1978 TOPPS ZEST WILLIE MONTANEZ
Guillermo Montañez Naranjo was not long for the Mets.
He came to the team on December 8, 1977 in a quadratic equation of a trade that involved the Mets, Braves, Pirates, and Rangers. Ultimately, the Mets surrendered Jon Matlack and John Milner and received Montañez, Tom Grieve, and Ken Henderson.
Montañez had a thoroughly decent, bat-flippingly stylish 1978 for the Mets. He drove in 96 runs, which at the time was the third-highest single-season total in team history. But he was gone by August of the following year, traded to the Rangers for Ed Lynch and Mike Jorgensen. He would go on to spend time with four more teams over the course of the next four years, ending his career in 1982 with the Phillies.
Montañez was pictured with the Braves on his regular-issue 1978 Topps card, the orgiastic trade to the Mets having occurred too late in the production run to be reflected in the set.
However, that year Topps produced a small five-card set of Spanish-language cards, which could be redeemed by sending in a special coupon and two full wrappers from bath-size bars of Zest soap. Montañez was included in this set, along with Joaquin Andujar, Bert Campaneris, Ed Figueroa, and Manny Mota.
For whatever reason, the cards do not contain any indicia for Zest or its parent company, Proctor & Gamble. They look for all the world like regular 1978 Topps cards, but for the bilingual text on the backs.
One other notable difference is the Montañez card itself– since this set was produced later in the season, he is pictured with the Mets instead of the Braves, looking zestfully clean…
I like this card. I’ve seen it before but never knew the story behind it.
Montanez was a fun guy to watch and while the snap catches drew all the attention, the thing I remember him for was his skill being the runner in the pickle.
In my mind, he successfully avoided being tagged out a dozen times. In reality it was probably twice.
Thanks for reminding me on one of the worse deals the Mets made, I thought it was a straight deal for Jon Matlock, but that Milner was also included The Mets were Mugged.
Montenez would be standing in the on deck circle swinging his bat. He would spit in the air and take a practice swing at the spit. He did this every time he was in the on deck circle. Perhaps he started doing this the first time he faced Gaylord Perry. Best way to hit a spitball is to swing at spit.
Awesome card, and probably a rare find. I like the back story!