Speaking objectively, this is not an attractive card.
Mostly it's the hat, which is probably an airbrushed Expos' cap, but looks more like a Mets' lid that's been dropped in a barrel of Judge Doom's Dip.
Yet even though the card is plug ugly, there's something oddly compelling about it.
It's kind of like a shirtless mid '70s Iggy Pop, or Hilary Swank in a bikini.
Perhaps part of the allure is its relative scarcity. Like all 1971 Mets high numbers, this is a short print, so it can be difficult to find a nice copy.
There was an auction for a PSA 8 running concurrently with this one, and that card closed over $100. I was very happy to get this PSA 7 for a little more than $10.
Part of me wants to file it away in a box sandwiched between the Matlack/Martinez/Folkers rookie and Ron Taylor, but part of me cannot look away...
So I ask you, gentle reader, what do you consider to be the ugliest regular-issue Topps Mets card from 1962-1973?
I've got a few nominees.
ReplyDelete1973 Willie Mays
1972 Chuck Taylor
1970 - Gary Gentry
1969 - Shamsky, Weiss and Agee for all having doctored pictures or pictures in non-Mets jerseys despite having played for the team in 1968.
1966 Johnny Stephenson
1965 Galen Cisco
1963 Choo Choo Coleman, Sammy Taylor, Galen Cisco and Ken McKenzie
I don't think of any as being hideous. And the Mets had a ton of nice cards, especially in 1970 and 1971.
FWIW, I'm the proud owner (via the Topps Vault) of the original negative for the '66 Stephenson card.
ReplyDeleteBut I promise I won't use it to print more.