I thought that some of you might appreciate having something to read this morning, so this is my Christmas gift to you. I hope your day is merry, no matter how you spend it!
I recently got a COMC shipment which contained a number of 1970’s Burger King cards. Here are the first three, all from the 1977 Burger King Yankees set, along with each card’s Topps counterpart.
Don Gullett turned a steady career with the Reds into a 6-year contract with the Yankees, and it was early enough in the offseason that Topps was able to airbrush him into a Yankees cap (and somehow mistakenly put his name in green type).
His 1977 Burger King Yankees card is a similar portrait, but shows him in an actual Yankees cap. His expression on the BK card seems to say “Can you believe how bad my Topps card is?”
Injuries curtailed Gullett’s career in the Bronx. He only pitched 2 seasons with the Yanks, and was done with baseball at the age of 27.
Jim Wynn spent 1976 with the Braves. I got to meet him and get his autograph that year, the first Major Leaguer I’d ever seen up close, and despite his 5’10” height which contributed to his knickname as “The Toy Cannon”, he seemed huge to me.
Wynn was purchased from the Braves during the offseason, a move reflected in his 1977 Burger King card.
He unfortunately put up anemic offensive numbers with the Yankees and was released in July. He’d hook up with the Brewers, but would not play after 1977.
Paul Blair was an 8-time Gold Glove center fielder with the Orioles. His 1977 Topps card shows him in Yankee Stadium, which could be considered to be foreshadowing if not for many AL players having their photos taken at Yankee Stadium.
Like Wynn, the end of his career was approaching and the O’s traded him for for Elliott Maddox (who scarcely played for the O’s) and Rick Bladt (who played the season with AAA Rochester before the end of his pro career).
Blair would play the 1977 and 1978 seasons in the Bronx, get released early in 1979, hook up with the Reds and then go back to the Yankees in 1980 to close out his career.
I’ll close out with an interesting Paul Blair fact: He played in 28 World Series games and 6 World Series – four with the O’s and two with the Yanks.
The Shlabotnik Report 
The photos used in all three pairs show similar poses from one to it’s counterpart. Not perfect matches but similar enough make me wonder if was intentional.
Didn’t remember that Gullet’s career was so short. The Wynn shot looks like it’s a Wrigley but from a rare angle, in front of the visitor’s dugout or probably closer to to right field bullpen.
Wow, didn’t know that Wynn existed. I’ve seen just one other card of him as a Yankee. Need to track that one down ASAP.
If you’re bored and want to see the difference between the Munsons, I blogged about it awhile back…
http://sanjosefuji.blogspot.com/2012/05/thurman-or-thruman-munson.html
Wow, that’s cool… I knew that the All Star bar went away, but I didn’t realize there were signature differences. I wonder where the 77 OPC falls…?
Love those subtle and more obvious differences in these sets. Mr. Gullett’s OPC card is another photo altogether. Similar to the BK version but hard to tell if it is an airbrush job or not.
http://ohmyopc.blogspot.in/2012/04/1977-don-gullett.html
His Hostess card is an airbrushed photo with a Cincinnati Reds player (Manny Sarmiento #45) behind him in the photo.
http://www.tradingcarddb.com/GalleryP.cfm/pid/2299/Don-Gullett?PageIndex=5