Who is the man: Gates Brown was entering another season as the Tigers' primary pinch-hitter when this card was released. He was going through a bit of a low period as the previous two years he had hit under .230.
Can ya dig it: Brown has an extraordinarily tall head. Or at least it seems so on his cards.
Right on: Brown is pictured with a bat in his hands on all of his Topps cards from 1965-1974. I don't know if that's a record, but it makes me want to do research.
You see that cat Brown is a bad mother: Brown hit an extraordinary .370, mostly as a pinch-hitter, during the Tigers' World Series championship year in 1968.
Shut your mouth: Brown served time for breaking-and-entering when he was a teenager. When he started his baseball career, he spent his second year in the minors in the Southern League. The combination of being black and an ex-con in the South was too good for heckling fans to resist. But Brown led the league in hitting that year in 1961, and "by the end of the year, they were all on my side," Brown said.
No one understands him but his woman: Brown was the Tigers' first designated hitter.
(A word about the back): The noted halfback didn't play baseball in high school.
Tha Gator was a better person than ballplayer. Please excuse his youthful indiscretion. He is revered in Detroit for those that knew him. He also is credited with one of my favorite lines. "As square as an ice cube and twice as cool"
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