[zeprock]

1977 was the year I graduated high school. I was at the top of my class which happened to be the first ever graduating class from Hermon Christian School in Hermon, Maine. It's not as prestigious as it sounds though as there were only three students graduating that year. We would have had four but one quit school halfway through the year and joined the Marines. That spring the school loaded up a bus and headed for Massachusetts for a New England academic/athletic competition. I won the high jump that year and would later go on to South Carolina to compete in the Nationals as I mentioned earlier in this thread. While we were in Mass., I stayed with a host family in Palmer, Mass. They had two boys a bit younger than I was and they had the new 1977 Topps baseball cards. I liked the look of them more than the previous year and liked how they put an All-star banner across the bottom of the All-star's cards. One of the boys had Fred Lynn's card and I really liked the look of that one. I was pleased that they were Mets fans and not Yankees fans. I ended up buying their small collections from them before coming back to Maine. We stopped at some stores on the way back and while my schoolmates were buying sodas, candy and snacks, I bought baseball cards. I still have those cards. I doubt if they still have their goodies. Anyway, here are nine cards from my 1977 collection.

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1977 Hostess #34 Robin Yount SP (A short print cut from the back of a Hostess snack cake box.)
1977 Kellogg's #6 George Brett (Pulled from a box of cereal.)
1977 O-Pee-Chee #240 Pete Rose (Canada's parallel of the Topps set. Other than the French text on the reverse, this card differs from it's Topps look-a-like in that the All-star banner has been omitted from the bottom revealing Pete's socks, not visible on his Topps card.)

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1977 Topps #6 Strikeout Leaders/Nolan Ryan/Tom Seaver (Two former teammates and future members of the Hall of Fame.)
1977 Topps #170 Thurman Munson
1977 Topps #473 Rookie Outfielders/Andre Dawson RC/Gene Richards RC/John Scott/Denny Walling RC (I think it's interesting to note that of these four players, three went on to become hitting instructors at different levels while the one player who could hit and became a Hall of Famer went on to own and operate a funeral home.)

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1977 Topps #476 Rookie Catchers/Gary Alexander RC/Rick Cerone RC/Dale Murphy RC/Kevin Pasley RC (Remember Dale Murphy coming up as a catcher? Remember Kevin Pasley? No? Me either.)
1977 Topps #580 George Brett
1977 Topps #650 Nolan Ryan