1970 Clemente Question

[JollyElm]

$(KGrHqZ,!q!FCqZPKLmUBRr+soKOSQ~~60_57.jpg

OK, I was looking at this card (not mine) and it's weird. The shot was pretty clearly taken at Shea Stadium, as Topps was wont to do, but here's the problem. Roberto Clemente is wearing his home uniform and this is definitely not Forbes Field. How does that make any sense?

The only All-Star game at Shea was to my recollection played in the year it opened, 1964. The National League players would've worn their home uniforms. Could this photograph be that old, or am I missing something?

[JollyElm]

15allstar_batsblog-blog480.jpg

Not sure if anyone cares, but I found a couple of pictures of Johnny Callison's game winning homer at the 1964 All Star Game. Roberto Clemente is in the background. Granted, they are in black and white, but it looks like a good match for the 1970 card. Surely not definitive, but I think we have a winner. Wow, didn't realize Topps reached that far back in their archives for shots.

[savedfrommyspokes]

SNIPED BY THE OP...But, For whatever reason, Topps used the same image for both the 65 and 68 Mays. So it would not be a stretch that Topps may have used an image from a 64 AS game on the 70 card for Clemente. Good job picking up on the home uniform...for me looking at the crowd in the upper deck in LF would make me think that it was a big game of sorts (an AS game). Below is a link to an image from the 64 AS game...uniform looks the same(including the long sleeves in July)...good call!

http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/0...at-citi-field/

[JollyElm]

Originally Posted by savedfrommyspokes

SNIPED BY THE OP...But, For whatever reason, Topps used the same image for both the 65 and 68 Mays. So it would not be a stretch that Topps may have used an image from a 64 AS game on the 70 card for Clemente. Good job picking up on the home uniform...for me looking at the crowd in the upper deck in LF would make me think that it was a big game of sorts (an AS game). Below is a link to an image from the 64 AS game...uniform looks the same(including the long sleeves in July)...good call!

http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/0...at-citi-field/

Haha!!! Sorry. When I get something in my head, I wanna see it through.
I always thought those Mays cards were an extreme example of reaching back in the archives and that's only a three year gap (they also used his 1966 pic in 1969), but a 6 year gap? Yowzers.

[savedfrommyspokes]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

Haha!!! Sorry. When I get something in my head, I wanna see it through.
I always thought those Mays cards were an extreme example of reaching back in the archives and that's only a three year gap (they also used his 1966 pic in 1969), but a 6 year gap? Yowzers.

No worries at all...At some point, I read about an even larger gap of time between when the photo Topps used was actually taken and was then subsequently used on a card, but I am unable to recall the details other than it was from the 60s. It must have been frustrating for the many Mays collectors in the 60s to have not one, but two recycled images appear on his cards.

[hangman62]

Yes, I see that, another tell tale sign of re-use of old photos, it looks like Mays is wearing a toupee, and in the other pic..three yrs later....you still see the toupee peeking out of the batting helmet

[con40]

How can we be sure that this isn't a Pirates road uni? The gray tones could be blown out by sunlight, flash or contrasty image preparation. The pants certainly look like they could be gray.