Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevvyg1026
The 1968 poster set still has the ugly airbrush jobs on Hunter, Howard (although not so bad on the blue helmet), Wynn, and Staub. In addition, Wynn and Staub are the only two that have the city name rather than the team name.
I admit to being surprised (confused?) by the airbrush job on the Houston players. I thought the conflict about the Colt 45s vs Astros had been resolved in 1965.
The 1967 Astros had "Astros" on the front of their home jerseys. The 1967 Topps cards, while showing most players in the road uniforms (with Houston on the front) do show a couple of players (Sonny Jackson, Jim Landis) in the home Astros uniform.
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As I understand it, the dispute was not with the Colt 45's but with Monsanto, which claimed it had trademarked the term with its "Astroturf" and was entitled to a piece of the licensing/royalty pie. Topps apparently wanted to steer clear of that "turf" war.
I never totally got why the hats were airbrushed, an "H" over a star. I don't believe that was claimed to be a trademarked logo by Monsanto, and although astro is one translation of star in Spanish, it seemed like a stretch for Topps to worry about that-- then again I am no student of the matter.
Back to the standups-- the ones of Staub and Wynn almost look like they're wearing visors, with their blacked-out hats blending into the cards' totally black background. As for the posters, the Astro logo still snuck onto Wynn's-- the player in the background shows it quite noticeably on his sleeve.
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