AIRBRUSHING THROUGH THE 1970's: 1971 BOB ASPROMONTE

On the blog today, a closer look at the (slightly) airbrushed image Topps used for Bob Aspromonte and his 1971 card, designating him a New York Met after a couple of seasons with the Atlanta Braves:

 

Aspromonte, who by the way comes from the same neighborhood in Brooklyn as yours truly, found himself traded to the Mets for pitcher Ron Herbel on December 1st of 1970, thus the attempt by Topps to have him with his "current" team.

Didn't take much work to just blacken out the "A" of the Atlanta Braves batting helmet, so it certainly does not fall into one of the classic airbrush cards of the 1970's.

Aspromonte wrapped up a decent 13-year career in 1971, playing for the Dodgers, Colt .45's/Astros, Braves and Mets.

For the Mets in his final season, he appeared in 104 games, hitting .225 with 77 hits over 342 at-bats, driving in 33 runs while scoring 21 himself.

In 1324 games played for his career, he collected 1103 hits over 4369 at-bats, good for a .252 average with 60 homers and 457 runs batted in.

His brother Ken was also a long time Major League player as well as manager. He even appears in the 1972 set on a card I profiled a while ago because it looks like the photo was taken in the middle of the street in my old neighborhood. I kid you not. (Look it up. So odd).

GIMMIE A DO-OVER: 1971 BOB ASPROMONTE

On the blog today we have a re-do for Bob Aspromonte and his 1971 card, which originally had him in one of those subtle airbrush Topps jobs with his upcoming team, the New York Mets, but here showing him with the Atlanta Braves, for whom he played in 1970:

For those that need a refresher on his original 1971 card, here you go:

 

Nothing crazy, just a nice little upgrade to reflect where he played the previous year in that classic Braves uni of the time.

Aspromonte wrapped up a decent 13-year career in 1971, playing for the Dodgers, Colt .45's/Astros, Braves and Mets.

For the Mets in his final season, he appeared in 104 games, hitting .225 with 77 hits over 342 at-bats, driving in 33 runs while scoring 21 himself.

In 1324 games played for his career, he collected 1103 hits over 4369 at-bats, good for a .252 average with 60 homers and 457 runs batted in.

His brother Ken was also a long time Major League player as well as manager. He even appears in the 1972 set on a card I profiled a while ago because it looks like the photo was taken in the middle of the street in my old neighborhood. I kid you not. (Look it up. So odd).

TIME FOR ANOTHER HEAD SCRATCHER- 1972 BOB ASPROMONTE

Here's another that has left me wondering: the Topps 1972 Bob Aspromonte card.

The fellow Bensonhurst, Brooklyn native is shown at the tail end of his career as a Cincinnati Reds player.

However, a couple of things: first, he never played for the Reds. As a matter of fact he never played Major League ball again after 1971 with the New York Mets.

Secondly, I cannot find any record of him even signing with the Reds before the 1972 season (??). 

Was he a Spring Training invite? Did he just happen to be in the right place at the right time, leading to a card in the '72 set?

Anyone know what was going on here?

As stated earlier, Aspromonte wrapped up a decent 13-year career in 1971, playing for the Dodgers, Colt .45's/Astros, Braves and Mets.

In 1324 games played he collected 1103 hits over 4369 at-bats, good for a .252 average with 60 homers and 457 runs batted in.

His brother Ken was also a long time Major League player as well as manager. He even appears in the 1972 set on a card I profiled a while ago because it looks like the photo was taken in the middle of the street in my old neighborhood. I kid you not. (Look it up. So odd).