A Tale of Two Tigers

Pardon me if I've been a little 1972-heavy lately, but I found another interesting pair of cards, one famous (or infamous), the other not so much.

In 1972, Billy Martin was managing the Detroit Tigers. After a successful but tumultuous 1969 season with the Twins, Martin was fired. The Tigers hired him in 1971, which is when this notorious picture was taken. I guess the photographer caught Billy on a bad day, so classless Martin flips him (and kids across America) the bird.



Most of you have probably seen the Martin bird card already. But here is a very similar card of another Tiger.



Al Kaline strikes almost the exact same pose as his manager. But that is where the similarities end. Kaline was an icon in Detroit, and still is today. He's a classy Hall of Famer.

And he keeps his fingers where they belong!