1977 Topps Steve Garvey

Things just look different when you're a kid. Steve Garvey looked like a baseball superhero.  He had those (for the time) impressively muscular forearms.  He had that supernatural self-confidence.  He always seemed to get the big hit, and flash that big smile in the post-game interview, saying all the right things about helping the team.  He was a certain Hall-of-Famer, right?

Of course, it turns out he was all Hollywood flim-flam.  A politician in cleats.  John Edwards batting cleanup.  But, at the time, this card epitomized everything that I thought was right about baseball.