For
the fun of it, today’s blog post has a re-done 1973 card for former
all-star catcher Tom Haller, who was actually shown by Topps as a member
of the Philadelphia Phillies, airbrushed of course.
Take a look at the re-do and original cards:
 |
| Original 1973 Topps card |
 |
| Re-done Tigers version |
Actually, Haller finished the 1972 season with the Detroit Tigers,
appearing in 59 games and hitting .207 with 25 hits in 121 at-bats in
what turned out to be the last Big League action he’d see.
However on October 25th of 1972 Haller was purchased by the Phillies, so
Topps understandably was trying to get ahead and have Haller as a
Phillie for the upcoming 1973 set.
Well, as we have seen many times before (and since), turns out Haller
would get released by Philadelphia in February of 1973, making the
Phillies airbrush card unnecessary.
Regardless, Haller was a three-time All-Star over his 12-year Big League
career, as well as garnering a little “MVP-attention” in back-to-back
years in 1968 and 1969 while with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
His best year would have to be 1966 while with the San Francisco Giants
when he hit a career-best 27 home runs along with 67 runs batted in,
scoring 74 runs, hitting .240 with 113 hits in 471 at-bats.
All told he finished his career with a .257 average, with 134 homers and
504 RBIs over 1294 games and 3935 at-bats between 1961 and 1972.
