C.A.: 1975 Hostess Rusty Staub (and my latest Beckett Vintage article)

(Welcome back to the blog. It's National Peanut Butter Fudge Day today. Have you done your part? My dad used to make the best fudge. It was the only food-making thing he did. I miss it. Time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 296th in a series):

 

The December/January issue of Beckett Vintage Magazine started reaching subscribers' mailboxes last week.

I am a subscriber myself but I have yet to get my magazine. I think there was a mix-up with my renewal date and whoever keeps tabs on that stuff. I may have to make a follow-up call next week.

But in the mean time, my sister-in-law -- yes, she has a subscription -- was nice enough to mail off her copy so I could do a proper promotion job on the blog! She's the best sister-in-law ever. Talk about a friend of the blog!

That is the latest issue with Mike Singletary on the front. But take a gander at the bottom left corner! Yes, those are my cards! Yes, that is my article! Yes, I made the cover! Sort of.

The article addresses a favorite topic among collectors, particularly ones my age -- airbrushed cards and the fantastic disasters that passed for baseball cards in the '60s, '70s and '80s.

Most of my focus is on the '70s, because that's what I know best, but also it's where you can have the most fun when writing an article. I wanted this to be fun, and because Topps had absolutely no fear when it came to airbrushing in the '70s, that is where the fun resided.

For those collectors and bloggers familiar with the '70s, this is well-traveled territory. I've done a number of airbrushing posts on my own blog. But it's cool to get it all in one slick, magazine article and see all of those wonderful cards in one place.

A separate part of the article addresses 15 memorable airbrushings in which I single out examples. Some of the famous examples are there but I tried to spread it out a little.

One of the cards I wanted to highlight is the 1975 Hostess Rusty Staub card (you know, what this Cardboard Appreciation post is about). It really belongs in the airbrushing Hall of Fame.

I wanted so much to get this card in the article that I had to buy it online, because I like the scans for the magazine to be from my collection if I can help it. The Hostess Staub didn't make it to my house in time, though, and we had to improvise to get the image in the magazine. But, no harm, the wonderful card is here with me now.

The mystifying part of this card is the old photo that was used. Hostess used Topps photos for most of its '70s cards. Staub did not have a licensing agreement with Topps during the early 1970s, but by 1974 he was back in Topps sets and appearing in an actual Mets uniform. The same goes for the 1975 set.

So why is Staub painted into a Mets helmet on his 1975 Hostess card?

The even better part of the picture is that someone went about painting Mets pinstripes on to Staub's Expos jersey but either ran out of ink or simply gave up. The half-finished look of the card continues on to the fact that Staub is wearing Mets and Expos logos at the same time!!! Well now, that ties the whole card together!

Glorious.

Staub, after all, was Le Grand Orange. He could do it all.

I'll let you read my flippant comments about the other airbrushed examples in the article on your own time. I tried to reference as many examples as I could, but there is no way I could fit them all even into a long-form article.

So, like I often do when a new magazine article comes out -- this is my eighth already -- I am adding a postscript here on the blog.

Here are five more references to famous airbrushed cards to make the 15 in the magazine an even 20.

Paul Lindblad and Bill Hands, 1973 Topps

Honestly, both of these should have been in the article, but there is such a thing as overdosing on 1973 airbrushing examples. There are TOO many. '73 Topps alone could be a two-part series.

The Hands has been addressed on this blog and everywhere on the internet: how the heck is a Twins pitcher throwing in Wrigley Field 23 years before the start of interleague play?

The Linblad deserves mention because it's one of those full-body airbrushing jobs but also because he looks like a crossing guard with a reflective hat, belt and socks. There's no way the drivers won't see those kiddies crossing the street.

1977 Topps and OPC Richie Zisk

No O-Pee-Chee references in the magazine story, unfortunately. But if there was, this would be one of the first. I've also mentioned the airbrushing and re-cropping of the Zisk card on the blog.

 

1974 Topps Angels half dozen

Yeah, I know, "this is way more than five, night owl!". I like to break my own rules.

I always feel a bit bad for collectors of teams who are forced to accumulate multiple airbrushing examples to complete their set. With the '74 Angels, I'm not even including the Joe Lahoud and Denny Doyle examples, which are also both airbrushed but are less obvious examples because both players are looking to the sky.

The Monteagudo example looks pretty good, and it could be an actual Angels hat. But I'm suspicious because he pitched in just 15 games for the Angels in '73 and before that he was in the minors in 1971 and 1972.

1976 Topps Dave Nelson

 

The '76 Topps set stands out, compared with the sets that came immediately before it, and those immediately after it in that it has relatively few obvious airbrushed examples (traded set excluded, of course).

 

It's for that reason that when you do see an airbrushed card in 1976, it REALLY looks weird. And Dave Nelson's card is one of those.

 

I love the "satin finish" that some airbrushers placed on caps with some of the cards in the first half of the '70s. It does make me wonder what it would be like to watch a game with players wearing satin hats.

 

 

1973 Topps Ken Aspromonte

I'll throw a manager card in here to end this. I don't know why but airbrushed manager cards amuse me on another level. I guess it's because I consider the manager the main team representative and he can't even wear the proper team gear! That hat is positively GLOWING.

I could go on and on and on about other airbrushing examples. There are so many and they are so much fun.

So, if you like that kind of thing, pick up a copy. Yes, it's 10 bucks. It's also packed with interesting stuff, which is a lot more than I can say about a 2020 blaster, which costs twice as much.

 

Now, they just got to get it to my house.