Playing the Numbers Game

Card Number 661: Score Numbers Game, 1996; #9

A very 90s design with the colours and the swirl and the photo composition.

What do I love on a cardback? Factoids and stats! These are golden.

I know that pitching has changed in the 20 years since Tony retired, but the sheer number of strike outs in games this season does make me wonder if anyone will ever rack up numbers like this for successful swings again. I imagine most players miss at least 50 times a month these days, let alone 50 times a season.

I'm particularly struck by the stat that he could have decided not to hit a ball in his next 859 at bats and still have a career average of .300. I doubt he would have become a Padres legend if he had adopted that tactic. Anyone who saw Tony have a hitless game then saw a rare occasion - he had one hitless game in every 5 or 6 games during 1994. No wonder he attained an average of .394!

Total: 661 cards

Skybox wooden wordplay

I'm sure "wood" has the same euphemistic connotations in American English as it does in British English. In fact, I would imagine the other meaning is a transatlantic import back to the old continent. So, I can't believe the designers and writers at Skybox didn't know exactly what possible interpretation they were flirting with when they named this insert series.

Card Number 660: Skybox Metal Universe Boyz With the Wood insert, 1999; #8BW

OK, so they were probably going for a riff on the film title Boyz n the Hood that was released in 1991. But, this was eight years after that film and it really feels like every other punning name for an insert series had been taken so Skybox came up with this risque take.

And the 'cards' are weird too. I think this is the front.

Which makes this the back.

As far as I can work out, from the folding guidelines, this is meant to be manipulated into a second card by basically bending it into shape. I can't find an image on Google of one that has been constructed and the picture on Baseballcardpedia is actually of the Tony Gwynn card looking like this. According to that page, the odds of finding one of these cards was 1 in 18 packs.

This is from the same set as the MLPD unscannable insert card that was basically the reason why I asked for an overhead scanner for Christmas. However, unlike the MLPD card this doesn't have a cardback, which means no whacky write up this time. Baseballcardpedia blames the tendency towards weird comments on the back of the Skybox and Fleer cards of the time on an attempt to make cards more appealing to younger collectors. I totally agree with the wiki writer's summary that "The language used on cardbacks has not aged well." Although I doubt it was ever appropriate really. 

As with the Upper Deck bobblehead card, I'm going to want a second one of these so that I can bend it to get the second card for display in my binders. Maybe Skybox were onto something with this insert idea. It's just a shame they chose such a terrible name for it. 

And, annoyingly, this is yet another set where I have inserts but don't have the base card, so that's another one to try and find.

Total: 660 cards

Bats and stats

A couple of insert cards producd by Leaf today.

Card Number 658: Leaf Limited Bat Patrol insert, 1995; #2

"Bat Patrol" sounds like a terrible Batman spin off from the 80s.

The scan has rendered it white, but the big words saying 'Bat Patrol' are in a pearlescent shiny finish.

I'm guessing this insert series featured the best active batters at the time. There's no explanation on the back - just a very large, quite standard stats box. 

It feels like I am constantly making this point, but even here, just after Tony's record .394 batting average, his career average was still 5 points below his eventual final career average of .338. He still had several years of high averages ahead of him, high enough to drag his overall average up.

Card Number 659: Leaf Statistical Standouts insert, 1994; #9

This card is very shiny and did not scan well on my flatbed.

So I got out the overhead scanner, which captured it in all its shiny glory.

I find it ironic that Leaf called Tony a "statistical standout" in the year when he was destined to become a true statistical standout. It's almost as if they knew.

The cardback mentions Tony's run of 11 seasons posting an average above .300. He woud go on to beat San Musial's streak of 16 seasons. By the end of his career he has scored .300 for 19 seasons in a row.

That is a great photo on the cardback as well. I really like these sort of candid shots taken during practice or while warming up. It's not quite as good as the picture of Tony returning practice balls that he had collected up, but it's still a cool photo. 

The only negative of this card is the slightly odd numbering system. It means it's number 9 out of 10 as there were only 10 cards in the insert series, not card Number 910 or cards 9 and 10.

Total: 659 cards

Tuesday Twins - let's do it all again in Chrome

I thought that Topps only recently started reissuing chrome versions of all their sets. Turns out they have been doing it for longer than I thought. Actually, from shortly after they patented the chromatising technique.

Card Number 656: Topps Chrome Milestones, 1998; #MS6

This is the Chrome version of a card I blogged about back in February. This is actually less shiny than that card, because the regular version was printed on foilboard.

Here's a top tip for everyone. When this card arrived, the front was filthy. Like, really grimy with dust particles stuck to it. My wife Cathy suggested I use some glasses cleaner on it, so I sprayed some of the solution onto the soft glasses cloth and gently wiped the surface of the card. It lifted the dirt clean off and restored the card to a nice sheen. 

The back didn't need cleaning. Tony appears to be gritting his teeth in the photo.

Finding out this card was a Chrome version was a bit of a bonus, because it wasn't that obvious on the scan on eBay. It's always nice when a card I had discounted as a dupe turns out to be a new addition to the collection. 

Card Number 657: Topps Stadium Club Chrome, 2000; #137

This was issued as a standalone set in 2000 instead of chrome parallel cards being included in the regular release of Stadium Club. This was also the last standalone Stadium Club Chrome release until the 2020 release last year - which also featured a Tony Gwynn card!

The front is the same picture as the regular Stadium Club card.

The back almost indistinguishable from the regular release. It doesn't even have the Chrom logo on there. The card stock is a bit different and that's it.

In one sense adding parallels to the collection is a bit dull. But Chrome cards are probably the shiniest dull cards to add.

Total: 657 cards

Upper Deck come back for more

My recent eBay purchase alerted me to the existence of an Upper Deck set that I'd not heard of before - Encore. (Not to be confused with the Fleer subset called Encore from a few years earlier.)

Card Number 654: Upper Deck Encore Upper Realm, 1999; #U4

Upper Realm is a bit of a weird name for an insert series. The UR swirling around Tony's legs makes this look a bit messy. 

This card scans very blue due to the foilboard effect, but looks more purple in real life. The back is more obviously purple.

The cardback points out that Tony's career average was the highest among active major leaguers. It's also higher than any major leaguer since Tony retired.

Card Number 655: Upper Deck Encore Strokes of Genius, 1999; #167

This subset was actually very blue.

The graphics on this give it a very sci-fi look; a theme that continued onto the back.

There are three years worth of stats arranged vertically, which makes a nice change. However the really wide kerning on the word 'In' at the start of the write up shows the perils of using justified text in an odd shape. As an aside, I hate justified text. It makes text harder to read and is especially difficult for people with impaired vision. (I consider it one of my best achievements in a previous job when a directive came out saying all our documents had to be in justified text and I successfully got that rescinded by citing good practice guidance from a charity supporting people with sight loss!)

I now have the fun task of trying to find Tony's regular base card from Upper Deck Encore, now that I know the set exists! Still, what is collecting without little challenges?

Total: 655 cards

One card only - Most Wanted

This is a contender for my favourite ever Upper Deck card.

Card Number 653: Upper Deck UD's Most Wanted, 2001; #MW6

I am a sucker for portrait cards and this is one of the nicest themed portrait cards I've seen. 

Why was Tony one of Upper Deck's Most Wanted? The cardback explains it all.

This was one of a 15 card insert series. It's one of the few insert series where I would be tempted to collect them all. I don't want for much in life but I want more cards that look like this!

Total: 653 cards

Fleer have fun with puns

I imagine the ideas meetings at Fleer Corp were fun occasions, given what sometimes resulted. How about an insert series that was basically a pun?

Card Number 652: Fleer Showcase Consummate Prose, 2000; #6

I imagine the brief for the designer went something like this.

"It's consummate prose, see. You know like how people say a guy is a 'consummate professional', like that!"

"Yeah, but you don't spell pros with an 'e' on the end, that's like writing."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we know. I dunno, put him on a scroll or something."

"Put... him... on... a... scroll...er....okaaaaaaay."

And voila!

In it's favour, this card looks a bit different. It might have worked better if the scroll had been covered in some actual prose instead of the words 'consummate prose' repeated over and over.

But then they wanted to save the prose for the back.

I'm used to reading comparisons between Tony and his contemporaries, or with baseball legends of yore. I think this is the first time I've read comparisons with Edison and Beethoven.

Fleer employed some florid writers at the time. Usually they were let off the loose on Skybox or Metal Universe cards, but sometimes they got to liven up Fleer's short-lived random ranges as well. This is one of those times.

Total: 652 cards 

Set lasers to cut!

 A theme post featuring two cards with holes in.

Card Number 650: Topps Stadium Club Prime Cuts, 1996; #PC-4

Topps used the same technology as in their Topps Laser set from the same year for this 8 card insert series in Stadium Club.

The photo shows Tony's brief mid-nineties flirtation with a beard.

The white lines around the solid gold 'CUTS' are all holes through the card.... as you can see from the back view.

Tony is cleanshaven in the photo on the back. I find it slightly amusing that this juxtaposition happens on a card along the theme of 'cuts'.

These cards are 'Prime Cuts' and the stats on the back are 'Prime Numbers', except none of them are actually prime numbers in the proper mathematical sense.

Yet again, the sheer paucity of strike outs in Tony's career is remarkable. I've not seen a strike out to at bat ratio on a cardback before, but card companies should have included it more often. In 1995, Tony struck out once every 35 at bats. If he had 5 at bats in a game that would be one strike out every seven games.

The only confusing stat on the back is the batting title one. They are trying to say that Tony won his sixth National League batting title, but it looks like they are saying he was sixth in the batting tables. However, I'm not going to quibble too much with that, given how good this stats box is overall. 

Card Number 651: Pacific Aurora On Deck Laser Cuts, 1998; #14

A couple of years after the Stadium Club Prime Cuts card, Pacific lasered bits out of these insert sets from their Aurora set.

The card front is a rather glorious mish-mash of photoshop elements and the cut out 'rings' in the centre of the card. There is some gold foil applied as well for good measure.

The back has a big picture of Tony and a tiny write up underneath the lasered out section.

I have grown to love Pacific cards. True, they are gaudy and the designers never seemed to know when to stop adding stuff, but that is part of the charm. Plus they were absolutely brilliant at including the years and set names in those little circles with the card number on. It makes them so easy to identify and for that reason alone, I could forgive any excess in the design.

Aurora cards were one of the sets Pacific produced without a licence initially, which is why it just says San Diego on the card. However, this was before companies with licences got really protective about the official MLB team logos and icons, which is why the logos on Tony's shirt and helmet haven't been airbrushed out of the photo on the front. Those dark days of airbrushed jerseys were coming. 

Total: 651 cards

Super shiny slippy centering

A packet of insert cards has arrived courtesy of eBay and I will be blogging them over the next couple of weeks. I'm going to start with the shiniest card in the packet.

Card Number 649: Topps Sweet Strokes, 1997; #SS7

Soooooo shiny....

This insert card scanned surprisingly well. I'm not sure what the shininess is because unlike the chromatised cards or the foil board cards this is how it came off the scanner. 

The back is psychedelic. The write up is about Tony's 1996 season and his batting ability is compared to the precision of "a pool shooter". Meanwhile strike-outs are "sporadic accidents".

I noticed the front of this card felt a bit misaligned. It was made more  obvious by this being one of three copies of this Sweet Strikes card in the joblot I bought. Here they are together, and you can see the variation in print accuracy.

On some there is barely a border on the top, while the design has shifted right on a couple of them as well. 

There's variation in the placement on the backs as well.

I don't normally store duplicates in my binders, but these are so pretty and shiny, and fun to compare in terms of alignment, that I have them in a row in my Topps binder. 

Total: 649 cards

One card only: Finest Franchises

Another Topps Finest card from the mid-90s. There are so many of these!

Card Number 648: Topps Finest, 1996; #320

This card series was divided up in themes and according to rarity. Gold cards were rare. Silver cards were uncommon. Bronze cards were common. I have blogged a bronze card in the "Sterling" theme previously. Today's card is another bronze one, this time in the "Franchises" theme.

Like the Finest Sterling card, this still has the protective film across it 25 years later. I'm not going to risk trying to peel it as the film tends to adhere more strongly to the card over time.

On the back is an explanation of why Tony qualifies to represent the franchise. He was already the Padres leader in a number of batting statistics in 1996, and of course still holds most of those today.

Tony also had a gold (rare) card in this set, which hopefully one day will make its way into my possession. There would have been a nice completeness to his cards if he had one gold, one silver and one bronze rather than one gold and two bronze in the set, but Topps seem to have always had a half-hearted approach to card allocation in their sets. Still other players didn't get a gold at all or only featured once in the set with a meagre bronze card, so it could have been worse.

Total: 648 cards

The beginning of the new era of Diamond Kings

After writing yesterday about how Panini have sort of kept the DonRuss brand going, today's post features cards from the Diamond Kings range. Panini now issue this as a brand in its own right, but "Diamond Kings" started out in the DonRuss base sets of the 1980s. The first 26 cards in the DonRuss flagship sets were illustrated portraits of baseball stars - one from each team. I have previously blogged several of these that feature Tony.

When Panini were trying to find a winning formula for their unlicensed baseball cards, they gave the Pinnacle brand a go in 2013, but that seemed to fall a bit flat. Panini released cards under the DonRuss brand in 2014 and that must have worked well enough for Panini to continue releasing "DonRuss" cards. In 2015, they built on the cachet of DonRuss and launched Diamond Kings as a standalone set. It has been released every year since.

Card Number 646: Panini Diamond Kings, 2015; #133

This is from the first year of the Diamond Kings. There isn't an artist credited with this picture, so I imagine it's been done by a Panini staff designer using photoshop rather than creating art from scratch.

The back has a great entry for my collection of descriptions off cardbacks: "San Diego's beloved batting wizard."

The uncredited broadcaster quoted on the back as saying that Tony "could hit .320 with a broom" is Sean Salisbury, the former NFL quarterback turned journalist who was working for Yahoo Sports at the time of Tony's death. (He is quoted in this article on the NBC San Diego website.) It seems strange that the cardback compiler would use the quote with such a vague accreditation. 

Like Gwynn, Sean Salisbury was born in Long Beach, although he grew up in Escondido near San Diego. He is three years younger than Tony, having been born in 1963, and played for the San Diego Chargers among other teams. His career would have overlapped with Tony's quite a bit and he obviously knew Tony as in the rest of that quote he says Tony made an impact on his family. 

Another interesting fact about Sean Salisbury is that he was an advisor on Adam Sandler's remake of the movie Mean Machine, and taught Sandler what he needed to do to portray a quarterback. However, despite all that, Sean missed out his chance to have his name appear on the back of this baseball card, which would have added to the very small number of trading cards he appeared on during his career. Trading Card Database only lists 37 cards for him.

Card Number 647: Panini Diamond Kings DK Originals, 2017; #DO-24

What's more fun than an unlicensed base card? An unlicensed insert card.

The portrait photo on this has scary eyes!

There isn't really much to say about this card. It's one of those ones to have in the collection because it's a Tony Gwynn card, rather than because it had any particularly exciting features. 

Tony's scary eyes are on the back too, along with a quote from Tony where he credits Ted Williams with helping him improve his batting. The flowery description is reserved for Ted who is described as "another sweet-swinging Californian." 

Otherwise, this card is almost the pictorial definition of unremarkable. 

Total: 647 cards

The last days of DonRuss

DonRuss is now one of several trading card brands owned and run by the Panini corporation. I sometimes refer to it as a "zombie brand" because it feels like it's being kept animated but isn't really alive. 

Panini acquired DonRuss in 2009 when they bought Playoff, the company that had salvaged DonRuss as it headed towards collapse at the turn of the millennium and then issued sets in the first decade of the 21st Century. Today's post features cards from the Playoff era of DonRuss's history.

Card Number 644: DonRuss Champions, 2005; #46

There were actually three Tony Gwynn cards in this set, all with slightly different photos on the front.

The card is designed in such a way that it would be easy to insert a relic or an auto into the space on the right. This was a set with lots of relics and autos, with base cards like this filling the gaps. 

There's a great factoid on the back comparing Tony to Ty Cobb. There is also a very interesting stats box with a line of Tony's career highs and his career totals. I don't remember seeing another stats box like that, so it gives this card something unique. 

The big D in an oval is the DonRuss logo during the Playoff era. It's usually a red oval.

Card Number 645: DonRuss Threads Century Stars, 2008; #CS-6

I have blogged a DonRuss Threads base card before. This is rather a bland insert card from the same set. Tony is sticking his tongue out while running in the photo.

For an insert series called Century Stars, there are very few stars on this card. I would have put on more. The stencil font is an unusual choice. I find stencil fonts remind me of two things from my chldhood in the 1980s - the A-Team logo, and the toys called Action Force, which was the last great toyline to be developed in the UK by the toy company Palitoy (as described in this YouTube video by the very knowledgeable Analog Toys). 

The back says it was only fitting that Tony was inducted to the Hall of Fame with Cal Ripken Jr, but then doesn't say why. I know the similarities between the two, and DonRuss clearly expacted everyone who pulled this card to know them too. 

In 2008 Playoff had lost their Major League Baseball licence, and this card claims it was directly licensed by the player depicted. This form of licensing explains the obvious airbrushing on the front. The SD logo is still intact on Tony's helmet, partially obscured by some reflective glare. Weirdly, it only says San Diego on the left hand side of the cardback, but it mentions the Padres by franchise name in the write up on the right hand side. 

This card was from the last year before DonRuss was acquired by Panini. All subsequent cards released with the DonRuss branding have also been unlicensed so this was a portent of things to come.

Total: 645 cards

Unlicensed doesn't mean unloved

Today's post is partly prompted by seeing some graded cards for sale and wondering who is sending cards that are routinely ignored off for grading.

Card Number 643: Panini Prizm, 2013; #176

Panini produce Prizm cards across a number of sports. In baseball where they don't have a licence, the cards end up looking like this, with every hint of a team logo airbrushed off the picture. 

This is the plain base version of these cards. Every base card is shiny, but the main attraction of packs of Prizm cards are multiple colour parallels and refractor-style "prizms" that are often numbered. These silver base cards are used to pad out the packs inbetween the rarer cards. They are basically filler. The sets all look very samey as well - compare this one with the cards from 2014 and 2015.

The back reuses the same airbrushed photo as the front.

The factoid on the back is about Tony's stand-out season in 1987, when he picked up his second batting title and stole lots of bases. 

Apart from the lack of licensing, there's nothing particularly objectionable about this card. But recently I saw a graded version of this base card on a popular auction site with a start price of $50. It was only graded a 9/10 as well. 

I've seen a few discussions about the backlog at the grading houses, and collectors blaming people submitting all kinds of low value cards for grading. I think that happens because the grading houses accept batches of cards for grading so people chuck in extra ones to round out the batch - which, ironically, would make a card like this "filler" twice over. Otherwise, I'm not sure what the thought process is behind sending this card in for grading. 

Although, if you are going to encase your cards in plastic, you may as well pick cards that nobody else will bother getting graded. One of the big measures in graded cards is the 'population', that is, the number of cards graded at a particular level. In the long run maybe this card will be "rarer" than some of the higher value licensed base rookie cards that are getting "slabbed" by lots of people as they come straight out of packs.

Of course, whether anyone will want this card in a graded sleeve so much that they would pay $50 for it is another question. I rather doubt they would. My (ungraded) copy was in a job lot of Tony Gwynn cards, padding out the lot. The previous ones I have acquired have also been part of lots. 

I don't know anybody who collects Panini Prizm baseball cards or is trying to put together a set. There doesn't seem to be much value attached to this filler card - until it's graded, at which point, a collector is essentially paying $50 for a plastic sleeve.

As for my collection, this card sits in a shiny row of three Prizm base cards from consective years in the Panini section of my binder. I won't be sending it off for grading any time soon.

Total: 643 cards

Modern Monday - Opening Day legend

++++++STOP PRESS+++STOP PRESS++++++

I'm the guest on the Tea & Topps podcast tonight at 9pm (GMT) talking about my Tony Gwynn collection. The live broadcast will be on YouTube, Twitch and Facebook. Details here.  

+++++STOP PRESS ENDS++++++

Glenn, who sent me the Topps mini I blogged last week, followed it up with another couple of cards including a freshly pulled card from Topps Opening Day 2021 that was released to coincide with the start of the season. It also provides me with an opportunity for a theme post - the theme being "Legend" cards.

Card Number 641: Topps Opening Day Legends of Baseball, 2021; #LOB-18

I am a little bit disappointed that Tony had card number 18. So close!

This is a nice, fresh-looking card design that isn't reliant on a retro template or a reprint of an old card. It actually feels 'new' and is the first card from 2021 that made me feel that way.

The back has a great statistic comparing Tony's strike out rate with modern players. Fans rarely saw Tony strike out - I've commented before how, on average, you would have to go to five games before you saw him struck out.

I saw a statistic last week that said for the first time ever the number of strike outs had passed the number of hits. I think strike outs have increased because there is a massive emphasis on belting home runs. The "Slam Diego" streak last year is part of that trend. It's very exciting when it comes off, but a batter who is swinging for the fences is more likely to miss, or leave pitches that could be hit into infield play, thereby getting strikes called more often.  

As I said, the theme of this card matches another card I had waiting in my 'to blog' folder.

Card Number 642: Topps Legends of the Game insert, 2009; #LG-TG

This card is a very dark green. That's not a scanning problem. It's how it looks.

The numbering of these cards is odd. There were 50 cards in the set. half were numbered 1-25, and the other half had letters instead of numbers, like this one.

There is also an error on the cardback. Top left it says Tony made his debut in 1981. He was drafted in 1981. He made his Major League debut in 1982. 

The timeline imagery is quite cool and continus across the other cards in the set. That's a pretty neat little detail. Otherwise the big factoid box repeats the story of how Tony was drafted for the Padres and the Clippers on the same day. No matter how many times I read that, I find it incredible. 

Thanks again to Glenn for sending me the Legends of Baseball card that opened this post. It's the 5th card released in 2021 that I have added to the collection.

Total: 642 cards

One card only - Naturel's Project 2020 card

I wasn't intending to add to the three Project 2020 cards of Tony I already had, but this came up in an eBay lot of three Project 2020 cards all by the same artist, Naturel. 

The lot was competively priced. And here we are.

Card Number 640: Topps Project 2020, 2020; #40

I think it's quite clever how Naturel used triangles to represent letters and yet the word 'Padres' still feels quite obvious. Depsite the pop-art cubist stylings, this card is the truest to the original that I have purchased so far.

The back has a bit of detail about the artist, otherwise it's basically the same as every other Project 2020 card.

However, this was the first of these cards I've recieved still in a plastic bag with a green verification sticker on it.

That proved a bit of a hurdle to opening the mag case and scanning the card. In the end I decided to cut the bag before doing my usual trick of carefully peeling the sticker seal back on the case. These cards are for my own personal collection, anyway, so I don't feel too guilty about vandalising the stickers.

I don't often talk about how much cards cost me, or how much they are worth, but as one third of my eBay purchase, this works out the second cheapest Project 2020 card that I've bought. It's also the one with the lowest print run that I have acquired so far - just 2,319 were printed. When I entered it on Trading Card Database, I was shocked to see it listed at an average price of $65. Someone has paid a lot more than I did for it.

I wouldn't stake much on the prices on TCDb being reliable, although they are supposed to reflect the prices that people have actually paid for cards, rather than what a dealing house thinks they are "worth". A card is really only ever worth what someone pays for it. Even so, that $65 took the total "value" of my collection listed on TCDb to over $1000. (I'm sceptical it's worth anywhere near that.)

I'm hoping to sell on the other cards, which are of Sandy Koufax and Frank Thomas, or offer them for trades. I'm not looking to make a profit on them, and hopefully they can bring some joy to other collectors.

Total: 640 cards

Die cut double down

For the second day in a row, I'm blogging about a die-cut card.

Card Number 639: Upper Deck SPx Die-Cut, 1997; #SPX42

This set was a premium product in 1997. These cards were sold in packs of 3. There were 50 cards in the set and parallel versions to collect.

And, yes, that's a hologram in the big cresecent bit.

On first glance I didn't see the SPx logo, and I thought it looked like the DonRuss logo from when DonRuss was issued by the Play Off company. I kind of see an S and a P and the X is obvious.

The big prominent 19 on the front is not the card number. (Boo!)

The write up on the back is about Tony's home run production. He was never a home run guy, but 1997 was about the start of the obsession with home runs and records and so on, which is probably why the card focuses on that side of his game.

Total: 639 cards

I don't usually comment on current events but huge congratulations to Joe Musgrove who pitched the first no-hitter in Padres franchise history last night. Well done, Joe!