#197 George Strickland

#197 George Strickland
Progress: 1st of this card
260 of 407  63.8% complete
How acquired: $4.80 on eBay
Condition: Good
This Strickland is in pretty solid shape.  There's a slight slant to the centering of the card, but it's far from terrible.  The corners are all well rounded as well, but that's about it for defects.  There are no horrible creases or markings to point out, making for a decent pick-up at this stage in the game.

I'm not a huge fan of the mug-shot cards (we're probably lucky that was never the theme of a Studio set in the late 90's) and this Strickland certainly falls in that category.   They'd be a staple for Topps the next forty years or so after this '52 set, but thankfully have all but disappeared of late.  So don't say I never say anything good about post-1991 baseball cards.   I need to go back and look to find when the last Topps set to feature a photo like this was.

Stats: 10 seasons, 633 hits, 36 home runs, .233 avg., twice finished in top 10 of "defensive WAR" in '53 and '54 (if you believe that's a legitimate stat, which it isn't)

Best Hall of Fame Showing: N/A