Who is the man: Ed Spiezio had just come off the best season of his career when this card came out. The .285 he hit in 1970 was far better than his next highest, full season average (.234). He hit .238 in nine seasons.
Can ya dig it: Spiezio played on World Series-winning teams with the Cardinals in 1964 and 1967. His son, Scott Spiezio, played on World Series-winning teams with the Angels in 2002 and the Cardinals in 2006. They became the fourth father-son team to win World Series titles when Scott won in 2002.
Right on: Spiezio delivered the first hit, scored the first run, and hit the first home run in Padres history.
You see this cat Spiezio is a bad mother: When Ed was very young, Spiezio's dad would place him in a catcher's mask, position him at the edge of the infield, and hit grounders at him as hard as he could.
Shut your mouth: Is Spiezio even holding a bat? It's difficult to tell. And if he is, up in his left hand, where is the rest of it?
No one understands him but his woman: I always feel for cards (yes, I feel for cards) that follow iconic cards like the '71 Thurman Munson. I wonder how many comments and page views ol' Ed will get?
(A word about the back): It's time I mention the one line of yearly stats. It was the first time that Topps had done this in a base set since 1962.
