Gunslinger at Third

Today's custom card features an actor who could sling bullets with the best of them, and was inspired by a baseball player who could catch bullets (the baseball kind) just as proficiently.

Here's the original card:

1976 Topps #169, Graig Nettles

When you look at that glare on the face of Mr. Nettles, does a particular actor come to mind? If not, here are some clues:

One of his well-known characters rode into a dusty town looking for a fistful of dollars.

And then after that, for a few dollars more.

You might call one of the other characters he portrayed a little . . . dirty.

Got it yet?

Here's the answer:

It didn't take long to find a comparable image of Clint Eastwood. As for the text, I decided to leave the "3rd Base" and "Yankees" designations alone, because who doesn't grin when they think of Clint Eastwood actually playing third base?

I mean, would you hit a line drive at him? Not sure I would. Because that might upset him. And you know the next time he's up at bat the pitcher is going to be too scared to pitch, and will gladly issue an intentional walk. 

Once Clint reaches first base he'll call over to you (you're a middle infielder) and ask if you're feeling lucky. Then he'll immediately steal second, but instead of sliding into the bag he'll just plow right into you and knock you over. And then, perched on second base, he'll look down at you disdainfully with those steely eyes, just like Graig Nettles is staring down a fictitious pitcher on his card. Look at both of them again. Either man could be thinking, Go ahead, make my day.

But wait, there's more.

As it's become the norm here with custom cards of actor-dopplegangers, I've made a second version using a different picture and revised text.

I thought the all-star badge doubled seamlessly as a police badge, so an image of Inspector Harry Callahan was the natural choice.

For the text, I switched the AL abbreviation to CA for California (because I figure if Harry Callahan "played" for the San Francisco Police Department, the team would be part of the California League).

The first image of Mr. Eastwood is from A Fistful of Dollars. (Cowboy hat replaced with a baseball cap.) The second image is of course from the Dirty Harry film. 

These customs are a lot of fun. I've created enough now to catalog them on a separate page here at Nine Pockets. You can see them all here.

Hope you're enjoying the series. Thanks as always for reading.