Cards That Never Were By Tim D: Part 3

Here's another round of Cards That Never Were by Tim D! The descriptions are in Tim D's own words.

1971 Topps - George Foster

I thought George Foster should have gotten his own rookie card in 1971.

1971 Topps - Tony LaRussa

Former White Sox manager, Tony LaRussa had a whopping 123 plate appearances (PA) with the Oakland Athletics in 1970. They made a 1970 card for him (1969 = 8 PA), and a 1972 card with the Braves (1971 = 16 PA, 8 w/Oakland and 8 w/Atlanta). Thought it was funny they never made a 1971 card... here it is. Too bad he didn't play as well as he managed teams.

1974 Topps - Robin Yount

Rockin' Robin Yount. Hated, but respected him. I thought he was born near Champaign, IL. Would have loved to see him on the Sox. "We must never have another motorcycle in camp" - Manager Dutch Schnell "Bang The Drum Slowly"

1975 Topps - Gary Carter

Gary Carter - 1975 card. Expos should have figured out Barry Foote was not the answer and brought Gary up a lot earlier.

Tim, these look fantastic, as usual! Thanks, as always, for sharing!

Son Of Cards That Never Were By Tim D

A surprise landed in my e-mail inbox the other day. It was another custom card from Tim D! This time the subject was one near and dear to this blog, a White Sox player that never made it to Opening Day. I'll let Tim D take it from here.

"Native Chicagoan, Fritz Peterson (who grew up a White Sox fan I might add), was mostly known as a Yankee and an Indian. He had rotator cuff surgery as a member of the Texas Rangers. In Feb 1977, he signed with the White Sox. I was hoping the surgery would bring him back to his 1970 20 game win form. Can you imagine if it had... he and Stoney pitching... and Gamble and Zisk cranking them out? Instead of 3rd, maybe they would have been 2nd, or maybe even a 1st place team that year. Anyhow... wishful thinking.... Here is Fritz in a 1977 White Sox uniform. Unfortunately, the real story is he threw three decent pitches in a Spring Training game with the Sox against St Louis... all of the sudden something didn't feel right... and he couldn't get the 4th pitch over the plate. It was the end for Fritz. It would have been nice to see him end his career with the team he grew up loving."
But that wasn't all. The next day another custom from Tim D arrived in my e-mail.

"Before Munson coined him "Mr October", his nickname was "Jax". As you know the A's dealt him and Kenny Holtzman to the O's for Mike Torrez and Don Baylor. I think this looks like the other 1976 Topps Traded cards I've seen."
Great job, Tim! Thanks for sharing!

Cards That Never Were By Tim D

I suppose myself and a handful of other bloggers have inspired others to make their own interpretations of missing or neglected cards. I, for one, think this turn of events is awesome! It just goes to show that you can't keep a good person down, if they want to see something badly enough.

The following cards were submitted to me by "Tim D". The first pair that showed up in my e-mail inbox showcased a grievous error by Topps. Rusty Staub did not appear in the 1972 Topps set.

Rusty, known as "Le Grand Orange" in Canada, was even denied an O-Pee-Chee card in 1972. I'm unsure as to why he was left out. He had played injured plenty of times and spent most of July and all of August 1972 out with a hand injury. Perhaps Topps felt that he would not make it back before the end of the season. Another theory may involve an unsigned contract for the 1972 season. These are all just speculation though.

Now, thanks to Tim D, we can see what those Rusty Staub cards might have looked like.
Rusty was traded from the Montreal Expos to the New York Mets on April 5, 1972, so Tim D included a regular issue Expos card and a Traded Mets card.

The next card isn't technically missing from Topps 1976 set, but an updated card was made.
Willie Randolph was featured on a four way rookie card in the regular set and had a Traded card in a Yankees uniform in 1976. This awesome update gives Willie a standalone card with a great smile included at no extra charge.

Thanks Tim D! You do great work!