Card fact: This was one of four 1975 cards that were the first cards I purchased from a mail-order catalog, which happened on two separate occasions. The first two were George Brett's rookie card and Barry Foote. The second two were Roy White and Ralph Garr.
What I thought about this card then: Out of the four cards that I ordered, this was the only one that I had not seen. But White was one of my favorite players, and I knew I had to have the card. When I received it, the mustache surprised me. I didn't know that White had a mustache, as he had shaved it off by the late 1970s.
What I think about this card now: There's a lot to like about this card, Yankeeness aside. The puffy clouds in the background. White's tremendous signature. The batting cage. The batting helmet.
Other stuff: One of the drawbacks of having two blog is that if I write about the player already on one blog, I don't feel like writing about him again on the other blog. I did a post about White recently on Night Owl Cards.
So, the abbreviated version of that post is White was a lifetime Yankee, yet he was one of my favorites as a kid, and I nicknamed myself "Roy" when I played baseball in the backyard (although I selected the name long before I had heard of Roy White). Later, White stood out as one of the quiet, non-brash Yankees that I appreciated.
A switch-hitter, White played 15 seasons for the Yankees. He was an All-Star in 1969 and 1970, knew how to take a walk, and hit a very quiet 160 home runs in his career. After the majors, he played in Japan. Later he was a coach for the Yankees and A's.
Back facts: Mike Schmidt's hit in the Astrodome came on June 10, 1974. The ball actually hit a speaker 117 feet above the playing surface and 329 feet away. The ball then fell to the field. According to Astrodome ground rules, it was a live ball. Schmidt had thought it was a home run and was in his home run trot. So the Astros held him to a single.
Other blog stuff: Actress Jodie Foster was born on this date in 1962. What does she have to do with 1975? Well, until very recently, I thought she played one of the main characters in the '75 Disney movie "Escape to Witch Mountain," which was one of the first non-cartoon movies I ever saw. But it turns out Foster never acted in the movie. The part was intended for her, but she had a conflict, and Kim Richards took the role.
Another childhood memory debunked.
