Growing up in Michigan, Jim was a great athlete and was reportedly even recruited by the Chicago Bears out of college, but his love was always for the game of baseball.
Known as the Silver (or Grey) Fox due to his prematurely grey hair, Jim was a member of the O's at the end of his career and played in 92 games for them in 1974-75. He is best remembered for the 11 seasons he spent with the Detroit Tigers, highlighted by his leading the way to their 1968 World Series Championship.
After he retired following the 1975 season, he went on to work as a color analyst on the Tigers cable TV broadcasts from 1985-94.
While I wish his autograph popped a little bit better on this card, I'm a big fan of this '75 Topps card. For whatever reason, purple and pink were chosen to represent the O's and Jim's poofed out hair is icing on the cake. His signature looks pretty similar to the pre-printed one of the card, contrary to many players today, so it has that going for it too.
Taking a closer look, it certainly appears like that O's cap was "photo-shopped" on Jim, so his Crown and SSPC cards are the only ones that actually picture him in an Orioles uniform.
RIP Jim, thanks for the memories!
1 comment:
hard to believe Northrup was 71. That '68 Series doesn't seem that long ago to me. RIP
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