One look at some baseball cards will tell you all you need to know about the player depicted.

For instance, the 1977 Topps Dave Kingman tells you that Kong is a smasher.

The 1973 Topps Brooks Robinson reminds you that you’re not getting anything past him at third base.

And the 1984 Fleer Glenn Hubbard solidifies your resolve to keep him away from your daughter.

But other cards don’t tell you the whole story, no matter how great they look.

Take the 1966 Topps Joe Morgan, for example.

If you were a young collector in 1966, chances are you didn’t know much about Morgan unless you lived in the Houston area.

Sure, Morgan turned in an excellent rookie season in 1965, smacking 14 home runs in 601 at-bats to go along with a .271 batting average, 100 runs, and 20 stolen bases. That effort earned him second place in the National League Rookie of the Year balloting, well behind Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Jim Lefebvre.

But just look at that gorgeous card that Topps used to celebrate Morgan’s rookie year.

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Born to Be 2B

There he is on the front of his 1966 Topps card, crouched down and ready to scoop up the ground ball that is surely screaming his way. The battered glove on his left hand looks older than Joe himself, who was only about 21 in the picture.

Morgan gazes intently in the direction of the phantom batted ball, neither anxious nor excited for the play about to unfold. He’s going to handle whatever comes his way and toss the horsehide on a rope to first base to get the out.

No question about it.

His Houston Astros jersey from 1965, the first year after they renamed themselves from the Colt .45s, is understated compared to the explosion of orange, blue, and yellow that would come a decade later. The only hint of gawd here is the Astros patch on Morgan’s left sleeve, already threatening to become garish.

Behind Morgan, blue sky invites you to the ballpark to watch this young team and its Topps 1965 All-Star Rookie second baseman. Besides the golden trophy denoting that same distinction, the card design is unassuming and keeps your focus on the the promise in Morgan’s eyes.

The back of card #195 reinforces your impressions from the card front and fills in some missing pieces.

Morgan stands just 5’7″ tall and weighs a scant 150 pounds. He throws from the right side but bats lefty.

And, according to Topps,

Joe has all the credentials to become one of the best second-sackers in the majors.

He’s also apparently “an excellent billiard player.”

That pretty much sums up the situation, doesn’t it?

Here we have a tiny, pool-sharp second baseman who looks perfect in the standard 2B crouch.

This man was built for defense, and that’s where he’ll make his mark. Maybe he’ll be able to maintain his run-scoring output from 1965, and the stolen bases are sure to bump up as he hits his prime.

But those 14 dingers, modest as they were,couldn’t be much more than a one-year aberration. Beginner’s luck.

If Morgan develops into anything like a top second baseman, as Topps predicts, it will be in the classic mold: good fielder with any offensive contribution a decided bonus.

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The Little General is Born

Unless you just landed here from 1966 in your time machine, of course, you already know that Joe Morgan had other plans.

His home run output did dip into the single digits for most of his remaining six years in Houston, and his stolen base totals climbed as high as 49 by 1969. He made two All-Star teams and was generally one of the best second basemen in the Major Leagues.

Then, in late November of 1971, Morgan was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in a blockbuster trade that also netted Cincy Ed Armbrister, Jack Billingham, Cesar Geronimo, and Denis Menke in exchange for Tommy Helms, Lee May, and Jimmy Stewart.

As it turned out, this was the deal that put the finishing touches on The Big Red Machine.

Billingham claimed a slot in the rotation and Geronimo soon established himself as the Reds’ starting center fielder. Armbrister developed into a valuable role player whom manager Sparky Anderson played in all three outfield spots.

But Morgan was the prize of the trade who paid off more handsomely than anyone could have imagined.

Hitting second in the Reds lineup, Morgan got down to business the way he always did — getting on base, stealing bases, scoring runs. And, at age 28, he recorded a career-high 16 home runs in 1972 and landed fourth in the race for NL MVP.

The next year, he upped that homer total to 26 while remaining excellent everywhere else. He also won the first of five straight Gold Glove awards.

The power stuck with him and by the time the Machine was revving at full throttle to start the 1975 season, Morgan was batting third.

That 1975 team was one of the greatest to ever take the field, and the lineup was loaded like few others in Major League history. Despite sharing the dugout and diamond with unbelievable talents like Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, George Foster, Dave Concepcion, and Ken Griffey, “Little Joe” Morgan was the best of the lot.

He won the National League MVP award and led the Reds to a World Series title in 1975 at age 31, then did it all again in 1976.

When Morgan finally hung up his spikes at age 41 in 1984, he had amassed 268 home runs among his more than 2500 hits. He scored more than 1600 runs and drove in more than 1100. His 689 stolen bases put him in eighth place when he retired.

As Topps predicted way back in 1966, Morgan had indeed become one of the best second baseman in baseball, and for all time.

Not bad for a guy who looked like for all the world like a light-hitting middle infielder waiting to happen on his 1966 Topps card.

(Read all about this 30-day challenge — and jump in on the fun — right here.)

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Hall of Fame second baseman Joe Morgan spent parts of nine seasons with the Houston Colt .45s and Houston Astros, but did you know he appeared in only one Memorial Day game for them?

It’s the truth, and Morgan’s one Memorial Day appearance in Astros’ road grays seemed to foretell the trade that would change his career.

Here’s how it happened …

Unofficial Holiday

Although Americans began collectively honoring our fallen soldiers in the years after the Civil War through the observance of Decoration Day, it wasn’t until 1971 that Memorial Day became an official holiday.

As it happened, the Cincinnati Reds hosted the Houston Astros on that inaugural holiday, which fell on May 31, 1971.

In a game that lasted a scant two hours and 19 minutes, the Astros downed the Reds by a final score of 4-1.

Larry Dierker went the distance for the Astros, giving up seven hits and two walks, and improving his record to a sterling 9-1.

The Houston attack was led that day by Cesar Cedeno, who smacked a 3rd-inning homer off Tony Cloninger and drove in three runs on the day.

Not far behind was Little Joe Morgan, Houston’s sparkplug of a second baseman, who recorded two hits in four at-bats, stole a base, and scored a run.

By the end of that last day of May, the Reds found themselves nine games under .500, a far cry from the pennant-winning pace that saw them win 102 games in 1970.

By contrast, the Astros entered June with a 25-24 record, but both clubs languished behind the red-hot San Francisco Giants, who would eventually win the National League West division.

Reds brass must have been paying attention to both their own sputtering offense and Morgan’s motor because big changes were in the works.

The Big Red Machine Gets Its Ignition Switch

The Astros and the Reds both finished as also-rans in 1971, but Cincy General Manager Bob Howsam was not about to let his big stars languish through another tough season in 1972.

So, on November 29, 1971, Howsam traded Tommy Helms, Lee May, and Jimmy Stewart to the Astros for Ed Armbrister, Jack Billingham, Cesar Geronimo, Denis Menke … and Joe Morgan.

This deal essentially put the final pieces in place for the Reds to become The Reds — The Big Red Machine that steamrolled the National League and all of baseball during the middle 1970s.

Of course, since baseball cards always depicted what happened the previous year, the 1972 Topps Joe Morgan card (#132) showed him as a member of the Houston Astros.

But Topps upped the bar in 1972, releasing series after series and pushing their offering to a mind-stretching 787 cards. That last series was issued late enough in the year for them to capture certain players in their new uniforms.

Thanks to Topps’ ambition and Morgan’s growing status with the Reds, Little Joe made his Cincinnati debut on card #752, which also featured the “TRADED” facsimile stamp across the front.

For the rest of the decade, Morgan made the Reds “go” and captured two NL MVP awards as Cincinnati pulled off consecutive World Series victories in 1975 and 1976 in one of the most dominant two-year runs of all time.

For long-time Reds fans, many of our most significant “memories” revolve around Joe Morgan, and those would have started way back in 1971 if we’d been paying attention.

What About the Return?

Astute readers have no doubt remembered by this point that Morgan returned to the Astros for the 1980 season. Didn’t he make a Memorial Day appearance that season?

Even though Morgan played in 141 games for Houston in 1980, he did not take the field on Memorial Day (May 26). In his place?

The immortal Rafael Landestoy, who would himself land with the Reds the next season.

The beautiful symmetry of baseball never ceases to amaze.

(Check out our other player card posts here.)