Many of the National League photos in the Topps 1969 set were taken at Shea Stadium. But for some unknown reason, there are eleven cards in the set that feature pictures taken at Wrigley Field of players who played for the Reds in 1967.
And even stranger, only one Cubs player in the entire set has a Wrigley Field photo.
So why did Topps not take pictures of the Reds at Shea? And if they were taking Reds at Wrigley, why not shoot the Cubs too?
Here are the eleven 1967 Reds at Wrigley. Of the eleven, six were still with Cincinnati in 1969. The others had moved on to other team, but Topps used hatless pictures of them from their Reds days for the cards.
#5, Tommy Harper: Look over his left shoulder and you can see a Waveland Avenue apartment building.
#81, Mel Queen: With the brick wall behind him, this one is pretty easy to identify as Wrigley.
#179, Don Pavletich, the grandstand roof, plus the Waveland apartment building identify this card as a Wrigley card.
#213, Gerry Arrigo, one of the easiest in the bunch, the scoreboard is a dead giveaway.
#265, Chico Cardenas, this is the one card I wouldn't swear to as Wrigley, but Cardenas did play for the Reds in 1967 and it looks like the Wrigley wall behind him.
#295, Tony Perez, another easy one, with a nice look at the third base grandstands.
#297, Derron Johnson, another, not as good look, at the Wrigley grandstands
#405, Lee May, you can see the ivy and bleachers behind him.
#469, Chico Ruiz, another easy one, with the brick wall giving it away.
#581, Gary Nolan, with the brick wall and Wrigley grandstands behind him.
#608, Dick Simpson, with the grandstands behind him.
And this is the only Cubs player at Wrigley in the set, Ken Holtzman, and it was from the same photo shoot that Topps used in 1967 and 1968 (these are the '68 and '69 cards).
#81, Mel Queen: With the brick wall behind him, this one is pretty easy to identify as Wrigley.
#179, Don Pavletich, the grandstand roof, plus the Waveland apartment building identify this card as a Wrigley card.
#213, Gerry Arrigo, one of the easiest in the bunch, the scoreboard is a dead giveaway.
#265, Chico Cardenas, this is the one card I wouldn't swear to as Wrigley, but Cardenas did play for the Reds in 1967 and it looks like the Wrigley wall behind him.
#295, Tony Perez, another easy one, with a nice look at the third base grandstands.
#297, Derron Johnson, another, not as good look, at the Wrigley grandstands
#405, Lee May, you can see the ivy and bleachers behind him.
#469, Chico Ruiz, another easy one, with the brick wall giving it away.
#581, Gary Nolan, with the brick wall and Wrigley grandstands behind him.
#608, Dick Simpson, with the grandstands behind him.
And this is the only Cubs player at Wrigley in the set, Ken Holtzman, and it was from the same photo shoot that Topps used in 1967 and 1968 (these are the '68 and '69 cards).
Isn't that the great thing about Wrigley, that though there have been some changes over the years, it's stayed pretty much the same. I like the old left field catwalk and the painted gable on the roof beyond on Waveland in the Holtzman photo. I just went by there two days ago on the EL.
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