This card's seriously packed with color. Its over-the-top combo of Astroturf green, Pepsi's American-flag logo, and an extremely airbrushed Texas home uniform nearly blow my visual receptors.
Jon's normal 1978 Topps #25 pictures him as a Met (see it at CheckOutMyCards.com), so the Burger King version's his first card as a Ranger. Matlack moved west from New York in a 4-team trade executed on December 8, 1977--a swap so huge it requires 7 bullet points.
- New York Mets sent Jon Matlack to Texas Rangers
- Atlanta Braves sent Willie Montanez to New York Mets
- Texas Rangers sent Tommy Boggs, Adrian Devine and Eddie Miller to Atlanta Braves
- Texas Rangers sent player to be named (eventually Ken Henderson) and Tom Grieve to New York Mets
- Texas Rangers sent Bert Blyleven to Pittsburgh Pirates
- Pittsburgh Pirates sent Nelson Norman and Al Oliver to Texas Rangers
- New York Mets sent John Milner to Pittsburgh Pirates
For those counting along at home, 3 NL teams, 1 AL team, and 11 players!
This 1978 Burger King team set includes 22 numbered players and 1 unnumbered checklist. Backs match Topps' normal set exactly, down to the "PLAY BALL" game. (See other BK team sets in my blog archives.)
Folks often mistake Burger King and Topps issues for each other, since they usually share front photos and identical backs. See the master Burger King checklist to match your card to its correct set.
Value: This Matlack cost $1 from Philly Sports Cards. Most consider the 1978 Rangers a team of "commons," though they did have two guys named Doc (Medich) and Dock (Ellis).
Fake / Reprints: Haven't seen any Burger King reprints in the market. (As mentioned, I've seen people who don't know about the BK sets call them Topps "errors" until more fully informed.)
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