While trolling around the web for photos of other players to
profile on this blog, I happened to come across a good shot of Rico
Carty from 1979 as a Toronto Blue Jay player, for whom he ended his
career with.
Since his actual 1979 card shows him as an Oakland A's player, I
figured I'd take advantage of this find and "fix" it so he's shown on
the proper team for his last year as an active player.
Take a look:
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| As-issued by Topps in 1979 |
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| "Updated" version as a Blue Jay |
As a side note: Carty was actually included in the 1980 Topps set,
as a Blue Jay, even though he'd never suit up in the new decade.
Carty put together a nice 15 year career, hitting .299 with over
200 homers, but injuries stunted his final numbers with two seasons
missed (in 1968 and 1971), as well as partial seasons peppered here and
there.
His banner year of course was the 1970 season, where he lead the
Majors in hitting with a .366 mark as well as slamming 25 homers and
driving in 101 runs.
He also had an awesome rookie year, hitting .330 with 22 homers and
88 runs batted in. Sadly for him, he had Richie Allen and HIS monster
rookie year to keep him from a rookie-of-the-year award, so he finished
second in N.L. voting in 1964.
That 1970 season also gave Carty a unique place in baseball
history, as he became the first player ever voted into the All-Star game
as a write-in that year, and definitely deserves a place in my "1970's
highlights" thread.
Keep an eye out for it!