1973 Topps Danny Cater

Danny Cater. I heard a rumor once that the Sox dealt a pretty fair pitcher for him.

All wisecracks aside, at least then-Red Sox GM Dick O'Connell admitted it was the worst trade he ever made (If one of my dog-eared, taped-up, pages-falling out Baseball Hall of Shame books from my childhood servers me correctly). Lou Gorman, on the other hand, continued to defend the Jeff Bagwell trade until his dying day, sadly.

Topps gave Cater a card in '73 worthy of his tenure in Boston: capless photo, Yankee pinstripes in obvious view, hair flying everywhere as if he were yanked out of the clubhouse for a photo before he could put a comb to it ... this card is truly worthy of someone who compiled a 2.0 WAR over three seasons while Sparky Lyle was 8.4 over that same span, and he probably sat in twice as many birthday cakes.

That said, we're going to give Cater a decent-looking '73 card anyway. Cater looks like one of those guys who was caught off-guard by baseball's switch to double-knits in the early 70s, kinda like hair bands who were swept away by grunge in the early '90s -- which didn't stop the crue-heads in my high school from sporting leather jackets and spiky hair during the Nirvana era. Cater here just looks as if he'd be more comfortable in baggy flannel. Nineteen-seventies skin-tight knits were never meant for doughy players; trust me, I know what I'm talking about.

The original Cater is on the left; the new version is on the right.