Starting from the beginning: two 'rookie' cards

Tony Gwynn made his major league debut for the Padres on the 19th July 1982 after playing in the Padres farm system since being drafted in 1981. He got two hits in his first game. His first baseball cards were printed in sets released in 1983. These are referred to as his 'rookie cards' because he was still a rookie. This was before rookie cards became a huge part of baseball card collecting - now rookies have a symbol printed on their card saying they are a rookie. Tony's 1983 cards don't have that.

I have two rookie cards in my collection, one produced by Topps and one produced by DonRuss.

Card Number 3 - Topps 1983, #482

I'm not entirely sure what the process was behind this card. They clearly wanted to combine an action shot with the little inset portrait, but the angle of this photo means that the most prominent part of Tony on the card is his bottom. I like to think this is the view a lot of his opponents had of him in his first year or so, scampering off down the baseline after yet another hit. Still, I am left wondering if this was really the best photo that Topps could source of him in action. On the plus side you do get to see the orange stripe down the pants leg. Those early 80s Padres uniforms cut a dash.

The reverse of the card has Tony's complete minor league record on and you can see how he tore up the farm system. The .462 batting average in Amarillo is probably skewed by the low number of at bats, but he was definitely ready for the big leagues while playing in Hawaii. 

In contrast to the strange picture on the Topps card, DonRuss played a blinder with Tony's rookie card.

Card Number 4 - DonRuss 1983, #598

This might be a batting photo, but if so, he looks very relaxed. The blurred crowd photo makes me think it's an 'on deck' photo where he is waiting to get to the plate. I could be wrong. As a photo, this is almost perfect. He is in almost complete profile, wearing the brown, yellow and orange classic Padres uniform. I like the way his name is on a bat and the team name is on a glove. The framing and balance of the photo is almost perfect. There's also an innate sense of stillness and concentration; focus on the task of hitting the ball. (You can tell how much I love this card.)

The back of the card goes a different way to Topps as well.

They don't include the minor league record, but they do mention his first ever batting title, in the Northwest League in 1981. It was the first of many in his professional career. The wording of the summary is slightly odd - Tony is described as "a most pleasant late addition to the Padres", which feels a bit like how you'd summarise a detour on a guided walk or something.

Total: 4/394

Provenance: I bought these cards via the Baseball Cards UK group on Facebook from Jason Edgington. I believe Jason had gone back to the USA now, but 'Edge', if you read this, thanks again for these cards.