Dick Allen Baseball Card Project: 1969

We will conclude Dick Allen's first run with the Philadelphia Phillies with the iconic bad-boy image of him looking uninterested and smoking in the dugout. After several years of ongoing strife, he was done with the Phillies and the Phillies were done with him. In my opinion, Topps also appeared to be uninterested and uninspired this year, simply combining elements from the 1967 and 1968 card design for the 1969 version. Not sure when they took the DA image they used for this card, because in 1969 he was wearing a batting helmet all the time to protect his head from flying object thrown by the hometown fans.

Originally shot in black & white, I love this image so much I decided to colorize it so I could include it in this project. Air brushing images to match a new uniform is something that was quite common in future baseball cards. Although not perfect, it isn't any worse than this attempt (or better yet this one) by Topps to alter the original shot.