"I don't know if he's in a class by himself, but whatever class he's in, it don't take long to call the roll."
That great line was uttered by Bum Phillips in describing Earl Campbell. And that's how I'd describe Paul Blair's fielding prowess. Is he the best? Dunno. He's as good as anyone I've ever seen, that's for sure. The cliche was that Blair could go back on the ball so well he could play very shallow and take bloop hits away from opposing batters. Like a lot of cliches, that one was based in fact. And my Dad, who saw DiMaggio and a young Mickey Mantle was always duly impressed with Paul Blair. That's enough of an endorsement for me.
I don't usually go after autographed cards but I liked this one and it was dirt cheap so I bit. I have always liked the way the '74 Topps Orioles cards reflected the team colors.
The back reflects the original card back and has Blair's facsimile autograph. It sure looks different from the Archives '13 version, doesn't it?
The front sig does not match with the name and even less with the back sig...Is it upside down?
ReplyDeleteAlways been confused by the middle name "L D"
ReplyDelete@ Ana I think it's right side up, just a sig that's changed a lot over 40 years. His '74 one looks pretty shaky actually. On the signed card front if you ignore the huge 'C"-looking swirl on the first letter you can see 'Paul'.
ReplyDelete@ N.O. Kinda Harry S Truman-ish, isn't it?