1977 Topps Baseball #273 - Eric Soderholm
- How did they get a picture of Eric Soderholm in a White Sox uniform? Is this an airbrush job? He was with the Minnesota Twins until signing with the White Sox after the 1976 season. That means this picture (if it isn't airbrushed) had to have been taken during spring training in 1977. Any thoughts?
- After sitting out the 1976 season with a knee injury, Soderholm had a good year for the White Sox in 1977 and won the AL Comeback Player of the Year .
- 1977 Stats: .280, 25 HR, 67 RBI in 130 games
- 1977 Highlights:
- April 20 - Went 3 for 3 with a home run, 2 RBI, and 2 runs scored off of Nolan Ryan as the White Sox beat the California Angels 3-2.
- July 30 - Hit a 3-run homer in the 7th inning to lead the White Sox to a 6-4 win over the Kansas City Royals.
- Aug 9 - Homered twice in Chicago's 13-3 win over the Seattle Mariners.
- Other card blogs: 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1976 Kellogg's, 1979, 1980
Although the photo appears to be taken in spring training, it's almost certainly an airbrush job. Five things stick out to me: the Sox uni's were a much darker shade of blue, the "SOX" on the helmet seems larger than what was actually on the batting helmets, and the numbers on the back were the old english style numbers, not common block numbers as appears here, there were names on the back of the 77 Sox road uni's, also in old english style lettering, and the 1977 uni's had a flap down collar on both the home and roads. I loved Topps airbrushing though.
ReplyDeleteThis card would not have jumped out at me as obviously airbrushed, but after looking at it closely, I agree that it is. The helmet is pretty good but the uniform just looks slightly "off". I don't see any way Topps could have possibly gotten a legitimate shot of Soderholm in action in a White Sox uniform in time for this set to go to print. 1977 spring training would have been too late.
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