League Leader with a swoosh

I got chatting to Jason after he posted a picture of his set of Project 2020 Tony Gwynn cards in the UK Facebook Group. They looked really nice together and I have a tinge of envy. The envy is mixed with gratitude, though, because Jason sent me a picture of some of his duplicate Tony Gwynn cards and asked if I needed any. I did, and shortly afterwards an envelope arrived with some cards in. (It actually arrived the day after the cards from Dean arrived so I had consecutive days with baseball cards in the post. Happy days!)

Back in the 1980s Topps had other ranges besides their flagship, including smaller sized cards depicting 'league leaders'. I've already blogged about Tony's card in their range from 1986. 

Card Number 581: Topps Major League Leaders,1989; #39

The front of the card is recognisably from 1989 because it has that 'swoosh' effect for Tony's name, the same as his base card that year, which looks like this: 

The swoosh is also on the 'accidental appearance' Tony made in the 1989 set when he was almost taking out Al Pedrique on the Pirates Leaders card.

I'm a fan of the swoosh effect and the 1989 Topps lay-out generally. When it comes to late 80s Topps designs, I'm definitely keener on the card sets released in odd numbered years - 85, 87, 89.

The card is a bit smaller than a regular flagship card, though. Here they are next-to-next to show what I mean.

The back is a lovely bright yellow, with a colour headshot photo of Tony. This is a much better cardback than Topps normally produced. 

While he was the batting champion in 1988, he ranked lower in on base percentage and didn't record as many hits as might be expected. He was ranked joint tenth overall. Partly that was down to injury during the 1988 season.

In 1989 these cards were sold in packs of 7 for 30 cents a pack. There were 77 cards in the set, with a few players from each team. Although it doesn't seem the cards are particularly rare, they don't turn up as often as might be expected in sale lots so I was very pleased to have the opportunity to obtain this card.

Total: 581 cards