It's come down to this. In just a half hour from now, the Cardinals will square off against the Nationals for a series-deciding Game 5, with the winner moving on to the NLCS. This is the final game of all of the Divisional Series games, and it pits a nearly untouchable pitcher (Gio Gonzalez) against a guy with loads of playoff experience (Adam Wainwright). My heart is with the Cardinals, but this is nervous making time. Let's look at a goofy baseball card for a temporary diversion.
Who is this week's victim, and why do we care? Hey, it's our good friend Dave Roberts. We recently spoke of him in March.
"Dave Roberts was a left-handed starting pitcher who famously pitched for 11 teams in his 13 year career. Despite this card's suggestion, he did not play for the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals. He passed away in 2009, a victim of lung cancer."
Why does this card exist? Roberts was shipped over from San Diego to Houston prior to the 1972 season in exchange for Bill Greif, Mark Schaeffer and Derrel Thomas. Those are three not-so-noteworthy players who have terrible spellings for names. As much as this set shouts color, I guess the airbrushers decided that the Houston hat had to be as festive as the card design itself.
Airbrushed Fridays is a weekly feature as the name seems to imply. If you know of a card with an altered photograph that you'd like to see featured, please contact me. You probably won't win anything other than a hyperlink and a coupon for 2 free Jack in the Box tacos, but you never know!
That was a pretty good job by Topps
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