Wednesday, May 29, 2013

"WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!"- PART I

Today's post is the first in what I hope will be a recurring series called "What Were They Thinking?!", which will highlight random cards from the 1970's that used awful photographs, or were inexplicably cropped, etc.
The reason I even thought of doing this was because I was recently reminded of that awful photo Topps used for Steve Garvey's 1973 card #213.
Seriously, who on earth looked at this photo and thought, "PERFECT. That's what we'll use!"??? Was this really the best photo they had on file for Garvey?
You know, I have a theory: perhaps Wes Parker had some relative working for Topps, and THEY were the one to slip this shot in there. What else would explain how Parker is actually the player prominently displayed on the card?
Sure, there's a bit of karma here in that Garvey ended up taking Parkers job over at first base that very season, but come on. Why didn't the photographer wait the extra couple seconds until Garvey was in the shot unobstructed?
Actually, the 1973 set will garner a ton of attention for this on-going series since it is littered with terrible photography, especially for many of the horizontal cards used that year. (I already have "Part II written, and it depicts one of the all-time hilarious classics from the '73 set).
As I was perusing the "Topps Baseball Cards" book last night, I was reminded of how bad many of those cards really were, especially some pictures that seemed like they were taken from the ballpark parking lot or through a telescope!
OK, but that will be for a different day. Today, we celebrate the folly that was THIS card:




"Is that Garvey peeking over Parker's shoulder?"


A revised "quickie" with a better photo

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