Dude! Reggie Smith Got a Dell (Card)!
And then sang some tunes, apparently
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1971 Dell Today’s Team Stamps Reggie Smith - Card of the Day
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Forty-two years ago (!) when I started collecting baseball cards in earnest, I got an early lesson in just where Reggie Smith stood in the diamond pecking order. After all, only a real star — probably only a superstar — could land his very own Super Veteran card, right?
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With the first glimpse of that 1983 Topps card (#283), I knew right away that Smith belonged with big names like Pete Rose, Mike Schmidt, Jim Palmer, and, uh, Dave LaRoche.
Little did I know then that the Giants were a one-year wind-down to a long and productive All-Star career with the Red Sox, Cardinals, and Dodgers. Almost an afterthought, if it weren’t for the fact that Smith hit .284 with 18 home runs and 56 RBI for San Francisco in 1982.
I also didn’t know — until, like, today — that Smith and his Giants manager, Frank Robinson, were the only players at the time to have appeared in both the All-Star Game and World Series for both the National League and American League.
But even with all that, when Smith became a free agent after the season for the second year in a row, he found Japan more conducive to his baseball goals. So, by the time I was pulling Reggie’s cards from wax packs that spring, he was gearing up for his debut with the Yomiuri Giants.
Reggie was a hit for most of two seasons in Japan, and he left behind an MLB resume that includes a batting line of .287/314 HR/1092 RBI, along with 137 SB and 1137 runs scored. Add in a Gold Glove, seven All-Star selections, a World Series ring with the 1981 Dodgers, and 64.6 WAR, and you have a Hall of Fame case that looks better than those of some already enshrined.
But here on Reggie’s 80th birthday, we’re using the occasion to celebrate one of the many (though probably not enough) oddball sets to feature the underrated star.
Up there at the top of the post, you’ll find Smith’s 1971 Dell Today’s Team stamp, one of a whopping 600 issued by the pulp magazine publisher that year. Each stamp was meant to be affixed to a page in one of 25 different stamp albums, also produced by Dell, each with 24 stamps.
The 25 albums breakdown as: 12 National League team albums, 12 American League team albums, 1 All-Star album. Today, you can find the Dell stamps for sale on eBay and through other venues in a variety of forms: singles, sheets, albums, complete albums, graded, raw, etc.
As for Smith, he was part of the Red Sox stamp lineup that year, right in the middle of his peak seasons with Beantown. He was also part of the 1967 Impossible Dream Red Sox, who rode Carl Yastrzemski’s Triple Crown to a World Series berth (and nearly a title).
All of which brings up a Reggie Smith birthday trivia nugget — did you know that Smith’s full name is Carl Reginald Smith? Imagine the “Carl Squared” merchandising opportunities the Red Sox left on the table!
Reggie Smith…On the Radio??
While digging around for Smith information and artifacts online, I disc-covered something completely unexpected. Take a gander…
I had read that Reggie could play multiple instruments, and of course, I knew he was in Japan in 1983 and 1984. But seeing his mug on record covers was an unexpected surprise.
Check out the Reggie record listings on eBay (affiliate link) and be amazed yourself.
Final Four Fanatics Gift Card Sale
To celebrate basketball’s Final Four, Giftcards.com is offering Fanatics gift cards at 10% off. A good way to leverage college BB for some baseball goodies…or, you know, as actual gifts. Here’s the deal (affiliate link).