#537 - Tommy Harper

Card fact: With this card, the pink-yellow border combination moves into a first-place tie with the orange-brown border combination with 45 cards apiece. Whether this is a pivotal point in the great two-tone color border combination race remains to be seen.

What I thought about this card then: My brother had it. I believe it was a mini card. And it had creases in it.

What I think about this card now: You can't get happier than this card. Sunny disposition, sunny day, sunny border combination.

Other stuff: Tommy Harper played for eight teams during a 15-year career. He made the most impact with the  Reds, Red Sox, and in his one year with the Pilots. Harper broke out with the Reds in 1965, leading the league in runs scored (in 645 at-bats), and was Cincinnati's leadoff hitter for the next three years.

After being selected by Seattle in the expansion draft, he became the Pilots' lead-off hitter. He was the first batter in Seattle history and scored the franchise's first run. He finished the year with a league-high 73 stolen bases, the most stolen bases in the American League in 54 years.

Harper played for the Red Sox from 1972-74, providing a traditionally slow team with speed. He led the league with 54 stolen bases in 1973.

Harper closed out his career with the Angels, A's and Orioles. He later became a coach for the Red Sox and Expos and is still in the Red Sox's organization as a consultant.

Back facts: As you can tell by the notation at the top, a baseball card collector didn't believe that Topps' write-up at the bottom was message enough that Harper was now with the Angels. He or she wrote the team name in pencil, too. (It wasn't me. I purchased this card either at a card show or a collectibles shop).

Harper was traded to the Angels for Bobby Heise, who, interestingly, is airbrushed into an Angels cap on his card. Harper didn't last long with the Angels, being picked up by the A's later in the '75 season.

Other blog stuff: The late George Carlin was born on this date 74 years ago. I tried to type an excerpt of his terrific Baseball vs. Football monologue, but Blogger decided to go on "maintenance" and wiped out the second half of this post. So, I'm not going to go through the effort again. You can blame Blogger.