Mailbox Joys: Three Cards From My Birthyear

I won an auction on eBay for three 1976 Topps White Sox cards. I was the only bidder, so I won the auction for 99 cents. Not that there's a huge run on 1976 common White Sox players, but it's nice to get them anyway.

The first card is #131, Bill Stein. In 1976, Bill lived in Cocoa, Florida. Sounds delicious. I wonder if that has a small subdivision named marshmallow? The smaller, more colorful ones, are so much better in Cocoa. Bill saw action in 76 games in 1975 and played a whopping 117 games in 1976. He played until 1985.

The second card is #333, Bob Coluccio. Bob was originally drafted by the Pilots! He played for the Sox in the last half of 1975 and in 1977. He never played major league baseball in 1976. Bob has a lovely .220 career batting average and was out of major league baseball after 1978.

The last card is probably the best one in the lot. Card #656, the Chicago White Sox team card. Chuck Tanner looks a little like E.T. poking out of his diamond enclosure. There's a blurb on the back where you can get all 24 team checklist cards for 50 cents plus 1 baseball wrapper sent to a PO box in Westbury, NY. It urges you to print clearly and to include your zip code. Too bad the offer expired on December 31, 1976.