Here was a rough one to create: a 1977 "Then and Now" card of Tommy Davis as a Kansas City Royals player.
Take a look:
By 1977 Davis was already done as a Major League player, having
played his last game for the Royals during their first run to the
playoffs in 1976.
He only appeared in eight games for K.C., and even his 1977 "last card" was an airbrush job.
I had to get a little creative and find a good pose to drop Davis
into. Not my finest "Photoshopping", but for this post it will do. If I
find an actual photo of him as a Royal, I'll gladly re-do this one.
Davis had himself a nice 18-year career that saw him win two
consecutive batting titles with the Dodgers in 1962 and '63, and R.B.I.
crown in 1962 with a whopping 153, and also a league-leader in hits with
230 the very same year.
By the time he finished up, he played in 1999 games, with a nice
.294 lifetime average, 2121 hits, 153 homers and 1052 runs batted in.
The advent of the Designated Hitter prolonged his career between
1973 and 1976, as the previous few years were sporadic efforts at best
with no less than five teams: the White Sox, Pilots, Astros, A's and
Cubs.
As a D.H. he found new life with the Baltimore Orioles as their main "man with the bat" between 1973 and 1975.
