1962 Topps, Jim Fregosi

Card No. 209

Has any franchise experienced more of an identity crisis than the Angels?....The club dropped "Los Angeles" and became "California" in 1965....The "Anaheim" era began in '97 and thankfully they're back to just "Los Angeles" as of 2016....Fair or not, Jim Fregosi the player is probably most remembered as the guy the Mets got from the Angels in the disastrous Nolan Ryan trade....As the little gold star indicates this is indeed Jim's rookie card....The future MLB skipper batted .291 in 58 games for the Halos during the '62 season.

*MK*

1978 Topps, Ken Brett

Card No. 682

The older brother of Hall of Famer George Brett, pitcher Ken Brett carved out a nice 14-year career for himself...Ken wore 10 different uniforms during his big league tenure....Selected 4th overall by Boston in the 1966 MLB Draft....Shared his 1969 "Rookie Stars" card with Red Sox teammate Gerry Moses....Ken had a card in 14 Topps sets, many of which featured him in an airbrushed cap and/or uniform....Appeared in 31 games for the Angels in 1978, posting a 3-5 record and one save with a 4.95 ERA.

*MK*

1974 Topps, Vada Pinson

Card No. 490

A little horizontal flavor from 1974 Topps and 18-year big leaguer Vada Pinson....Vada spent his first 11 years with Cincinnati, putting together a .297 average and 1881 hits....Fell just 243 hits shy of the 3,000 plateau for his career....'74 marked the third and final year Pinson was featured as an Angel on his Topps card....His rookie card appeared in the 1958 set....His last Topps card is in the '76 set....Vada played with Kansas City during the '74 season, batting .276 in 115 games for the Royals.

*MK*

1985 Topps, Reggie Jackson

Card No. 200

Perhaps my favorite Reggie Jackson card of all-time....When I was a kid I desperately wanted this card because it was chosen as the sample card for 1985 Topps in the price guide I owned....Jackson's rookie card can be found in the 1969 Topps set....Mr. October's final appearance in the main Topps set was 1987....Reggie cranked two home runs in a game three times during the '85 season.

*MK*

1979 Topps, Frank Tanana

Card No. 530

Nobody--and I mean nobody--prior to or since the photo for this card was snapped has ever had as much fun at a baseball park than Frank Tanana is having here....I've always been partial to Frank since he and I are both July 3rd babies....1979 marked the sixth year Tanana appeared in the Topps checklist....His first appearance in a Topps set was 1974, where he shared a "1974 Rookie Pitchers" card with fellow neophytes Vic Albury, Ken Frailing and Kevin Kobel....Following three-straight All-Star campaigns, Tanana managed just 7 wins in 18 games (17 starts) for the '79 Angels.

*MK*