Wednesday, November 9, 2022

UNISSUED PROOF: 1977 ALAN ASHBY

Today on the blog we take a look at another unissued proof card, this the 1977 card for former catcher Alan Ashby, who was one of the "original" 1977 Toronto Blue Jays, coming over from the Cleveland Indians:

Unissued proof

Topps issued card
 
Ashby appeared in 89 games for the Indians in 1976, hitting .239 with 59 hits over 247 at-bats, scoring 26 runs while driving in 32.
After being traded to the Jays from the along with Doug Howard for pitcher Al Fitzmorris in November of 1976, Ashby would go on to put in two seasons for the expansion team before moving on to play for the Houston Astros for the next eleven years.
I never realized that his career took him all the way to the doorsteps of the 1990 decade, finishing up with 22 games for the Astros in 1989 after 17-years as a Major League catcher.
In those 17 seasons he batted .245 while playing in 1370 games, collecting 1010 hits with 90 home runs and 513 runs batted in over 4123 official at-bats. After his baseball career ended as a player he hung around the game as a coach in the Astros system as well as a broadcaster for the Astros in both radio and television.

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