UD HOF: Harmon Killebrew A's Swatches?

RU4Scuba

There have been a few Harmon Killebrew A's swatches pulled out of UD Hall of Fame which have me quite perplexed since Killebrew has never played or coached with the Athletics.

Some have suggested that when Killebrew played for the KC Royals in 1975 they had a 'throwback' day. This didn't make much sense to me since they would essentially be putting on the uniforms of another team in their division. I emailed the KC Royals and got this response from their Coordinator of Media Relations, Dave Holtzman:


<< <i>Unfortunately, I don't have the resources at my disposal to figure out if the Royals wore a KC A's throwback jersey in 1975. I can tell you Harmon Killebrew was playing for the Royals in 1975. I have looked through all of our promotions from the 1975 season and nothing indicates that we had a throwback day that season. But that does not mean it didn't happen. It also could have been a road game for the Royals, possibly in Oakland. >>


I'm hoping someone here can help solve this mystery.

oddball

Upper Deck makes mistakes, plain and simple

one time a friend of mine pulled a Kevin Garnett gold/purple patch card...Garnett has only worn blue/black/green/white (Timberwolves)...even if it was a piece of game used high school jersey, neither of the two high schools he attended had purple on their jerseys...the only explanation is that the patch came from a Lakers jersey

RU4Scuba

That is what I figured. The problem is there are several different inserts with green and gold swatches floating around eBay. You would think quality control would be much better on a tin product with an SRP of $150.

iamthegreatcornholio

At least with an auto you tell if it looks real or not. But these GU jersey pieces and bat woodchips, I guess the card companies are on the "honor system"...

OilCanBoydCollector

Dang BMB lurkers coming here to post topics...

earlycalguy

I have an 8x10 of Harmon in an A's jersey. I asked him to sign it about 20 years ago. He told me he'd sign anything but that because he never played for the A's. He said he was taking batting practice at an A's game one day and the picture got out with him in the A's uniform. The photo was from after he retired.

RU4Scuba

Excellent earlycalguy. Thanks for the info.

Robb, bite me ork;

OilCanBoydCollector

How did you obtain the photo and could you post a scan?

MooseDog

Long time A's fan here...

Killebrew was the TV play by play man, and a good one at that, for the A's during the god-awful late 1970s years (avg attendance at home games around 4,000). It was not too long after he retired, so it is conceivable that he had some jerseys since he also did some coaching during spring training and I can recall seeing him in uniform a few times in Arizona.

So yes, he never "played" for the A's but it is certainly possible that "worn" though not "game worn" jerseys exist.

RU4Scuba

Thanks MooseDog. I wasn't aware he coached for the A's during ST.

MooseDog

I don't think he was "officially" a coach, but given his accomplishments and Charlie Finley's cheapskate ways, I'm sure that being a batting instructor or whatever during spring training was part of Finley squeezing a little more work out of Killer and was probably even written in his TV contract.

earlycalguy

My unsigned photos are back home in Maryland. If you are interested in it I can look for it the next time I am back there. I probably obtained the photo at a card shop in Maryland. Killebrew attended the Cracker Jack Old Timer's games held in D.C. for a few years in the early to mid 80's. Used to buy photos before going to the hotel in D.C. where they were staying.

joestalin

This has been discussed over on the beckett forums where there have been many cases busted. I have opened nearly one case and pulled
a Killer A's card. This is supposed to be a patch from a uniform that Killer PLAYED in a major league game..not coached, or did tv in, or
took batting practice in, but played. This stuff is 150 a pack, there shouldn't be any water to this, you can get away with that selling
stuff for 1.99 a pack but this is unacceptable.

fact is Killer never played an offical game with the A's, yet UD choose to use this jersey in many of the patch cards that they put out....Carlin
is out of the office, but I WILL find out what is up with this. I smell a refund here

JS

VintageJeff

I wouldn't expect anything less than this from UD. IMO they are a low class company.