A 1980s Card Part 33 - 1981 Topps Bob Forsch

There are few reasons to airbrush the picture on the front of a baseball card. Almost all of them involve free agents signings, or players who have been traded.  The most famous airbrushed Cardinals card of the 1980s has to be the 1987 Topps Mike Laga card. 

Laga was on the Tigers for a few years in the early 1980s, but was traded to the Cardinals, along with Ken Hill, for catcher Mike Heath.  Nothing like covering up a Tigers jersey by airbrushing it pink, and calling it a Cardinals card.  If you look over Laga's right shoulder you can see a player with a grey Tigers jersey, with the blue and orange trim.  At least Topps got the hat to be red.

So, why would a card company airbrush a card of a player who has been on a team for a long time?  I honestly have no idea.  Bob Forsch spent almost his entire career with the Cardinals.  He pitched one year with the Astros, I believe his final season.  Forsch's rookie year was in 1974, so he was in his 7th season with the Cardinals by the time 1981 rolled around. 

Here is the card.  Notice the hat. 

It looks like it is floating above his head.  I am not really sure why there would be a reason to airbrush this card.  Even more bizarre is the fact that Topps made another card of Forsch in 1981, and they even used the same picture.  Well, almost the same.  

This is the 1981 Topps Coca-Cola card.  

The hat on the Coca-Cola card looks like it is unaltered.  You can also see the difference in the reds on the two cards.  Check out the hat, the numbers on the sleeve of his jersey, and the undershirt on the right side of the card.  That is the color red that the Cardinals wear.  It almost feels like the top card was airbrushed just to dull the color red.  I simply have no idea why Topps would change the color on their regular Bob Forsch card. 

Bizarre that it is airburshed at all. 

Just for the sake of having a reference point, I found a non-baseball card photo of Forsch from the early 1980s.  The uniform is slightly different in terms of style, but you can see the red color matches the Coke card. 

Here is the back of the 1981 Topps card.  

The back shows Forsch's career numbers, and makes mention of the fact that he had thrown a no-hitter.  The no-hitter mentioned took place in 1978 against the Phillies.  The video shows Forsch getting Larry Bowa as the last out. 

He threw another no-hitter against the Expos in 1983, the only Cardinals pitcher to have thrown two for the team.  Forsch passed away in 2011, but the Cardinals inducted him into their Hall of Fame in 2015.  

A 1980s Card Part 12 - 1981 Fleer Bob Forsch

Love the hair style.  Never really associated Bob Forsch with having a perm, but apparently it happened at some point during the 1980 season.  It looks like he changed hairstyles with Tommy Herr for a season.....

The jersey is also really off on this card.  Fleer clearly did not airbrush it or anything, Forsch is actually wearing a jersey that looks like he bought it cheap off of Ebay.  The actual powder blue Cardinals uniforms had a better looking bird on the bat, and also the number on the front of the jersey.

This is more like it.

I am not sure I have ever seen a Cardinals player wear a jersey like that on a card that has not been airbrushed.  

Overall, this card makes me question whether or not Will Ferrell has ever made a baseball movie?  If he did, I am pretty sure that the 1981 Fleer Bob Forsch card could be the mock up for his character. 

It is not hard to get from his basketball movie......

to that picture of Bob Forsch.  

Back of the card.  

Forsch was always a decent pitcher.  He won a bunch of games, lost a bunch of games, did not strike out very many hitters, but somehow always managed to keep the ball in the park and runs off the board.  I like that the 1980s Fleer cards always show the players complete stat line including their time in the Minors, no matter their age.

30 Year Top 50: 1999 Sports Illustrated Greats of the Game

#10- I already did a write up about this set during the past fall that involved old men in card shops around St. Louis telling the same story about buying boxes of the 1999 Sports Illustrated Greats of the Game.  Basically, the boxes were either hot, meaning you landed several really great autographs, or cold meaning you just wasted $200.  While there had been other baseball card products that featured a per pack autograph, the Greats of Game set focused exclusively on retired players, with many of the set's signers being notable names.

1999 Sports Illustrated Greats of the Game Steve Carlton Autograph

While there was a base set of unsigned cards featuring Sports Illustrated covers and photographs, the main focus for most collectors were the autographs.  The autographs all generally follow the format of the Steve Carlton autograph above.  The main picture on the card were either a Sports Illustrated cover, or a picture from a Sports Illustrated magazine.  The bottom of the card featured a white box where the player was supposed to sign and the side of the card always had a blue strip with the words Autograph Collection running bottom to top.  

1999 Sports Illustrated Greats of the Game Bob Gibson Autograph

As previously mentioned, the autographs in each box ran hot and cold.  Some boxes would yield a high number of high end hits featuring premier Hall of Famers such as Nolan Ryan, Hank Aaron, and Willie Mays.  However, Fleer did a great job putting together a great list of signers for this set making sure that the checklist for each team was deep.  Most teams have multiple Hall of Fame signees and a wide range of other interesting names available.  For example, my Cardinals have the usual group of players that you would expect to appear in a set featuring the Greats of the Game.  

1999 Sports Illustrated Greats of the Game Stan Musial

However, they made sure to also include players with significance that would be highly collectable among the teams fan base.  Some of the players who signed for this set have few autographs out on the market making their autograph in this set highly desirable.  For the Cardinals, this set is home to the only certified autograph of pitcher Bob Forsch.  Certainly not a Hall of Fame player, but he had a long career with the team and pitched two no-hitters.  For a Cardinals fan this is a great card to pick add to your collection, but that can be said of many of the cards in this set.  

1999 Sports Illustrated Greats of the Game Bob Forsch Autograph

This set is a classic of the past 30 years and is a fun set to track down.  Especially the autographs.  While some of the higher end autographs have dried up on the secondary market there are still some really good autographs floating around at great prices.  One of the hidden gems of the set is the Chicago Cubs team set which features seven autographs, but five of them are Hall of Famers.  All five of the Hall of Famers: Fergie Jenkins, Ernie Banks, Andre Dawson, Ron Santo, and Buck O'Neil can all be found pretty easily and will most cost less than $25 on a good day.  Banks might be a little pricey.  Whatever your team, or player, these are fun to find.  

A little hint on my next set?  This isn't the best Greats of Game set.