The Cubs were in the trading mood after the 1973 season, dumping several of the stars of the '69 team. Among those traded was second baseman Glenn Beckert. He was sent to the Padres for outfielder Jerry Morales.
The deal was made on November 7, 1973. Topps had already made up the 1974 Beckert card with him as a Cub, and apparently there wasn't time to do much with it. What they did do was change the team and border colors to match a Padre card, but as you can see...
...they left the picture alone. They didn't switch to a hatless photo, or one where they look up at the player, hiding his hat. And they didn't fire up the 'ol airbrush either.
I wonder if Beckert felt slighted, knowing that Topps didn't care enough about him to do anything with his picture. After all, the Padres had acquired future Hall of Famer Willie McCovey in October, 1973 (just 13 days before Beckert) and look what Topps did for Willie
A magnificent airbrush job!
I couldn't let this injustice from 38 year ago go on, so I took it upon myself to create a cheesy airbrushed card for the former Cub.
Behold!!
It was fun to not have to care how good the card looked! If I was too good with Photoshop, the card wouldn't look like a Topps job. So instead, I was sloppy, and I think I got it right! I even kept the red stripe on the Cubs uniform sleeve since Topps never paid that much attention to any details.
A bad Photoshop job; an injustice remedied!
You're welcome, Mr. Beckert.
Awesome.
ReplyDeleteI like the airbrushed version but the original action pose is one of my favorites. I had a few ideas. Check your email.
ReplyDelete