Saturday, November 1, 2014

MISSING IN ACTION-"IN ACTION" #12: 1972 NOLAN RYAN

I know I'm stretching it a bit, but how cool would it have been to have a Nolan Ryan "In Action" card in the 1972 Topps set?!
Take a look at my design:


Traded to the California Angels in time for Topps to issue an airbrush disaster in their '72 set, I wanted to accompany my redesign for the "regular" Ryan card (see link below), with a nice "In Action" card for the future Hall of Fame fire-baller.


By the time the late-series 1972 cards were hitting the shelves, the world was seeing Ryan on his way to topping 300 strikeouts for the first time in his career.
It would only get better the following year, as he threw TWO no-hitters as well as overtaking the single-season strikeout record with 383 K's, besting Sandy Koufax by one K in his last start.
Just classic stuff!