Zero-Year Cards, Part 38

1970 Topps #360 Curt Flood (Phillies)

It saddens me to say it, but this will probably be the last "zero-year" post for a while.

I've written about every single card I own of this sort. All of them that I could fill a post with, anyways.

This "theme" debuted on the first full day in my blogging career. "Zero-year" cards have always been one of my unique passions in this hobby, and I hope I've conveyed that with my 38 different posts on the topic thus far.

However, I am happy to say that I won't be completely retiring this theme. Should I happen to come across a new "zero-year" card for my collection, I'll still write about it. (A few currently reside in my "Dime Box Nine" list.)

If I happen to come up with a good idea for a "zero-year" card that's already in my collection, I'll still write about it. 

I love these cards too much to not blog about them from time to time.

In the meantime, let's take a look at arguably the most "historic" zero-year card in existence.

Curt Flood's 1970 Topps issue.

Flood was dealt to the Phillies after the '69 season, the deal which brought Dick Allen to the Cardinals. Famously, Flood refused to report to the Philadelphia and demanded that he become a free agent, challenging the reserve clause, which had been in the game of baseball for almost a century by that point.

Although he lost his case against the game of baseball, Flood's challenge of a flawed baseball "tradition" opened the doors for Andy Messersmith and the free agency era that would come into the game during the 1970's.

Also, and less notably, Flood's challenge of the reserve clause led to one of the oldest "zero-year" cards in my collection.

He never did play in a game for the Phillies, sitting out the entire 1970 season. He'd make a brief 13-game comeback with the Senators in '71 before leaving the game. (Chronicled by a card which will reside in my "Dime Box Nine" list at some point in the future.)

I thank Topps for including Flood in their 1970 release. He joins the lesser-known Ray Oyler in zero-year cards I own from the set.

Well, that about does it for now.

I tried to include at least one "zero-year" card from every team in these posts. Unfortunately, I didn't have any of the Brewers, Giants, Mariners, Nationals (although I did include a couple Expos), Royals, Tigers, and Twins. I'll be sure to post any I come across of those teams in the future, should that happen.

However, I'm proud to say that I snuck a Pilots card in there.

I've seen a bunch of great, unique themes to other blogger's collections over the time I've been in the blogosphere. Night cards, Rookie Cups, you name it.

I hope my "zero-year" collection has joined the ranks of those themes since I started writing about them.

They're certainly unique pieces of cardboard, and I hope you've enjoyed the "zero-year" tour up to this point.

I know I have.