Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Same Photo Shoot Four Years Running

In this post I mentioned that the 1972 card of Cubs manager Leo Durocher featured the first new photos of Leo since 1968. I thought you might like to see the four year run from the same photo shoot.

Maybe Leo just didn't like to have his picture taken (though from what I remember about him, he loved to get his name and picture out there). He began managing the Cubs in 1966 but his first Cubs card, 1967, features an airbrush job of a picture probably taken when he was coaching with the Dodgers in the early 1960's. The Topps photographers must have missed him in 1966.



The1968 card looks nice. This was taken at Shea Stadium probably in 1967. We get a nice head shot of Leo.



In the 1969 card, we have longer shot, still at Shea. His face looks almost the same as the '68 card. He is wearing the same blue-collared shirt under his jersey. It looks like the camera man just pulled back a little and over to the side.



The 1970 card is almost exactly the same as the 1969 card. His pose is slightly different, but it looks like Leo is holding the same item behind his back in both cards.



Finally, the 1971 card goes back to a head shot similar to the '68 card. The uniform he is wearing is pre-1969 (when the Cubs removed the red piping from the neck and sleeves) and he is wearing the same blue collared shirt under his jersey. You can also see a little bit of Shea over his right shoulder. This has to be from the same shoot as the previous three.



And here we have the 1972 card, which is obviously not the same shoot as the previous four. This was also his last Cubs card.



I know that today collectors get ticked off when Topps uses the same photos in different products or two years in a row. But can anyone find another run where the same shoot was used four straight years?

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