The Topps team photo cards of the 1970s are an underrated producer of some fun cards. This particular card is the only one I am aware of where the team photo was taken right before the game, with players on the field in the background. There were some on-field team photos taken June 6, 1971, the occasion of the Dodgers' first Old-Timers Day. There are photos online from that event for the Old-Timers photo; perhaps that is when this was taken as well. (The Dodgers then went out and beat the Mets that day, 4-3. Al Downing got both the win and the game-winning RBI.)
i have this card in my dodger stadium collection, but i never thought about trying to date it. my dad was at the game the previous day and i mentioned the old timers' game scheduled for the following day in a post:
ReplyDeletehttps://cardsasiseethem.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-express-and-auto-expo-in-weekend.html
walteromalley.com has a very similar photo on their website for the 1971 team. it's not exactly the same because dick/rich allen is looking somewhere else. i believe the teams supplied topps with team photos in the 70s and before for use on cards. here's the walter omalley link:
https://www.walteromalley.com/en/dodger-history/team-history/1971
I have this card too (one of my favorites). Somehow I never figured this one to be taken at Dodger Stadium. Love that link that Jim (gcrl) provided. I was surprised that I could recognize so many of the '71 Dodgers. I've also been lucky enough to have semi-close encounters with Maury Wills, Manny Mota and Willie Davis.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen this card before, so this is all new to me.
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff. You and GCRL are so good at breaking down photos on cards. I would have looked at this photo, maybe noticed the two guys not looking at the camera, and moved on to the next card.
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