28 August 2010

infamous lurkers!

topps had printed cards in their 1974 set (rightfully so) based upon the presumption that hank aaron would surpass babe ruth that season (he had ended the 1973 season with 713).  sure enough, hammerin' hank hit number 715 against the dodgers on april 8, 1974.  when the 1975 set came around, topps chose to use a posed photo of the hammer to grace his highlight card.  then when celebrating the 20th anniversary of his record breaking home run in 1994, they used some actual photos from the historic game.
the photo in the background of the card shows the swing and the ball in flight, and it also shows a couple of dodgers - al downing, who served up the pitch, and joe ferguson, the dodgers' catcher.  not pictured are the rest of the dodgers on the field that night - steve garvey, davey lopes, bill russell and ron cey, plus willie crawford, jim wynn and bill buckner in the outfield.  buckner was in left, and can be seen climbing the fence in pursuit of the ball in the video of the home run.  all in all, it's not a bad moment, or card, to be associated with.

here's to you, infamous dodger lurkers!

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