"GIMME A DO-OVER"- PART XVII: 1970 #40 RICH ALLEN

Not too long ago I profiled the mystery surrounding the 1972 Topps Dick Allen card, which used a photo of him that was already used on his 1970 card. The image used for both cards showed Allen from the late '60's as a Phillies player, so technically this photo was outdated for BOTH the 1972 AND the 1970 card.

In 1970 he was playing for the St. Louis Cardinals, while by 1972 he was on his way to an M.V.P. award with the Chicago White Sox.

In addition to all of this, back in 1970 he was still being called "Rich" or "Richie", before baseball came around (according to Allen himself) and began calling him by his preferred "Dick" nickname that he grew up with.

Anyway, for that original post I redesigned his 1972 card with a proper image of him, but it still left his 1970 card to deal with.

Today I correct that 1970 card, and add a little historical twist while doing so.

One of my earliest posts was about how Richie Allen's 1971 card was the first one Topps ever produced that showed a player with a mustache. Believe it or not, it's true.

However, if Topps would have used a "current" photo of Allen for his 1970 issue, this would have actually been the first. 

I do realize that to many, this really doesn't carry too much historical weight. But to a card nerd like me, it actually matters, and I am at peace with it…

So without further delay, here's a redesigned 1970 Topps Richie Allen card showing him as a St. Louis Cardinal, and a historic mustache.

 

1970 "Rich" Allen as-issued by Topps using old photo.

 

My redesign using a smiling, mustached Allen in a Cardinal uniform.

THE MYSTERY OF DICK ALLEN AND HIS 1972 TOPPS CARD

One of those card mysteries that has puzzled me for all these years was Topps card of Richie (Dick) Allen in their 1972 set.

By now Allen was a bona fide star in the Majors, and was actually on his way to be the A.L. M.V.P. in 1972. And even though he was traded to the White Sox in December of 1971 from the Dodgers, which made it difficult for Topps to have a "correct" image of him, it was strange that Topps ended up using a terribly outdated picture of Allen for his card.

As a matter of fact, Topps ended up using an image that they already used for their 1970 Richie Allen card. If you look at the 1970 card below, you can see "Phillies" peeking out on the front of his jersey. They just cropped it tighter when they used it again in 1972.

What makes the card especially outdated was the fact that Allen's facial features changed considerably between the 1970 shot and what he looked like by the time he was a White Sox. By then he was sporting a nice set of sharp sideburns with full mustache, and as we all know from one of my early posts, his 1971 card was actually the first Topps card in their history that depicted a player with facial hair. 

So to go back to an older photo was really odd. Why not just go ahead and use a shot of him during his Dodger tenure? Or what about his season with the Cardinals? Did Topps really not have an image from the previous two years that they could use?

Well, what I did was redesign the 1972 card not only with a proper image, but with his name as "Dick" rather than "Richie", since by the time he was playing in Chicago he was insisting on the former as his first name.

Allen really was such an interesting athlete, and I wish I was old enough to actually see him play before he hung them up in 1977. Truly one of the enigmatic figures in professional sports not only in the 1970's, but in American history. Turmoil seemed to follow him around wherever he played, whether it was justified or not.

Clearly a Phillies jersey on his 1970 card.

Same image as the '70 card. Cropped a little tighter.

Better image and proper first name for the 1972 A.L. M.V.P.

THE MISSING ALL-STAR CARDS: 1971 TOPPS: NATIONAL LEAGUE

Today we have the 1971 Topps National League all stars "that never were".

For the N.L. players who were elected starters in 1970, I used a yellow border and star to designate "all star" status, as opposed to the red I used on the A.L. guys.

A couple of items of note: Rich (Dick) Allen is shown on his card as an outfielder even though he was voted in as the starting 1st Baseman. Also, as I profiled before: this is the first Topps baseball card showing a player with a mustache. Ever. Incredible after 20 years of producing cards at that time.

For Tom Seaver this would have been his only all star card until 1982, when he was on Cincinnati. Pretty amazing when you think about it. For all his domination in the 1970's, it was guys like Dock Ellis, Randy Jones, Andy Messersmith and Jerry Reuss that got all star starts over him.

Chicago was well represented with their middle infielders: Glenn Beckert and Don Kessinger. Of course, this was before the "Big Red Machine" dominated all star voting pretty much the rest of the decade.

Rico Carty was voted in for the 1970 game due to his white-hot hitting, ending the season as the N.L. batting champ with a super .366 batting average to go along with 25 homers and 101 R.B.I.'s.

Tomorrow I'll have the A.L. starting nine depicted on the 1972 Topps set, followed by the N.L. team on Thursday.

 

 

A BASEBALL FIRST OF A DIFFERENT NATURE...

It seems incredible to believe, but there was a time in the not too distant past that men wearing mustaches was NOT appropriate for "appropriate" society. As a matter of fact, for professional baseball, we were already a couple of years into the 1970's before a player showed up to Spring training wearing one. Problem is, baseball has what is becoming one of those legends that is actually NOT true, so let's set the record straight and give credit where credit is due.

As you know, legend has it that in 1972 Reggie Jackson showed up to Spring training wearing a "scraggly" mustache (as Rollie Fingers would state years later), and it lead to a challenge for all players to grow one of their own, all in the name of publicity for the eternal showman owner Charlie Finley. Of course, as we all know by now, this team of rebellious ball players with nicknames like "Catfish" Hunter and  "Blue Moon" Odom were on their way to three consecutive championships, and were as colorful a bunch as any in baseball history.

Problem is, though they are credited as the players (specifically Reggie) to usher in the hairy decade that was the 1970's, it was another, even MORE rebellious player who sported the first "soup strainer" to be seen on a baseball card in the modern era: Richie Allen and his 1971 regular issue Topps card (#650).

Allen, who some would say re-defined the term "head case", played his only season as a Dodger in 1971. But since Topps issued him as part of their last series of the set, they were able to have him in the correct uniform, and as history would have it, sporting his 'stache for all to see and admire.

As a short-print card in a later series on an already above-average valued set (because of the sensitive black borders and card condition), the card carries a decent price tag. But for all you quirky sub-set collectors out there, this may be the easiest "1st" out there: the very first Topps baseball card to show a mustachioed player.

Richie Allen with his groundbreaking 'stache