Not Wrigley Field

Yesterday I posted this great 1969 Topps card of Chris Short, saying it was one of the best Wrigley Field shots I had seen. I assumed Wrigley because it wasn't Shea Stadium, and almost all regular-season photos were either New York or Chicago. The center-field scoreboard did look like the one in Wrigley Field.

When I posted the card, Wrigley Wax (who should know), wrote "The Short card isn't at Wrigley Field. That's the Polo Grounds. The Mets last played there in 1963, meaning Topps used a six-year-old picture."

Of course! The left field grandstand should have been a dead giveaway. that it wasn't Wrigley Field. In my opinion that makes an awesome card even cooler. By 1969 the Polo Grounds was already a housing project.

This photo should have been on a 1964 Topps card, right? I looked Short up on the TCDB to see what his real '64 Topps card looked like, and to my surprise, this guy who was in the Phillies' rotation since 1960 did not have a Topps card until 1967! Like Maury Wills, Short had contract issues with Topps and didn't have a card for many years.

I mentioned this once before, and got no response, but would readers be interested in an ongoing series about the backgrounds in vintage card photos? I've already got one series documenting the 1981 Topps set, in lieu of creating a 1981 Topps blog, but have been thinking about augmenting it with a vintage-based series as well. If there is no response again I'll know to drop the topic.