The 1975 Hostess Rusty Staub Makes a Case for Worst Airbrush Job of All-Time
By Ryan Cracknell | Hobby Editor
Since the dawn of professional sports, players have switched teams. Whether that’s through trade or simply signing elsewhere, it varies from person to person, situation to situation.
How these trades and uniforms changes are represented on trading cards varies. Sometimes it’s just a wait for a late-season update set or an early release the following year. Airbrushed photos have, historically, been another popular means.
Being a Canadian and growing up with O-Pee-Chee, I’m well familiar with the simple traded line.
And then there’s the 1975 Hostess Rusty Staub.
I found this card in a vintage “10 for $1” box at the National for my Expos collection. I actually just about passed it by. It’s a Mets card, right? That’s what it says in the nameplate in bold red block letters. That’s what the cap says. There’s also the simple fact that Staub been a member of the Mets since 1972 and wouldn’t go elsewhere until 1976.
I was with Beckett editor Stephen Laroche at the time. As he was about to slide it back into the box, he pointed out that it wasn’t totally the Mets card it looked to be.
Take a peek at the jersey. In actuality, the 1975 Hostess Rusty Staub is an airbrush job that didn’t quite finish what it set out to do.
That’s clearly an Expos logo on his chest. And enough for me to add it to the Expos collection.
This a beast of a card. It’s like a really bad movie that is so bad that it’s actually kind of fun (confession: From Justin to Kelly, the unofficial American Idol movie with Kelly Clarkson fits this category of film).
Staub last played for Montreal in 1971, four years before this card was printed on the box of some tasty Hostess treats. Staub was teamed up with Tony Perez and Larry Hisle to make up the three-card panel.
The airbrush horror isn’t limited to just the logo. Pinstripes start to go across the jersey but stop at the shoulder.
Clearly, this is a mess of a baseball card. It might well be the worst piece of baseball card airbrushing ever, which is saying a lot. And that’s exactly why I love it.
Comments? Questions? Contact Ryan Cracknell on Twitter @tradercracks.
I’ve seen some bad airbrushing before but you’re right, this is probably the worst I’ve seen. As a graphic artist myself, I can’t understand why someone would start the process and then not finish it but what startles me even more is why use him in an Expos uni anyway that many years after switching teams? The horror. The horror.
This Hostess card may have something to do with Rusty having some type of contact dispute with Topps. I believe he does not have a 1972 or 1973 Topps card. Does anyone have more information on this?
After some brief research, it appears no one really knows (aside from Mr. Staub himself), but there was some sort of contract dispute with Topps. The ’72 Topps set also had no Luis Tiant or John Hiller, due to some sort of licensing/contract issues as well.