- This is a surprising card in the 1978 set. Gary Ross pitched his last major league game on July 8, 1977. There is no transaction record on baseball reference for Ross in 1978 and he didn't pitch in the minors. It appears that he had an injury in 1977 and wasn't able to come back.
- Willie Horton moved around a lot in 1978. Before the season he was traded (with David Clyde) from Texas to the Cleveland Indians for Tom Buskey and John Lowenstein. On July 3 Willie was released. Horton was picked up by the Oakland A's on July 13. Then on August 15 Horton was traded (with Phil Huffman) to the Toronto Blue Jays for Rico Carty.
- Willie was aging, but he had one more good year left in him. Horton would win the Comeback Player of the Year award with the Seattle Mariners in 1979.
- 1978 Stats:
- Cleveland Indians - .249, 5 HR, 22 RBI in 50 games
- Oakland A's - .314, 3 HR, 19 RBI in 32 games
- Toronto Blue Jays - .205, 3 HR, 19 in 33 games
- TOTAL: .252, 11 HR, 60 RBI in 115 games
- 1978 Highlights:
- April 28 - Had three hits (including a home run) and two RBI in Cleveland's 6-2 win over the Oakland A's.
- May 3 - Went 3 for 3 with a home run and 5 RBI to help the Indians beat the Seattle Mariners 10-5.
- July 27 - Had three hits and scored three runs as the A's beat the Chicago White Sox 7-4.
- All Star Team:
- starting pitchers: Don Sutton, Luis Tiant, Dave Goltz, Jerry Reuss, Joe Niekro, Mike Flanagan
- relief pitchers: Bruce Sutter, Terry Forster, Fred Norman, Paul Lindblad
- catcher: Carlton Fisk, John Stearns
- first base: Steve Garvey, Bob Watson
- second base: Joe Morgan, Frank White
- shortstop: Bucky Dent, Rick Burleson
- third base: Mike Schmidt, Sal Bando, Buddy Bell, Graig Nettles
- outfield: Bake McBride, Fred Lynn, Cesar Geronimo, Ben Oglivie
- manager: Bill Virdon or Joe Altobelli
- Not a bad team. A little thin on starting pitching and outfield, but it has a great collection of third baseman.
- Hall of Famers: Five
- In November 1977 Dave Hamilton was sent to the St. Louis Cardinals as a player to be named later in an earlier trade for Clay Carroll.
- Dave had a tough time for two months in St. Louis. On May 28 he was sold to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Hamilton pitched better in Pittsburgh, but he may have had injury problems toward the end of the season. Dave had only three appearances in July, three in August, and one in September.
- 1978 Stats:
- St. Louis Cardinals: 0-0, 6.43 ERA in 13 games
- Pittsburgh Pirates: 0-2, 1 save, 3.42 ERA in 16 games
- TOTAL: 0-2, 1 save, 4.46 ERA in 29 games
- 1978 Highlights:
- June 24 - Earned his only save of the year by pitching the last 2/3 innings of Pittsburgh's 7-4 12-inning victory over the New York Mets.
- July 16 - Pitched shutout ball for 2 2/3 innings as the Pirates beat the San Diego Padres 3-2 in 10 innings.
- Kiko Garcia backed up at shortstop and at second base for the Orioles in 1978. Garcia probably could have been a starter for some teams, but the Orioles had Mark Belanger at shortstop. Garcia would finally get his chance to start in 1979.
- 1978 Stats: .263, 0 HR, 13 RBI in 79 games
- 1978 Highlights:
- May 28 - Doubled, tripled, and scored a run in Baltimore's 3-0 win over the Cleveland Indians.
- June 4 - Had three hits as the Orioles beat the Seattle Mariners 4-1.
- During the winter meetings in December 1977 Ben Oglivie was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for Rich Folkers and Jim Slaton. Coach Frank Howard worked with Ben to improve his unorthodox fielding style. Oglivie also worked with nautilis equipment to improve his strength.
- Oglivie led the team in batting average in 1978.
- 1978 Stats:
- Milwaukee Brewers: .303, 18 HR, 72 RBI in 128 games
- 1978 Highlights:
- April 23 - Had three hits, scored twice, and homered in Milwaukee's 3-2 win over the New York Yankees.
- May 14 - Hit a 3-run homer to help the Brewers to a 5-4 victory over the Chicago White Sox.
- Aug 11 - Had four hits and three RBI as the Brewers beat the Boston Red Sox 10-5.
- Steve Yeager suffered through one of his toughest offensive seasons in 1978. Steve was benched in favor of Johnny Oates in early July. His playing time in July and August was intermittent as the Dodgers brought back Joe Ferguson and then acquired Jerry Grote to play behind the plate. In the World Series all four catchers were on the roster, but Yeager got the bulk of the playing time because of his defense.
- In spite of Steve's rough season, he still finished second in fan voting for the NL All Star catcher.
- 1978 Stats:
- Regular Season: .193, 4 HR, 23 RBI in 94 games
- NL Championship Series: .231 (3 for 13), 1 HR in 4 games
- World Series: .231 (3 for 13) in 5 games
- 1978 Highlights:
- April 4 - Was 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored in the Dodgers' 13-4 opening day win over the Atlanta Braves.
- Sept 13 - Hit a 2-run home run to help the Dodgers beat the Houston Astros 6-0.
- Randy Moffitt shared closing duties with Gary Lavelle in 1978. They were an effective tandem -- they had 26 of the Giants' 29 saves during the season.
- Moffitt led the team with 70 appearances.
- 1978 Stats: 8-4, 12 saves, 3.31 ERA in 70 games
- 1978 Highlights:
- April 14 - Pitched two scoreless innings and earned the win as the Giants came from behind to beat the San Diego Padres 3-2.
- Aug 4 - Retired Ron Cey of the LA Dodgers on a fly ball with a runner on 2nd and 2 out in the bottom of the 9th inning to save a 2-1 victory for Vida Blue.
