First off, the paint job on this is pretty good actually!
The effect of the embroidery on the Chicago Cubs logo looks great, as does the shadowing on the cap itself. An excellent effort all-around.
But consider this: Meoli at that point hadn’t played in the Big Leagues since the 1875 season when he was with the California Angels!
So why the effort on a card for the 1978 set, let alone the paint job, for a light-hitting infielder who was bounced around three organizations since his last MLB action?
Very odd.
Starting in November 1975, Meoli was traded from the Angels, the team he came up with in 1971, to the San Diego Padres, then to the Cincinnati Reds in April of 1976, for whom he never played, then on to the Cubs who purchased him in September of 1977.
He’d go on to play 47 games for the Cubs in 1978, hitting .103 before moving on to the Philadelphia Phillies for the 1979 season, where he’d play the last MLB games of his career, hitting .178 before leaving the game as an active player for good.
All told, over parts of six seasons, Meoli hit .212 with 133 hits in 626 at-bats over 310 games between 1971 and 1979, mainly with the Angels.