Not So Quickie Quiz - Vida Blue Content

[Zvon]

Bob Johnson.

I never made a card for this guy? Somebody, gimme a color shot of Johnson!

[batmagadanleadoff]

Zvon wrote: Bob Johnson. I never made a card for this guy? Somebody, gimme a color shot of Johnson!

Bob Johnson's not the answer, and a tough Met get, picture wise. Your best bet might be to colorize a B&W photo, like the team issued head shot, below.



Fringe Mets from '67 and '68 might be the most difficult Mets to find pictures of. This is in part because, around that time, Marvin Miller, as new head of the player's union, embarked on his strategy to take on Topps as a way to enrich the union coffers, which were pretty barren when he took over. Miller's strategy was to angle for more money from Topps for the players and, as leverage, threatened to have players refuse to renew their contracts upon expiration. Around 1967, many players stopped posing for Topps even though they were still under contract. The Mets, pretty much as an entire team, stopped posing for Topps in early '67 and would not pose for Topps again until Spring Training '69. This is why photos of fringe players from those years are hard to come by and also, why there are so many dated, and re-used and capless head shots in the '68 and '69 Topps sets.

[Zvon]

I did a little digging and only had this one photo of him on file. IIRC the color work was done by Fat Jack of Baseball Birthdays (which I heard is pulling the plug, btw). That one above, there just not enough information there to make it worth coloring. This one is good but I'll keep looking as opposed to making a card of such an extreme closeup. I always prefer my cards to show the chest/METS/NEW YORK in frame. I could add a body to this if I have to.
[fimg=400:et9k6omd]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-fRgjGU47GAQ/VqraarAINUI/AAAAAAAAk7k/vTFpOd2Zmr4/s800-Ic42/BobJohnsonINFColor7.jpg[/fimg:et9k6omd]

[batmagadanleadoff]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Zvon wrote: Bob Johnson. I never made a card for this guy? Somebody, gimme a color shot of Johnson! Bob Johnson's not the answer, and a tough Met get, picture wise. Fringe Mets from '67 and '68 might be the most difficult Mets to find pictures of. This is in part because, around that time, Marvin Miller, as new head of the player's union, embarked on his strategy to take on Topps as a way to enrich the union coffers, which were pretty barren when he took over. Miller's strategy was to angle for more money from Topps for the players and, as leverage, threatened to have players refuse to renew their contracts upon expiration. Around 1967, many players stopped posing for Topps even though they were still under contract. The Mets, pretty much as an entire team, stopped posing for Topps in early '67 and would not pose for Topps again until Spring Training '69. This is why photos of fringe players from those years are hard to come by and also, why there are so many dated, and re-used and capless head shots in the '68 and '69 Topps sets.

It's also probably why as late as 1969, Mets acquired or re-acquired in between the '67 and '68 seasons still didn't get a proper picture on their Topps cards.

(four or five year old picture of Jackson)

The answer to the last part of this quiz is Tommie Reynolds, who was on the '69 A's for the entire season. Blue was promoted to the big club from Birmingham in mid '69, one day before the A's traded for Bob Johnson. So by one day, Johnson missed out on tying Reynolds for the honor of being Blue's first one-time Met teammate.

[Zvon]

Wow. I don't think I would have gotten that even if I kept guessing. And I'm familiar with Reynolds, though superficially. That was a good quiz
[fimg=200:165tbamh]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-P-ho70yDUu8/VJDE5BWiA4I/AAAAAAAAWNY/Wl4Tzg12t_E/s640-Ic42/67mfcTommieReynolds-z15.png[/fimg:165tbamh]