some gcrl cards that should have been in 1972

in 1972, steve garvey, bill russell and ron cey were each featured on a card in the topps set.  none of them, however, had reached the status of warranting an 'in action' card, and in cey's case, he didn't even get a card to himself.  until now.  i'm filling in the gaps with the gcrl cards that should have been, and i am pretty pleased with the way these ones turned out.

here's the steve garvey in action card that should have been:

rather than bump a card from the set and put this card after garvey's base card which would have been the norm, i'll call it card 790.  i did come up with a back for it, which i will get to later.

first, here's the penguin, on his solo 1972 card

with a back - number 788 in the set.

card 785 in the set is cey's future teammate vic davalillo, so i gave him a nod with the trivia cartoon.

next up is davey lopes

i also incorporated davalillo's back on lopes' back.  here's davalillo's card - note the trivia cartoon:

here's the lopes back i created.  it would be number 789 in the set.

i was also pleased to get lasorda mentioned on both of the cards (using info from the dodgers' press guide) as he was their manager in spokane before he himself joined the major league coaching staff in 1973.

here's the penguin's in action card:

as well as bill russell's

and lopes'

no standing still for davey on his in action card.

now for the 'in action' backs.  as you know, some of these cards had advertisements on the back, some had 'so you think you know baseball' situational quizzes on the back, and some, like reggie smith's, were puzzle backs.

so, for the four infielders, i created a puzzle.  and, since these cards would have been in the last series, i used an image from june of 1972.  here are the 1972 topps gcrl in action card backs that should have been  

jackie, campy and sandy all had their numbers retired during old-timers day in 1972.  sandy actually pitched in the game, which included joe dimaggio, stan musial, mickey mantle and others.  i believe this was the game where leo durocher wore his famous uniform that had all the logos of the different teams he had managed.

so, there you have them - the 1972 cards that should have been.