Airbrushed Fridays: 1974 Topps Traded #73T

Merry Christmas, everyone! Here's this week's airbrushing victim, just in time to enjoy with some holiday nog.

Mike Marshall was one of the most durable relievers of all-time, not to be confused with the similarly named Dodgers outfielder who primarily played in the '80s. Marshall relied heavily on the screwball, an old-timey pitch that nobody seems to know how to throw anymore.

Why did Topps airbrush Mike's photo? The back of the card tells the story. (I prefer it when they actually show stats on the back, but what do I know?) Marshall would go onto set MLB records for most appearances in a season (106), most consecutive appearances (13) and also logged more than 200 IP in the year the Dodgers acquired him.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? The huge "TRADED" banner does its best to obscure pretty much all of Marshall's uniform, but they still had to do something to the hat. Unfortunately, that something resulted in this unearthly glowing blue hat. If only there were red and green caps to match this, it would be quite fitting for the holidays. Unfortunately, it seems like it's mostly the blue caps and the occasional orange one that get this kind of treatment.

If you are interested in obtaining a card featured here, please send me an e-mail. If you have a card you would like to nominate for Airbrushed Fridays, please get in touch as well. I will require that I am able to see the card in person, either on loan or as a donation, so that I can examine the card and experience it in all its cruddiness.