I keep going back and forth, never really deciding for sure either way.
Pinson was traded by the St. Louis Cardinals on November 21st of 1969 for Jose Cardenal, so I don’t believe even with a later-series card in the 1970 set Topps would have had a chance to shoot him in an Indians uni, especially with the photography problems they had at that time.
So what this looks like is an older shot of him with the Cincinnati Reds, and they very cleverly took the “C” logo and gently outlined it in “Indians-blue”.
Genius. Very simple, but very effective.
As for Pinson, I’ve always loved his career, and wonder had he not played the bulk of his Big League time in the shadows of Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente and Frank Robinson, would he have made it all the way to the Hall of Fame.
Four-times he’d collect over 200 hits, seven times over 20-home runs, nine times over 20-stolen bases, and the man only made two All-Star teams!
Just an awesome career that saw him finish with over 2700 hits, 250 homers and 300 stolen bases, while also collecting over 480 doubles and 120 triples.