Today on the blog we take a closer look at the image variation between Richie Zisk's 1977 OPC and Topps cards, with the airbrusher using some trickery to give the illusion of a unique image when in fact all they did was zoom in and paint over the same image Topps used for their card:
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| OPC version |
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| Topps version |
As
you can see on the OPC "White Sox" version, they cropped Zisk's photo
and closed in on him and airbrushed some sweet almost neon-like blue to
get him into a Chicago White Sox uniform.
For
the Topps card, they went to press earlier and didn't have the time to
get him out of his Pittsburgh Pirates uniform, the team Zisk played his
entire Big League career for at that point.
Zisk would make his MLB debut in 1971 with seven games
before coming back in 1972 with 17 appearances for the Pittsburgh
Pirates.
But in 1973 he made quite the impression, hitting a cool .324 over 103 games, giving everyone an idea of what was to come.
But in 1973 he made quite the impression, hitting a cool .324 over 103 games, giving everyone an idea of what was to come.
1974
saw him elevate his game, hitting 17 homers with a .313 average and 100
runs batted in, his first of two such seasons over his career.
He was sent from the Pittsburgh Pirates to the White Sox in the Rich
Gossage deal in 1977, and had one of his best years in the Majors in his only season
there, hitting a career high 30 home runs and 101 runs batted in.
He
was named All-Star for the first time, and was part of the "South Side
Hit Men" lineup that included Oscar Gamble, Eric Soderholm and Chet
Lemon, fan favorites who hit a (then) high 192 homers as a team.
He would end up playing 13 seasons under the Big League sun, for the
Pirates, Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners between
1971 and 1983, hitting 207 homers, with 792 RBIs and 681 runs scored,
hitting .287 over 1453 games and 5144 at-bats.