1971 Topps Rusty Staub Card - Jarry Park Painting

(THIS CARD SHIPS FREE TO CANADA!!)

This 1971 Topps Rusty Staub card has a surprise on the back - an original painting of Jarry Park, Montreal. Artist Michael Koser sometimes leaves a little bit of the original card visible through the painting, so you will notice "Rusty Staub" in the sky above the RCF fence. This item is 1 of 1. 

Rusty Staub, " Le Grand Orange", was a 6X All-Star finishing his career with 2,716 hits and 292 home runs. He played for 6 different teams and was the only player in baseball history to collect 500 hits with 4 different teams. While he spent time with the Astros, Mets, Tigers and Rangers he was most beloved as a member of the Montreal Expos (though Mets fans may disagree). He was the teams first really big star and spent many hours learning the language to better communicate with the fans. Staub told Montreal Gazette writer Stu Cowan, “I was in Quebec — I couldn’t talk to a child. I couldn’t say something encouraging. I felt like I was not doing my job — not being able to respond to the media at least in some basic form. I took about 25 French classes after the first season, and the next year I took longer classes. There’s not a question that my making that effort is part of the reason that whatever Le Grand Orange represented to Montreal and all those fans, they knew I cared and I tried. I tried to be a part of their community and I always tried to do that wherever I went — I thought it’s what you should do.”

His number "10" was retired by the ballclub and he was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2012.

Staub passed away in 2018 at the age of 73. Teammate Roger McDowell remembered the big left hander, "He was such a great human being, a giving man with a huge heart who genuinely cared about people."

The Expos spent their first several seasons (1969-1976) at Jarry Park. During their opening season (1969), despite being the smallest ballpark in baseball, the team drew over 1.2 million fans into cozy Jarry Park.  The ballpark was small and some might say not ideally suited for MLB, but it in many ways it was perfect and it marked the beginning of a long love affair between a colorfully dressed and exciting to watch ballclub and the good people of Montreal! 

Card is ungraded.