What’s Wrong With This Card Solved – Lou Brock

The solution to “What’s Wrong With This Card # 3” eluded many readers. After initial, partially-correct answers, my friends Barry & Gary, of the outstanding Mets Musings Podcast, came up with the solution. This card wasn’t issued by Topps. It was put together by a fan of baseball cards. In short, the card to the left was never issued.

Others Responded: Nancy couldn’t find anything wrong, although she recalled seeing Brock play in the 1964 World Series, because she attended one of the games in Yankee Stadium. Phil took issue with Brock’s uniform as well as the background of Busch Stadium.

Check Those Corners. Although there are at least two other problems, the four corners of the photo, inside the white box, are the real clues that give it away. Although there were still problems with some of the content on the backs of the cards, the decade of the 70’s was a period of time when Topps didn’t make mistakes on the front of their cards. These corners don’t have the fully curved corners that the true 1971 Topps cards did.

World Series Photo. The photo is from the great 1967 World Series that the Cardinals won in seven games, so it’s out of date. Both Gary and Barry got this right away. The Red Sox player looks like he’s either Jerry Adair or Dalton Jones, both of whom were third basemen. That’s a third base lead, too. If Brock were on second base, his lead would be longer.

Where’s The Signature? The 1971 edition had an autograph in black ink imprinted on each card.

Behold: The real 1971 Lou Brock 1971 Topps card.