Card Spotlight: 1976 SSPC Countdown Carbo 411, Rader 59, Cowens 175 (#15)

Facial Expressions.

This set is chock full of facial expressions. Random fact – Chock full o’Nuts is a brand of coffee. The story goes: a guy owned nut store in the 1920’s and those morphed into a chain of coffee stores that morphed into coffee sold in grocery stores. At some point Jackie Robinson worked for the company with the oddball name.

I haven’t counted, but I’d bet this set has more nutty, oddball expressions than most others.

Carbo played for the Reds previously and still had connections and friendships from his stint with Cincinnati. Then he had to compete with them and lose in the 1975 World Series. Sometime that’s how life works out – right place, wrong team. It’s the journey that matters.

Doug Rader in the first card the looks like he had that second cup of coffee. This card shows him in the new Astros uniform (introduced in 1975 to commemorate the Astrodome’s 10th anniversary). It also has a clear view of a circular black 40 patch. That’s a tribute to Doug’s former teammate Don Wilson, who died under mysterious circumstances in 1975. On the right, aside from his toned down Topps-approved expression, you can see Doug in the 1974 uniform.

And then there’s Al Cowens…

By the way, if you’re looking for SSPC cards from this set, I have many on COMC here and many more that I can mail out. If you want any and write a blog, contact me to work something out.

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