1977's #402 Tommy Helms card. Wow! About as eye-popping as can be huh?
That cap is just too much! And his jersey is no slouch either in the "airbrushing disasters" category!
You have to love the way his frizzy reddish sideburns play off of the eye-gouging yellows and greens of the card.
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| You think the card is bright enough?! |
Problem was, Oakland went ahead in March of '77 and included Helms in a package deal that saw him go RIGHT BACK to the Pirates in a nine player trade! This is definitely a case of, "damned if you do, damned if you don't"!
By the way- Pretty good deal for Oakland, as it brought them Mitchell Page (Rookie of the Year runner up to Eddie Murray in 1977), future slugger Tony Armas, and future workhorse Rick Langford among others.
Helms himself had a decent 14-year career, including a rather suspicious Rookie of the Year award in 1966 as a member of the Reds that really should have been Sonny Jackson from the Astros in my opinion.
Then again, the year before saw the Astros also ripped off when Jim Lefebvre from the Dodgers won R.O.Y. over a clearly more deserving Joe Morgan (ironically who was traded to the Reds FOR Helms later on in 1971).
Regardless, Helms ended his career in 1977 playing out the season as a member of the Red Sox. (Funny enough, Topps had a card for him in their 1978 set, proper uniform and all).
