Today
we take a good look at another great airbrush gem from Topps during the
wild-70’s, that of former Detroit Tigers outfielder Jim Northrup,,who
found himself finishing up a very nice career in Baltimore as a member
of the Orioles after eleven-years in the Motor City:
Actually Northrup came over to the Orioles after a brief stint with the
Montreal Expos, for whom he played 21 games for before playing eight
with the O’s at the end of the 1974 season.
Obviously you can see that the Topps artists simply took an image of him
in a Tigers’ uni and went to town on his cap, seemingly using all the
orange he could find to make that bill and logo POP!
Turns out he’d play in 84 games in his final Major League season of
1975, batting .273 with five homers and 29 runs batted in over 194
at-bats.
During his time with the Tigers he topped 20-homers three times while
giving Detroit some excellent seasons in the late-60’s/early-70’s.
By the time he retired, he finished with a career .267 average with 153
home runs and 610 RBIs, with 603 runs scored and 1254 hits.
Incredibly, I never realized he never made an All-Star team, not even as a substitute during his entire career.