Like the rest of you I've been swimming in an orgy of long-awaited baseball games since Thursday. The older I get it seems the time between the WS and Spring Training gets longer and longer. Anyway, on to the cards!
I picked this card up as a part of my Topps Rookie AS Team effort. Ed "The Poet" Charles had an 8-season career from 1962-9, with a lifetime BA of .263 and a respectable OPS+ of 103. Now, if an 8-year career sounds pretty short, consider that Mr. Charles broke in to the Majors at 29 after 10 years in the Braves organization. That's pretty remarkable.
And the nickname? That was given to him by Joe McGuff of the KC Star after McGuff read some poems Charles had written.
As for the card, I like how the trophy takes the place of the inset photo in the card design. It does look kind of out of place, though, with the other '63s. The picture itself is an odd closeup of a posed action shot, but I really like that Charles is tilted back slightly. The tilt gives a strange dynamism to to the card and naturally leads your eyes to the cavernous stadium in the background. All together, it makes you believe this is a fresh face now in the BIG TIME.
The minor league stats on the back are great. Makes you wonder how some guys get promoted while others fall through the cracks.
So here's to perseverance! Here's to a new season!
Have a good one everybody and good night Pumpsie Green, wherever you are!
No comments:
Post a Comment