1981 Topps #221
1981 Fleer # 428
The one thing that struck me right away about both photos is the fact that Bob has a healthy (or unhealthy as the case may be) wad of chewing tobacco prominently featured in his right cheek. Fast forward 35 years, and I don't even recall seeing cards of players with a mouth full of seeds or bubble gum.
I took a quick look through a few more pages of Jays cards from that area, and I found one more card that I could positively identify as having a wad of chew in the cheek.
1978 Topps # 196
Another Bob, this time Bob Bailor is featured with a nice wad in his left cheek. Not sure if this was just a Bob thing on the Blue Jays back in the early days...
I'm sure that there are plenty of other cards from back in the day that featured players with a big hunk of chew tucked delicately into their cheek, and I'm sure that you have probably seen other bloggers write about this topic (leave a link to the post in the comments if you so desire, I'd love to see what other people's take on this was).
At least in a couple of photos there was some semblance of a smile on their faces.
Someone should teach Mr. Strasburg that skill.
Thanks for reading, Robert
While one goes back further in time, my examples also come into the 1980s.
ReplyDeleteFirst, Harvey Kuenn is rarely featured on any card without a huge plug of chaw in his mouth.
The other is from 1981 Topps -- Charlie Lea's card. I asked Charlie's son Brian about this card a few years ago, and he laughed like crazy, saying that it was a long-running family joke as to the size of the tobacco plug in Charlie's mouth on that card.
Originally... I thought this post was going to be about players who wore helmets in the field, instead of hats.
ReplyDeleteMe too! I thought it was going to lead to a John Olerud tribute. I'm really surprised baseball hasn't banned the tobacco yet.
DeleteI have that Bailor.. I want to get those two Bob Davis cards
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that you can find them on Sportlots
DeleteWho knew someone as inherently intimidating as Strasburg had such an adorable snarl?
ReplyDelete