Up first is this Fergie Jenkins patch from the 1971 All Star game at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Fergie pitched the sixth inning and gave up a two run homer to Harmon Killebrew. It was one of six home runs hit that night. All six were hit by future hall of famers (Aaron, Clemente, Bench, Frank Robinson, Killebrew, and Reggie Jackson). Jackson's blast was the most famous, hitting a transformer on a light tower on the roof of the stadium.
This is from Ryne Sandberg's appearance in the 1985 All Star game at the Metrodome. The highlights from that game were on MLB Network a couple weeks ago. I got to see Ryno strike out in his only at bat.
The third card was Sandberg's from the last time the All Star game was at Anaheim Stadium, 1989. Ryne was the NL's starting second baseman and batted eighth. He was 0-3 in the game with two strikeouts! Ouch!
While I like these cards, I do have a gripe. The pictures don't match the game. The 1971 game was in Detroit, so Fergie would have worn his away uniform. Why not get a picture of him in the road uni? Same with the Sandberg '89 card. It's got him in a home uniform instead of the road blues. In fact, the home uni Topps shows wasn't worn by the Cubs until 1990. In 1989 they were still wearing the pullover tops. Only the '85 Sandberg got it right...road uniform for the correct era.
Apparently, the patch cards are fairly popular because Topps continues to make them. Me... I'm not a big fan. A patch made just for a card is not appealing.
ReplyDeleteAnd, then, like you said, they don't bother to match the uniforms with the games. I'll pass.