Friday, October 23, 2020

Consistent stance and obsolescence

Sometimes I look at cards and think I've got them, only to realise that it's a completely different set from a completely different year. The thing that confuses me is the picture of Tony looks the same. 

Tony's total consistency in hitting could be explained by a number of reasons - his focus, his preparation, his ability to see the release point of the ball. But also his stance was incredibly consistent, as shown by these two cards.

Card Number 430: Upper Deck PowerDeck, 1999; #AUX-9



Card Number 431: Upper Deck Hologrfx, 2000; #55



These cards are weirdly similar in other ways too, as they both re-use a front cover picture on the back, but in a different colour scheme. They are both oriented landscape front and back. They both give truncated stats boxes. And they both feature the number 19 on the back as part of the design on the cardback.

But just to compare those two front photos again:


There is a very slight difference at the angle the photographer is shooting from. But it's quite clear that Tony's positioning of the legs is the same, the angle the bat is held at behind the helmet is the same, and even the height of his shoulder is the same. That shoulder coming across is why the word 'Padres' on the front of the shirt is missing the D on both pictures. 

The main base set of PowerDeck cards were actually CD-Roms, with one sold per packet as a 'digital card' along with two paper cards like the small Auxiliary insert series, which is the set Card Number 430 is from. There were only 25 CD-Rom cards dedicated to players in the set, but there were other CD-Roms of "Powerful Moments" and "Time Capsules".

I would like to acquire one of the Tony Gwynn "base cards" from this set, but I think I need to do it before I upgrade my PC as CD drives are a thing of the past on new computers now. That is one problem with innovative use of media -  within a generation the format used will be obsolete!

Total: 431 cards


2 comments:

  1. I have a few of those UD Powerdeck CD's... but haven't had a computer with the ability to play them in over a decade.

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    1. I have a 10 year old PC but it's a side loader and I'm not sure the card shaped CD-Roms would work in it.

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