09 March 2012

who needs some 73's?

i've been tending to my 1973 topps want list lately - it's now down to 40 cards or so - and i have a bunch of doubles, triples and other assorted quantities for trade.  in fact, i went from zero to four glenn beckert cards thanks to a recent lot purchase.
this may well be one of my very favorite lurker cards, thanks to an appearance by dodgers' catcher duke sims.  sims was a dodger in the 1972 topps set, but by the time his card was issued in 1973, he was in tigers gear.  plus, he was drawn up as a communist on the back! anyway, it's nice to see sims getting some bonus dodger time from topps.
in addition to that lot purchase, i have received some cards in trade, like these four from royals and randoms - ed crosby
john boccabella
danny thompson
and, oh my god! mike kilkenny!
you bastards!  as an aside, i have to say that i stopped watching south park after the first season and the mr hanky episode. i figured that they couldn't top a talking christmas poo.

let's give checklists some love and celebrate a 39-year old unmarked beauty - front
and back
that lot knocked out a few of the star cards i was missing like hammerin' hank
and lefty
with tim mccarver getting in the way.  that is mccarver, right?

speaking of carlton, here's pudge's first solo card
with the rookie cup
and another catcher need - johnny bench
it's great how the giants' players are making no effort to get off their bench to make things easier for johnny bench, who just happened to be 'one of baseball's most eligible bachelors'.
that's in stark contrast to fred norman, who is just 'a bachelor'.
hopefully someone told fred that it works better if you run towards the woman, especially if it's a brunette (in my opinion at least).

i also picked up some cards at a show or two in the last year, like this pat corrales beauty
which still isn't as nice as bo didier's card
even though at first glance i thought they might both feature the same mets player.  upon closer inspection, i think corrales' card features a cub, not a metropolitan.  anyway, what i like most about the dider is how he is looking at the umpire for the call while the mets catcher (jerry grote?) stands in the background.  it's not often that you see a set of lurking shinguards on a card. grote, by the way, is one of the great lurkers in topps history, i think.  i'll have to put together a post sometime.
speaking of on deck circles, here's mel stottlemyre in yankee stadium
standing in the on deck circle while the indians (?) warm up.  there is good composition to this card, with the flag and the classic yankee colors, unlike the graig nettles card
with all of its poorly colored airbrushing.
and, from airbrushing to hair brushing, we have hirsute joe pepitone up next
it's the cartoon on the back that makes that segue work
there are some pretty good cartoons in the set - i like this one on the back of denis menke's card
how fortuitous, seeing as how menke gets to attend 162 games (or was it 154 in 1973) each year.

before we get back to some backs, here's barry lersch in a quintessential 1973 topps photo
you have to get through layers of people to find the subject of the card.  it's one of the reasons i disliked the set as a young collector, but now it's one of the reasons i decided to complete the set about a year ago.

back to some backs - when your name is gogolewski, i suppose your nickname is fairly obvious
the first time i saw gogolewski's card, i said to myself 'i bet his nickname was gogo'.  then i turned the card over, and my hunch was confirmed. true story.
here's the last back i'll show in this post - we get some obscure player trivia as well as a history lesson
i wonder if anyone paid attention to scheinblum's roundtripper that night.  what a story to tell your kids - hey i missed the moon landing, but i did see richie scheinblum hit one out!
speaking of hitting one out, here's card number 1 in the set
henry, willie and the babe.  good thing terry cashman didn't see this card when he was writing his song.  'willie, mickey, and the duke' sounds better.

anyway, let me know if you need some 73's and/or if you can help me out in my completion efforts.

7 comments:

Stealing Home said...

that's one of my favorite bench cards. can't help your PC this time around, tho...

moremonkeys138 said...

I really enjoyed looking through and almost completing this set (down to three). I have a bunch of doubles too and I'll take a look at your list to see if I have anything. I'll let you know if I come up with anything.

Don said...

I just got some in the mail today and found a double of #510. I will look through my other doubles this weekend and see if I can find anything else from either 73 or 71. I could use some 73s myself.

Don said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Matt Runyon said...

The gal chasing Freddie Norman is cuter. Must be a Veronica vs. Betty thing.

Josh D. said...

Glad you liked everything! I (finally) posted the other end of the trade. Thanks again!
-Josh D.

http://royalsandrandoms.blogspot.com/2012/04/garvey-sweeney-russell-lincoln.html

Steve F. said...

That Steve Carlton card could picture Tim McCarver--or it could have John Bateman. They both were catchers who wore #6, and they were traded for each other in 1972. If it helps determine which one, McCarver was 6'0", 183 lbs., while Bateman was 6'3" and 210 lbs. Carlton was 6'4" and 210 lbs.

That picture looks like a complete game victory by Carlton at the Vet after a day game, with the catcher shaking his hand. It had to have been either May 7 (McCarver catching the entire game), June 11 (also McCarver) or August 13 (Bateman catching the entire game)--those were the only three home, day, complete game victories Carlton had that season.

I can't tell whether the catcher is the same height as Carlton or 3 " shorter. On the one hand, one might guess that it is more likely McCarver, as the Topps photographers don't seem to have captured a whole lot of late-season action ever (hence all the airbrushing).

OTOH, McCarver's 1973 card, taken presumably during the 1972 season, shows him with short hair, while the catcher on the Lefty card has some wings of hair over his ear, and John Bateman's hair does have those wings on his 1972 card (photo taken in 1971, presumably). So it might be Bateman.

I wonder whether McCarver could tell you for certain whether it is him?