As of this writing, I only have one card to slide into the #2 slot in the Ivy Frankenset so this 1981 Donruss card of Rollie Fingers wins by default. Luckily, its a good one!
The ivy is doing a good job of staying in the background on this card. Off the top of my head, it may be one of the more muted appearances in my collection. But even if another #2 card came along with better ivy, it would take a lot to bump this card.
Fingers is a Hall of Famer, Cy Young Award winner, MVP Award winner, 7x All-Star, 3x World Champ including a World Series MVP and renowned mustache sporter. Not to mention this Padres uniform may have passed bad and circled its way back around to good. Fingers only spent four of his seventeen seasons in the National League so this is also the only opportunity I've come across for him to make the Ivy Frankenset.
Since its a posed card, there isn't much to go on in terms of date stamping it. Fingers is wearing a long sleeve undershirt so it could be early or late in the season. But the Ivy looks green and full so more like the middle.
A quick look at his Baseball-Reference page show he played in Chicago in early May and mid July. I'd lean to wards th early May series but wouldn't bet on it. For all I know, Fingers could have been one of those guys who liked wearing long sleeve undershirts year round. There are actually qite a few Ivy cards in this set, including other Padres, so doing a little cross analyzation might yield better results.
I had one of these in my collection as a kid but set out to find a card in better shape once I decided to go after this niche collection. This one had really good centering on the front and back and sharp corners. The white borders have yellowed a bit but I'm happy with this pickup
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