what a difference a year makes

i expect it was a shock for kids opening packs back then in 1972 to see this rich allen card

after seeing his 1971 topps card

the previous year. heck, it was weird to me to see don sutton on earlier cards without his perm.

of course, allen's 1972 card features a much older and previously used photo from his days with the phillies due to the fact that he was traded by the dodgers to the white sox in time for topps to change his team affiliation, and they chose to do so with a photo that sort of matched the white sox' uniform colors of the time. this 2021 topps heritage then and now insert

gives us a glimpse as to what an allen card might have looked like had an actual photo of him from that season been used in one of the later series of the set. however, thanks to gavin at baseball card breakdown, i am aware that topps had produced a proof card of allen for the 1972 set in which he was shown as a dodger with a timely photograph. gavin sent me a custom of that card recently, and it is fantastic:

it comes with a back:

had topps gone ahead with the dodger version, i wonder if allen would have shown up in a late series as one of the few "traded" subjects. and, since allen won the 1972 american league mvp award, i wonder how topps would then have handled the situation when they created their 1975 mvp subset. lots of what ifs around this card.

gavin included some more customs for my collection, such as this 1982 topps in action clayton kershaw card

with a well done back

eagle eyes will recognize that gavin used the back of steve garvey's 1982 in action card as the base. i guess we can call this 180b?

here's a 2013 topps vladimir guerrero custom

vladdy spent 12 games in the blue jays' system in 2012, hitting .358 split between high-a and triple-a. he didn't get a call up, so the back of this card

is unchanged from 2012 topps, had topps put a true final tribute for him in their 2012 flagship set.

one more custom, and it's a 2022 bcb custom!

cool drysdale with the nod to 1973 topps/2022 topps heritage. here's the back:

the kershaw up above could be part of this set, but it's not. looking forward to seeing other creations for this set!

gavin also sent some "real" cards for my collection, like this 1997 pinnacle totally certified raul mondesi card

and this 1999 pacific paramount eric karros card

that was, at one time, one of my nine most wanted cards!

you can probably tell by the post title and intro up top that seeing gavin's post about the 1972 allen card made me think of some other players whose appearance changed drastically between card sets. there are lots of examples (not due to topps photo selection hijinks) from the early to mid-1970's as hairstyles changed, and since i mentioned don sutton up above - sometime between the photos on his 1975 topps card

and 1976 topps card

he went and got that signature perm. 

others that came to mind were bruce sutter - from 1981 topps coke

to 1981 topps traded

jim kern from 1982 topps

to 1982 topps traded

that shows the power of a no facial hair policy

and one that isn't a big change, but it was enough to throw me off - art howe from 1976 sspc

to 1978 topps.

howe had no cards between those two, and the first time i saw the sspc issue, i had no idea who it was. the power of a mustache!

finally, there is, of course, greg minton from 1978 topps

to 1979 topps

i was happy to see he was a real person when i found his card in '79.

thanks gavin!