The back: Thirteen years in the majors don't leave room for an additional blurb.
The player: This card lists Patek as 5' 4''; Baseball Reference lists him at 5' 5''. Either way, "The Flea" was the shortest player in baseball for most of his career. He started his career with the Pirates and ended it with the Angels, but spent the bulk of it in Kansas City where he was a key member of the Royals' great teams of the 1970s. A good shortstop with great speed, his highlights included leading the AL with 11 triples in 1971 and 53 SB in 1977.
The man: After his playing career Patek was a pro and youth coach and also owned several restaurants. He is now retired.
My collection: I have 22 of his cards, from 1969 to 1982. I would be interested in trading for 1972 Topps #531.
This is one of those '81 Topps cards I never saw that year, which is amazing considering how many cards I bought that year. Still looks fresh and new to me.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you're doing this! 1981 was the first year I bought baseball cards and so many of these take me right back to grade 1. I was buying O-pee-chee cards in Montréal, of course, but they're the basically the same, with bilingual blurbs.
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