These two bat relic cards are recent acquisitions (one only arrived earlier this week) and I'm finding it hard to decide which one I like the most.
The first bat relic I acquired was made by Upper Deck, and what really drew me to it was the way they had printed Tony's number like a watermark on the sliver of wood embedded in the card.
Card Number 117: Upper Deck SP Game Bat Milestone, 2001; #B-TGw
This card is part of the 'Piece of the Action' insert series.
I think this is really lovely looking card, complete with a wood-grain effect and the 'Bound for the Hall' motif. Tony has a grimace of concentration on his face, but other than that there is really nothing to quibble with regarding this card.
The back says CONGRATULATIONS! There's a facsimile signature from the CEO of Upper Deck authenticating the wood is from a bat used in a Major League Baseball game.
Of course, there's no real way of knowing whether the bat was genuinely used. It's not as if there's a photo of the bat they chopped up on the card, or anything. That would really be asking too much, wouldn't it? Well... not if you're DonRuss, no.
Card Number 118: DonRuss Classics Legendary Lumberjacks, 2002; #LL-25
They picked a really handsome colour scheme for this.
The piece of wood isn't particularly snazzy.
But on the cardback you can see where the wood came from.
Yes, that's the actual bat. It's a shame it doesn't detail which game it was used in, and also that they couldn't find a photo of him wielding a bat that colour for the card front.
This card is sequentially numbered 500. Some of the other cards in this range were numbered to 50, so they obviously sliced this bat up a bit more thinly to make more cards.
Total: 118/394
I really enjoy collecting Gwynn memorabilia cards, but it kinda sucks that Panini and Topps tend to use vague COA's on their modern memorabilia cards. Donruss did a great job. I mean... we still need to take their word for it that the bat was actually chopped up... but at least it was a start in the right direction
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