Collection Goals: George Foster

George Foster is of course best known playing for the Reds, as an important part of the Big Red Machine that won the 1975 and 1976 World Series.  Here is a selection of the George Foster cards I currently own; my goals for more Foster cards will come at the end.

1973 Topps George Foster.

The 1973 Topps seems to be the earliest Foster card in my collection.  He looks young.  He still wasn't permanently in the majors, as he spent most of 1973 in the minors.

1975 Topps George Foster.

In 1974 and 1975, Foster was starting to hit his stride.  He had 41 RBI in 1974 and 78 RBI in 1975.  After that, he led the NL in RBI three years in a row, earning the NL MVP award in 1977.  In 1977, he had an incredible 52 HR, 149 RBI, and a .320 average, and he also led the league in total bases, runs, and slugging.

1979 Topps George Foster.

Foster was an All-Star for five seasons, four of which were consecutive, from 1976 through 1979.  In 1978, he led the league in home runs for the second straight year, and in RBI for the third straight year.

1979 Topps card of 1978 RBI leaders Jim Rice and George Foster.

Jim Rice led the AL in both categories in 1978.

1979 Topps card of 1978 HR leaders Jim Rice and George Foster.

As a side note, I was very glad to see that Rice made the Hall of Fame eventually.  As another side note, I'll mention that Rice is from Anderson, SC, where my wife and I lived for three years.

1983 Donruss George Foster, after he was traded to the Mets.

In 1981 Foster won a silver slugger (how did he not get one earlier??), and 1981 was also the last of Foster's five times as an All-Star.  After that, Foster was traded to the Mets in February, 1982.  He continued to produce for the Mets for several years, but was released in 1986, the year the Mets went on to win the World Series.  He then appeared briefly with the White Sox.  The Mets reportedly voted him a 3/4 share of the winning player's bonus and a ring for his contributions during the season.

Now, as to goals, I said before that I was going to be developing some deeper player collections, and that will include Foster.  I'd like to have his rookie card and some others in my binder.  His rookie card is a 1971 Topps Giants Rookie Stars that he shares with pitcher Mike Davison.  I think he's also well-represented in Kellogg's and Hostess sets, and other odd sets of the late 70s and early 80s.    My overall goal, I guess, is to have 20-30 cards of him in my binder (although I might need a new binder for the player collections I'm planning).  Counting the 6 cards pictured above, a Burger King card I have which will appear in a future post, and a few others I already have, then, I'll look for about a 10-20 to add to my collection, including his 1971 Topps rookie card, maybe some more Topps league leader cards, his SSPC card, some Kellogg's and Hostess, maybe other food issues such as Drake's and Squirt, or some of those Topps or Fleer boxed sets of the 80s.  This will likely be one of the smaller player collections I assemble.