1971 O-Pee-Chee Brant Alyea #449 Minnesota Twins

Description

1971 O-Pee-Chee Brant Alyea #449 Minnesota Twins Every vintage set contains a player whose big moments were so explosive that collectors still smile when they turn the card over, and this 1971 O-Pee-Chee Brant Alyea #449 Minnesota Twins single is exactly that kind of discovery. Alyea glares back at the pitcher from his batting stance, bat held high, with his bold facsimile signature stretched across the lower half of the photograph. The black bordered design gives the image real punch, and the high number from the later portion of the Canadian checklist adds to its appeal for set builders. Twins collectors in particular will enjoy owning the card of a man who announced his arrival in Minnesota with one of the great Opening Day performances in franchise history. The biography on the reverse tells the story beautifully. Brant Alyea twice drove in seven runs in a single game during the 1970 season, and the first of those outbursts came on April 7 in the season opener, his very first game as a Twin after arriving from Washington. Despite playing only 94 games that year, the printed statistics show that he batted .291 with 16 home runs and 61 runs batted in across just 258 at bats, a remarkable rate of production for a part time outfielder. His power had been evident for years in the minor leagues, where he batted .319 with 32 home runs and 116 runs batted in for Geneva in 1962 and later hit 31 home runs for Buffalo in 1968. The New Jersey product became a useful right handed power bat wherever he played, and his 1970 heroics remain part of Minnesota Opening Day lore more than half a century later. As a Canadian O-Pee-Chee printing, the card carries the bilingual golden reverse with French narrative text in the dark side panel, bilingual statistical headings and the printed in Canada T. C. G. credit that separates it from the American Topps edition. The starburst portrait, complete statistics through 1970 and biographical lines showing his Rutherford, New Jersey home are all present and readable. The 1971 O-Pee-Chee set stopped well short of the full American checklist and was printed in much smaller quantities, which makes later numbers such as 449 genuinely useful to set builders who cannot rely on endless supplies of raw singles. The fragile black borders mean that honest copies with good colour are welcomed into binders even when the corners show their age. The front retains strong colour in the pale sky and powder blue tones of the uniform, with speckled white chipping visible along the top edge and right edge of the black border. The top right corner shows a small bend or light corner crease with associated wear, the remaining corners are lightly to moderately touched, and a small isolated dark spot appears in the sky to the right of Alyea's shoulder that reads as a minor surface or print mark in the scan. No long crease crosses the body of the card and no writing is present, while the bilingual back appears clean with all text and statistics fully legible. Centering of the photograph is close to even overall, with perhaps a slight tilt of emphasis toward a heavier black border at the lower edge that does not detract in hand. The corner bend at the upper right combined with edge chipping caps this single at a conservative very good grade, making it an economical and historically fun addition to a 1971 O-Pee-Chee set or Twins team collection. Grade Estimate: VG 3