Tommie Agee's 1973 Topps Baseball Card

This 1973 Topps Tommie Agee baseball card in a classic early seventies Topps airbrushing job.

In November 1972, Agee was traded from the Mets to the Houston Astros. By the time the 1973 Topps baseball cards were ready to roll out, Topps knew Agee had been traded, but had no photos of him in his new uniform. So they got their air brush atrist to paint over the Mets uniform letters in white. Then, they painted his sox, caps & sleeves to something close to Astros orange. Although its more of a maroon / red.

Notice there's no Houston or Astro name, nor any numbers on the plain white uniform. It's hard to imagine there were no other recent Agee photos available, like one with him not wearing a cap. Then, Topps could have given us one of their classic still head shots from that era.

The Astros played inside the Houston Astrodome at the time, they would be wearing a darker road uniform in an outdoor Stadium. This picture was taken on a beautifal day at Shea Stadium in 1972. Notice the classic 371 mark on the dark green outfield wall & the white bus parked in the Shea parking lot.

It has to be 1972, because Rusty Staub is the rightfielder coming in on the play, behind Mets second baseman Kenny Boswell. Rusty arrived with the Mets for the first time in 1972. 

Interestingly Rusty Staub has no 1972 or 1973 Topps cards, beacuse he was one of the last players to join the newly former Players Union, who had cut an exclusive deal with Topps.