Keith Erickson Basketball Card

This Keith Erickson basketball card is number 140 in a series of 264 that was manufactured by the Topps Company Inc. for the 1972-1973 National Basketball Association season. The front of the card features a posed picture of the Los Angeles Lakers forward-center on a blue background. The card’s reverse features a small cartoon image illustrating the factoid that “Keith played volleyball in 1968 Olympics,” as well as a short biography and career statistics.

It is apparent Erickson is wearing his jersey backwards, which looks strange compared to modern cards but was common in basketball cards until the early 1970s. It is believed that the player’s would forfeit their fee to the team if the team name appeared so many players wore their jerseys backwards, wore their warm-ups, or posed in such a way to obscure the team name.