Card Lies: 1994 Upper Deck Ron Santo

1994 Upper Deck All-Time Heroes #201 - Ron Santo

Someone at Upper Deck had a brilliant idea.

"Why not do a set of All-Time heroes? This way, we can dip into the past and show that we're not just about current major league players, we are all about the history of the game."

Perhaps that was suggested by DeWayne Buice, when he was picking up one of his settlement checks from the company. Perhaps not.

No matter how the idea for this set came about, it was inspired. When it came to the selection of Ron Santo, I imagine the conversation went something like this...

"What about Ron Santo?"

"Yeah, he has a cult following in Chicago. Some are even suggesting he be elected to the Hall of Fame. Sure! He's a great Cubs guy."

"OK. Yeah. But remember when he almost came to the Angels?"

"Yeah..."

"Where did he end up instead?"

"The White Sox?"

"Yeah! Let's make the Ron Santo card a White Sox card. It will be eye catching. I have this great photo where he looks larger than life."

"OK. You've convinced me."

"Great! I'll get started on the design."

"Oh, uh, one more thing..."

"Yeah, Columbo?"

"You can keep him on the Sox, but for the head shot, use a nice Cubs photo. We don't want to confuse our customers."

So the Ron Santo White Sox card is all about the Cubs, except for the team designation and the largest photograph on the front, which features Ron in a mid-70s road jersey. Oh, and one sentence about ending his career with the White Sox. Way to tie everything together.

Sure, Santo was a shell of himself in his final season. He also HATED being on the White Sox, but apparently seething animosity is better than the west coast. I dislike when card companies phone it in. If Santo's greatest season is on the Cubs, just show him on the Cubs. If you are going to show him on the White Sox, don't half-ass it. Full-ass that card!

WSC All-Stars: Thurman Tucker 1944

Card #21 - Thurman Tucker

Thurman was the starting center fielder for the American League team in 1944. He led off for the AL and proceeded to go 0-4, as he played the entire game. Leading off, Tucker grounded out to St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Marty Marion, off of Cincinnati Reds pitcher Bucky Walters. In the top of the second, Thurman grounded out to Boston Braves second baseman Connie Ryan.

In the fifth inning, Thurman bunted a grounder, off of Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Ken Raffensberger, to Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman Bob Elliot, which forced out Boston Red Sox pitcher Tex Hughson at second. Tucker would be stranded at third when the American League half of the fifth inning was over.

Thurman would come up to the plate a final time, to lead off the eighth inning, facing Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Rip Sewell. Tucker would hit a fly ball to his counterpart, St. Louis Cardinals center fielder Stan Musial, for the out. Thurman would display a nice array of in play balls to most parts of the park, but still came up empty, as the National League easily won 7-1.

Thank You Bulldog

When Bulldog of Nothing If Not Random said that he had some cards for me, I was thinking, at most one of the one hundred or two hundred count storage boxes. Instead, yesterday, this monster eight hundred count storage box arrives at my doorstep filled to the brim with White Sox cards and an '88 Donruss card of Mel Hall. If I were playing Sox Or No Sox, I'd say it was a narrowly avoided trap card, but Mel was three and a half seasons removed from his time with the Cubs by 1988.

Out of the box flowed the stuff that my childhood dreams were made of. A vast array of White Sox cards covering 1982 through 2019, with a few late '90s years not represented. Those are the years I didn't buy any packs! It was like this box came out of my house!

The first act I did was sort through the box and separate everything into years for the most recent cards and decades for the older ones. I'd break those down into years later, but I ran out of space. TV trays don't hold as much as they used to.

This actually played very well incorporating into a larger project I've been working on. I separated a stack of cards that needed the same treatment into those piles and I was off, furiously working cards I lacked into my collection and organizing doubles.

I lost track at the amount of times I smiled and actually called out players names with giddy delight. From the Frank Thomases to the Jim Essians. The Chris Sales to the Rusty Kuntzes. It was a joy to handle each card. 1990 Upper Deck had a much different feel than later Upper Deck cards. It whisked me away to buying packs of 1990 Upper Deck from Gennaro's, a local drug store back then, which has since shunned pharmaceuticals and turned into a liquor store. I would go there for comic books, their awesome selection of candy, Garbage Pail Kids and baseball cards. It used to be a one stop shop for me.

Carlton Fisk, Luis Robert, Brent Lillibridge, Kevin Hickey, Greg Luzinski, Albert Belle, Robin Ventura, Bobby Thigpen... all flooding my mind with memories from grade school to last month. This was nostalgic by design. The best thing was that among all the great memories, there were cards that I needed for my collection.

Thank you, Bulldog! I had a blast with this box! I can't thank you enough.

A True White Whale (For Me At Least)

For a long time, I didn't believe this card existed. It couldn't. In thirteen years, I have never seen one for sale, let alone in person. The only way I have seen this card is in out of focus, grainy, small pictures. It is the Sasquatch of White Whales, if you will.

I stumbled across a long lost account last night and I fond this photo of the 2007 Topps Josh Fields variation. It was the best photo I have ever seen of this card. It is still is small, grainy and out of focus, but it gives me new hope. I found this image on Zistle.

I had completely forgotten about Zistle. The last time I logged in was probably sometime in 2012. I am still a Hall of Fame contributor, after not logging in after seven years. That was a bit weird. I started digging around the site and discovered the latest entries for cards were 2017.

Zistle wasn't perfect, but it was pretty cool. I guess people just gravitated toward places like BaseballCardPedia, Beckett and Cardboard Connection. I appreciated Zistle for two reasons. There were places for images for each card. The database was also user generated, so minor and regional sets could be added without much hassle. In my experience, the only facet that I didn't care for was how collections came up. It listed everything by card number in numerical order. This made sorting through your collection a bit clunky.

I have great memories of contributing to Zistle early on. Even though sometimes I'll have a prickly demeanor, I love helping out. Sometimes to a fault. I really enjoyed bringing my collection of card images to the masses. I'm not sure why I stopped. I suppose like anything else, other things took priority and it fell by the wayside. That's a shame. Zistle was a great idea. It still doesn't bring me any closer to obtaining my White Whale.

I opened 2007 Topps product with gusto. I am surprised that I never came across this card. I found the Jeter variation card in a pack, but never this one. Topps is sometimes faulty with their final checklists, so I think I was right to assume that this card never got made. Like Sasquatch, I have people swear that they have seen it out there. I have never heard directly of anyone owning though, but the photographic evidence is mounting.

One of the reasons I started to doubt its existence, is that the variation is listed as the "A" card. The variation is almost always listed as the "B" card. I believe this card is out there and I believe someday it will be in my collection.

Cards That Never Were #62

1978 Topps - Bob Robertson

Bob was looked upon as "another Ralph Kiner", coming up in the Pirates organization. Those comparisons were valid, with Robertson leading the minor leagues in home runs for three seasons. He made his MLB debut for the Pirates in September 1967, but lost the entire 1968 season from a kidney obstruction.

In 1970, Bob came back to the Pirates and played alongside Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell. He would have career highs in average, homers and RBI. In 1971, Robertson became a World Series hero, hitting a home run in Game Three by missing a bunt sign. After the World Series, Bob went into a slump. Knee surgery in 1974, reduced his role to a part-time player.

On March 31, 1977, Robertson was released by the Pirates. He missed the entire 1977 season, but was eventually signed by the Seattle Mariners on November 11, 1977.

Topps has one example of Bob on the Seattle Mariners, in the 1979 set. This would be Robertson's final Topps card. There was no card from 1978, so I made one. Interestingly enough, the 1979 O-Pee-Chee card shows the same picture as the Topps counterpart, but places him on the Royals with a note of signing a Free Agent on March 1, 1979. There is no record of that on the baseball reference site, but he did sign with the Blue Jays on April 23, 1979 and was released two months later.

A Poll About White Sox Players

We're going to test out this polling system. Since blogger discontinued the use of polls, I've been forced to find alternatives. Let's test this out and yes, there is a purpose for this poll.

All will be revealed at a future date.

Which player do you associate with the White Sox?

Luis Aparicio

Luke Appling

Harold Baines

Mark Buehrle

Carlton Fisk

Nellie Fox

Joe Jackson

Paul Konerko

Minnie Minoso

Frank Thomas

Online Surveys in Minutes | Survey Maker

Card Spotlight: 3-1-19

2017 Topps Heritage #429 - Jose Abreu

This week we've looked at four different Topps Heritage sets, so we'll cap off an originally unplanned "Heritage Week" with the spotlight on a card from the 2017 set, which mimicked the 1968 set.

Sometimes these spotlights are completely random. Sometimes they tie in with something going on recently. Other times, I look through my collection and something just jumps out at me. This card happens to tie in to a lot that has been happening recently.

2019 Topps Heritage dropped this week with the usual fanfare. It made me excited about the Heritage sets in general. Especially the two sets that I'm trying to complete. I'm also undertaking a massive inventory and organization of my cards. It's something that I haven't been able to properly do since I moved to Michigan in 2013. Job demands, family life and moving again in 2016 put a halt on those activities. I never stopped collecting, but I stopped organizing. There lies the problem. Something that I thought was going to be pretty straightforward and simple, turned out to be a thorough and extensive undertaking. I'm trying to make a trade with someone and I can't apologize for the delays enough. Answers are slowly revealing themselves.

That explains the choice of Heritage for this week's spotlight. What about Jose Abreu. Well, that likely has to do with contracts. You see, Jose has the largest contract that the White Sox ever gave out at $68 million. That would have been eclipsed by a Manny Machado contract that was worth $350 million, if he reached incentives in the years nine and ten. It was only guaranteed at $250 million for eight years though, with no opt out clause. Manny passed for more guaranteed money and a warmer climate. While the fan base has been lynching (Ed Lynching, HA! Cubs joke there. I know, not funny) White Sox upper management with claims of being cheap and out of touch. The truth lies somewhere in the middle.

The Sox offered one of the largest contracts in the history of the sport and it was turned down. A cheap owner would not allow that contract to be offered. On the other hand, it did not include options that Machado was looking for. In the end, it was a decision for the player to make and he made that choice. Every team that put in an offer or was part of the bidding made their best pitch, but only one team can win this thing. That is completely in the hands of the player and not any team. All the fan noise is just a reaction of the player not choosing their team. Fans can sometimes take it personally and spin it in a way that satisfies the injustice of a player "shunning" their team. If a player wasn't interested, no meetings would have ever taken place.

Bryce Harper did ink the largest guaranteed money contract in the sport. He signed a thirteen year contract for $330 million. He will be getting less money per season than Machado, but more overall money over the length of the contract. When the Sox lost out on Machado, the fans attention turned to Harper. When Sox management issued a statement saying they were out of the race, the "fans" cried foul again. It might not be easy to hear, but teams have scenarios mapped out ahead of time. Dozens of "if this happens, we'll do this" situations.

There was a short lived reality show called "The Club". The premise was that each season, a different club would be followed around and you would get to see behind the scenes. The White Sox were the focus of the inaugural season. In that series, I got a peek behind the scenes at the draft. While I'm sure some of it was staged for the cameras, as with all "reality" shows, it did show the methodology of the White Sox approach to the draft. That scene always stuck with me. While I haven't seen the show since it first aired, I believe the prospect they were drafting was Chris Sale. They had their guys picked out and what to do if their guys were taken.

Jose Abreu does have the largest contract in White Sox history... for now. I'm sure that will be eclipsed someday. Just like for a time, Albert Belle was the largest contract in White Sox history. That contract had an out clause though. It allowed him to go back into Free Agency. He signed with the Baltimore Orioles and then developed hip trouble that forced him out of the game. I just mention that because if the Sox are reluctant to offer large contracts over a large span of time, player opt out clauses might be something to consider. The player usually feels more in control.

In the end, a player can only choose one team. The player has to do what he thinks is best for him. Sometimes that will be with your team. Sometimes not. Either way "fans" will always find something to complain about. It's in the nature of the fanatic. Sometimes it's justified. Sometimes not. It just helps to look at all sides objectively and then come to a conclusion. Then again, human nature will usually come around to the "I'm right and everybody else is wrong" mentality. It's all part of the game.

2001 Topps Heritage

This is the set that started it all for the Topps Heritage series. This started as a way to celebrate Topps' 50th anniversary of modern baseball card sets. Topps doesn't really acknowledge the 1951 red back and blue back sets, nor their 1948 Magic Photos set, which featured nineteen baseball related photos. Let's just say everything baseball related for Topps began in 1952. What's a little revisionist history between collectors?

Beckett magazine called 2001 Topps Heritage the "Product of the Decade". That's high praise. It's no wonder that the Heritage line is on its nineteenth straight year, as of this writing. Topps pulled out all the stops with its first Heritage set. The majority of the photos were blurred to replicate how the photos looked in 1952. Some of the same variations were thrown into the set, so it looked and felt like the original set. One dead giveaway, besides modern players, would be the normal standard size for the cards. The standard sizing wasn't established until the 1957 set. 1952 through 1956 Topps baseball cards are larger than the standard size. On a related note, the 1951 baseball release was much smaller than the standard size.

The White Sox have nineteen cards in the set, including two variations.

37 - Magglio Ordonez
37a - Magglio Ordonez (variation)
41 - Mark Buehrle
41a - Mark Buehrle (variation)
99 - Greg Norton
110 - James Baldwin
145 - Charles Johnson
157 - Paul Konerko
168 - Cal Eldred
169 - Jeff Abbott
178 - Jim Parque
206 - Harold Baines
209 - Kip Wells
210 - Frank Thomas
223 - Keith Foulke
228 - Chris Singleton
245 - Ray Durham
286 - Jose Valentin
310 - Carlos Lee

There is something weird with this set. While there are short prints, there are none for the White Sox. This means that it shouldn't be extremely difficult to obtain a team set, even with two variations to chase.

Topps really did something right with this release. They may have gone a little nuts with successive Heritage releases, but they started off golden.

2019 Topps Heritage

Topps Heritage is here for another year. 2019 copies the 1970 design. While the 1970 design is not the best design Topps has ever done, it is still beloved and has great elements to it.

I'm a big fan off the font for player names on the regular single player cards. I didn't truly appreciate it until I replicated it for other projects. There are some collectors who find the 1970 set to be their favorite. I thought a little differently, but respected their opinion.

It wasn't until I saw the Heritage set, that I really saw photos pop. I'm used to seeing the 1970 set through the eyes of the past. The colors have faded a bit and blend into each other in most examples that I have seen. The 1970 and 1971 sets are notoriously hard to find in mint condition, especially the 1971 set. That could have added to my perception.

For every cool Lowell Palmer card, there were many other examples of Topps photography choices that were a bit lazy or off. While this overall set has the Lowell Palmer equivalent in Pat Neshek, I don't see those bizarre choices in photos. For the record, I couldn't think of a better subject to replicate the Lowell Palmer card than Pat Neshek. If he ever joins the White Sox, that will be a great day.

What I do see is photos that pop. They pop better because of the grey background. There is only so much you can do with staged photographs, but this set doesn't feel like there are as many limitations.

Of course there are the obligatory airbrushed (now Photoshopped) images. If you are paying homage to a set full of airbrushed masterpieces (and I say that lovingly dripped with sarcasm), you need to replicate it.

The White Sox have a total of twenty cards, including one "action" variation and one "throwback" variation in this set.

7 - Michael Kopech, Caleb Frare

18 - Lucas Giolito

91 - Yolmer Sanchez

129 - James McCann

146 - Nate Jones

180 - Daniel Palka

217 - Tim Anderson

239 - Avisail Garcia

263 - Welington Castillo

274 - Carlos Rodon

299 - Nicky Delmonico

315 - Yoan Moncada

322 - Ivan Nova

342 - Alex Colome

352 - Jose Abreu AS

384 - Michael Kopech (Action Variation)

395 - Matt Davidson

483 - Jose Abreu SP

483 - Jose Abreu (Throwback SSP)

497 - Yonder Alonso SP

Another great job by Topps with their Heritage line. This team set is plentiful, yet not too crazy to collect. Only two short prints and a variation. That's not too bad in modern day card sets.

UPDATE: A super short print of Jose Abreu's card #483 has been found and this review has been updated to reflect this.

2018 Topps Heritage High Numbers

Topps Heritage borrows from the 1969 Topps set. I've gone over before about how simplistic the design is. I wouldn't change a thing about the design. The Topps designers were hitting it out of the park throughout the sixties. While by no stretch of the imagination would I call this a grand slam of a design, I am willing to call it an inside the park home run. It's not as awe-inspiring as those dingers that go over the wall. There might not be fireworks shooting off. There is the excitement of getting a home run without all the fanfare. It kind of sneaks up on on you.

There are no huge names in this team set, but sometimes that's even better. I appreciate it more, when card sets focus on the common players or minor stars. Don't get me wrong, I love the superstars, but how many different (enter superstar player) cards do I need? Of course, I'll need those too, but how many of (cup of coffee player) do I have? Exactly. When I collect, I try to collect everyone. It takes more than a handful of players to make a team. Why shouldn't my collecting reflect that too?

The White Sox have four cards in this set. There are no short prints or variations.

523 - Danny Farquhar
530 - Trayce Thompson
570 - Adam Engel
693 - Daniel Palka

This small team set is a nice addendum to the regular Heritage set. It features players that might not get a card otherwise. Heritage is always near the top of my collecting lists every year. It's easy to see why.

2018 Topps Heritage

2018 Topps Heritage borrows the design from 1969 Topps. I'm a fan of all the sixties designs, but the '69 set is probably near the bottom, if I were forced to rank that decades sets.

It's been used enough over the years from Baseball Card Magazine inserts to this Heritage release to become recognizable. It's simplistic, straight to the point.

Topps, as always, does a nice job of copying their past sets. It feels enough like the original set that one feels bathed in nostalgia, even if you didn't grow up collecting those the year they came out. It wouldn't be a modern Topps release without a ridiculous amount of gimmicks and variations. This set is no different.

From short prints to color variations, there is something for everyone to shake their fist at. As it becomes increasingly harder to collect everything from a release, it gets more frustrating as a collector. Those dopamine highs when you pull something deemed special still exist, but they are few and far between.

The White Sox have fifteen cards in the set, not including variations.

1 - Avisail Garcia (Altuve, Hosmer, H. Ramirez) 
97 - Jose Abreu
123 - Carson Fulmer
152 - Tim Anderson
173 - Nicky Delmonico, Aaron Bummer
174 - Welington Castillo
201 - Yoan Moncada
252 - Matt Davidson
296 - Reynaldo Lopez
308 - James Shields
328 - Avisail Garcia
357 - Lucas Giolito
377 - Jose Abreu AS
422 - Yolmer Sanchez SP
436 - Carlos Rodon SP

It's still one of the nicer sets out there consistently, year after year. I enjoy collecting Heritage every year. I'm growing impatient with the gimmicks. They were cute ten years ago. Now, they are getting over the top. Chase the gimmicks, if you would like to slowly lose your sanity. Chase the base set if you want something to cherish.

Card Shop Pick Ups

My friend came to visit for a few days back in October. (Yes, I picked these out in October. Yes, I'm just posting about it now.) One of the places that he wanted to visit was the card shop. I reluctantly agreed.

He picked up some Ryne Sandberg cards and I picked up these cards.

I will tell you that it is difficult to find a full spectrum of White Sox cards in Kalamazoo, so I was lucky to find these.

 2008 Upper Deck Timeline #161 - Ken Griffey Jr.

I already had the Griffey card, but it didn't look familiar to me and I didn't have access to my list. Maybe I will try to get it autographed at some point. Has anyone had any successes with Griffey Jr. TTM?

1965 Topps Embossed #64 - Pete Ward

I was pretty stoked to find the Pete Ward card. I've always been fascinated by the '65 embossed cards.

2011 Topps Lineage Rookies #2 - Chris Sale

A Chris Sale rookie? Sure!

2014 Donruss Studio Series 2 #11 - Jose Abreu

Still doesn't remind me of Studio, but I like it. Can't Panini get their license already? I'd prefer logos.

2014 Topps The Future Is Now #FN-JA3 - Jose Abreu

A nice inset set that escaped me for White Sox cards.

2014 Topps The Future Is Now #FN-JA13 - Jose Abreu

See above comment.

2017 Topps Heritage Chrome #THC-429 - Jose Abreu

Another card from one of the few sets I'm trying to complete.

2015 Topps Heritage Award Winners #AW-5 - Jose Abreu

Hey! A Rookie of the Year card! Never saw this particular card when it first came out.

2017 Topps National Baseball Card Day #23 - Yoan Moncada

I never seem to get the White Sox cards on National Baseball Card Day. Some years I miss it completely. Shhh.

Not a bad haul from a card shop that specialized in Tigers cards.

Favorite Cards: Brooklyn Dodgers

1951 Bowman #152 - Cal Abrams

I'll be honest with you. The primary reason I like this card is because it looks like the original picture was taken in the bathroom. It could be the first MLB selfie.

I'm not sure why an outfielder that played forty-six games in his first two seasons got a card. Bowman even brags that Cal hit .205 in 1950. It is a definite improvement from .083 in his first season.

I'm always fascinated by vintage cards. Especially when they are much older than I am. It might be the discovery of players that I never knew about or teams in locations that I will never be able to see a game at, in cities long since abandoned by the teams. Supposedly for greener pastures, but that is debatable in some cases.

It could be that all the fresh young faces look like they've seen some stuff. Horrible stuff that aged them. Cal was twenty-seven in 1951. He looks a lot older than that. Perhaps in was his military service that aged him. He was in the army in Battery B 500th Anti-Aircraft Artillery. He served in Europe and the Pacific, earning two battle stars in the Pacific and Cal was awarded the Philippine Liberation Medal with one bronze star. He was in the army from January 1943 until January 1946. So, Abrams certainly has seen some stuff.

Vintage cards can let me glimpse into lives I will never knew. Into times I will never experience. All for the purpose of educating me to the world around me and the world that came before me. It's exciting and comforting exploring these strange worlds that have a familiar feel and context to them. The more I learn about the past, the more I can relate it to the present. Perhaps that is why I enjoy these cards and this hobby so much.

Card Spotlight: 2-22-19

1923 W572 - Eddie Collins

I only have one 1920s card in my collection. This is not it.

I would love to start collecting more 1920s White Sox cards, but my my family likes having a roof over our heads and food in our stomachs. It's most likely the reason that I don't have a card in my personal collection older that 1925. It's just not feasible right now. One day, if things go right, I'll be able to add to my vintage collection like that. Just not for the foreseeable future.

That will not stop me from appreciating the hell out of those cards though! This card originally came from a strip of ten cards, which had to be cut by hand. That simply means that finding a gem mint card from this set is a near impossibility. While Eddie Collins is more recognized as a Philadelphia Athletic, he spent almost as much time as a White Sox player.

I love diving into baseball history and I have a particular fondness for my favorite team. Eddie spent twelve seasons with the White Sox. That is a lot of time, stretching over a very interesting period. Eddie was with the Sox from 1915 until 1926. That covers two World Series, a scandal, and some dark times. The twenties were not kind to the White Sox. After the 1920 season, the Sox placed no higher than fifth until 1936. Of those years, they finished in last place three times.

There really is a lot to discover from those teams. Part of the reason White Sox players are not better known from the twenties, thirties and forties, is that it is a time where baseball card releases were spotty. The White Sox would have some decent teams, here and there, but no consistency in winning. History remembers the winners much better than the losers and the White Sox were on the losing side of history for a lot of that. This allowed teams, such as the Yankees, to grab a foothold in baseball lore.

The Yankees had a lot of great teams, but I always wondered how the White Sox would play out, if eight of their members weren't banned from baseball. I've already waxed poetic about the possibilities. It's fun to go back and play out what if scenarios in your head. What if such and such person was traded to your team. What would the repercussions be? What later moves would not get made? What if some player didn't retire or get banned? Would they continue to have great seasons? One could get lost for hours inside their own head, once you go down those roads.

I discover new details about my favorite team all the time. Some things really have to be researched and dragged out into the light. Others were right in front of my face the entire time and I just couldn't connect it.

Looking at cards like the W572 of Eddie Collins really gives my brain a workout. There are endless possibilities. Just like there seems to be endless baseball cards.

Card Lies: 1973 Topps Walt Williams

1973 Topps #297 - Walt Williams

I get that card companies have limited resources sometimes. They have to think on the fly and adjust to all the changes that happen in MLB. Players switch teams all the time. Sometimes, card companies crop photos, take hatless shots, even airbrush, all in the name of staying as current as they possibly can be.

Then there's general laziness or rushed jobs. This Walt Williams seems like a rushed job. Something looks really off about the card at first glance. Looking closer, the airbrushed hat isn't the best, but I have seen much worse. You can tell that the Indians logo is airbrushed on. What turns a rush job into lazy is the lower right hand corner.

The leaping outfielder silhouette doesn't quite cover the gigantic White Sox logo on the uniform shirt, even though the outstretched shadow is trying valiantly to cover the artist's tracks.

Even Walt's expression seems to say, "Lazy fools. Did they really think that nobody would notice. I'm clearly in a White Sox uniform."

Walt was traded to the Cleveland Indians on October 19, 1972. It seems like plenty of time for proper changes, but things did progress a lot slower back then. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and hope that the airbrush artist had a stack of photos to do and a tight deadline.