Thursday 17 November 2011

1971 Toppps Variations: Carl Morton #515

No Black Line
After finishing my 1971 Topps set, I set out to track down the variations that existed. Here is the first in a series of 1971 Topps variations. One of the easier ones to spot is the Carl Morton card. One version has a black line angling up and to the right from the logo on his cap, and the other has no line. Both versions seem to be fairly common, and it this time both can be found for purchase on several online sites for the price of a common card. There is no mention of this variation on the few copies of this card I have seen graded, probably because both versions seem to be very common. The copies that I have seen of the O-Pee-Chee version of the card all have the black line, but that is a very small sample size at this point.

Black Line
This is the first solo card for Mr. Morton after sharing "Rookie Star" cards with Dan McGinn in 1969 and Garry Jestadt is 1970. Carl was voted as the right-hander on Topps Rookie All-Star team (earning him the sweet trophy in the bottom left of this card) and was named the 1970 NL Rookie of the Year after finishing with what would be a career high 18 wins, and impressively finishing 18-11 for a Montreal team that would finish 16 games below .500. He was traded to the Braves prior to the 1973 season, and would win at least 15 games in his first three seasons with Atlanta. He would pitch in the majors until 1976, finishing his career with a 87-92 record and a 3.73 ERA over 255 career games.


No comments:

Post a Comment