Craig Mobley posted this Fred Lynn card of 1975 recently on the APBA Baseball group on Facebook. I looked back in the archives and while I have featured Lynn’s 1979 card, I never got around to his signature 1975 APBA card.
Lynn had a fantastic season in his rookie year in ‘75. He batted .331 while driving home 103 runs on 21 homeruns. He led the AL with 103 runs and 47 doubles. His .566 slugging percentage paced the league too. His stats were good enough to garner the Rookie of the Year as well as MVP in the AL in 1975.
Lynn had a part in the celebrated Game 4 of the 1975 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. In the first inning, he hit a three-run homer to put the Red Sox ahead. That set the stage for Carlton Fisk’s famous homer 11 innings later.
| Split | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 Totals | 145 | 605 | 528 | 103 | 175 | 47 | 7 | 21 | 105 | 10 | 62 | 90 | .331 | .401 | .566 |
This is a SOLID card especially when you consider the era it comes. With its balance of hitting and pitching, the 1970s were not known for monster cards for full-timers. Even with only 21 homers, 1975 Lynn is a tough cookie.
We don’t see too many hitters with three 6s but Lynn’s league-leading 47 doubles help pull this off with nifty power numbers 1-3-6-6-6. Thanks to his batting average of .331, Lynn even gets a 55-7 plus a 15-10. His four 14s are gravy on top of that.
If all of that weren’t enough, Lynn has a Fast rating and is of course rated as a OF-3.
Note: APBA put the 12 at 53 in the original 1975 set so Lynn is blessed with a somewhat odd 21-16.
Thanks, Craig! If anyone sees Craig online, ask him how his experiment with the Master Game went (keep it up, Craig!)
Lynn had such a strange career. Two monster seasons, but those aside, his numbers were only somewhat above average, not great.
Lynn was cursed with having a fantastic rookie year. Anything below that afterwards was considered not up to par. Let’s face it, he was a good outfielder and hitter even without the rookie year.
Fred was my first pick in a 12-team draft league in 1976. I had the pleasure of meeting him and his wife Natalie at a card show in 1990. Really nice couple and very pleasant to talk with!
One correction: Game 6 was the famous Fisk Home Run, I’m sure because I was there. I still have the ticket and when I showed my youngest son (who didn’t believe me by the way) all he kept saying was twelve dollars and fifty cents you’re kidding. I actually purchased it from a Cincinnati fan who could not stay in Boston after two rainouts. I paid him $40.00 and often thought about how he felt missing one of the greatest games in history?