no. 41 - rick austin

Who is the man: Rick Austin had just finished the most active season of his major league career in 1970. He appeared in 31 games for the Indians in his rookie season and pitched 67 2/3 innings.

Can ya dig it: The old wishbone C that the Indians wore interests me as I thought that was always the domain of the Cincinnati Reds. I wonder if there was a copyright war?

Right on: Rookie card! We've come across a lot of these already and we're only 41 cards into the set.

You see this cat Austin is a bad mother: Austin's father was the first athletic director and football coach for his high school, Lakes High School, in Lakewood, Wash. His father actually picked out the school colors. That's pretty bad-ass for a kid to play for his high school team and tell his teammates, "You see those uniforms there? My dad decided what colors you'd be wearing."

Shut your mouth: Austin has just two Topps baseball cards -- this one and one in the 1976 Topps set (In between he was in the minors and played one year in Japan). By the time he reappeared in the '76 set, he had grown long hair and a thick mustache. It doesn't even seem like the same person.

No one understand him but his woman: Austin drew a bunch of attention for his baseball skills, but what he really wanted to do was follow his father and become a college quarterback. That didn't happen as he became a star pitcher for Washington State.

(A word about the back): That's a pretty scary head shot. It almost looks inhuman.