Just wanted to take a quick look at the strange case of Larry Hisle and his 1972 and 1973 Topps cards.
While it was strange that Topps felt they needed a card for him in
their 1972 set, it was downright odd that they gave him a card in their
1973 set!
First, let's take a look at the cards:
 |
| 1972 |
 |
| 1973 |
First, his 1972 Topps offering.
Hisle was coming off of a disappointing season in 1971 which saw
him appear in only 36 games, good for only 82 plate appearances.
He hit .197 with three doubles and three runs batted in, and was then traded by the Phillies to Los Angeles for Tom Hutton.
Why Topps gave him a card in their '72 set (and with the extra work
of the airbrush job-note the Phillies pinstriped uniform he's wearing),
is beyond me.
But the fact that Topps gave him a card in the 1973 set is really
odd since Hisle never suited up in a Major League game in 1972.
As a matter of fact after being traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers
in October of 1971, Hisle was then traded to the St. Louis Cardinals a
year later, only to be traded yet again to the Minnesota Twins a month
after that, making for quite an eventful year
for him and his shaky career.
His 1972 year was played out for L.A. on their Triple-A affiliate,
Albuquerque, having a stand-out season, hitting .325 with 23 home runs,
87 runs scored and 91 runs batted in.
But I guess the Dodger brass didn't see enough, shipping him out to
St. Louis for Rudy Arroyo and minor league player Greg Millikan.
As you can see from the two cards, Topps even went and used the
same image since for both, since Hisle was conveniently wearing an
airbrushed blue cap, even IF the purple Phillie trim on the jersey was
plain as day.
So in essence, Hisle's 36 games in 1971 got him two cards: in 1972 and 1973.
We all know that he rebounded nicely in the forthcoming years,
having some productive years with the Twins, even leading the American
League in runs batted in in 1977 with 119, and driving in another 115 in
1978 as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers.
But that 1978 season would be his last solid year, as he'd scratch
out another four years with Milwaukee, never appearing in more than 27
games in any of those seasons.
He'd retire after 1982 with 166 lifetime homers, 674 R.B.I.'s, and 1146 career hits.
