1971 O-Pee-Chee Jim Hickman #175 Chicago Cubs

Description

1971 O-Pee-Chee Jim Hickman #175 Chicago Cubs Step back to one of the most replayed moments in All-Star Game history. In the bottom of the twelfth inning of the 1970 Midsummer Classic at brand new Riverfront Stadium, Jim Hickman laced a single up the middle that sent Pete Rose charging home and into the immortal plate collision with Ray Fosse, scoring the run that won the game for the National League. The man who delivered that swing can anchor your vintage Cubs collection today, because Alex Collect is proud to offer this 1971 O-Pee-Chee Jim Hickman #175 Chicago Cubs card in attractive, honestly worn raw condition. The 1971 O-Pee-Chee issue is the Canadian cousin of the landmark 1971 Topps set, produced by O-Pee-Chee in London, Ontario under license from Topps and distributed almost entirely north of the border in far smaller quantities than its American counterpart, which makes every surviving Canadian single meaningfully scarcer than the Topps version. The front carries the dramatic jet black bordered design with its bold arched team name and facsimile autograph, but flipped over this is unmistakably a Canadian O-Pee-Chee bilingual back, printed in Canada with English and French text throughout the player biography and the celebrated Fiche Comme Frappeur Dans Les Majeures statistical heading that generations of francophone collectors grew up reading. Hickman was already a genuine piece of baseball history before his Chicago years ever began. A St. Louis signee out of Tennessee, he became an original 1962 New York Met and authored the franchise's first two giant offensive milestones, the first cycle in Mets history and later the first three home run game in club history as well. Saved from journeyman status by remarkable late blooming power, he exploded for the Cubs in 1970 with a .315 batting average, 32 home runs, 115 runs batted in and an eighth place finish in National League Most Valuable Player voting, earning his only All-Star selection and its game winning hit along the way. He remained a productive platoon bat and clubhouse favourite at Wrigley Field into the mid 1970s. As seen in the photographs, this card displays honest wear consistent with a half century of handling, with light fraying and whitening at all four corner tips and the lower corners showing the most softness, scattered pinpoint white nicks of edge chipping along the black top and left borders that the 1971 design is notorious for exposing, centering that runs slightly heavy on the right side at roughly 55 to 45 left to right while sitting near even top to bottom, a clean facsimile autograph area with no creases, wrinkles, stains or writing anywhere on the card, and a bright bilingual back with strong, fully legible print. Because the black frames on this issue amplify every tiny touch, we grade conservatively, and our estimate of EX 5 leaves genuine room for pleasant surprise. An affordable, story rich O-Pee-Chee single of a true All-Star hero. Grade Estimate: EX 5