Saturday, June 14, 2014

JUST BECAUSE I CAME ACROSS A GOOD PHOTO...1979 RICO CARTY AS A BLUE JAY

While trolling around the web for photos of other players to profile on this blog, I happened to come across a good shot of Rico Carty from 1979 as a Toronto Blue Jay player, for whom he ended his career with.
Since his actual 1979 card shows him as an Oakland A's player, I figured I'd take advantage of this find and "fix" it so he's shown on the proper team for his last year as an active player.
Take a look:
 
As-issued by Topps in 1979
 
"Updated" version as a Blue Jay

As a side note: Carty was actually included in the 1980 Topps set, as a Blue Jay, even though he'd never suit up in the new decade.
Carty put together a nice 15 year career, hitting .299 with over 200 homers, but injuries stunted his final numbers with two seasons missed (in 1968 and 1971), as well as partial seasons peppered here and there.
His banner year of course was the 1970 season, where he lead the Majors in hitting with a .366 mark as well as slamming 25 homers and driving in 101 runs.
He also had an awesome rookie year, hitting .330 with 22 homers and 88 runs batted in. Sadly for him, he had Richie Allen and HIS monster rookie year to keep him from a rookie-of-the-year award, so he finished second in N.L. voting in 1964.
That 1970 season also gave Carty a unique place in baseball history, as he became the first player ever voted into the All-Star game as a write-in that year, and definitely deserves a place in my "1970's highlights" thread.
Keep an eye out for it!

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