MISSING IN ACTION "IN ACTION: #61: WES PARKER

It’s been a little while since I added to the missing 1972 “In Action” series, so today I post one up for former Gold Glove first baseman Wes Parker, aka “Mr. Steady” of the Los Angeles Dodgers:

Parker was just a season off of his fantastic 1970 campaign when he hit .319 with 196 hits with 10 home runs and 111 runs batted in with a league-leading 47 doubles.
Really an anomaly since before that he never batted higher than .278, or drove in more than 68 runs.
Nevertheless the man was a fantastic defensive player as evidenced by his six consecutive Gold Glove Awards between 1967 and 1972.
After the 1972 season Parker, then only 32 years old, retired from baseball, cutting his then nine-year career short.
I can’t really find anything online as to why, since it doesn’t seem to be injury, but it did open up the position for a young stud out of Michigan (and SHOULD-BE Hall of Famer) Steve Garvey.
Anyone know why Parker retired?
I do remember him becoming an actor and even appearing on The Brady Bunch once, but as to why he left the game so early on is beyond me...

"WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!"- PART I

Today's post is the first in what I hope will be a recurring series called "What Were They Thinking?!", which will highlight random cards from the 1970's that used awful photographs, or were inexplicably cropped, etc.

The reason I even thought of doing this was because I was recently reminded of that awful photo Topps used for Steve Garvey's 1973 card #213.

Seriously, who on earth looked at this photo and thought, "PERFECT. That's what we'll use!"??? Was this really the best photo they had on file for Garvey?

You know, I have a theory: perhaps Wes Parker had some relative working for Topps, and THEY were the one to slip this shot in there. What else would explain how Parker is actually the player prominently displayed on the card?

Sure, there's a bit of karma here in that Garvey ended up taking Parkers job over at first base that very season, but come on. Why didn't the photographer wait the extra couple seconds until Garvey was in the shot unobstructed?

Actually, the 1973 set will garner a ton of attention for this on-going series since it is littered with terrible photography, especially for many of the horizontal cards used that year. (I already have "Part II written, and it depicts one of the all-time hilarious classics from the '73 set).

As I was perusing the "Topps Baseball Cards" book last night, I was reminded of how bad many of those cards really were, especially some pictures that seemed like they were taken from the ballpark parking lot or through a telescope!

OK, but that will be for a different day. Today, we celebrate the folly that was THIS card:

"Is that Garvey peeking over Parker's shoulder?"

A revised "quickie" with a better photo