A 1970 RE-DO: RON STONE AND THAT OUTDATED IMAGE

I have always wanted to “update” that 1970 card for former outfielder Ron Stone, and I recently found a great image to do it with, so here goes.
As you may remember, with Topps and the Players Union battling each other, Topps began using old images for players, sometimes reusing images from years prior for their cards in the late-60’s/early-70s.
This one is a great example, the original Ron Stone 1970, which clearly shows him in a Kansas City Athletics uniform from about 1966 when he made his MLB debut with 26 games:

Now, with time on our side I found this image of him in the correct uniform as a Phillies player, so here’s the new, updated version:

Stone would spend four of his five MLB seasons with the Phillies, finishing up with a career .241 average over 388 games, collecting 194 hits in 804 at-bats between 1966 and 1972, with 1967-68 spent entirely in the Minors.

THE ODD CASE OF THE 1970 RON STONE CARD

While I know of Topps use of old photography in the late-60’s/early 70’s sets, I always found the case of the 1970 Ron Stone card so odd. Let’s take a look:

First off, the image used on the 1970 card was obviously from years before, since Stone played his only season with the Athletics in 1966, and was traded away from the organization in July of that year, and it is plainly obvious he is sporting the unique gold and green uniform of Kansas City.
But what I could never figure out is Topps evidently had an image of him as a Philadelphia Phillie player, as you can see here, as Stone is wearing the uniform the Phillies wore up until 1969, as they switched over to the “P” on the chest design beginning in 1970.
So why not use the photo? Was it compensation? Or problems with the Player’s Association?
What doesn’t make sense though is if they had issues with any of that, what was the difference in using one image from the other?
Does anyone know what the issues were?
I was always under the impression that Topps didn’t even bother taking “new” photography those years, but the image of Stone here seems to be from that very time.
Stone would end up playing parts of four seasons with the Phillies, the last four years of his Big League career, retiring as a player after the 1972 season, finishing up with a .241 batting average with 194 hits over 804 at-bats over 388 games.

THE EXTREME RECYCLING OF IMAGES: 1970 RON STONE

I’ve always thought the following card was an incredible example of Topps using old images, recycling them as it were, in the early-70’s, the 1970 Ron Stone:

You can clearly see him in that glorious Athletics uniform in the photo, though he is properly tagged as a Philadelphia Phillies player.
The thing is, Stone LAST played for the Athletics in June of 1966!
He was returned the Baltimore Orioles, the team from which the Athletics drafted him in November of 195, on July 1st, 1966!
Amazing.
As a matter of fact, Stone played over half a season in 1969 with the Phillies, yet if I recall correctly, the didn’t take new photos because of a licensing dispute with the Players’ Union. Something like that. Hence all the blotted out logos and outdated photos rampant throughout the 1969 and 1970 sets.
Anyone have any further info on this?

MISSING IN ACTION- 1973 RON STONE

Here's a "missing" 1973 card for former Phillies outfielder Ron Stone.

Check it out:

Stone played in 41 games for Philadelphia in 1972, batting .167 with nine hits in 54 official at-bats.

Granted, it's not like Topps really missed the boat on this guy for the 1973 set, but I DID find this decent image of him to use, so why not?

Anyway, turns out those would be the final games of his five-year career, playing in just over a couple-dozen games with the Kansas City Athletics in 1966 before coming back to the Majors with the Phillies in 1969.

His only relatively full season was 1970, when he played in 123 games, mainly as an outfielder.

He batted .262 that year with 12 doubles, five triples and three homers and 39 runs batted in, with a .262 batting average.

After splitting time in the Minors with both the Phillies and Royals organizations in 1973, his playing days were behind him.