"Now Batting #15 George Foster......" George played from 1969 to 1986 he was a 5x All-Star (1976 to 1979 & 1981 as representative for the Cincinnati Reds) 2x World Series Winner (1975 & 1976 also with Cincinnati) he led the National League in Home Runs in 1977 & 1978.
It was in 1977 that George was a threat every time when he came to bat for as I mentioned that lead the League in Home Runs he hit 52 that year with his black bat he called "Black Beauty" he was one the first players to swing a colorful bat he basically said he wanted to integrate the other bats with his stick for his efforts in 1977 he was named MVP after finishing as the runnerup the year before to his teammate Joe Morgan who is also a member of this lineup. He played Center field before shifting to Left field during the 1975 season.
The teams George played for are quite an interesting tale for he started with the San Francisco Giants most think it was the Cincinnati Reds cause he had more accolades with them he was traded to them in 1971 then he stayed with them until 1982 cause he wanted a 5 year contract extension & the Reds weren't going to grant it to him they traded him to the New York Mets where he helped in someways to mentor a young Darryl Strawberry when Darryl first bursted on the MLB scene in 1983 then as Darryl became what they hoped for that meant no more room for George he was released midway during the Mets playoff push in 1986. However the Mets did vote to give George a share of the 1986 Title money & even gave him a 1986 World Series ring even though he didn't play a single inning of that fall classic instead he was picked up for about 15 Games with the Chicago White Sox before trying to latch on to any team for the 1987 season which no teams wanted to sign him. Later George in 1989 found himself wearing a new uniform in a winter League of former Major League players known as the Senior League Professional Association its fair to say not many people know much about this league cause it only lasted 2 years but they made cards of the league in fact George is featured as a variation of puzzle back of the leagues logo stickers he's 1 of 4 players they did this to the others are Bobby Bonds (Who was featured in this set back on March 21,2026), Bernie Carbo & Amos Otis. Like I mentioned the league only lasted 2 years before it folded up George found himself playing for 2 of the teams in the 2 years of the league.
How many of you can name all the teams from this league besides yours truly & how many of you have any of these sets again besides yours truly.
So does George deserve to be in this set basically since he did most of his damage with his bat in the 1970s if you ask someone who likes the reading tales about the back 2 back World Champions Cincinnati Reds he makes the cut but George is more of a Fan Favorite type of a player who they idolized back in 2004 which you can see 1 of 2 autographs I have of George in my PC the other is from 2019 Established in 1869 insert. So does George make your vote or does he not let me know in the comments below.
Its no surprise he is featured on a 1976 design for this Fan Favorite autograph insert.
On deck for the next chapter is Greg Luzinski until then I am reminded of what Rogers Hornsby said about signing autographs for kids "Any ballplayer who doesn't sign autographs for little kids ain't an American, He's a Communist."
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