Shining light

Today's card prompted an unexpected  comment from my wife, Cathy, when I showed it to her. You should know that she is the least likely person to ever say anything crude, so it was quite a surprise that she said what she did.

Card Number 567: Upper Deck, 1998; #539

This was a 'Season Highlights' card in Upper Deck's flagship set. The silver cross background may have been meant to be a searchlight or floodlight. Cathy commented:

"It looks like a light is shining out of his butt!"

You can really see the effect on the overhead scan, which really captures the shiny silver foil!

On the back we read about Tony's excellent 1997 season, when he hit his second highest batting average of his career and won his eighth and final batting title.

This card also doubles up as a checklist and satisfyingly, Tony's base card (#500) is one of the cards on the checklist. As ever, looking at the list of names provides a real mix of recognisable names and long-forgotten bit players.

Hopefully this post hasn't lowered the tone of the blog too much!

Total: 567 cards