a retread dick allen photo and the cards that should have been!

as i mentioned the other day, rich (dick) allen spent just one year with the dodgers. his 1971 topps base card was, at one time, my collecting white whale, and it was/is glorious. there are probably less than half a dozen cards that show allen as a member of the dodgers, so it is a shame that topps portrayed him as a member of the white sox on his 1972 card. sure, he had been traded in december of 1971, and sure, topps put tommy john in the set as a dodger so things evened out that way, but as a dodger fan i am still disappointed. adding to that disappointment is that topps used the same photo of allen in a phillies jersey on his 1970 card. so, i decided to create my own cards. here is the 1972 topps card that should have been:

i used a photo from a team issued postcard for this card. i also went with 'rich' instead of 'dick' since that's what his actual topps card had. but, for the next card that should have been, i went with 'dick'.

here's his 1972 topps in action card:

oc and dinged up a bit. a nice batting photo from steve's baseball photography pages with dodger stadium's field level scoreboard in the background.

as an aside, i ask you to turn your attention to the 'dick allen for the hall of fame' blog. andy has created some pretty cool dick allen cards, including a 1978 topps final tribute. check it out.