Topps was certainly the
(new word?) Reusement King when it came to the multi-purposing of photos on cards across multiple seasons.
The
high (let's be honest, LOW) water mark came in the
late 1960's with all of the contractual issues regarding the player images
(plus expansion, etc.), but
Topps usually used the same
(differently cropped/laid out) picture of the
same player on the
same team.
However, an
odd disparity exists with the use of the same photo on
Dick Allen's 1970 and
1972 cards.
They originally cropped out his attachment to the
Phillies by zooming way in and then, for good measure, giving his hat a
crude airbrushing when the card was released in
1970...because
RED means
Cardinals, right, silly kids??
But when
Allen was on yet another team
(from the Phils to the Cards to the Dodgers to the Sox in a short span), the
lazy art department decided to breathe new life into the
same (relatively awful) close-up image.
The sad thing is
Dick Allen won the
MVP in
1972, so forevermore that 'duplicated' card is forced to occupy a special place in the
pantheon of prestigious baseball cards.
(It's a shame he didn't win the 1971 MVP, so that cool card would've been the face of his accomplishment.)
dickallensamepiccomp.jpg
What other cards use the same photo while showing the player on a different team in a different season?
Did it occur often?
(Side note: I know that Hank Aaron's 1974 All Star card shows him on the Braves, while a photo from the same shoot — but not actually the same shot — is airbrushed to put him on the Brewers in 1975...but that doesn't count.) 