Christmas Haul: Added Players and Added Goatees

When I was going through the stacks of cards at this cool local card shop last month, I was looking for CMC set members my wife could buy me for Christmas. There was a lot of good older stuff for cheap. Not necessarily the best condition, but what do you expect for cheap?

With Bob Miller's 1971 Topps cards above, I got fun for cheap.

I spotted both the clean-shaven and goateed Miller and couldn't pass them up. These kinds of cards are great. The stories these kinds of cards could tell, the indignities these cards went through at the hands of the children that loved them.

The kid that decided Miller needed a goatee did so only on the front of that card. The photo on the back is unaltered.

By the time 1971 came around, Miller had been in the majors probably longer than the kid had been around. Topps notes Miller's first major league game as coming in 1957.

Topps also notes that Miller appeared in three World Series games up to that point, without giving up a run. In 1971, Miller returned to the World Series, with the Pirates. He pitched in three games in that series, giving up two earned runs in 4.2 innings of work.

Before I get to the CMC set member cards that I picked up for Christmas, I'll first post some other cards that I spotted. I'm sure a few of these have been discussed previously, being that each of them has an interesting early action shot.

This is Steve Carlton's 1973 Topps card. It has that good photo of Carlton and his catcher. I think I also picked up the card because Carlton's pitching coach in 1972 and through 1978, was CMC set member Ray Rippelmeyer.

As for the card, Carlton's card mate, in theory, would be easy to pick out. His uniform number, 6, is plainly seen. But, according to Wikipedia, where I go to figure out uniform numbers, the Phillies had two catchers in 1972 with the number 6. In fact, they were traded for each other.

The first, Tim McCarver, started the season with the Phillies before being traded to the Expos for catcher John Bateman. McCarver caught 45 games for the Phillies that year, Bateman caught 82.

Without closer examination, I would guess this No. 6 is Bateman. Carlton was 6 feet, 4 inches tall. Bateman was 6 feet, 3. McCarver, however, was 6 feet flat. The catcher in the photo seems like he is closer to Carlton's height. (Phungo pondered this same question in 2010, without coming to a conclusion)

This third card is also from the 1973 set, that of Jack Brohamer. It also features a second player, appearing to be the Orioles' Bobby Grich. I see the 1973 Topps blog covered it last June.

Tony over there concluded the photo was from May 28, 1972, finding that Grich tagged Brohamer in the top of the third inning. That play also caught my eye, before I saw Tony's post.

I suppose all I can say as that that play is likely the one. Baseball Reference's account of the game has that play as a double play from the second baseman to the first baseman. That could mean Grich touched second, or that he tagged Brohamer. But, after looking at the rest of the Indians-Orioles box scores from 1972, I can't find a better one.