But first the original as-issued card:
And now my re-do:
Grabarkewitz was unknowingly at the tail-end of his Major League career, starting the 1974 season as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies before moving on to the Cubs after being purchased on July 10th.
After hitting a combined .226 for both teams over 184 plate appearances, he’d play in only six games the following season with the Oakland A’s, going 0-2 at the plate, which would end up being the last of his Major League tenure.
Oddly enough, in a career that lasted seven seasons, all but one was as a platoon or part-time player, never appearing in more than 87 games, except for 1970.
In that 1970 season with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Grabarkewitz was an All-Star when he hit .289 with 17 homers, 19 stolen bases, 92 runs scored and 84 runs batted in while playing every infield position but First Base.
In a terrible case of bad luck, the Dodgers had an entire infield of future All-Stars just about coming up in Ron Cey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell, Bill Buckner and Steve Garvey, so it seems Grabarkewitz was squeezed out.
Nevertheless, he finished his career with a .236 career average, with 28 homers and 141 RBIs over 466 games and 1161 at-bats, with 274 hits and 189 runs scored between 1969 and 1975.
