Today's post deals with not so much as a "do-over" as it does with a "fix".
I've always found it funny that Orlando Cepeda's 1973 Topps card (#545) had him as an Oakland A's player.
I mean sure, he was traded to the A's in June of 1972 for Denny McLain from the Atlanta Braves.
But when you go and check out his stats for the season, you see
that he had a whopping THREE at-bats for the A's in 1972 before being
signed as a free agent by the Boston Red Sox in January of '73.
I'm all for having cards showing the player based on what he did
the previous year. But those three at-bats just don't seem to make it
right to have him as an A's player in the 1973 set.
Besides, and I know this doesn't really make it "right", Cepeda
went on to have a very good season in 1973 as Boston's first designated
hitter, hitting .289 with 20 homers and 86 runs batted in.
Not too shabby for a 35 year old with severely bum knees which
curtailed what seemed to be a record breaking career when he was tearing
up the National League throughout the 1960's.
So, for the sake of a quick "fix", I've gone and designed a 1973
Topps card of Cepeda in a Red Sox uniform, while also including his
regular-issued #545 as an Oakland A's player.
Enjoy…
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| As-issued Cepeda card #545 |
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| A more "accurate" card by my own design. |
