1973 - Uncut

[Cliff Bowman]

Originally Posted by Deertick

I love how they have miscut cards as part of their advertising! Troof.

What blows my mind is the non existent card of the Indians pitcher next to Ken Holtzman that deweyinthehall spotted is badly miscut.

[JollyElm]

Late on a Friday, the Topps art department was all ready to hit happy hour when the manager said, "Aww, screw this ad. Just toss that fake Indian you cut out with the scissors there and take the picture. No one will ever notice."

[nolemmings]

Looks to me like that the Indians pitcher is Phil Hennigan, and the A's outfielder could be Matty Alou. Both were traded the last week in November 1972, and their '73 cards show them with different photos that were perhaps easier to airbrush the new team logos.

EDITED TO ADD that it is indeed Matty Alou-- from google:
https://baseballhall.org/discover/ca...oug-mcwilliams

Scroll down some and you'll see both Alou cards, alongside an interesting interview of the photographer, which included this little nugget:
"Q: BM
Topps photographers regularly used to take photographs of players without their caps, or with their caps turned upward so as hide the logo. This made it easier for Topps to adjust when a player changed teams. Did you do this with all players, or only with players who were more likely to change from team to team?

A: DM (photographer Doug McWilliams)
I was never asked to do that. I think that went out maybe my first year in 1972. I did have an assignment to do Matty Alou and Dal Maxvill late in 1972 with the A’s, and when the cards came out, Matty was wearing a Yankees uniform, badly airbrushed. They had sent me some cards during that winter, to show me some samples of what my cards would look like, as it was my first year shooting for them, with no printing on the back side. One was of Matty Alou, in an A’s uniform. I think it has a good dollar value."

[toppcat]

They used proofs in some 1974 promo material as well I think. The box set they produced that year certainly has a couple in the graphics for the box.

[Cliff Bowman]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

Looks to me like that the Indians pitcher is Phil Hennigan, and the A's outfielder could be Matty Alou. Both were traded the last week in November 1972, and their '73 cards show them with different photos that were perhaps easier to airbrush the new team logos.

EDITED TO ADD that it is indeed Matty Alou-- from google:
https://baseballhall.org/discover/ca...oug-mcwilliams

Scroll down some and you'll see both Alou cards, alongside an interesting interview of the photographer, which included this little nugget:
"Q: BM
Topps photographers regularly used to take photographs of players without their caps, or with their caps turned upward so as hide the logo. This made it easier for Topps to adjust when a player changed teams. Did you do this with all players, or only with players who were more likely to change from team to team?

A: DM (photographer Doug McWilliams)
I was never asked to do that. I think that went out maybe my first year in 1972. I did have an assignment to do Matty Alou and Dal Maxvill late in 1972 with the A’s, and when the cards came out, Matty was wearing a Yankees uniform, badly airbrushed. They had sent me some cards during that winter, to show me some samples of what my cards would look like, as it was my first year shooting for them, with no printing on the back side. One was of Matty Alou, in an A’s uniform. I think it has a good dollar value."

Impressive detective work.

[UKCardGuy]

Originally Posted by Cliff Bowman

What blows my mind is the non existent card of the Indians pitcher next to Ken Holtzman that deweyinthehall spotted is badly miscut.

Well, at least Topps was consistent from proofs to the production runs... Centering on the 1973 set is horrible. There's a pretty good video on YouTube about the idiosyncrasies of the 73T set here https://youtu.be/kGRRPIVbiUI

[JollyElm]

Originally Posted by UKCardGuy

Well, at least Topps was consistent from proofs to the production runs... Centering on the 1973 set is horrible. There's a pretty good video on YouTube about the idiosyncrasies of the 73T set here https://youtu.be/kGRRPIVbiUI

That video (and another 1973 one by him) was tremendously cool!

[deweyinthehall]

Originally Posted by UKCardGuy

Well, at least Topps was consistent from proofs to the production runs... Centering on the 1973 set is horrible. There's a pretty good video on YouTube about the idiosyncrasies of the 73T set here https://youtu.be/kGRRPIVbiUI

OMG this is a GREAT video! Can't wait to see what he does next.