Here's a guy I never really knew anything about, but recently came
across and wanted to delve into: former Detroit Tiger and Chicago White
Sox outfielder Bob Christian.
Take a look at his one dedicated Topps card:
First off, the image is one of him in a Detroit uniform.
Odd since he played for the White Sox in 1969, and appeared in 39 games for them, good for 143 plate appearances.
What's even stranger is that in 1968 he appeared in only three
games for the Tigers, the first three games of his career, yet an image
of him from that season made it to this card.
He did appear in the 1969 set on a multi-player White Sox rookie
card, (along with Gerry Nyman), but was also in a Detroit uniform, his
cap being airbrushed "blank".
Those two cards would be the only two he'd appear on.
For his playing career, Christian only got into 54 Major League
games in the three years he saw big league action, and was out of the
Majors by the age of 24.
One big highlight from his career would be his first big league
homer, which was off of future Hall of Famer Jim Palmer on June 14,
1969.
In 1971 and 1972 he went on to play ball in Japan for the Toei
Flyers, hitting a combined .263 wth 27 homers and 90 runs batted in.
But sadly, I recently came across a small write up of him because
of some tragic circumstances, and learned of why he was out of the game
so soon.
Turns out that just four years after his last Major League game, at
the very young age of 28, he passed away after being diagnosed with
Leukemia.
Yet another tragic ending for a ballplayer from that era, which does seem inordinately "common" compared to other decades.
