Sunday, January 25, 2015

RANDOM QUICKIE: BILL STEIN AND HIS REPEATING IMAGE: 1976 AND 1977

Here's a quick post regarding former infielder Bill Stein and his 1976 and 1977 Topps cards.
I always get a kick out of images Topps blatantly used more than once, especially in consecutive years, like they did here:

1976
1977

In this case the guys at Topps closed in on the photo while airbrushing Stein into a Seattle Mariners uni (notice the great logo on the cap!).
For some reason Topps decided that Stein was a second baseman in 1976 and a third baseman in 1977, even though he played equal amounts both years for both positions. 
Stein did manage to forge a decent 14-year Major League career for himself between 1972 and 1985, playing in 959 games with 2811 at-bats while playing the infield and outfield.
His finest season could arguably be the inaugural Mariners year of 1977 when he hit .259 with 13 home runs and 67 runs batted in, along with 53 runs scored and 26 doubles in 151 games as the Mariners very first full-time third baseman.
It would actually be the only season where he played full-time, generally relegated to platoon status throughout his big league career.
I'll be looking at a few more cards that fall into this practice by Topps, so if you're into this type of stuff keep an eye out for it.