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Posted By: Al Crisafulli

UNIQUE AND IMPOSSIBLY RARE 1977 TOPPS OSCAR GAMBLE WITH INCREDIBLE PROVENANCE

1977 was a landmark year for baseball, and for American culture in general. As the Son of Sam and the summer blackout swept across a tense Gotham, the New York Yankees, fresh off a retooling of their roster after being swept in the 1976 World Series by the Big Red Machine, prepared to become the new dynasty in Major League Baseball. With a roster stacked with free agent acquisitions and colorful characters, the Bronx Bombers, led by fiery sparkplug Billy Martin, featured such legendary figures of baseball lore as Reggie Jackson, Thurman Munson, Graig Nettles, Sparky Lyle, Bucky Dent, Mike Torrez, Lou Piniella, and a young Ron Guidry, marched through the American League en route to their first World Series title in fifteen years. At the heart of the team, many say, was the team's anchor and primary bat off the bench, Oscar Gamble, who's massive afro and tightly-coiled left-handed batting stance were imitated by young stickball players throughout the anxious city. Gamble, best known for his late inning heroics off the bench, plus the aforementioned afro, played with several American League teams during his career, but none of them were as popular in New York as the Yankees, who were one of only two Major League Baseball teams to call New York City home in 1977 (and one of them, the New York Mets, were actually based in Queens, which many New York residents do not consider to be part of New York City). Gamble was, of course, the only utility outfielder and DH to play for the Yankees during this glorious time, and certainly the only one with such memorable hair.

The 1977 Topps baseball card set was the most popular set of baseball cards issued by Topps in 1977, with cards inserted in packs along with a single stick of pink bubble gum and sold at various retail locations throughout New York City. On June 19, 1977, a young Bronx boy named Irwin Zigler purchased a package of baseball cards from a soda shop located on Jerome Avenue in the Bronx, just prior to a stickball game. In that package of cards was this Oscar Gamble card. Zigler opened the pack, removed the gum and then carefully re-wrapped the cards in the wax wrapper prior to gingerly sticking them in his back pocket. During the stickball game, Irwin's team, despite playing a fiercely competitive game, found themselves down 9-5 in the bottom of the 9th, with the bases loaded, two outs and Irwin coming to bat. As dusk began to settle on an unsettled city, the opposing pitcher, young Ernie Brown, decided to "sweeten the deal" by placing a milkshake bet on the at-bat. The life-or-death struggle that ensued ended with a 3-2 fastball, meticulously placed on the outside corner, and swung through by Irwin, resulting in a game-ending strikeout. Of course Irwin, having spent his last thirty-five cents on the pack of cards, did not have money for the milkshake - several nuggies and a wedgie later, Ernie Brown walked away with the pack of 1977 Topps baseball cards.

This Oscar Gamble is the only surviving Oscar Gamble from the now infamous "Bronx Wedgie Find". Almost thirty years later, the card maintains almost all of its original gloss, and has been harshly graded (in our opinion) VG-EX 4 by PSA. A very slight but noticeable corner crease, coupled with rough edges and 20-80 L-R centering account for the grade. While we might be more apt to grade the card EX, we have no choice but to stand behind the grade assigned by PSA. The card, which is accompanied by the original wax wrapper pulled from Irwin Zigler's back pocket, and a letter of provenance from Ernie Brown (now a high-school gym teacher), is surely a one-of-a-kind item, and while not as popular as the world-renowned T206 Wagner or 1933 Goudey Nap Lajoie, is scarce in its own right and is a Holy Grail of collecting among the Jerome Avenue stickball teams that played in the game that memorable evening. The remaining cards, all of which still reside in Ernie Brown's junk drawer, are a memorable reminder of the glorious days of blackouts and wedgies, serial killers and stickball games, and the rebirth of the Bronx Bombers and their popular, hairy part-time DH. Opening Bid: $300.

-Al