Monday, August 4, 2014

THEN AND NOW #8: HARMON KILLEBREW 1975

Here's a card I've been anxious to get designing: a 1975 "Then and Now" card for one of my all-time favorite players, Hall of Famer Harmon "Killer" Killebrew!
Check it out:

 
 
I followed my design from the Bob Gibson "Then and Now" card from the same set.
What does anyone need to be reminded of regarding Killebrew?
He was an absolute BEAST at the plate, crushing 573 lifetime homers, MOST of them during the pitching-era of the 1960's into the '70's.
Eight 40+ home run seasons, nine 100+ runs batted in seasons, seven 100+ base-on-balls seasons, an M.V.P. in 1969 (with five top-5 finishes in M.V.P. voting as well), and a Hall of Fame induction in 1984.
I remember as a ten-year old in 1979 scoring a 1973 Killebrew card from my cousin, and I was absolutely dumbfounded by the statistics on the back!
I never heard of this guy, yet I was looking at numbers that made my jaw drop.
I just couldn't understand why his name wasn't plastered everywhere. Ha!
Youth….