One Hit Wonders
Just for giggles, I've created a list of "One Hit Wonders" for each of the base Topps sets below (currently 1956-1975, eventually expanding to 1951-1980), displaying those players whose only appearance on a Topps card as a player was that year, as far as I can tell. This is a work in progress, and a very inexact science, so if you notice any omissions or players on these lists who had more than 1 Topps card issued (most likely a rookie card in a previous set that I missed), please let me know with an email. I'm currently working on adding the players who only appeared on multi-player rookie cards, which debuted with the Rookie Parade cards in 1962.
March 29, 2023 Update: At the urging of Brian Betza, and to memorialize these players' fleeting moment in the MLB sun, I am turning One Hit Wonders into a project, and will attempt to collect 1 of each of the cards/players listed below. Any condition is accepted and appreciated. Cards crossed off in red have already been received.
OBC Contributors: Don Berg, Brian Betza, Glenn Codere, Sal Domino, Andrew Goguen, Walker Guthrie, Ron Hoehne, Mike Jackson, James Moleta, Ken Morganti, Mike Rich, Bo Rosny, Mark Talbot
Wants: 27 (Burbrink), 84 (Birrer), 93 (Susce Jr.), 126 (Brady), 129 (Martin), 137 (Silvera ), 144 (Powell ), 169 (Nelson ), 174 (Gorbous), 204 (Swanson ), 231 (Hale), 265 (Consuegra), 291 (Kellert), 325 (Liddle), 339 (Pless)
Fun Fact: Sandy Consuegra pitched in the Majors from 1950-57, but for some reason only appeared on this one 1956 Topps card. He did appear on 4 Bowman cards ('51, '52, '54, and '55).
Fun Fact: Jim Pyburn was an 18th round draft pick by the Washington Redskins in 1956 and spent 15 years as an assistant coach for Vince Dooley at the University of Georgia.
Wants: 65 (McDaniel), 83 (Hazle), 96 (Durham), 126 (Palys), 129 (Derrington), 131 (Henrich), 151 (Pritchard), 182 (Caffie), 229 (Zupo), 231 (Merritt), 243 (Raines), 283 (Shearer ), 322 (Peterson), 376 (Rabe), 391 (Melton), 442 (Paine), 449 (Fodge), 451 (Taylor), 461 (Mayer)
Fun Fact: Jim Derrington was 16 years old when he made his Major League debut for the White Sox in 1956. He pitched in his final MLB game in 1957 at age 17.
Wants: 49 (Hall), 91 (Moford), 120 (Coles), 121 (Conley), 126 (Haas), 134 (McDaniel), 140 (Secrest), 192 (Beamon), 211 (Blaylock), 214 (Solis), 254 (Bella), 281 (Craddock), 283 (Heman), 321 (Giallombardo), 362 (Nichols), 504 (Alvarez), 522 (Snyder), 529 (Bamberger), 532 (Freeman), 537 (Arias), 538 (King), 539 (Blaylock), 544 (Tate)
Fun Fact: Two different, unrelated Blaylocks (Bob & Gary) appear in this year's OHW list, while the only other Blaylock to play in MLB during this era, Marv, is on 1957's OHW list.
Wants: 128 (Harris), 133 (Javier), 139 (Mathias), 141 (Proctor), 144 (Stieglitz), 146 (Wieand), 169 (Striker), 296 (Chittum), 331 (Mason), 359 (Gilbert), 414 (Williams), 427 (Grunwald), 521 (Lee), 528 (Johnson), 538 (Barnes)
Wants: 59 (Woods), 161 (Jones), 202 (Neiger), 229 (Hernandez), 254 (Sadowski), 292 (Baumer), 333 (Brickell), 391 (Brown), 456 (Bevan), 527 (Leek)
Wants: 44 (Taussig), 49 (Jones), 68 (L Hunt), 254 (Windhorn), 266 (Anderson), 289 (Krsnich), 291 (Stowe), 309 (Morhardt), 326 (Parsons), 333 (Cipriani), 426 (Farley), 592 (Bonikowski RC), 593 (Moorhead RC), 595 (Coughtry RC), 597 (McKnight RC), 598 (Olivares RC)
Wants: 59 (Anderson), 69 (Zipfel), 158 (Alvarez RC), 241 (Smith), 253 (Jernigan RC, D. Jones RC), 299 (Dustal RC) 364 (Goss), 428 (Boles), 442 (Hartman), 482 (Torres), 516 (Goldy), 554 (Fischer)
Wants: 48 (Perry), 94 (Maxie RC), 113 (Powell), 129 (Samuel), 159 (Dees), 212 (Lovrich), 281 (Metcalf RC), 288 (Moran), 311 (Brown), 408 (Burdette RC), 428 (Skeen RC), 479 (Bakenhaster RC), 497 (Long), 499 (Seyfried), 518 (Bouldin), 532 (Bloomfield RC), 544 (Hertz RC), 548 (Speckenbach RC), 556 (Dillon RC), 572 (Gray RC), 581 (Moore RC)
Wants: 82 (Braun RC), 107 (Shockley RC), 181 (Loun RC), 169 (Vineyard), 282 (Murakami RC), 354 (Ott RC), 368 (Gibson RC), 386 (Jaeckel RC), 398 (Neville RC), 421 (Dotter RC), 486 (Rogan RC), 493 (Roman RC), 494 (Ritchie), 501 (Gagliano RC / Rittwage RC), 509 (Guindon RC / Vezendy RC), 521 (Steevens RC), 529 (Fosnow), 533 (Bethke RC / McClure RC), 543 (Connolly), 553 (Ratliff RC), 561 (Daboll RC), 566 (Lopez RC / Moschitto RC), 577 (Buschhorn RC), 589 (Schroder RC), 597 (Reese RC/ Sevcik RC)
Wants: 41 (LeJohn), 51 (Richardson), 71 (Carpin), 166 (Krug), 179 (Aust RC), 356 (O. Johnson RC), 417 (Sukla RC), 469 (Muer RC), 518 (Hippauf RC / Umbach RC), 534 (Eilers RC), 544 (Kernek RC / J. Williams RC), 549 (Closter RC), 558 (Grilli RC / Magrini RC), 574 (B. Murphy RC), 578 (Olivo), 596 (Sims RC)
Wants: 76 (Barbieri), 344 (Chavarria), 388 (Earley), 489 (Clemens), 497 (Campbell)
Wants: 63 (Kenworthy), 506 (Jones), 529 (Von Hoff)
Wants: 317 (Look), 361 (Holman), 378 (Herrera), 437 (Alcaraz), 632 (Warden)
Wants: 7 (Boyd), 74 (Washburn), 88 (Fuentes), 154 (Dukes), 172 (Hill), 189 (McDonald), 207 (McRae), 227 (Watkins), 267 (Hill), 286 (Jenkins), 348 (Hudson), 381 (Olivo), 401 (Harrell), 444 (Farmer), 703 (Paepke/ Rico), 599 (Martin), 642 (Lund), 683 (Geishert), 147 (Hermoso), 168 (Watkins), 414 (Edmondson), 533 (Stephen), 703 (Marone)
Wants: 13 (Brinkman/ Maloney), 34 (Vance), 77 (Compton), 84 (Lachemann), 93 (McRae), 102 (Howard), 103 (Severson), 111 (Colson), 121 (Dunegan/ Skidmore), 186 (Spence), 204 (Smith/Kopacz), 247 (Cram), 262 (Robinson), 276 (Davison), 298 (Nelson), 317 (Driscoll), 391 (Nash), 404 (Harris), 423 (Saunders/ Marting), 458 (Lolich), 512 (Mills), 559 (Cox/Jones), 594 (Chlupsa), 612 (Camilli), 702 (Ramirez), 728 (Redmond), 749 (Szotkiewicz)
Wants: 28 (Gebhard RC), 61 (Stephenson RC), 77 (Theobald), 117 (James), 124 (Hambright RC), 198 (O'Brien RC), 213 (Kusnyer RC, Silverio RC), 257 (Foor RC, Jata RC), 268 (Floethe RC), 331 (Swanson), 366 (Rosario), 372 (Clemons RC), 413 (Eddy RC), 457 (Fast RC), 506 (Ley RC, Moyer RC), 597 (Magnuson)
Wants: 33 (Breazeale), 178 (Rose), 537 (Slayback), 548 (Durham), 561 (Geddes), 601 (Pena RC), 602 (Garcia RC), 603 (McNulty RC), 604 (O'Toole RC & Strampe RC), 608 (Colpaert RC), 610 (Freeman RC), 612 (Lawson RC), 615 (Hilton RC), 616 (Angelini RC & Blateric RC)
Fun Fact: I haven't yet received the #615 Hilton RC!
Wants: 8 (Theodore), 33 (Newhauser), 37 (Sells), 421 (Fife), 457 (Goggin), 573 (Adams), 597 (Gamble RC), 600 (Cash/Cox RC), 601 (Bladt RC), 602 (Henninger/Vossler RC), 603 (Lundstedt RC), 607 (Heintzelman RC)
Wants: 112 (Hardy), 288 (Ellingsen), 407 (Washington), 508 (Hansen), 524 (Doherty), 587 (Ward), 614 (Siebert RC), 621 (Veintidos RC), 651 (Morlan)
Fun Fact: In his 2 seasons ('74 & '75) as a pinch-runner for the A's, Herb Washington played in 105 games, had 31 stolen bases, scored 33 runs...and had 0 plate appearances.