RIP Ed Kranepool 1944-2024

     I am so saddened by the passing of the Original Original Met that I felt compelled to post here for the first time in far too long. I never got to see Ed play so I really only know him through stories and of course baseball cards. 

He got a career capper in 1980 which has all his career stats.

 

 

One of the great things about Ed is that his run of flagship Topps cards fits perfectly into two 9-pocket pages. 

The '63 was the last card I got of his, thanks to Tony Oliva.

 

 

Ed came up as a 17(!) year old bonus baby in the Mets first year of 1962 and stayed through 1979.  He still holds the record for most games played in an Amazins uniform. 

That middle card is a custom and the auto is real.

 

 

He has this third page of odds and ends in my Mets pages and in fact has the honor of being the only person to lead off two books because he is also the subject of a favorite autograph of mine:

 

 

A 100 years ago my Uncle Ron, the very big Yankees fan, waited in a very long line at a corporate show to get me an autograph of a Mets player. I have cherished this one a very long time and now, sadly, even more so. 

Original Met, Miracle Met, Lifetime Met. Godspeed Ed.

The All Star Orphans.

       Tonight would have been the 91st All Star Game, to have been played in Dodgers Stadium.  Not only does this one not count, it isn't being played at all because we currently live in the worst of all possible scenarios where nothing good will ever happen again.  Rather than wallowing in our pain, let's instead look at some old school Topps cards. 

       Some of the best design quirks in Topps sets are in the All Star cards.  For most years from 1958 until 1992, they gave some sort of shout out to the best players in the league - though not always to the all star starters or even all stars at all (but we'll get to that).  For the most part, they did either subsets or on-card graphics to the previous year's all stars and I decided to create some pages to illustrate those designs.  And instead of picking the best player in the set or even the best photo, I decided to pick the absolute worst player.  I mean, they can't be that terrible, they did get an all star card after all, but not every collection needs to be the best of the best of the best, it adds a little variety to the pages.  While I was accumulating these cards, I dubbed the list "The All Star Orphans" and the name stuck; my thinking was most of these players were only all stars once or only got the one all star card in their career. 

       So that was my basis for these choices, they had to be either one time all stars or if that didn't apply, just the worst player among the usual superstars who make the All Star squad.  It worked out nicely that there were 27 different designs for my nine-card criteria. There were multi-player All Star cards in 1993-1995 and the last dozen years or so, the Update Series has had all the All Star selections (and certainly could have given me some truly oddball choices) but I have to draw the line somewhere and it made sense to go 1958 (the first year of all star cards) and 1992 (the last year of a run of a separate all star subset that started in 1982).  Let's break them all down:

1992: Bryan Harvey (2x All Star) Led the league in saves in 1991, ended up on the expansion Marlins and kind of faded away.  He has kids in the Orioles and Pirates organizations.

1991: Bobby Thigpen (1x All Star) His one big claim to fame was saving a record 57 games that year - which was 11 more than the record - though the record is now 62 by K-Rod in 2008.  He never saved more than 34 in any other season.

1990: Joe Magrane (never made an All Star team) Here we have our first non-All Star all star card.  He did go 18-9 in 1989 and led the league in 1988 with a 2.18 ERA (with a 5-9 record!) but after 1990 his arm fell off and he was never effective again.  Why did Topps go with Joe here? Who the hell knows. 

1989: Kirk Gibson (never made an All Star team) Ah, 1988 Kirk Gibson, how I hate you.  The designation on the card is PH and this is obviously a nod to his famous game one homer in the World Series.  He is the only league MVP to never make an all star team (and he played 17 seasons).  Why not just make a card for his series heroics?  God, I hate this card almost as much as I hate Gibson.

1988: Shane Rawley (1x All Star...in 1986) Rawley made the All Star team the year before.  This card is for I guess the brilliant 2/3 of a season he had in 1987.  He won 17 games by August and finished the year with...17 wins.  He was out of the league by 1989.

1987: Tony Bernazard (never made an All Star team)  The only explanation I can come up with for why they gave Tony this card is because they were tired of making a card for Damaso Garcia.  Why not Lou Whitaker, who actually was the all star second baseman in 1986?  Plus, the less said about Tony's front office career, the better.

1986: Tom Herr (1x All Star) This page has two of my most hated players. I don't know why, but my brother and I took all of our anger at the mid-80s Cardinals out on Tom Herr.  Not Vince Coleman, not Willie McGee, not even Jack Clark...we hated Tommy Herr.  It also figures he eventually found his way to the early 90s Mets, where we could hate him every night.  He also drove in 100 runs while hitting less than 10 homers in 1985, which is pretty neat regardless of my opinion of him.

1985: Jeff Leonard (1x All Star...in 1987) He has one of the great nicknames of all time: Old Penitentiary Face.  He has two other cool nicknames as well, One Flap Down and Hac-Man (or Hack-Man).  He had a pretty decent 1984 season (21/86/.302) but I am at a loss as to why his happy mug is on this card.

1984: LaMarr Hoyt (2x All Star) Hoyt won the 1983 Cy Young award and was also an all star in 1982.  He also loved cocaine and ended up out of the league by 1986.  I am shocked he never played for the Yankees during this time.

Best design on the page: 1988 (might be my favorite subset design of all) runner up: 1987 (the league logos and red, white, and blue stars pop)

Worst design on the page: 1985 (they just threw a star where the team logo is on the base card, the tan color is also a loser) runner up 1986 (zzzzzzzzz I'm sorry, I fell asleep looking at this)

1983: Pete Vuckovich (never made an All Star team) Pete did win the Cy Young award in 1982 and led the league in wins in 1981, so it is not egregious that he's here.  Alas, his shoulder turned to mush and he was out of the league by 1986.  Also, he later led the league in nose hair and won the triple crown.

1982: Ken Singleton (3x All Star) Ken might be the best player of all on any these pages.  He was a good steady bat for a decade for the Orioles.  But the first subset in the expanded 1980s Topps sets was just loaded so he "won" the honor of being here.

1981: Jim Bibby (1x All Star) Jim is exactly the kind of player I wanted for these pages.  He had a pretty decent career and he made exactly one All Star game. Of course, he didn't start the 1980 All Star game, J.R. Richard did. Why didn't Richard get the designation instead? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

1980: Roy Smalley (1x All Star) He was a second generation player who made his first and only all star game in 1979.  He had a pretty unspectacular career and 1979 was maybe his 3rd or 4th best year but he started the All Star game mostly because of the "one player from every team" rule.  His dad never made an all star team.

1979: Richie Zisk (2x All Star) Zisk is a forgotten player but he had a pretty good run in the 1970s.  He got his all star card in 1979 for 1978 though his 1977 year was better.  If he had his big years for the Dodgers or the Red Sox, rather than the Rangers and the Mariners, he'd be much better remembered.

1978: Rick Burleson (4x All Star)  The 1978 All Star cards were just loaded with hall of famers and superstars, so I had to go with our first time four timer.  Rooster was known as a bit of a red ass in his day and he hurt his arm and was done as a useful player after 1981. 

1977: Randy Jones (2x All Star) Jones got lost in Fidrych-mania in 1976 and even though he had a great year and won the Cy Young, but no one remembers that at all.  Much like Fidrych, he was never very good after his big year in 1976 either.  Since Jones and Fidrych both made two All Star teams, I went with Jones because he deserves some recognition somewhere.

1976: Joe Rudi (3x All Star) Rudi was a cog in the A's green machine in the 1970s but he was also one of the players Charlie Finley tried to sell off in 1976, deals the commissioner all killed.  So he gets to be mentioned with players like Rollie Fingers and Vida Blue in that respect.

1975: Jeff Burroughs (2x All Star) Jeff famously won the 1974 AL MVP because the A's had three players who all split the vote, including the aforementioned Joe Rudi. He's not the worst player to win an MVP award but he's easily one of the most forgettable.

Best design on the page: 1976 (I love the chubby star designation, '76 had the best icons) runner up: 1978 (that badge is great and reminds me of the US Interstate signs)

Worst design on the page: 1981 (just for the very boring little drop down) runner up: 1980 (same reason)

1974: Rick Wise (2x All Star) The only multi-player subset in the vintage era, Wise finds himself among a bunch of iconic players - including Catfish Hunter on his own card. He also made the huge mistake of being traded straight up for Steve Carlton.  Not very wise at all.

1970: Rico Petrocelli (2x All Star) Topps took three years off for All Star cards, which is a shame since they all could have used them, 1971 and 1972 because they were so good looking, 1973 because the set is so boring. If Rico had the years he had in 1969-1971 in the 1990s, people would have said he was on steroids.

1969: Ken Harrelson (1x All Star)  Known more for a bunch of things other than his playing days (announcer, golfer, protruding proboscis) The Hawk had his career year in 1968 during the Year of the Pitcher and made the All Star team.  He was then out of the league by 1971 and eventually tortured White Sox fans with his homerism and annoying calls for decades. 

1968: Joe Horlen (1x All Star) Joe is another great example of All Star Orphan-ness.  He led the league in ERA and shutouts in 1967 but was fiercely mediocre most of the other dozen years of his career.  Dean Chance started the game and Catfish Hunter lost it, but somehow, Joe Horlen got the card in the set. Topps made no All Star cards from 1963-1967.

1962: Chuck Schilling (never made an All Star team) Here in the early days of all star cards, Topps went with the Sporting News or Sport Magazine selections, which is why Chuck got on the card even though he never did make an All Star team on the field.  Chuck finished 3rd in the ROY voting and yet was out of the league in 5 years.

1961: Frank Herrera (never made an All Star team) Pancho is probably my favorite Orphan.  He qualifies for One Year Wonder status as he won the IL MVP in 1959, had a pretty decent 1960 year (finishing second for ROY even), and then was back to the minors for good by 1962.  Heck, he never had a regular 'base' Topps card, he had two rookie card designs (1959 and 1960) and this high numbered all star beauty. Alas, Topps also went all Bob Clemente on him by anglicizing his name.

1960: Joe Cunningham (1x All Star) Joe finds himself in a high number series among a lot of hall of famers, but he had his career year in 1959 and wandered onto the All Star roster.  Willie Mays! Hank Aaron! Joe Cunningham!

1959: Wes Covington (never made an All Star team) I am kind of at a loss to say something about Wes, he was that average a ballplayer. He had good 90 game runs in 1957 and 1958 but never got more than 400 PA in any season.  He helped the Braves win the Series in '57 but then bounced around the league afterward.  Hey, he was once traded for Don Larson...just like dozens of other players.  Wow, he really is bland.  Um, his 1961 Topps card is pretty sweet, so he's got that going for him, which is nice.

1958: Frank Malzone (6x All Star) Topps first foray into All Star cards finds us with the player here with the most selections.  But so stacked was this subset, I had to go with Malzone over Johnny Temple simply because, well, I owned the Malzone and not the Temple.  This subset famously includes the first Topps Stan Musial card and Bob Costas' favorite Mickey Mantle card.  I should probably get the Temple card to better fit in with the spirit of the project, but hey, these are my pages.

Best design on the page: 1961 (it was so good, they basically copied it in 1970) runner up: 1960 (very of its time)

Worst design on the page: 1974 (it fits the set, but man is it boring) runner up: 1968 (half the card is the year and an advertisement for The Sporting News)

Never made an All Star team: 7
1x All Star: 9
2x All Star: 7
3+ All Star: 4

       I hope this little rundown will help fill the void of no baseball tonight.  I know the league is suppose to start up again on the 23rd, but I will believe it when I see it.  So much stuff is going on so rapidly and so many players seem to not be into putting their lives literally on the line, I wouldn't want anyone to become a real orphan just so we can watch sports. 

Football '14 Week 1: Shakin' in the Sixties.

       Football!  Football is back. With the Mets being so terrible for most of the year (and with no love whatsoever for Derek Jeter or his day), I have been aching in anticipation for the return of the gridiron where at least one of my teams might not suck.  To open up this year's weekly Sunday spectacular, I figure I would do a nice "What I Did Last Summer" review.  Now, I have done decade breakdowns before, one of them - the 1970's version - is the second most viewed post on this site.  This summer, I focused on building nine pocket pages, via ebay and shows, for the decade of the 1960's, the NFL's big turning point decade.  How did Topps cover this turbulent decade?  Let's take a look...

1969:

I covered the first two years of the 60's back on that 70's post, but for the sake of continuity, I will cover them again.  I kinda like the '69 design, it is simple and effective with little quirks.  The most striking quirk is that some of the backgrounds are full bleed and some of them are white-bordered.  I haven't quite figured out if there is a pattern to that, but it is definitely hard to miss once you realize it.  Perhaps I would find a pattern if I had the whole set in front of me, alas, building a vintage football set is not in the cards for me.

1968:

I stand by my earlier analysis that these cards totally look like time-release capsules.  It reminds me of an old commercial where they would split the capsules and all the little dots of medicine would spill everywhere and my OCD, even as a child, would just start screaming "nooooooooooooooo!"  Anyway, this was the first year in a few where both the AFL and NFL were seen together.  I guess when they merged the leagues, they saw fit to have only one card maker. 

1967:

In the decade of drugs, this is as psychedelic as it gets.  Sad.  We'd have to wait until 1972 baseball to get pure colorful explosions.  For the Summer of Love, these aren't the grand Lucy In The Sky artifacts they could have been, more like staring at your gramma's cameos after a single hit of blotter acid. 

1966:

Topps went all TV set in 1966 and they even synchronized the hockey and the football designs but I guess they didn't feel like aping the 1955 Bowman baseball design.  This was a much more effective design for hockey because they used the fun rink backgrounds and here you just get head shots and blue sky.  But really, Topps had already done the perfect horizontal card, which we will get to in a moment.

1965:

Tall boys!  Now these cards are the ones I picture when I think of the 1960's.  I don't think I saw a 1967 Topps football card until I was at least 20 years old but these are ubiquitous in their familiarity.  Sure, their size makes them annoying but man, who cares, just look at those.  The colors, the photos, it all works.  It helps that probably the iconic football card of all time is in this set - the equivalent to the 1952 Mantle.

And look at these amazing backs:

The extra real estate makes room for an enormous cartoon.  All the players get a long write up. The pink and black on off white make them very easy to read.  Topps tried to reprint these in the regular size two years ago, which misses the point.  I really wish they would do a separate throw-back Heritage set in this size and design.

If the size of these bugs you, there is always 1965 Philadelphia to soothe your soul.  You will also see that the Fleer cards (Philadelphia was the name of their football sets) of the era had the NFL and the Topps cards had the AFL.  This was true from 1964 to 1967, probably the last time there was any real friction in the card world between leagues and the only time between 1955 and 1981 Topps had any real competition in any sport. 

1964:

A while back I wondered why Topps didn't use the stars they use on their printer's sheets as part of a design, completely forgetting that the 1964 football cards exist.  I must say, my musing that this would make a good border was a proper one, these look great.  Plus, if the 1970's was the decade of the ribbon, the 1960's is the decade of the solid color background.  No less that 4 of the sets use it, plus 2 others have a majority of the cards with the sky as the background. 

1963:

I would really like to know if the dude who designed these also designed the 1975 baseball because, whoa, colors.  Twelve years before that seminal set, these were the obvious prototype: greens, reds, blues, yellows everywhere.  My favorite thing about this page, though, is the position on the center card, you just don't see that anymore in the age of specialization. 

1962:

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the best sports card design ever.  Not just football, not just horizontal, but the best period.  I will not accept any other applicants.  I will fight you if you disagree with me.  This is it, this is the pinnacle.  It has been a slow decline ever since.  The large square color portrait. The small black and white action shot.  The blast of color with the text box.  It is perfect composition.  It is all very De Stijl; they are of its age but timeless.  The black borders tie the whole thing together, keeping everything in balance.  Topps has been doing baseball cards in older past designs of other sports, I would kill to see them do a baseball set like this. My love of this set is very violent.  I take it back, I might build a vintage football set after all and this one would be it.

Okay, let's calm down and look at the backs.

The only thing that isn't perfect about this set is that they backs are "eh.."  I mean, the cartoons are nice and big but the write ups and stats leave something to be desired. Not to mention the red is also too drab.  I guess you can't have everything.

1961:

Between this and the baseball set, 1961 could very well be the most dull year ever in terms of set design in Topps' history.  I mean, a simple text box on the bottom can be very dynamic if you want it to be, but let's face it, this is not.  All black backgrounds, all yellow text.  Yawn.  No wonder they had to step up their game in '62 on both fronts.  I will try not to fall asleep before I finish the last year.

1960:

See?  This set proves that simple doesn't have to be boring.  The texture of the photos are reminiscent of the 1957 baseball set and I believe this is the first appearance of the "chubby football" element I am so fond of that Topps uses from time to time.  I do like how the simplicity of the '60 and '69 sets nicely bookend the decade.  Plus, look at that helmet Middleton is leaning on in the bottom center card, is that a leather helmet?  In 1960? No wonder all these guys died in their 50's.

Speaking of the 50's, I have precious few Topps cards from that decade.  If I am going to do a 1950's version of this post, I am gonna have to step up my eBay purchases.  Luckily, the first Topps set from that decade didn't happen until 1955, so I only have to do half the work I did here.  Heck, I don't even have all the 1990's sets covered in full nine pocket page form, so that one is gonna have to wait too.  For now, you will have to be satisfied with this glorious post and the return of football.  Really, what more do you need?

***

And 64 silver dollars if you got the post's title reference...

Dispatch From My Bed While I Recover.

       Last Wednesday, I left on a five day excursion for a little well earned R&R.  Most people (wisely) go south for such Spring Break-esque getaways, but me?  I went north to Boston - this breathtaking picture was taken the day after I got there.  But there was a method to my madness, it being the week before St. Patrick's Day and me being 12.5% Irish, I saw some great old friends, took in some local culture and followed the perfect vacation pattern of eat, drink, sleep, eat, drink, sleep, eat drink, sleep.  Not being 23 anymore, this has left me exhausted.

I did get to snap this photo Saturday afternoon after I dropped off a friend at the airport:

I have driven by this sign a million times but only on a traffic free March afternoon did I get to finally capture it on my camera phone.  This has always been a dream of mine.  I think I need to dream bigger. 

I did not stay for the actual amateur night of St. Patrick's Day because, much like Mardi Gras or New Year's Eve, it only brings out the idiots, the tourists, and the people who cannot hold their liquor and then get behind the wheel of their car.  No thanks.  I got home Sunday night to a pile of mail stuffed in the box, the most exciting of which was a cardboard flat from Topps:

I assume this is from their new fulfillment center since I have never gotten one like this.

Inside was a nice treat:

I had gone on a little eBay Triple Thread shopping spree back in January and one of the things I picked up was a redemption for this card.  Nice that it only took them two months and not over a year like last time.  With the season fast approaching, it looks like Zack Wheeler here is going to be a key piece that needs to fall into place if the Mets can even hope to contend.  When I am feeling up to it, I will expand on my whole array of feelings regarding the Mets up coming season.  I will also show you all the goodies I picked up in Boston.  For now, I just need to lay here very still and rest.  My goodness, I am old.

Football '13 Week 12: Throwback Thursday.

       While I am hardly a bandwagon jumper when it comes to the Saints, I have to admit, I have not suffered nearly as much as longtime fans have.  I got into the game just as the team has hit its stride as a perennial contender.  After all, this is a team that took 20 years just to make the playoffs and more than 30 years to actually win a playoff game.  I am spoiled in retrospect. 

At 8-2, the Saints are in the driver's seat to win the division and with a few breaks, they could be the number one seed in the conference.  That last point is critical as teams have a habit of coming into the Superdome and getting thoroughly destroyed. At the beginning of the year, The Falcons looked like a huge obstacle in all this.  Instead, they are a minor speed bump.  Hopefully, they will not play spoiler and just lay down at home as they have to seemingly every other team this year. 

Seeing as this game is on Thursday night, I figured it would be a good time to do a little Throwback special for the Saints.  Since I have covered the actual design of these cards before, lets instead look at the players and overall teams for the Saints from back before they could even dream of finishing above .500.

1987 Saints: 12-3.

Well, okay, this was the first glimmer of hope.  This was the first season the Saints finished above .500 and also the first they made the playoffs.  They lost that first playoff game to the Vikings 44-10.  In fact, they lost their first 4 playoff games by a cumulative score of 123-56.

1986 Saints: 7-9.

You will notice as we go through these pages that the kicker and punter always seem to be prominently represented for the Saints.  In sets where they were only making 10-12 cards per team, this is not the sign of a quality team. 

1982 Saints: 4-5.

During a strike year, the Saints won 4 games.  This was more games than they had won in 6 of their first 13 seasons.  Oh, and remember that punter/kicker observation from before?  The Saints once drafted a punter in the first round.  That man was Russell Erxleben.  Now, as crazy as this notion seems when your team is terrible, you would think if you are going to use/waste your first draft pick on a punter, he would be one hell of a punter, right?  Well, of course he flamed out in about six years.  He even eventually spent time in federal prison.  And weirdest of all, this is not the worst thing the Saints ever did during the draft.  Aren't those black and gold uniforms handsome, though?

1981 Saints: 4-12.

Looking at the faces of the players on these cards, you would think they had spent time in 'nam recently rather than playing professional football.  Only the kicker is kind of almost breaking a smile, and that's only compared to the other faces on this page.  This was a year after The Aints and their 1-15 season so this team was comparatively a great improvement.  Yikes.

1979 Saints: 8-8.

Between 1967 and 1986, this record was the high water mark.  Actually, when speaking of New Orleans, maybe that is the wrong turn of phrase.  All praise Chuck Muncie: Original Hipster.  The man had a look.

1978 Saints: 7-9.

Seven wins was as many wins as they had in the two previous seasons combined.  Archie Manning deserved better than the teams he was saddled with in the 70's.  As it is, he has the lowest winning percentage of any QB in history.  I guess he got his revenge through his bloodline by unleashing Eli and Peyton on the world two decades later.

1974 Saints: 5-9.

You gotta love the poses on these cards.  Everyone looks like they walked right off the set of The Longest Yard or North Dallas Forty.  Bob Pollard not only looks like a serious serious man, he has the same name as the lead singer of my favorite band ever not named The Beatles.

My complete pages of team years ends there.  From there, it is all 3x3.  This might be for the best as the records are more of the same: 1975 2-12, 1973 5-9, 1971 4-8-2.  At least they only played 14 games back then.

Happy Feller?  Seriously? 

1972 2-11-1, 1970 2-11-1, 1969 5-9. 

Dan Abramowitz sounds and looks like he should be your accountant and not a pro football player.  Instead, he was one of the best players of the early Saints.  And I gotta say, the late 60's and early 70's posed pictures are 100x better than the candid sideline photos of players without their helmets on from the late 70's and early 80's.  Such jaunty angles and variety.  Scroll back up to those 1981 cards again and these.  It looks like it's not even the same sport.

Just Because.

Keith Hernandez is the only one mentioned in this graphic three times, a minor upset.  I've always felt Rollie Fingers had the definitive mustache in the 20th century.  What do you think?

Mail Call: Hell Freezes Over.

       I got back from New Orleans late afternoon on Wednesday and after I dropped my bag and realized it took me longer to go from Brooklyn to New Jersey than it did to go from NOLA to JFK, I dove into the high pile of mail sitting on my dining room table.  Amongst the third class ads and glorious PWE full of Listia goodness was a little pink slip from the post office.  These are usually left for large packages or the like, but this particular one was for a certified letter.  My brain went through the long list of people and creditors that might send me such a thing, but my mind drew a blank.  So I had to slog down to my local post office today, which features a counter staffed by three ladies I refer to as Fran Drescher and Tweedle dumb and Tweedle dumber.  Without getting further insulting, I think those names cover what I think of them and their attempts at customer service.

     So I hand over the pink slip and when Tweedle dumber returns, she has this envelope...

I see that it is a jiffy pack but I am not expecting anything I ordered on eBay to come in such a manner.  Then I noticed the return address is Duryea PA and that means only one thing: Topps.  After a split second of calculation, my brain shouts in joy: oh my god! oh my god! finally!!!!  I remain calm and quietly sign to receive a card I have waited nearly two years for:

I'll admit it...I had given up hope.  I didn't think it existed.  I was willing to just roll over and accept that I was never getting this card.  The couple of emails I had sent went unanswered.  Eventually, years later, they would send some replacement card of a prospect I had never heard of that played for Milwaukee or Kansas City that never gets above A ball.  I was resigned to the fact that I was never going to get my beautiful shiny Matt Harvey autograph.  And yet, here it is. Maybe with his injury, he had time to sit down and sign his backlog of cards?  I dunno and I don't care.  The only real issue I have with it is that on they back they compare him to Mike Pelfrey.  Yikes.  Luckily, I will never look at the back and if I do, I will just mentally replace that with Tom Seaver.  Ugh, 2015 is a long time away. 

Dear Topps,

       I am a big fan of retro vintage reprints in all shapes and forms.  Be they retro reprints or vintage players on modern cards or what have you, these cards have added tremendously to my collection and to the collectability of cards.   My real issue I am trying to address in this letter is the consistency of these cards, specifically the photos.  I am, as most collectors are, aware that you have a vast archive of photos.  Why then do I see you use the same photos over and over again?  Is this purposeful laziness or organizational sloth?  The cards that have me particularly worried it might be both are the following:

The sixth card here is the 2012 Gypsy Queen Gary Carter.  Great photo.  And whatever computer program you use to make it look all painting-y is wonderful.  These cards are not my favorite because of the kooky borders, but the pictures involved look great. 

Now let's look at these:

Particularly the 5th and 6th card on this page.  The photo on the Blockbusters insert from 2012 Update looks very familiar, doesn't it?  And then the final straw came when I saw the 2013 Gypsy Queen card.  It's the same exact picture!  Sloth? Laziness? The left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing?  It looks bad.  It's bad company policy.  Even if it is a great picture, you have a bunch of them, right?  How much time and/or effort could possibly take to check on these things? 

I am going to leave you with one more example:

See a pattern?  Donruss used the same picture over and over (Upper Deck liked it too) and you know what happened to them. Is that what you want...do you want to be bought out by an Italian sticker company? Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.  So please, make yourselves a database of what pictures you use when and where so you can give us better product.  Of all the things that you need to do to improve your production, this is one of the easiest. 

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

(signed)

Max Meyer

aka jacobmrley

T'was.

the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tinny reindeer.



With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

"Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.

His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.



The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

- Clement Clarke Moore “A Visit from St. Nicholas" c. 1822.

Football Week 16: Living in the 80's.

       Since it worked so nice last time, let's go through Topps Football cards from the 1980's.  The designs from the decade of excess are all over the place, from crushingly boring to "dear lord" gaudy.  The one nice thing: very few ribbons.

1989:

Speaking of boring, wow.  There is minimalist and then there is letting the intern designer mail it in.  I believe this one falls in the later category.  The worst part is, there is no rhyme nor reason to the colors of the borders.  These make the 1989 Topps baseball offering look like Andy Warhol designed them.

1988:

Ah, much better.  Simple, but effective, with jaunty angles and team logos in helmets punctuated by team color borders.  I also like the integrated All Pro and Super Rookie designations.  I was always a fan of the 1988 Topps football cards.

1987:

If the 70's were dominated by ribbons, the 80's seemed to be dominated by pennants.  Here you have team color appropriate interlocking pennants.  It's a good look. What isn't is the cropping on some of the photos, especially the action shots.  What's going on with the Steve Young up there?

1986:

This design gets an A for effort, but a D for execution.  The green borders with the yard lines seems like a good idea, but punctuated by team color borders for the photos, you get some horrifying color combinations.  If they could combine the 1989 and 1986 designs, you might have something.  These also seem to be prototypes for the 1988 Topps baseball set.

1986 backs:

As a palette cleanser to the fronts, I like the backs of these with the cartoonish background for the write ups.  This is something I wish Topps had done more of with their backs, to fill in the empty spaces.

1985:

I consider this a very 80's look.  The big last name, the font, the black borders with a splash of color.  All it needs is some neon.  These black borders also echo the 1962 design - one of my all time favorites.

1985 backs:

I really enjoy the vertical backs and long write ups on the backs of these.  The red, on the other hand, make it very difficult to read.  I have seen a lot of Pro Bowl and All Pro (and even all star) designations on the fronts of cards, but this is the only time I can recall where it is on the back and only on the back.

1984:

Bright colors, team logos, odd angles.  These cards scream "MID EIGHTIES!" and they do it well.  They foretell the coming of the 1985 Topps baseball set, as well, though it wouldn't be until 1991 when Topps would purposely use the same design elements for both baseball and football in the same year.

1983:

I never liked the white outlined team names on these, it looks like someone forgot to finish the design, unless they were trying to make the cards look like proofs, in which case, mission accomplished.

1982:

1982 Topps are the first set in a long time to include official NFL team logos on the card, and they highlighted the fact in fine fashion by putting the helmets right on the front.  You also see the player name in a pennant (sort of like the team name in 1965 Topps). Plus, gosh, the All Pro designation on these cards is huge!

1982 In Action:

With those logo rights, and taking from the larger 1982 baseball set, Topps included "In Action" cards for the first time since 1972.  All the big stars are included and at some point I had so many of them, I made a separate page of them. 

1981:

Pennants? Flags?  Ribbons?  I was underwhelmed with this set when I was six years old and I am underwhelmed now. Check out the bald spot on Garo Yepremian there.  Wow.

1980:

I always really liked the 1980 Topps football cards.  I like the football logo, I like the font for the player names, I like the big photos.  This perfectly shows the difference between minimalist and boring.

1980 backs:

Plus, for whatever reason, I love the 1980 backs.  Here, you can actually read on the red background.  I like the continuation of the football from the fronts, and I like the teeny tiny cartoons.  The only problem? The odd and small card numbers, which makes for troublesome collation.

So that covers the 1980's in Topps football cards.  No other manufacturer made football cards through most of the decade.  That would change when Score came in in 1989 and Fleer and Upper Deck followed suit in 1990.  Those years make for some way overproduced and odd looking football cards, but for a time, Topps dominated the field even more so than they did baseball.