1971 O-Pee-Chee Adolfo Phillips #418 Montreal Expos

Description

1971 O-Pee-Chee Adolfo Phillips #418 Montreal Expos Few uniforms in baseball history inspire nostalgia quite like the powder blue of the Montreal Expos, and this 1971 O-Pee-Chee Adolfo Phillips #418 Montreal Expos card captures that look perfectly. Phillips beams at the camera with a bat on his shoulder, wearing the famous red, white and blue Expos cap and the light blue road jersey that Canadian fans still celebrate decades after the team played its final game at Olympic Stadium. The black border and orange Expos masthead complete one of the most colourful cards in the entire 1971 set. As both a Canadian printed card and a card of a Canadian based team, this single carries a double layer of domestic appeal that makes it a natural favourite for Expos collectors and O-Pee-Chee set builders alike. Adolfo Phillips was a Panamanian outfielder blessed with such exciting speed and power that he drew comparisons to the great centre fielders of his time as he came through the Philadelphia system. He became the regular centre fielder of the Chicago Cubs from 1966 through 1968, and the back of this card records two of his most remarkable achievements from that period, a three home run game on June 11, 1967 and an astonishing 29 intentional walks during the 1967 season while batting ahead of the pitcher. The reverse also reaches back to his minor league breakthrough at Magic Valley in 1962, where he batted .330 with 33 home runs and led the Pioneer League with 135 runs scored. Montreal acquired him during the Expos inaugural 1969 season, making him part of the earliest identity of Canadas first major league franchise, and he patrolled the outfield at Jarry Park during the clubs formative years before finishing his career with Cleveland. This is the Canadian O-Pee-Chee printing of the card, confirmed by the bilingual golden reverse with French text in the dark side panel, French and English major league batting record headings and the printed in Canada T. C. G. credit. For an Expos card there is simply no more fitting version to own, since the French language back mirrors the bilingual culture of the Montreal club itself. The reverse carries his complete statistics through 1970 and a starburst portrait, along with biographical details from his home in Chorrera, Panama. The 1971 black bordered design is notoriously unforgiving, yet the bright photography on this card gives it outstanding binder presence even before its Canadian team premium is considered. This is one of the strongest presenting cards from the sheet, with rich blue colour in the jersey and sky, a clean portrait and only light touches visible at the corners. Close inspection of the scan shows a small white nick in the black border along the bottom edge near the centre, minor speckling at the lower right corner and faint touches along the right edge, while the top corners remain comparatively well defined for this fragile issue. A tiny mark can be seen on the front of the jersey area that appears to be a minor print or surface speck, and no crease, wrinkle or paper loss is apparent anywhere on the card. The bilingual back is clean and fully legible with no writing observed, preserving every line of the French and English text. Centering is pleasing and close to even, with perhaps a trace more black border on the right side, well within normal tolerances for 1971. The bottom edge nick and light corner touches cap the card at a conservative excellent grade, and in that range a powder blue Expos favourite on a Canadian printing is an easy recommendation for any vintage Canadian baseball collection. Grade Estimate: EX 5