet.
Some related trivia: All 1968 and 1969 Astros cards list the team as “Houston” on the card fronts, while all other cards in the set carry the team name. Speculation is that there were licensing/legal issues related to the owners of the AstroTurf copyright…
I love the one batting glove.
Usually when you wear one batting glove it is on the bottom hand.