You KNOW I can't go long on this blog without some new mention or profile of that '70's baseball icon: Oscar Gamble!
Today I want to take a look at his action-packed 1973 card (#372):
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| Someone's popping up from a hole in the ground!!! |
First off, it's obvious Topps did a basic airbrush job on his
Philadelphia Phillies uniform, getting rid of the "P" on the front but
leaving the rest as-is.
If you didn't notice it right off the bat, you'd have to realize
this when you notice that the player standing upright next to him is a
National Leaguer, non-other than Cincinnati Reds all-star shortstop Dave
Concepcion. So the image is from a Phillies-Reds
game some time in 1972.
Oscar was traded by the Phillies in November, 1972 to the Cleveland Indians with Roger Freed for Del Unser and Terry Wedgewood.
It IS a great action shot, no doubt, as it seems Gamble was just
forced out at second base and they're all looking towards force, perhaps
at the completion of a double-play (?).
But what always made me chuckle was the "floating" head of the Reds' second baseman in that dust cloud at Gamble's feet!
You'd miss him if you didn't look closely. (I can't really tell who it is, maybe Darrel Chaney? But I'm really guessing here).
Love it!
Those 1973 horizontal cards were brilliant, even though a ton of them had crappy photos (Luis Alvarado anyone?).
They still made for a classic set, and I have to admit, ever since I
started this blog, it has made me appreciate the '73 Topps set more and
more for all of it's quirkiness, peculiarity and unique insight into
baseball during the era.
I'll definitely be profiling many more cards from this set in the future!
Heck, it seems like I've already redesigned a bunch of them here already!