Friday, February 9, 2018

Most Surprising Card in Sportscaster Card Series #001

I was sorting some of the Sporstcaster cards today and I was surprised to see this card in series 001.  I'm sure that in the 1970s I was wondering why this card was included, especially in series 001 of a subscription set.  Series 001 was going to be their big marketing push so the set included Bobby Orr, Muhammad Ali, Jessse Owens, Mark Spitz, Frank Shorter, Johnny Unitas, Pele, Jimmy Connors, Jets vs. Colts (Super Bowl), Tom Seaver, Pete Maravich and track stars Alberto Juantorena and Lasse Viren.  That's a great first set. 


Even the sub-title of the card makes me wonder about the card's inclusion.  It reads "The Unanswered Question".

The text even begins with the question "should fishing even be included in a collection of sports cards?".



The card concludes that fishing is probably not a sport  That has changed a lot since the 1970s.  There are professional tournaments, high school championships and everything in between.  I haven't been to a competition, but I'm guessing that the card is no longer correct when it mentions that "there are no referees and there are no anti-doping control points along the river".

The last line is my favorite, since I'm too impatient to fish - "Luckily, though, the fish almost always win".

My real question from this card is the fisherman depicted.  Is he a professional, the neighbor of the photographer, an actor, just some guy who is hungry, is it you or what?  What is his story?  If there is no story, how great is it for this guy to be included with the famous athletes in Series 001.