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.

1975 Topps Red Sox Throwbacks (part 3)

Here is the third and final installment of our 1975-style Topps cards of current Red Sox in '75 uniforms, inspired by their two throwback games earlier this season. Since these games happened in May and June:

1) Mike Napoli was traded to Texas;
2) Jackie Bradley Jr., turned into Baseball Jesus;
3) Wade Miley chopped off his long locks;
4) Koji Uehara suffered a freak injury and was lost for the season. Woof.
5) The Red Sox became fun and entertaining again.

1975 Topps Red Sox Throwbacks (part 2)

As promised, the second batch of 1975 Topps Red Sox retro cards, inspired by the Sox' pair of games in '75 uniforms to honor the AL champs from that year. While Topps didn't give managers their own cards in '75 (they were lumped in with the team cards), I decided to give John Farrell his own card here.

The original Pedroia photo has a copyright line that I wiped out:

1975 Topps Red Sox Throwbacks (part 1)

 

    

Earlier this season, the Red Sox honored their 1975 AL championship team by playing a pair of games in spot-on '75 throwback uniforms, complete with pullover jerseys, elastic waistbands, red hats and striped socks. Even the lettering, ever-so-slightly different from the current uniforms, is reproduced with 100 percent accuracy. Which is good, because bitching about inaccurate throwbacks might be the Internet's favorite pastime.

Presented here is the first batch of '75 Topps-style cards of the Sox in their throwbacks. Parts 2 and 3 will appear over the next week or so.

And yes, I know the real '75s show pictures of the '74 Sox in their blue hats (the red hats didn't debut until the '75 season, after the cards were printed), but I opted to use the kick-arse '75 design anyway. I also slightly faded and pixelated the photos to give them more of a '70s Topps feel. Unlike the real 75s, these lack facsimile autographs. Just like the real '75s, there are centering issues.

Two other things:

1) Brock Holt has to be the only player with an "IF-OF" all-star designation on a baseball card;

2) Am I the only one who thinks Ryan Hanigan looks like that guy in Zack and Miri Make a Porno?

1967 Topps Sparky Lyle

When "Sparky Lyle" and "Red Sox" are brought up in the same sentence, the infamous Danny Cater trade with the Yankees in 1972 is usually always the first thing that comes to mind. But Lyle had a fine rookie year for the '67 Sox in limited duty (2.28 ERA, 156 ERA+ in 43 1/3 innings). Alas, is was limited enough that Topps declined to put Lyle on a card until 1969. Here's his what-might-have-been from '67, taken at his future home in the Bronx Zoo. We'll look at that Cater guy in a future post.

1975 Hostess Marichal, Cooper

Nineteen seventy-five was a watershed year for a few reasons:

1) I was born;
2) The Red Sox went to the World Series;
3) Hostess began its five-year run of baseball cards.

Any baseball fan who grew up in the 1970s likely has fond memories of chowing through a combination of flour, artificial chocolate flavoring and high-fructose corn syrup while cutting a Pete Rose or Mike Schmidt off a box of Hostess dessert-like product. Of course, any youngster with a Hostess card was likely to "adorn" it with jagged edges and cupcake stains. It may have ruined the monetary value, but likely sent the nostalgia value through the roof. 

Here are a couple of '75 Hostess cards that didn't make the cut: past-his-prime Hall of Famer Juan Marichal, who pitched for the Sox in '74, and first baseman Cecil Cooper, who went on to greater success with the Brewers from 1977-87 while the Sox plowed through a half-dozen or so first basemen. 

Marichal-with-the-Sox is a popular fantasy card subject, but I'm pretty certain this is his first Hostess creation. Have some Ho-Hos and celebrate!

1955 Topps Sammy White

Since we're having so much fun with Red Sox catchers lately, let's do another one. Sammy White was sort of the poor man's Jason Varitek -- his offensive numbers were far from Tek's level, but by all accounts he was a master at handling a pitching staff, a la Tek. You can read more about Mr. White here.

White was a Bowman exclusive in '54 and '55, which gives me a chance to create a Topps card for him. The head shot is same one used in the '56 Topps set, while the "action" shot is from one those glorious TCMA old-timers sets from the 1970s-80s. God, I loved those cards. Good, cheap quasi-unlicenesed cards of good-to-great players ... Excuse me, I have to go buy some now.