Saturday, December 10, 2016

AIRBRUSHING AN ALL-STAR RELIEVER: 1977 BILL CAMPBELL

I’ve always gotten a kick out the airbrushing job all-star reliever Bill Campbell got after his monster 1976 season in the 1977 Topps set:


I like how the airbrushers at Topps didn't even bother with the Twins uni Campbell was wearing.

"Close enough".
 Campbell had one of the best seasons of any reliever in ’76, going 17-5, leading the American League with a .775 winning percentage, along with a 3.01 earned run average with 20 saves, all out of the ‘pen with a league-leading 78 appearances!
So what does that get him? A plane ticket to the Boston Red Sox, for whom he suited up in 1977 on his way to leading the American League in saves with 31 that season.
One of the early free agents, he capitalized and signed with the Bosox on November 6th of 1976, so Topps had to scramble to get the star fireman into the correct cap, if not the correct uniform.
He would go on to pitch five years for the Red Sox, before bouncing around a bit for the last six seasons of his 15-year career, ending up with a 83-68 record along with a 3.54 ERA over exactly 700 appearances, all but nine out of the bullpen.