Last night, the Golden State Warriors won the Western Conference Finals 4-1 over the Houston Rockets. While I have not mentioned him on the blog before, Steph Curry has quickly become one of my favorite players. Enough that when Elton Brand retires, Steph Curry is going to be duking it out with Kevin Durant for my favorite player. So, in honor of the Warriors going to the NBA finals for the first time since 1975-76, I thought for today's Throwback Thursday I would look at the team MVP of the Warriors the last time they made it to the finals, Rick Barry.
The 1975-76 Topps set is my favorite from the vintage era. (For the NBA, that's 1985-86 and earlier). It is nearly perfect, missing only cards of the coaches to be perfect. At 330 cards, it covers a majority of the players in the two leagues it covers, as well as League Leaders, two different team cards and a playoff recap for both the NBA and ABA. The latter would be absorbed by the NBA following 1975-76. The card number is sometimes hard to read- dark blue over dark green over brown cardstock was not Topps' best idea- and in fact, on some of my cards, I had to use the checklist to determine which card number it was. It does not detract from my enjoyment of the set. I completed the set in November 2002, although I'm not totally convinced my Moses Malone rookie card is not a reprint. Of course, I'm not totally sure it's not, either.
Rick Barry is the patriarch of the largest family in the world of NBA cards. He, as a Hall of Famer, has many cards. His sons Jon, Brent and Drew all played in the NBA, Drew only got college cards, however, no NBA cards were issued that I am aware of. Rick Barry's father in law Bruce Hale also played in the NBA, and was included in the 1948 Bowman set, although I do not have the card in my collection. Brent is a broadcaster currently and in my opinion is an excellent broadcaster, actually a better broadcaster than he was a player. Jon also did broadcast work but I don't think he does anymore.
Thank you for reading, and maybe I will remember and throw a Cavs card up for next week's Throwback Thursday- if I remember it. (lol)
For a card with a lot going on......it works. That's a nice piece of cardboard.
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