Today’s second Nitty Gritty Card of the Day comes from the 1979 Topps set. It is card #226 of Cleveland Indians catcher
Ron Pruitt. I was a bit unsure about going with such a new card, but even though I had many cards of catchers from the 1960s, you can’t tell they are catchers from the hatless headshots on the front of the card.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiStiFky_FYo5_4gWSOZ_cfDwoEBaGXH9wXlCiaWskCjb90YBkGA_1Vt4CqGgW6S6ldh6Edn1bCd580MXOTe0V2ECwepNQE-KQZXCk8q8nnOU3bXTFXPBuc5ZnfGg0Vbd49KqFXhW6428yo/s320/scan0022.jpg)
I went into the closet and dusted off the 1979 Topps binder in search of a catcher in full gear. I will admit that my ’79 set is far from complete-I think I still need at least 100 cards to finish it off, but I searched the entire binder and this is the only card I have from 1979 showing someone with a face mask on. In the case of this card, that is all that it shows… It does have a Nitty Gritty look to it though and it does stand to remind everyone to vote on the poll for greatest catcher ever.
Ron Pruitt isn’t on the list.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE27z00mWF-A66aEoEwbuDZth0zFEzQFgjGuCj2GEJ3miAJiDfXggGVALRE8g-ur_g8C6D1j1jFiI99QOfq2SBCdI0SZbgI0TEy60DcFIYM1amhJmzCLen31xcTqOI6MHPvXeoQktUL2IV/s320/scan0029.jpg)
Although he is the guy I have seen wearing a mask in the 1979 set he only started 3 ballgames behind the plate that year. Over his 9 year career he was the starting catcher 48 times for a total of 4 different teams. He spent 6 seasons in Cleveland and had his best year in games (78), RBI (32) and average (.288) in 1977. His best homerun total came in ’78 with 6 of them for the Indians. This will not be the final card posted here today. It might be the last guy in a mask, but not the last card. 31 years LATER!
Wow, I never knew how abrupt in your FACE that card was. Thanks for bringing back a card from 31 years ago - a classic that no one really knew about.
ReplyDeleteGreat Post
Yes, I agree. It is a great one:
ReplyDeletehttp://nightowlcards.blogspot.com/2009/04/mask.html
I always loved that card.
ReplyDeleteGreat card...I don't know about the Nitty, but he sure looks Gritty.
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